The idea of carrying with a round in the chamber went against much of the hunter safety training of my youth, so after getting my first carry pistol, I researched carry options -- condition 1, 2, or 3 -- while waiting for my first holster to arrive.
I dismissed condition 3 because I at the time my left shoulder was frozen and racking the slide was a painful and by no means fast process. I also, while having lunch in a local park, engaged a local LEO who pulled into the park for a break on the topic. He said he saw little point in carrying a handgun without a round chambered, and that conversation cemented my decision to abandon serious thought of condition 3 carry.
As I debated between condition 1 and 2 I carefully examined my gun's safeties until I had a good feeling how they worked. I concluded condition 1 carry was optimal, but was concerned that my thumb safety could be inadvertently disengaged without my knowledge while being carried. To see whether this might happen, upon my holster arriving, I carried condition 1 without any ammo in the pistol. I felt like an idiot. It was my first time carrying concealed, so I had all the first-timer anxiety about being made as an armed person in addition to being dumb enough to be carrying an empty gun. If made and confronted, I could have remained cool and claimed I had expended all my ammo in a harrowing, but successful, self-defense encounter up the road, but only someone more foolish than me would have bought such a story given the fact that the gun had not been fired since its last cleaning.
Anyway, my test carry resulted in the thumb safety remaining engaged. Further examination of my gun's and holster's safety features convinced me that condition 1 carry was very safe, because, even if the thumb safety did become disengaged, the trigger has to be pulled for the gun to fire, and the holster fully protects the trigger from being moved.
I encountered heightened first-timer anxiety by carrying an empty gun. I think the absurdity of that experience helped me put such anxiety behind me more quickly. And, it had the benefit of being a relatively safe way to carry concealed for the first time.
) for my first time and was self conscious but I didn't panic and nothing happened. Within a few weeks most of the self conscious thoughts went away but few are still there. I feel I have always been aware of my surroundings, has carrying increased that awareness? Maybe so but don't know for sure.