Your first day carrying concealed?

[Dean407]

Wondering if members could share their feelings of the very first day they carried a weapon out in public, concealed?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Stormtruck2]

My first day I felt like I had a huge neon flashing sign over my head saying" Officer! Over here! He has a gun!! Maybe his paperwork ain't perfect." Also felt like my weapon printed so bad that EVERYONE knew I had a weapon on me. It went away a couple days later. Now I feel naked without my weapon on me. Now I feel like a big neon sign is over me saying "BG, I'm disarmed. Attack me!" No wonder I hate no gun zones. LOL

[TN_Mike]

It was almost 18 years ago and in Mobile Alabama.

I was completely sure that everyone could tell I had a gun on and was watching me intently.

I was nervous, I was self conscious and just a little scared about what might happen if someone did figure out I had a gun and called the police.

But, no one knew or cared. I carried all day and the longer I had the gun on, the better I felt about it until at the end of the day, I didn't even think about it.

I look back now at the gun I carried, a full size Taurus PT-99 and the holster I used which was a pretty cheap IWB holster and I wonder what the heck I was thinking. I wouldn't carry that gun now (I still own it by the way) in that holster unless I had absolutely no other gun-holster combo in my inventory at all. And then I'd only wear it to the store to purchase a new gun-holster set up.

[Ten_Ring]

Simply put.... I felt safe and scared at the same time. Wondering if I had to use it would I or would I take a round to the chest before I decided to shoot. Looking back..... I wasn't as prepared a I thought.

[JPP]

I think I reached down to "touch" the P239 a couple of dozen times......... still do once in a while, but not like I used to!
I felt like I was trying to "hide" a bazooka from everyone!
I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about.

JP

[Impax]

It was January of this year so I was carrying my Sig 226 in a Sig Tac concealed carry jacket. I went to dinner with my wife and parents and swore people were staring at my gun through the jacket.

[target1911]

I felt safe and scared at the same time

+1...........NEON SIGN+1

[P95Carry]

Oh yes - remember that very well - 5 1/2 years ago. This was of course pre DefCarry days and the famous WW visit!

However, I left the Sheriff's office, and loaded up in the truck - placed snub in holster and set off for town with a list of things to do - which actually did include a WW visit!

I certainly was very aware of the gun's presence on my hip but having done much house carry before it was not too much of a novelty! Main thing was being very aware that now things would require adaptation. Carry garment choices, staying outa trouble and being even more alert and aware than before.

I was aware too that I was legally armed and while I did know that no one was any the wiser, there was still a very definite sense of knowing it was there.

A week or two - and all that was gone.

[maclean3]

Like Chris, I'd spent several weeks carrying around the house while waiting for my permit to arrive. That gave me time to get use to feeling a gun shoved into my waistband and also to test out my concealment methods (undershirts, cover shirts, etc). By the time my permit arrived I was totally comfortable going out in public while armed.
Jack

[QKShooter]

Truthfully, I fell right into it.
I knew that before I was old enough to carry concealed that I would just as soon as I legally could.
Back then it was before PA was a Shall Issue State and so immediately after getting Sheriff approval and my LTC - I carried.
I was known to my gun dealer who sold to the Sheriffs Dept. & so I got my PA LTC approval quite quickly.
It felt like a part of me that was missing suddenly became reattached. I was not uncomfortable with it at at all.
I loved carrying from day one.
Now (many years later) it's just a big P.I.T.A. but, I always do carry anyway.

[randytulsa2]

Paranoid.

But I got better real quick.

[luvmy40]

It was almost 17 years ago. I lived in El Paso, TX There was a large gang population and one of the initiations was to rob a 7-11. I was the night man at one of the more secluded stores. I had been held up at gun-point twice so, against company policy and other statutes I'm sure, I started carrying my Lamma .45 1911.
I was young, stupid and untrained, except for my military weapons training which was by all standards sub-par in the area hand guns. Fortunately I moved back to Ohio before there was another robbery attempted. Who knows what would have happened if someone had pointed a gun at me. I certainly was not prepared physically or strategically for the possibility.
Back to the point of the thread... I felt ten feet tall and bullet proof! man was I an idiot!

[GotSig?]

It was 3 years ago, i remember it well. I did the wallyworld visit, then Winndixie. I could have sworn that everyone knew.

[Echo_Four]

The day was pretty uneventful actually. I wasn't as paranoid that someone may see it as people here seemed to be their first day. I did catch myself checking it several times. Oh, and I learned that a quality holster is a must. I was carrying in a Don Hummer 715 which decided to jump out of my pants in a parking lot. Luckily I felt it going and was able to catch it while it was still under the cover garment and beat feet back to the truck to fix the problem.

[ccw9mm]

It felt a bit like having a huge flashing sign over my head, sure. But, after a week of going out with nothing happening and nobody caring or noticing, it became about as eventful as carrying my keys with me.

Of course, on rare occasions, it goes "bump" against something, or shifts to the point it "prints" a little bit. In those instances, simply ignore the noise or slightly adjust the stance/clothing to eliminate the printing. The reality is, it's perfectly legal to carry, nobody really cares if I am carrying, and if done as a simple matter of adjusting myself before going on, nobody gets in a twist. And that's the way it should be: just another day.