While at work today a young man came in open carrying a Glock on his right hip in a plastic (not Kydex) holster with a retention strap. I'm not sure of the make and model of his holster and I wasn't paying too close of attention until he asked what we would give him on a trade for his Glock.
At which point he unholsters his Glock.
Now, when I say "unholster," I mean to say that he went through a three step program just to get the darned thing out of the holster.
His first task was to unsnap the retention strap. Now, most retention straps snap near the butt of the firearm where the thumb would naturally break the snap while coming in for a good grip and draw.
Not this holster.
The retention snap was on the right side of the holster by the trigger of the glock and required a whole separate motion to unsnap the strap then to move the hand to a good grip on the Glock.
If that weren't enough, when he went to remove the firearm from the holster he pulled up--only about a quarter of an inch--and then straight back where the Glock finally broke free from the holster and the force of his pull made his hand and therefore gun swing wildly back and out before he could bring the gun forward.
Finally he removed the magazine from the gun and handed it to a coworker stating, "I never carry with a round in the chamber."
A check of the chamber insured that he was correct. The chamber was empty.
The first thing that came to my mind was that after ALL that he STILL had to chamber a round before his gun was ready for action.
Curious as to how in the world this system worked I looked a little closer and saw that he had a rather large laser attachment on the bottom of his Glock and that the holster was designed to accommodate such an addition by having no "back" portion that could interfere with whatever attachment was on the firearm. However, because nothing was holding the Glock in place from the back it was being held by the front and sides making a draw to the front impossible. Moreover, the bulk of his laser prevented him from drawing straight up as his retention strap would catch on his laser, hence the draw straight to the rear. Finally, there is a lip of plastic about a quarter of an inch thick around the bottom of the holster to insure that the muzzle of the gun cannot slip back and out, but of course that requires the gun be first pulled up before it can be pulled back.
I had to wonder what part of this system made him think it was optimal for self defense (or anything other than just holding a gun).
Watching him reholster was almost just as entertaining.
He inserted the magazine, swept the gun far back behind the holster so that he could come in straight from the back instead of from above. The Glock snapped into the holster, he pushing it down the quarter inch and then wrapped the retention strap around the back and snapped it in place.
When he left I looked at my coworker and said, "I pray to God he never has to get that thing out in a hurry. Did you see what all was involved in drawing from that holster? AND he doesn't carry with a round chambered?" I made a nice little amazed whistle and my coworker shook his head.
What's more disturbing than this kid (he was maybe 25) thinking that this was a good set up is that some holster maker actually designed this contraption and someone else approved the design and said, "Yeah. That's a good rig. Let's make it and sell it."
Where do they come up with this stuff?