By Brandon via concealednation.org

For the most part, we likely get this business done in the comfort of our own homes. What, though, should you do with your holstered firearm when doing the deed? There’s no perfect way for everyone, but here are some tips to help make things a little easier and hopefully more comfortable . . .

Tip #1 – Keep your firearm holstered. There is no reason to unholster your firearm.

Tip #2 – Along the  lines of keeping your firearm holstered, you also shouldn’t be putting your firearm anywhere that you don’t have 100% control over it. That includes places like on the back of the toilet, on the toilet paper dispenser, etc.

gunsbathroom-1024x674

Tip #3 – Try to get corner stall. If the stall panels are high, you only have to worry about being spotted on one side. Your firearm shouldn’t be spotted at all, but this gives you 50% less of a chance of that happening if things go wrong.

Tip #4 – If you’re in a place like walmart, try going to the ‘family restrooms’ that are usually located in the back of the store. You’ll be the only one in there and have the entire restroom to yourself, and can lock the door securely.

Tip #5 – As demonstrated in the above video, don’t put pants all the way down. Keep them around your knees, and use your knees to push on both sides so that the firearm stays in place as if it were on your hip. An even better thing to do in combination with this is to re-buckle your belt.

ScreenHunter_563-May.-06-21.35-1024x576

Tip #5 – Another thing covered in the video: Don’t fold the firearm and holster over. Once you do that, now the gun is pointing up, and that’s not safe. We should always be making sure that we’re aware of the direction our firearm is pointed at all times, just as we normally would any other time.

Tip #6 – Take your time pulling your pants down and bringing them back up. There is no rush (unless you just had taco bell or bad sushi). Make sure the firearm and holster isn’t

flopping around. You want it to be in a tight, secure position while you’re doing your business.

Tip #7 – If you’re a “hover-over-the-toilet-to-wipe” person, pay extra attention to your rig while you’re . . . hovering. One bad move and your holster could do a 180 on you and depending on retention (or lack thereof), could land your baby on the floor and if that happens, you may have some problems: such as a damaged firearm, someone seeing the drop, etc. Seriously, take the extra time to be careful and mindful of your rig and what it’s doing.

Or just wear adult diapers when you go out.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

74 COMMENTS

  1. Now this is a great informative article for beginners! In Iraq I got quite used to having to No. 2 with all kinds of BS in a porta shitter. Banging around in a porta shitter with 80lbs worth of gear and gun while its 120 degrees out was sure fun. Especially when Saddam’s revenge came around. I would suggest holding your gun while it remains in the holster, then wipe with one hand before you put your gun anywhere so you don’t get shit on yourself. Also, please flush. I’ve noticed people seem to have issues with that these days.

    • Nothing like losing 20 lbs while taking a shit in a summertime heated porta shitter, 5lbs from the crap you unload and 15 pounds in water weight. Does make the air outside seem extra fresh and air conditioned afterwards.

      Also, can people not piss all over the floor for once.

    • Omg, don’t give some desperately-seeking-relevance legislator any ideas. It’s bad enough they’re already focusing on new transgender restroom rules.

  3. Wear a substantial leather belt that fits snuggly through your belt loops, and loop the loose end over and back through your pants first belt loop on the non-buckle side to prevent it from pulling out through the belt loops from the weight of your gun.

  4. it’s good advice, but are we over-thinking armed deuce-dropping?
    My P290 has a great factory over-the-belt holster, and with my SOG belt and t#5, it’s never really been an issue.

    that said, i haven’t had a 3 alarm Thanksgiving 4th helping of ham and beans move heaven and earth bathroom emergency whilst carrying. that may require more planning if you know you’ll be “bearing down”.

    the comments on this thread are going to be magical…

    • Most shoulder holster designs I’ve seen attach to the belt via a loop, so… no. I’ll just add this EDC problem to my list of why I avoid public toilets even to the point of personal discomfort.

      • A snap on the belt loop part of the shoulder holster would take care of the belt problem. Also, “shitbricking” works for some but not all.

  6. Maybe I’m just different, but I’ve never had the problem of “what do I do with my gun while I take a dump?” I’ve alway just put it on the back of the toilet or on the TP holder. The. You have guys saying, “you’ll forgot about it”. It’s all a little something called being responsible.

    • I use the TP holder or other suitable location as a platform to stow my main sidearm. I’m mostly carrying a single action revolver with a short barrel these days so it is sitting on my leg or in my hand when there’s not a suitable location. Whenever I prepare to leave anywhere I’ve been for more than a minute or two, I instinctively pat each location that ought to have some gear (firearms, magazine, knife, phone, wallet, etc). It probably looks a little OCDish but I’m glad to have developed the habit many, many years ago.

      For beginners, I give similar suggestions as in this article.

  7. Since I live in a relatively low-threat region, I choose to carry my BG380 or G42 holstered, in my pocket. I still take care when dropping trou or pulling them up.

    It’s SOOOooo much better than having all the junk to carry around in Iraq. Thanks AllAmerican, for the reminder…

  8. I think sometimes (really scary stalls) unholstering and holding in one hand is fine if you still keep the muzzle pointed in a decent direction and your finger away from the trigger. It is not going to go off just because it is in your hand. That said, I usually do just as he suggests.

  10. Tip #7
    That’s a new phrase for me. What exactly is a “Hover over the toilet person” Have I been missing something. Is this some kind of “Drone” term?
    Because of my recent radiation treatments for “where the sun don’t shine” cancer, I have to “go” a lot, and it is frequently in Walmart. Now I know where they the got the name, high stall walls!

    And, “adult diapers” wont cut it. Who wants to carry around a “load”

    I put my piece in my front pocket when I “sit”.

  11. What do you do
    In the loo
    When you
    Must doo doo?

    Don’t drop the gat
    In the crap vat.

    I hate sh!tty guns……….

  12. I poop once a day when I first get up, takes about 20 seconds at most of “seat time “. Non issue.

    • Twenty seconds??
      Christ! I can’t even work up a good fart in that length of time!

        • I know where your coming from. There is one thing that usually takes me less than twenty seconds though, and the wife’s not too happy about it!

    • Check in with us when you’re 70 years old, you might not feel so cocky! Or did you think we WANTED to have to crap at Walmart?

  13. I figure if you dress around the gun, you can move your bowels around the gun, too, and avoid public restrooms most of the time. When you can’t, the tips above are all useful. Main thing is to keep control of that firearm on your person, no matter what.

    I actually have more difficulty with urinals, where a rig really weighs down open pants.

    • Not trying to be a smart ass, but why do you open your pants to take a leak? Don’t you have a zipper in front.
      Reminds me of the story about the guy who put his pants on backwards, so he wouldn’t have to pull them down to take a crap!

      • I open carry and usually wear a button up shirt that’s tucked in. There are layers; underwear (drawers and T shirt), outer shirt, and pants. For me, it’s just easier to drop trouser even to piss. Trying to get all the clothing layers tucked back in and the gig line straight without dropping pants is problematic for me. I don’t always drop pants but most of the time I do. Of course, if a urinal is all that is available, my single action revolver goes on top of the urinal (belt unbuckled but trousers up). Gotta love an open carry state… I get in trouble if someone sees my gun but not if someone sees my firearm. 😉

        • I understand your situation, however I’m wondering how you carry your piece. If you carry OWB, or IWB, than you would be wearing your shirt outside your pants, to keep it concealed, or of course, you may not be carrying concealed.
          Not really any of my business, just curious.

        • I use OWB holsters. I don’t think that I even have any IWB holsters around anymore; never really cottoned to using them. I know that the shoulder holsters were given away years ago. Usually, I carry in a Tom Threepersons holster but also have a few OWB pancake types. When I do conceal, I do so half-heartedly. I primarily OC anymore. If I want deeper concealment, it’s a full sized 1911 in an OWB pancake with a throw over button up shirt (no tucked in shirt) or most likely a Hawaiian shirt.

    • I wonder how many people don’t give a…crap…about this article.

      My money is on gun carriers who maintain the requisite S/A and presence of mind to carry competently don’t have any issue regarding crapper operations when it comes to using the toilet.

      • There are many articles in this blog that some folks don’t “give a crap” about. I just pass them by, and go onto another more interesting article, with out leaving a negative comment.

  15. “For the most part, we likely get this business done in the comfort of our own homes.”

    Speak for yourself. I make it a point to use the work facilities, on the clock.

    If I have to put up with sh!t while I’m there, I’m gonna leave some.

    Thankfully I’m like ’20 seconds’ Larry above.

    Happiness truly is a healthy lower intestinal tract… (ProTip: Dietary fiber 🙂 )

    Oh, the gun thing?

    A stainless dogtag chain is around my neck, just loop it through the trigger guard.

  16. Solution: Eat plenty of fiber in your diet & adopt a crack O’ dawn bombing mission profile.

    In all seriousness. It works for me, & there’s no issues with dropping trou, & a deuce, in a non-home based location. Then again, I have a cast iron stomach (I’m fond of Carolina Reapers, Bhut Jolokia, Habanero’s & such), usually. There’s always that once, in every lifetime. So not much issue with emergency overpressure from the nether regions.

    After learning a hard lesson once upon a time in Mexico, I also tend to stay away from non-boiled/non-pasteurized/non-distilled liquids in unfamiliar locales. Amoebic dysentery was a one-time only learning experience which I’m loathe to repeat.

    As a kid, I once encountered a blown up & burned down bathroom stall, with the walls painted in a nasty shade of brown in a gas station in the late 70’s, & I now know a little too intimately how it happened. Explosive crap’s & leaking bungs are not funny except in extreme retrospective, years later.

    Anyway, I spent a few days with my stomach doing highly elliptical orbits around my azz with what felt like liquid-eque lava pouring from a broken soft serve dispenser. All whilst desperately wishing for a snow cone to wipe with…

    It’s a good thing I wasn’t carrying. Prolly the only thing that would’ve kept me from ending that miserable experience permanently, was the fact that the body would be found in likely the most atrocious puddle of filth ever. Lol! That my friends, is an experience you carry with you for a lifetime.

    You guys should’ve known this sort of story would appear in the comment section, with a subject line like this. 😀

    • After reading your story, I wanted to give up going to the bathroom all together! I figure people have been saying I’m full of it, guess I might prove them right.

      BTW: You’re a good story teller. It was almost like being there. O_o

  17. Another trick…. If you carry IWB.

    Leave the firearm in the holster. Leave the holster in place, as well.

    When you “drop trou,” take the elastic waistband of your skivvies and pull it up and over the grip of your pistol. This will keep it out of view from the prying eyes of your “neighbors.”

  18. Years ago I went in a stall to “sit” at a bowling ally. Just as I sat down, I noticed in the next stall over, two pair of high heels, with legs attached, facing each other,! OMG! I thought I went in the ladies room! My whole life flashed before my eyes!
    Then I realized that I hadn’t missed my mark, as I went to this ally on numerous occasions, and was familiar with the layout.
    I got up as soon as I could, and went out to tell the guys that I was with, my frightening experience. In a while the two gals came out, both drunk! They left the ally, and probably never knew of their mistake.

  19. if you’re on the can and a shooting happens. what course of action do you take?

    draw and then pants up?
    pants up then draw?
    draw and step out of pants!?
    pinch it off? finish?
    hike up my feet and cover the one door?

  21. I don’t shit in public restrooms lol. Shit and piss all over the damn place. No thanks.

  22. Wait, you guys leave your pants around your ankles when you go? I thought we were supposed to take our pants completely off.

  23. Checked every stall in the airport today, but alas, no glocks, not even a Jennings or a hi~point.

  24. As a guy with very young children, please don’t use the family restroom if you don’t have any of your own with you. They are called family restrooms for a reason, parents use them when they or one of their young children have to go to the bathroom and mothers use them to nurse their infants, there is usually only one and it wasn’t put there so you could have a more private place to take a dump.

  25. Don’t poop in public, problem solved. Also, pooping at Walmart? That sounds dangerous.

  26. During a Battle in WWII, Merill’s Marauders cut the seat out of their pants so they could crap and fight the Japanese at the same time.

  27. I disagree with Tip #5. I don’t think it’s a big deal to be muzzled by a holstered, drop safe firearm. Guns don’t just “go off”. That firearm is in no position to go off, as the trigger is covered. Of course, ideally the gun would also be pointed in a safe direction, but this is akin to not crossing the line of fire of a gun on a table. There’s no danger of the trigger being pulled, and thus no danger of the gun going off, unless you had a hangfire in the last minute or two.

    Just get a holster you can remove easily and put it inside your lowered pants, between your legs and out of sight even from Prince Randian, the Human Caterpillar. Those using shoulder or pocket holsters shouldn’t have to do anything at all, as their guns will remain out of sight.

  30. Well, if you work for the White House, you can just leave your gun in the toilet stall; no problem!

  31. Ladies have to sit down and tinkle too. We wipe from front to back so you don’t have to eat sh**

  32. By the way. Just hold your little pistols in your mouth. Barrel end finger off trigger? This whole subject is stupid because you insecure guys get off on how good You poop.
    Try giving birth. At least it’s stretched enough to hold pistol there while in powder room.

  33. I can only hope there was a site like this for us women.
    How bout “Truth About Ladies and Guns”
    My hubby showed me this because of the poop stuff for a laugh. Looked at other articles and found no female input.
    Hey PR nice gentlemanly come back on my sick comments.

    • “Hey PR nice gentlemanly come back on my sick comments.”

      Not knowing you, I’m unable to discern if that was sarcasm or not…

      My sister told me years ago:

      “All men are pigs. If you forget it, they will remind you of it…” 🙂

      “How bout “Truth About Ladies and Guns””

      In all seriousness, write something up, RF may like to publish it…

      🙂

    • “My hubby showed me this because of the poop stuff for a laugh. Looked at other articles and found no female input.”

      A number of ladies can be found in the comment section of TTAG, read and comment, add to the number. (A thick skin helps in TTAG).

  35. Got the solution for all of you, including Amy, and your husband.
    Did you watch “Shark Tank” to night? If so, then “Squatty Potty” is the answer. Keeps your feet off the floor, so you can drop your drawers and stow your piece without it going all the way to the floor.
    Great idea, I shit you not! Pun intended.

  36. Finally watched the video. Gotta know, how many of you have ever gone into a public rest room, and found carpet on the floor, in the stalls?

  38. is there a better suited belt that would also help in the case of keeping your weapon upright instead of flopping over?

Comments are closed.