It’s A Good Way to Blow Your Hand Off and Two Other Reasons Not to Carry a Gun In A Handbag

Found this pic at ammoland.com. It’s above a press release from Ohioans for Concealed Carry (OCC), who’d like their lame duck Gov to sign a bill allowing “restaurant carry.” Me, I’m all about permit holders exercising their Second Amendment rights without molestation unless there’s a sign specifically prohibiting it (as is the right of any private property owner). But I find it hard to concentrate on gun rights issues when I’m staring at an image of a woman who’s muzzle control makes a rabid rottweiler look like a placid pooch . . .

I find it difficult to believe that OCC and the Ammoland eds published this image of a woman on the cusp of self-amputation. OK, she’d need to tilt the gun a couple of degree to fully dismember herself, but tell me that gun’s not going to rotate as she replaces it. What’s that you say? She’s extracting the weapon? Oh, so it WAS pointed at her hand. That’s OK then.

1. I think it’s safe to say that safety tops our list of “why handbag carry is a bad idea”—especially if the gun in question is a combat-style semi-automatic pistol. You know; the kind of gun with a relatively light trigger pull (at least compared to a double-action revolver) that goes off if you squeeze the trigger.

What’s the natural way to grab something? You wrap your hand around it and squeeze your fingers to grip it. A semi in a holster doesn’t fall afoul of this natural inclination because you train yourself NOT to put your finger on the trigger. Yes? Put a gun in a bag where you can’t see it and squeeze it you will, without knowing which way it’s pointing.

That’s doubly true in an emergency. There are handbags (like this one) with special compartments that strap down a gun in a predictable place, facing a given direction. With enough training, you can eliminate safety issues. Hold on. Has any member of our Armed Intelligentsia ever seen anyone(male or female) at a range practice drawing a gun from a handbag?

2. Speed, or lack thereof, is reason two. Look at that pic again. The model’s support hand is holding the bag. Makes sense. The holster (i.e. bag) isn’t fixed—as it would be if it were attached to a belt. The pistol-packing Mama needs to hold her bag with her weak hand to extract her gun.

Awkward. I’d like to see her try that sitting down. Or running. In any case, it’s a two-handed operation—sacrificing one of the main advantages of a handgun. You can’t block an attack, make an attack or push a child out of the way with your free hand if you don’t have one available (assuming you haven’t blown it off in a negligent discharge).

Oops! I forgot: she’s got to pull down the side zipper first. That couldn’t possibly go wrong. I mean, she wouldn’t yank the bag too hard in a crisis would she? Or struggle to find that big-ass zipper?

And this is all based on a specifically-designed handbag holster. What if our aspiring restaurant carrier was carrying a normal handbag? If a woman—and I’m not naming names—has trouble finding a purse or a phone in her bag, what the bet she’ll lose precious seconds when she’s pawing through it in an emergency?

3. A gun that’s in a bag that’s not [surgically] attached to your person can get lost/stolen. Then what? Not only do you not have your gun, someone else does. Can you imagine the paperwork? Given the safety and speed considerations above, a woman would be better off hitting the perp with the bag, Ruth Buzzi-style. Which you can’t do if someone steals your bag.

Carrying a gun is major inconvenience (until it isn’t). Deal with it. But not like this.