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Women Are Better Off Buying A Small Gun for Concealed Carry: Guns for Beginners

Robert Farago - comments No comments

Small handguns suck. There’s less mass to soak-up recoil. There’s less surface area for a secure grip. They tend to shoot smaller bullets, which create smaller wound channels, delivering less [potential] “stopping power.” In short, no. Don’t choose a small gun for everyday carry. Unless you’re an average woman . . .

It would be great if all women seeking to protect themselves, their family and their community carried a “proper” gun: a GLOCK 19, GLOCK 19-a-like semiautomatic handgun or a similarly sized revolver. With a few not-so-notable exceptions, they’re easy to shoot accurately, as reliable as a Swiss train and provide plenty of capacity. Mazeltov.

GLOCK 19C (courtesy thetruthaboutguns.com)

But most women can’t carry a GLOCK 19-sized handgun. Not all the time. It’s a wardrobe thing.

Unless they share the XY set’s penchant for wearing pants and a shirt every day of their lives, a woman’s clothing choices won’t always accommodate a full-size or even most compact-sized handguns.

Have you ever tried hiding a big ‘ole handgun wearing yoga pants or a skirt and a tight top? I’m not saying I have, but if I had I’d have been tempted to carry that gun in a handbag. (Trying conjugating those verbs in French.)

I’ve got one word for the off-body answer to the women’s concealed carry question. NON! Actually, a few more . . .

Concealed carry handbag (courtesy athenasarmory.com)

Off-body carry risks a too-late-oops-you’re-dead (and/or raped) non-presentation. And theft. Not to mention the possibility that a child could sneak into your bag, grab your gat and wreak ballistic havoc on themselves, you or innocent bystanders.

Off-body carry. Don’t do it for the children!

Which leaves aspiring female firearm schleppers where? In need of a small gun. A firearm that can be strapped to a thigh or ankle holster, slipped into a belly band, stashed in a tiny pocket, carried in their crotch, something. Anything. Every day. And that’s the key.

The above video shows a young lady packing a variety of guns into a variety of outfits. It highlights a simple fact: some women’s clothing choices accommodate a larger gun, some don’t.

Here’s the thing: very few women buy handguns like they buy shoes (e.g., different guns for different outfits). Even less are willing to change and restrict their clothing choices to suit a GLOCK 19-sized carry piece. I reckon you can round the percentage of women willing to do either down to zero.

So, if we adhere to the adage that having a gun is the first rule of a gunfight, women are well advised to buy a handgun they’re likely to be able to carry easily and comfortably every day, no matter what they wear. A small gun.

Of course there’s always open carry, in which case this whole article is more-or-less meaningless. But if we’re talking ONE GUN for women’s concealed carry, size matters. Smaller is better.

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Robert Farago

Robert Farago is the former publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.

0 thoughts on “Women Are Better Off Buying A Small Gun for Concealed Carry: Guns for Beginners”

  1. Y on God’s green worth would u need all that shit on top of yur shooter? Never mind. more stuff to buy after I’ve bot my stuff that really didn’t need stuff stuck on top of my stuff.. I like living under my rock,,, when did Ruger start making Super Blackhawks with fluted cylinders? ..

    Reply
  2. I never understand when people recommend that a woman gets a j frame revolver for a first gun. The recoil is harsh even with target .38 loads. The sights usually suck. Plus a heavy double action trigger takes a lot more skill to master than learning how to operate a strike fired semi auto.

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  3. I certainly hope he asked the pig this: “bein as this is a .44 magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, pig? …

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  4. I tend to disagree with this article.

    Some women are quite strong and quite naturally skilled with firearms. Many are not. Picking a smaller gun, as the article points out makes the gun more difficult to use which means it’s less likely she’ll actually put in the practice to master it (due to frustration) and now we’ve got someone who carries a gun that they probably can’t hit anything with, except possibly a wall or a bystander. That’s dumb. Get a slightly larger handgun that’s easier to shoot and makes the practice fun. You can get a pop gun later for a range toy.

    If you’re not willing to sacrifice a bit of fashion for safety then you are, IMHO, a dumbass and quite frankly I don’t much care what happens to you because you’re the one willfully disregarding your own safety. This goes double for women because they generally LOVE clothes shopping. So, go buy some clothes that work with your gat. Now you can waste hours of time and a ton of your husband’s money and he won’t care because now you’re carrying a decent pistola. See, it’s fun! Everyone wins! Yay!

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  5. “I’m still a guy” But:
    Ruger LCR in anything but .357! Glock 26!

    I hate iddy-biddy semi-autos (like Ruger LCP)! I wanted Glock 27, but it is too snappy.
    I hate 9mm’s (although you must have one or two). Glock 26!

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  6. I am considering this holster for a Glock 40 mos I just purchased for hunting. My concern is noise. I have never used a kydex holster but one reviewer mentioned the click in, click out retention. How much noise is made drawing the gun? Is it metal on plastic scraping? I’m concerned with alerting close whitetails on calm days when drawing the gun.

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  7. Maybe the direction of this article should address the ridiculous norms of women’s fashion, and not buying a poor choice of tool trying to accommodate impractical/skimpy/ho-bag clothing. When you think of it from a purely practical standpoint, most women dress idiotically.

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  8. Why not a fanny pack style holster? My wife keeps her 4.2″ SP101 in and while I am not much of a judge of fashion it looks fine to me. The odd thing is that no one seems to guess what’s in it. It seems to be in between purse carry and a normal belt holster in speed and complexity of motion.

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  9. I think the advice in this article is 1000% spot on.

    Sure, sub-compact semi-auto handguns and j-frame revolvers have snappy recoil. Guess what: it doesn’t matter! Why? Because:
    (1) No one is going to feel the recoil of their handgun during an actual attack.
    (2) No one needs marksmanship practice to be able to reliably shoot a man-sized attacker who is five feet away. Thus, women who carry a snappy handgun and refuse to practice because of that snappy recoil will do fine anyway!

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  10. The best handgun for concealment is the smallest one in the biggest caliber the owner can shoot well. The same applies to men, too. They might like to carry a full size .45 but, to be socially acceptable, have to make do with a .380 in a pocket holster.

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  11. Everyone has it wrong. Why Australian Style Gun Control Wouldn’t Work in America is simple, it wasn’t Paul Hogan AKA Crocodile Dundee who raised a rifle above his head and proclaimed in words that will last an eternity:
    “From These Cold Dead Hands!
    *************************** AND MEANT IT *******************************

    Reply
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  13. I “think” that “most” women will purchase one pistol. Some women have really small hands; others have plenty larger hands than I have. I really think is more about the combination of hand size/strength vs. recoil. Pretty much same as for a man but biased toward less recoil and fitting a smaller hand. Shield in 9mm, Sig 238 have minimal recoil for respective cartridge. Ruger LCP2 is not bad for its size. Just my experience. And then there is the clothing issue, which as the article notes, biases toward smaller size handguns. Having said all this, one woman I used to know (co-worker, not girlfriend) had a .45 semi. She had larger hands than many women but was quite feminine in all the other attributes. I also had a female employee who was a bit on the large-boned side. She carried a Judge. A couple of us males just about sh@t when she told us. Then told us her dad was a retired Marine Corps DI and taught her how to shoot it. Both of these ladies purse-carried. While it might not be the “approved” way to carry, it would have been a really dumb move to have tangled with either one.

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  14. I just traded for an XDM in .45 that was converted to 460 Rowland. Genuine Rowland conversion. Shoots wonderfully. Can’t wait to get a hog in front of it. Took it deer hunting and saw 8 Turkeys….figures. Using Underwood 230 grain HP. 1400 fps.

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  15. A gun really needs to fit so you can control it properly and hit the target. I know women around 5′ whose index/middle/ring fingers are the same size as my little finger, and my hands are smaller than my wife’s. A couple guns that I’ve found to fit people with smaller hands are the Sig P239 with the short trigger modification, and the 9mm 80-90% scale 1911s. Revolvers are tough for some people to pull the trigger unless they’re cocked first. Sometimes, the pocket pistols are all that they can get their hands around. Once a suitable gun is found, you can figure out a carry method to fit body shape, wardrobe, activity, etc.

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  16. hope these blokes sue for wrongful dismissal and….sue HARD;
    this is some-thing that the NRA/ILA needs to take up….
    (should we hold our breaths [?] )

    Reply
  17. Are you kidding me? Guys!

    If I tried to chose the gun my wife carried, I would be divorced. Look, it is her decision. encourage her to take classes with woman instructors and join women oriented gun clubs. Take her to the range, rent different guns, and ask her shoot them. The point is that this is her journey, and the decision is hers. With good training, she will likely make a better decision than you anyway.

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  18. too old to practice all the un armed drills, keep whacking up the targets accidentally when doing Kurkri drills , usually run out of ammo before I can get into training mode, trigger finger gets stiff after a couple thousand rounds or so. some fancy gun trainer about half my age tells me that I’m doing old school stuff and it does not apply in today’s world, guess my understanding of a gun fight is out dated, so now I just practice blowing up empty beer cans being tossed of the porch then dance them on the ground giving me time to finish another one, yup porch shooting training at it’s best

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  19. Yes they are.

    Definition of insane:
    2 law : unsoundness of mind or lack of the ability to understand that prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or that releases one from criminal or civil responsibility.

    I think that the definition pretty well sums it up for gun control advocates. It is the case with the insane that they cannot observe with is in front of them and hence cannot make any accurate decision about it. They act on either delusion or fixed ideas that have no basis in reality. For example background checks, few if any shootings would have been different as you are either dealing with criminals who buy guns illegally (they re criminals right?) or the other crazy people, usually Libs, that passed the background check and then killed. They cannot observe the truth and make a sane decision from the observation = CRAZY!!

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  20. Marion Hammer is next to useless. She has been on my shit list since her misguided lies about machine guns and bump-stocks in October. The fact that she tries to lie about other allied organizations just confirms my thoughts on her.

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  21. I volunteered as an assistant rangemaster at my boys’ Cub Scout BB rifle range. The four rules came before every shooting session (I already had them memorize them). Safety ensured, I taught them to sight, breathe and squeeze. As with fishing, success increases enthusiasm. An old Stevens 66B was their first firearm. The extractor is worn on it, so it’s practically a single shot. Their next (and still their favorite) is a Heritage Rough Rider SAA clone.

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  22. I do not write a leave a response, but I looked at
    a few of the comments here Gear Review: Meprolight FT Bullseye Sight – The Truth About Guns.
    I actually do have 2 questions for you if it’s okay.
    Could it be just me or do some of the remarks come across like they are left by brain dead
    visitors? 😛 And, if you are writing on additional sites, I would like to keep up with everything fresh you have
    to post. Would you list of all of your shared pages like your linkedin profile, Facebook page or twitter feed?

    Reply
  23. If I couldn’t get sharks with frikkin’ laser beams mounted on their heads what makes you think you can get dino’s with lasers?

    And why do the dino’s need armor. According to the movies they’re naturally bulletproof and guns in the hands of the humans are always useless.

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  24. Honestly, that sledgehammer-to-the-TV bit was a whole lot more dramatic back when CRTs were still a thing. Kind of an anticlimax nowadays. NRA has officially jumped the shark if they think that kind of stunt will garner any fresh support. It’s bound to get a lot of blowback as a ‘blatant call to violence’ though. Just wait for it.

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  25. POS FOX News, and all other MSMs are lumping this with all the other “school shootings since 1999 Columbine”.

    Gun-control pitch details @ 11 PM . . .

    Again, and still, F em all.

    Reply

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