Low-Profile HolsterMany holsters are more expensive. Many holsters only fit one gun. Many holsters are only right or left handed. Not the Tactical Tailor Low-Profile Holsters. For less than $20 you get a truly universal belt holster that will fit most any medium or large frame auto pistol. The holster is fully ambidextrous for right or left side wear (or crossdraw) with a thumb break. This heavy duty holster will last a lifetime and be there anytime you need a “new” holster.
Flashbang HolstersWe discovered the Flashbang Women’s Holster while continuing our quest to help the women in our lives find a suitable concealed carry solution. And while this holster seems to break Rule #1 of firearms (Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction) we have not inspected one in situ to confirm. That said, the Flashbang is a totally revolutionary design where the handgun is drawn down from the holster. For most women, the Flashbang presents another concealed carry option to ensure they always carry.
Minotaur MTAC HolsterThis is our daily (EDC) holster in which we carry a Glock 27. We also have a Minotaur for the Kel-tec P11 we recently acquired (for summer). We love this holster! In fact, we believe the Minotaur is simply the best IWB holster for concealed carry. It is well made, comfortable to wear, highly concealable, tuckable, easy to draw (and reholster) and holds up well to daily use. Plus Comp-Tac offers excellent customer service – we once broke a connector and they shipped us replacement parts and a new leather at no cost. While our holster drawer is literally overflowing from trial and error, this is the one we come back to almost everyday.
Recluse HolstersWe discovered the Recluse Holster on OneInchGroup.com, a new daily read that we recommend! While our daily carry is Glock 27, we do sometimes pocket carry a S&W J-frame so this looks like a good option. We love the innovative design of the Recluse Holsters – it’s nice to see something totally new. We added this to our wishlist of holsters, which tends to grow quite long at times. Photo Credit: OneInchGroup.com
The Truth About Guns, one of our daily reads, recently posted this classic piece of research and graphic design from Megan Jaegerman, called How To Spot A Hidden Handgun.
Ms. Jaegerman’s work is at the crossroads of two of our passions – graphic design and firearms. Sadly, Ms. Jaegerman does not share our passion for firearms but thankfully that seemed to have no impact on her excellent reporting and design work. Edward Tufte is one of our design-hereos and Mr. Tufte has a great review and discussion of the design on his site here. Your bookshelf is empty without his three key works; Visual Explanations, The Visual Display Of Quantitative Information and Envisioning Information.
We wanted to share some additional background on both the design itself as well as a key finding which is articulated in the work…that criminals do not use holsters. In fact, if you look at the examples, a majority would be minimized or eliminated by using a holster. So the fact that criminals do not use holsters becomes a key aspect of the work. This fact is often stated, so we thought we would share the original research that elucidated this finding. So here is the original FBI report titled “Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers.”
Violent Encounters, A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers by DOJ
As noted by The Force Science Research Center:
These and other weapons-related findings comprise one chapter in a 180-page research summary called “Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers.” The study is the third in a series of long investigations into fatal and nonfatal attacks on POs by the FBI team of Dr. Anthony Pinizzotto, clinical forensic psychologist, and Ed Davis, criminal investigative instructor, both with the Bureau’s Behavioral Science Unit, and Charles Miller III, coordinator of the LEOs Killed and Assaulted program.
The relevant summary from The Force Science Research Center:
The offenders said they most often hid guns on their person in the front waistband, with the groin area and the small of the back nearly tied for second place. Some occasionally gave their weapons to another person to carry, “most often a female companion.” None regularly used a holster, and about 40% at least sometimes carried a backup weapon.
We plan to research and write some additional posts on this topic in the future.
