 Don't talk to me about a 911 call. Don't talk to me about how things are gonna go down and you're gonna have a way to know when it's gonna happen because you rubbed your little crystal ball. Hey there friends, thanks for checking in. A couple days ago, I made a community post reaching out to everybody saying, let me know what you think are the three to five biggest mistakes people make when concealed carrying. And I got some great feedback. I read each and every comment, came up with five of which I want to talk about that I believe are big CCW mistakes. So let's get to it. The first one that I think is so vital is that people don't practice enough with their carry gun. We get so used to carrying it every day it becomes part of our body. It's completely normal for us to carry but we don't practice with it. And that is a big mistake. That is the very gun that we're potentially going to use for self-defense and we don't practice with it. And I have to remind myself to do that at times. Also put some fresh ammo in there every now and again. Shoot up your carry ammo. Get rid of it, put some fresh ammo in there. Make sure it feeds, fire and ejects. Not all self-defense rounds are the same. You look at, although the bullet weight may be same but you look at the height of your self-defense rounds. Some handguns may have trouble with that specific round so practice with it. Use your carry ammo. Know what to expect with it and you will be more confident with it and that's really what we're looking for. Confidence, not just in the carry but in the shooting accuracy and how well it performs with us behind the trigger. Many people get the perfect carry gun for them. They practice with it but they have crap gear. And we'll start with the belt. The flimsy belt won't cut it. Once you carry with a gun belt, you will not go back, it's thicker. It keeps the holster and the gun more close to the body. It's easier. Here's one by We The People. Here's a dress-up belt that is a gun belt. I only wear gun belts. Here's more of a battle belt. All right, Core Essentials makes a great belt. It's got quarter inch adjustments. Here's one by Vetter. They're all over the place. To get a good belt is, I think, pretty essential but even more important than that is a good holster. Here's a leather holster. Fits nice and snug with the pistol. Here we have a kydex holster. Fits nice and snug with the pistol. One that's made specifically for that gun. These cheap Phobos holsters. I don't like them. It'll get you to the point until you get a better holster but it's really not that good and these flimsy things. You spend all this money on carry ammo, the perfect gun, maybe changing out the sights or the trigger and you put it in something like this. All flimsy, total garbage. Use these for transporting your gun so you don't scratch it in the range bag or anything else but you have to up your gear if you're gonna be serious about concealed carry. Many years ago, I was talking to a former police officer who was working at a gun store and we talked about keeping a round in the chamber and his philosophy was pretty simple. He said, if you're not gonna keep a round in the chamber then just leave your gun at home. You're wasting your time. And since then, I've studied the issue. I have always carried around in the chamber because I have seen so many videos. I have talked to too many people and when seconds count that additional step when stress is kicked in makes your whole defensive situation more difficult. Have a good holster, have a good belt, have a good carry system but carry a round in the chamber. I do that with all my carry guns I wouldn't even consider without a round in the chamber. Now I know this is something that beginning people that carry beginners, shall I say, they struggle with this. They're always worried about a negligent discharge and everything. Work through that. Get through that. Work with a good holster. Put it in a good kydex or leather holster and try as hard as you can with an unloaded firearm to try to manipulate that trigger. It won't happen if it's a specific holster for that handgun. So carry a round in the chamber. That's my advice. I know a lot of people feel strange about that. If you're one of the ones that feel strange about it, get one with a thumb safety. Specifically for me, I don't do that but I know a lot of people, it's a comfort level. And I hate the word comfort because it sounds so woke but it's important. And when you study the issue, you will see that when seconds matter, that additional step could be the difference between life and death. When people begin carrying, they have all these ideas and that's just what they are, ideas. I recommend that they talk to somebody that's been doing it a while because these ideas are many times outright psychotic. They just have this scenario of how things are gonna go down and they're going to react this way. I hear some people say, I'm going with the 1911. Now, if you've been carrying a long time and you carry 1911, great, you have that experience. I think that's excellent. For a beginner, within a week, they're gonna leave this at home. It's gonna be too cumbersome. To the opposite effect, I hear people say, I want the smallest, lightest weight gun. I don't wanna have to worry about it because all I need to do is shoot from here to five feet away because that's where most self-defense situations take place. I have an issue with that. You can't decide how most self-defense situations are gonna take place for you. You can't decide that. The criminal decides that. You can't decide when it's gonna happen or how far away they're going to be. The criminal decides that. They're not gonna make an appointment with you and you're not gonna know their schedule although they may know yours. So to be proficient and you choose the wrong gun is gonna be tough. Choosing the right gun, something in my estimation is a mid-size, something that has decent magazine capacity but it's comfortable enough to carry and when you carry it and you've shot it, you gain that confidence to take this to the range and expect to shoot holes into holes is unrealistic. Choosing the right carry gun and the right carry system. I don't think ankle carry is a good primary way to carry a firearm. I think it's a poor choice. Except when you're in the vehicle for a long time. You can retrieve that rather quickly but outside of that and also for a backup gun I think it's great but for primary carry in the ankle or people have these ideas I'll just wear a shoulder holster because they saw some detective show where they're wearing shoulder holsters. We have to talk to these people and help them out because they have no clue. They have these ideas and it becomes their reality and their reality is false. You have to choose the right carry position. I carry four o'clock right here. Been doing it for years. You have to have the right firearm and you have to practice with number five. I only carry when I go to a place where I feel like I could be in danger. Come on man, the chances are not gonna happen that you're gonna need your gun everywhere. I just, it makes me so mad. You know if you're going to carry, carry every day. And I model this every day. Why do I carry every day and why should you? Because there are people in your life that depend on you for protection. Your family depends on you for protection. Don't talk to me about a 911 call. Don't talk to me about how things are gonna go down and you're gonna have a way to know when it's gonna happen because you rubbed your little crystal ball and came up with the way it's gonna happen. Give me a break. We're talking self-defense here. We're talking an essential part of your life. We're talking about a dangerous society out there. You don't wanna be the one in front of the news camera saying, well, things like this never happened around here. I can't believe, it's just such a quiet neighborhood. We look after each other. Well, where were you? Where were you when it happened? Because you decided it wasn't important enough. You know, so you're just gonna carry where you think that there may be something going on. All of a sudden you're gonna turn into Rambo or John Wick and be the one to save the day when you lack that everyday carry experience. It makes no sense to me. So if you're gonna be committed, be all in. Carry every day, carry where you go. If you ever drive by and see me mowing my lawn, you're not gonna see the gun, I see CW, but I have a gun. Why? Am I paranoid? No, I'm cautious. And I understand that it could be a dangerous world out there. And a dangerous world means we need to protect ourselves and our families. And people are depending on you once again. So don't be that guy. Don't be the guy that's going to pretend like you're gonna prophesy how things are going to work in your life in terms of self-defense. It's not gonna happen that way. I guarantee you all you have to do is talk to people who have been in these scenarios and they will tell you everything happened so fast. I was either prepared or I wasn't prepared. Thank goodness I'm alive today because it got very scary. CCW is a passion of mine. It's something that I exercise every day. I encourage people when they have these crazy ideas or they come up with these certain situations, how things are gonna go down. That's when mistakes happen. And so if we have the right gear, the right gun, the right holster, the right carry position and we practice with that carry gun and we have the right ammo, we will be in a far better prepared situation in case we have to use our gun. And that is the reason why we decided to carry in the first place. If you like videos like this, please subscribe and share, I always appreciate thumbs up button. Thanks for watching and you guys be safe.