Secret Service Report - spotting a weapon

[Jusme]

A lot of it will be body language, coming in and out without buying anything or looking at anything in particular, wearing clothing inappropriate for the weather conditions, hooded sweatshirt in warm weather, hands in pockets all the time,dark glasses after dark, lurking around the exterior during the times when there are the fewest number of people around. Never hesitate to call in any suspicious people, they may be harmless, but better safe than sorry.

I see the suspiciously sweatshirt in unreal weather conditions a lot around here. Why would you wear a hoodie when it's 100+ and humid unless you're up to something?

Many teens will do that.... my own included. Maybe not 100 degrees, but I have seen him wear them in 85 degrees...

It goes with the ridiculous knit cap. I think they're just trying to cover up their unwashed hair.

Yeah I agree one or two of the things I mentioned may not be necessarily suspicious by themselves, but too many times the victim noticed their attacker, but didn't feel alarmed until their was a gun or knife in their face. I was just pointing out that situational awareness is the best defense rather than try to locate a possible concealed weapon.

[treadlightly]

When I got my CHL, I got a tuck IWB holster and was mildly concerned the visible belt clips would be a dead giveaway.

I still think they are a giveaway - they would be for me - but in real life out and about with my fellow free citizens, not so much. If people notice, they either don't connect the dots or don't make a fuss about it.

Pretty quick I got over any concern.

[AJSully421]

I sell health insurance / medicare, and often go to the hood here in Fort Worth to work with those that have both Medicaid and Medicare or obamacare.

I see someone carrying almost once per week. 99% of the time, I assume that it is illegally (I guess that makes me a racist....) Everything that was said here is 100% true. They cannot so much as step up or down off a curb without grabbing their pistol to make sure it doesn't fall. They don't use holsters so that they can run and toss the gun and there is no "residual evidence" that they had a pistol on them.

Spotting a legal CHL'er using a good holster is a little more difficult, but most of us give it away if someone is looking hard enough. I spotted a guy at Academy the other day because he got out of his truck, adjusted his pistol, triple checked his shirt to make sure it was covering his pistol, and then when he bent down to grab something in the floor of his back seat, I got a great print of a G19 / Sig 229 / other compact size pistol.

[Jago668]

The problem with adjusting. I did that before I started carrying. For me and my belly, the comfort location of my jeans isn't the same for sitting in the car and walking around. Carrying a pistol didn't change that. Other than that I don't have to pull my pants up all the time, I don't touch the gun, I don't constantly adjust my shirt, etc. I'm not saying I don't give off any tells, but I really try not to. The pants thing is going to stay until I lose 100 lbs (so it'll be awhile).

[RicoTX]

I have always carried my phone in my front right pocket. I carry IWB at my 3 o'clock. I have gotten in the habit that when I do check my gun...I use my palm while using my fingers to pull my phone out and look at the screen. I think even yall would have a hard time seeing that. I only do that if I just wear a tshirt, if I wear a button down shirt (closed or open) I don't even bother checking my gun. It took a few weeks to form both habits. It is surprising how I do not even feel my gun unless laying in an awkward position or when I put my seatbelt on.

My 2 cents.

[winters]

im a lefty, I guess I'm invisible to the secret service. Though most leftys use both hands equally as well.

[joe817]

im a lefty, I guess I'm invisible to the secret service. Though most leftys use both hands equally as well.

We have to. We live in a right handed world.

[SewTexas]

im a lefty, I guess I'm invisible to the secret service. Though most leftys use both hands equally as well.

We have to. We live in a right handed world.

I'm a righty who carries cross, I'm invisible too. I also think most of these things don't apply to most experienced CHL'rs

[LSUTiger]

I like to use this sort of info for misdirection.

I write left handed but do everything else, including shoot right handed.

So I carry everything but gun on left side.

When out and about I have notice police and general public will looking me over focusing on the left side batman utility belt accessories and knife clip, while totally ignoring my rightside which is where the gun is and visible IWB belt clips are when shirt is tucked.

[Ryan]

im a lefty, I guess I'm invisible to the secret service. Though most leftys use both hands equally as well.

I'm a lefty but shoot better with my right. So while they're looking at all the things I'm doing with my left hand, the gun will actually be on the right side. I guess I'd be fairly invisible to them too although I'm a OWB kinda guy and I always print just a little I'm sure. And since I don't dress around the gun ever, some days are definitely more noticeable than others.

[BCGlocker]

Good read. Thank you for posting it.

[Wag2323]

Not that I usually look at people watches but my watch is what will give me away as a lefty. I do a lot right handed though in this right hand world. Funny enough I make sure my knives can be open with either hand but I still carry it on the right.

[Pariah3j]

I would confuse them for context clues... I smoke with my left hand, I wear a watch on the left(when I actually wear one) ... I'm a righty so I have my Knife and gun on the right side. These days I've gotten to where I OC my knife, and CC the gun. So not sure if the knife on the right side would be the give away or not...

[oldshooter]

Back when Obama was campaigning, the Obama HQ (1 of the 2 in town) was downstairs in my office building. When I left work one afternoon, the building lobby was crammed with folks (judging by their car licenses outside, they were mostly from IL, WI, and MN) through whom I had to weave my way to get out to the parking lot. No one noticed I was carrying concealed, but I got to wondering what COULD have happened, since I can imagine the response of the folks in the lobby, if anyone had brushed against me and felt the .45 under my jacket. So I asked on another forum about what people thought would happen if someone had bumped into me and noticed. The best response I got was from a retired USSS type who said that it would probably depend on who was providing security. If it were a SS detail though, he said they were trained not so much to look just for someone who was armed, but for someone showing behavioral signs of nervousness or other indicators of impending aggression. He said if he were on such a detail and noticed that I looked like I might be carrying, but was obviously just passing through the lobby, he would probably just stay near me, or might ask if I were armed, ask if I had a license, etc., and so long as my behavior seemed normal for someone going home from work, would probably just keep an eye on me until I got in my car outside and drove off. He also said that various other types of security providers (PD, rental cops, etc.) might have reacted very differently, depending on their level of training, and then it might have resulted in my being dog-piled and maybe even going downtown until everything was straightened out. I thought it was an interesting insight into the USSS outlook, if the poster was being honest.

[Tracker]

Along this same line this is a good situational awareness video

http://youtu.be/FoQ1sJOEKCM