Reasons to carry more than one handgun on person

[Liberty Sanders]

One reason is strategic.

I carry a brace of Smith N frames, one straight draw and one cross draw.

In a carjacking attempt a crossdraw is easier to get to than a straight draw. It can also be drawn backhand with the weak hand should the strong hand be unavailable, such as a bad guy attacking suddenly from your strong side.

Heck, I forgot...back when I was doing a lot of traveling for the NRA I always carried two guns, which was when I developed the habit.

If you get involved in a shooting the police are taking your gun. No, this is not an anti-gun conspiracy. It's evidence and has to be processed. Chances are you'll have no opportunity to get it back until after a grand jury hearing or other legal process.

If you had one gun, you now have NO gun. This will be especially troublesome if you're far from home.

Of course if you do the Wild West thing and use both of them this advantage is negated.

 

[iChokePeople]

Know how I know elitists in the gun culture are alive and well?

Knowing how and being able to are different. Someone said upthread, drawing a second might be faster than some of the alternatives with the primary.

+1, and some malfunctions don't respond to immediate actions. I saw a good, modern firearm with a competent operator in a class recently that misfed a round in a way that did not respond to attempts to clear it and in fact required field expedient surgery with a foreign object to clear. Often? Nope. Bet your life on it? Your choice. I'll bet that student has at least given some thought to that question.

 

[g00n24]

1. certain malfunctions can take a while to clear...as said above.
2. arm someone close to you
3. carrying a BUG on your weakside will enable you to draw and fire more easily should your strong side be taken out of the fight for whatever reason.
4. I will sometimes carry a BUG in a jacket pocket in winter when wearing heavier clothing/coats makes drawing my primary from concealment slower. I can have my hand on the pocket gun all the time.
5. I do not believe carrying a second gun is an option for a faster reload, unless your primary is a revolver and you are reloading with loose rounds or a speed strip. That is the only conceivable way (IMO) that a BUG is faster than grabbing a spare magazine (or speedloader) and inserting into your primary gun.
For a new york reload to be faster than a regular reload one would have to train at dropping or getting rid of their primary then drawing the BUG...I don't know many people who train at dropping their guns regularly...but I'm sure some do.
6. Cause you can.

 

[rhino]

Know how I know elitists in the gun culture are alive and well?

Knowing how and being able to are different. Someone said upthread, drawing a second might be faster than some of the alternatives with the primary.

Indeed!

 

[thatgtrguy]

This ^^

Many people are trained to use firearms and dont carry them.Either they cant do it legally or decide not to do it.

Maybe you take your wife to the range and she knows how to use your gun but dont want to go thru the trouble of carrying one.
If something happens you can leave her with a gun.
Same thing if you are with a friend from out of state that cant legally carry or things like that.

Im wondering about the legalities of doing that.
What if you give a gun to someone that doesn't have a LTCH or even a convicted felon that cant legally use one, can they be charged for illegally carrying a gun?

I would think that in a self defense situation they cant be charged for that.
Also if you give them a gun and take it back after they used it it's not really carrying.

I would like to hear some of resident lawyers on that.

Priorities: If bad guys are coming and my wife is unarmed and in danger. You better believe I' m going to give her every advantage I can. I don't mind going to jail as long as the bad guys are stopped and my wife is alive.

 

[BenE84]

Simply put......backup

 

[Hoosier8]

Cause I can.

 

[Benny]

A lot of good points have been made for carrying multiple firearms and I appreciate having read them.

I carry 1 firearm (15+1 rounds) and no extra mags...If I can't get it done with that, then maybe it wasn't in the stars for me to live in the first place.

I totally encourage anyone to carry as many guns as they feel comfortable with, but 1 pistol @ 5 o'clock is all I'm carrying.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

I'll be honest, I've been looking for a pocket-carry to go with my usual OC hardware. So those two, with the knife as the failover... I should be set :P

Looking into a pocket-revolver, as someone said, it's less prone to failure.

 

[actaeon277]

A lot of good points have been made for carrying multiple firearms and I appreciate having read them.

I carry 1 firearm (15+1 rounds) and no extra mags...If I can't get it done with that, then maybe it wasn't in the stars for me to live in the first place.

I totally encourage anyone to carry as many guns as they feel comfortable with, but 1 pistol @ 5 o'clock is all I'm carrying.

I agree with carrying as many, (or howerver) you want.
As long as you realize the most likely point of failure on a semi-a is the magazine. Damage that and you're up the creek. And magazines are considered a "consumable" item (won't last a hundred years like the gun will).

I'm in no way attacking your position, I sometimes carry just the one mag myself.
But usually there's a backup mag, or BUG.

 

[JoshuaW]

Arming a second person. Actually, I don't carry a second for that reason, ever. If I am carrying two, I probably was carrying the P22 IWB earlier in the day, put on the OWB P226, and forgot about it.

 

[cosermann]

I have some "space" to carry two .45, however I don't believe you want my pants to be around my ankles at any given moment... .

Tip = belt + suspenders.

+1, and some malfunctions don't respond to immediate actions. I saw a good, modern firearm with a competent operator in a class recently that misfed a round in a way that did not respond to attempts to clear it and in fact required field expedient surgery with a foreign object to clear. ...

Saw that happen TWICE this year - 1 each at 2 different classes.

 

[Regionnus Rattis]

If you dont know how to fix your jam you shouldn't carry a gun.

I like strawberry on whole wheat bread, lightly toasted...

 

[Regionnus Rattis]

I agree with carrying as many, (or howerver) you want.
As long as you realize the most likely point of failure on a semi-a is the magazine. Damage that and you're up the creek. And magazines are considered a "consumable" item (won't last a hundred years like the gun will).

I'm in no way attacking your position, I sometimes carry just the one mag myself.
But usually there's a backup mag, or BUG.

Usually have an extra mag in my pocket or cordura nylon sheath on my belt. Just recently started carrying my LCP as a habit of grabbing an extra.

 

[rr1212]

If you are in a struggle/disarmed, Multiple assailants, and just feeling more protected lol

 

[rr1212]

Arming a second person.

As of late I have been carrying another handgun because my wife is pregnant.. For those times when she doesn't bring her purse with her and we are out of the house.

 

[AndersonIN]

sounds like it takes you guys 30 minutes just to put on your guns in the morning

Why would YOU assume we take them off at night?

Isn't that why you have a DRAW STRING on your jammies????

 

[actaeon277]

sounds like it takes you guys 30 minutes just to put on your guns in the morning

How long does it take to put a gun on? 15 seconds?
Second gun? 15 seconds?

 

[VeteranUSN]

one in each pocket and one iwb and open carry ...and a heavy duty belt

WOW!!!

 

[wizard_of_ahs]

1 on the belt; 1 on the ankle