Open Carry While Old, Sick, and Tired

Gun Watch ^ | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

I am mostly recovered from a nasty virus that I caught from my six month old grandson.  At times I was sleeping, or attempting to, 20 hours a day,  I could handle necessary chores, but simply trying to avoid coughing enough to breath comfortably, left me weak, and feeling too tired to exert myself.  Walking a couple of hundred yards was exhausting. 

I had to go to the store a couple of times for off the shelf medicine and some ice cream, which I normally eat little of.   I became acutely aware of how vulnerable I was.  I could not move fast.  I was so weak that a 12 year old girl could probably have taken me down.  It is difficult to stay aware of the situation around you during a coughing spasm.   I knew that my physical and mental faculties were severely degraded.   It was hard to write even one article a day.  Looking at it the next day, it was obvious that I was making grade school errors in spelling and grammar.

My mother had been the first one to tell me that growing old was not for sissies, and this seemed to be a precursor of times to come.  With luck, it happens to the best of us.

It pushed me to think more about carrying in a degraded physical condition.

First, I decided that open carry was advantageous.   My slow pace and weakened condition made me an obvious target for human predators.  Better that they be deterred by the presence of a gun than have to try to draw while under physical attack.   For the same reason, I moved the holster to a cross draw position, so that someone coming up behind me would have a much harder time grabbing the pistol and attempting a disarm.  Another bonus was that it put the pistol between me and the shopping cart that I used as an aid in the grocery store.   The shopping cart gave a little added protection and balance.   

The bulge in the right front shirt pocket is a smart phone with the lens peeking out.  It has excellent ability to record video/audio.   A small Velcro tab keeps it from flying out of the pocket.

I tried a fannypack system, but it seemed extremely slow, and added minimal deterrent value, though it eliminated an obvious disarm.

At least one fannypack system is specifically designed for people in wheelchairs.

I do not claim to have discovered any secret, foolproof method to protect yourself when you are old, sick, and tired.  There isn't any.  But being armed gives you some chance.   They do not call them "equalizers" for nothing.


©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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[AlaskaErik]

If you’re going to open carry, then a retention holster would be more appropriate. Your local cop shop will be able to help you select one. Learning retention tactics would also be a wise investment. As should always be the case, situational awareness should be you first line of defense.

[G Larry]

“I can still rely on big and ugly for protection.”

Warning:

If they start calling you “Sir”, you’re not perceived as a threat.....

[JohnnyP]

What do you do if the thug grabs your right arm?

[Pecos]

The correct answer would be to pull the pocket 9mm out of his front left pants pocket and pull the trigger until the threat has been neutralized.

[JohnnyP]

Good idea. They don’t expect you to use your left hand.

[JohnnyP]

He looks like a target.

[Secret Agent Man]

Dude must play cards a lot. If you want a slow obvious draw that wastes time when you can’t afford it, by all means, cross-carry.

[Excellence]

Can’t run
Can’t fight
Love my
2A right.
Burma Shave

[marktwain]

I like it.

[archy]

If you are lucky, you will grow old. As you grow old, your physical capabilities diminish.

Of course you may grow older because you are skilled. And the awareness that your physical condition has diminished, combined with a determination to adjust for that, can result in a defensive stance that is not greater nor lesser, but different.

I've had one hand in a cast for most of a year, and spent more than that in a wheelchair followed by a spell on crutches [never let 'em blow up the truck in which you're riding!] But I switched from my usual carry piece to one which was less likely to require reloading, and backed it up with a second gun, probably faster than a fumple-fingered reload with the broken wing.

But it's true that I'm nowadays less able to run away from a fight- so if one comes, I plan to get it over with as suddenly and noisily as I can.

Personally, I like Mr. Dean's outside carry. But I'd hedge my bets and have a sneaky along as well, I think.

"You may find me one day dead in a ditch somewhere. But by God, you'll find me in a pile of brass."

-- Trooper. M. Padgett.

[marktwain]

The author did not say if he carried anything else...

[Pecos]

My thought was simply - Never give up. Never give up. Never give up.

[AlaskaErik]

What do you do if the thug grabs your right arm?

This goes right back to situational awareness. That thug should have been identified and threat avoidance procedures initiated way before he got his mitts on your arm.

[archy]

The author did not say if he carried anything else...

That's certainly prudent. If he does, then it'd be interesting to know which carrier represents his life insurance policy. If not, well, beware the fella who only has one gun; he likely knows what he's doing with it.

I'm a belt AND suspenders guy myself...if you count the belt strap of a shoulder holster- not always a concealment rig- as *suspenders*. In summertime [when the livin' is easy] I'll sometimes go with sumthin' tucked in a pocket or on an ankle also where I hide my spare mags; I wonder why no one makes a commercial ankle rig mag pouch.] And, sometimes, both.

[archy]

Did you have parvo (fifths disease): I had it when I was 40 and thought I was going to die. Took forever to shake it off.

Also exhibiting symptoms much like influenza, and equally no fun: a blastomycosis infection of the lungs, which I brought home with me from Africa in the late 1970s. Not only no fun, but absolutely no fun at all. There are, now, some fairly effective treatments; in '79 there wasn't much.

Untreated, it can remain in the lungs and appear elsewhere, which can really cut down on the number of parties to which you receive invitations.

[archy]

What do you do if the thug grabs your right arm?

Oh, I should think that wouldn't be a very polite thing for him to do.

JAI MAHI, KALI!

AYO GHORKALI!

[mad_as_he$$]

Yikes! My sympathies.

[archy]

What do you do if the thug grabs your right arm?

This goes right back to situational awareness. That thug should have been identified and threat avoidance procedures initiated way before he got his mitts on your arm.

Well, generally true. But if you're looking for a bit of real-world practice, it can be a very neat form of poetic justice. Care for a poem or two?

The late Colonel Rex Applegate, who taught advanced armed and unarmed combat techniques to American troops [including the Marine Raiders and OSS] during WWII at the Camp Ritchie facility renamed Camp David after General Eisenhower became president after the war's successful conclusion] was fond in his later years of wearing flashy and gaudy gold coin jewelry to some of the big-city gun and knife shows where he was a VIP fixture, having lent his name to an improved version of the WWII Fairbairn *commando dagger* and a very neat folding version.

When I was first introduced to him, we chatted, and I made him a gift of a WWII Khukuri knife with a Fairbairn mounted piggyback on the Khukuri's water buffalo hide scabbard, and he told me the back story about *baiting his hook.* I asked him *how many, and he told me "Five." That was around 1980 or '81, at an Atlanta-area gun show.

The last time I saw him was at a Memphis show in 1997. He'd brought the number of *catches* up to eight by then. He passed away in July of 1998, at about 84 years of age. Accordingly, I thought the story and details were kind of appropriate to the subject of this thread.

I have more than a decade to go, if I make it that far, before I become as old a geezer as Colonel Rex was. I don't know if I'll ever be as mean an old geezer as he was, but then he was a fairly mean geezer back in WWII when he was a Second Lieutenant....acting as President Roosevelt's personal bodyguard when Secret Service personnel were inappropriate.

[archy]

Yikes! My sympathies.

Moral of the story: if the symptoms are those of pneumonia [which during WWI killed more US soldiers than the war did] or even a severe common cold, [fever, muscle aches, headache, lack of energy, dry cough, sore throat, a runny nose and sometimes vomiting] have it checked out. There are several viral nasties that share the symptoms, including Blastomycosis, Ebola Marburg, and pulmonary Anthrax.

[Squantos]

Met him at a show, long ago, Robert Terzoula made me a copy of Colonel Applegates Fairbain fixed blade thats a safe queen now. But I carry weak hand side a Gerber Applegate Fairbain folder , full size without the lawyered up “lock”.... razor sharp , large grip and very comfortable for daily carry. Right hand trapped..... left hand goes to the folder if ever such would occur.

http://www.gerbergear.com/Tactical/Knives/Applegate-Combat-Folder_45780

As you state “awareness” is primary...don’t go armed where ya wouldn’t go unarmed if at all possible. Don’t carry what you don’t train with......

Stay Safe !!