What I've learned from my first month of carry.

I just turned 21 back in October of 2017 and while most 21 year olds where excited about legal alcohol, I was excited about getting my carry permit. I picked up the shield 2.0 in 45 and I got my HCP in Tennessee in the middle of December. I have carried now for about a month now and it has been a lifestyle change. This is just a post about some of the things that I have learned in just a month to make those lifestyle changes. Sorry if the formatting is odd but I'm not used to reddit's formatting syntax.Lesson 1 came when I sat down in the chair for my class. Now, I've grown up shooting gun's and am very careful and competent shooting both handgun and long gun. I shoot 3 gun on the side to improve some skills other than resting on a bench shooting at a stationary paper target. Things like moving and shoot and tactical reloads. Anyways, as I sat down I was excited to be able to carry a deadly weapon into the public. The instructor snapped me back to reality. Not that he singled me out or knew what I was thinking but just what he said. He really brought into scope just what it means to strap a handgun on my waist and enter the general population. I got caught up in the immature line of thinking that carrying a gun was something that was cool and he snapped my perspective quickly away from that back to a place of WHY I carry and that is ultimately for my self protection. Since that day I make sure I know the implications of carrying and the responsibility it has.Lesson 2, clothing. I learned how to dress around properly concealing my handgun. Tennessee is an open carry state but I do not wish to reveal that to the general public. Its going to save me a lot of stress and possible conflict from someone who doesn't like the idea of a gun withing 500 miles of them so I just conceal. Properly concealing starts with a good holster. I had an Everyday Holsters holster loaned to me to start carrying and find something I like. I carry it at the 3:30-4 position and it is really comfortable. The next step was changing my wardrobe. My jeans all fit very tight with a holster to the point it was uncomfortable. I normally wear a 32 waist but I went up to a 33 and 34 waist and these fit comfortably. If you don't choose the right wast size the gun will dig or you pants will fall even with a belt. It being winter time I can easily cover the gun with a coat or sweater. Part of concealing is trusting that you clothing is concealing the gun. You can't be picking at your clothing or moving it, its a dead give away and can make your printing worse in some cases. If you need to adjust your holster or clothing go somewhere private like a bathroom stall and do so. I can also promise that even if you are printing slightly most people aren't paying attention enough to notice or don't even suspect you would have a gun. Just chill, you're good.Lesson 3, making sure the people I was with (girlfriend, family, and friends) knew I was carrying. On multiple occasions, my father has asked, "do you have your gun" or "can you carry your gun in here" right in the middle of public. I've gotten some looks be the people that where around me from it too. He doesn't seem to understand why this makes my eye twitch and why I ask that he use a code word for it. I don't want people to know I have it and that's the point of concealing. I don't want people around me to panic and call cops or worse, try and confront me about it. As a precaution, I have learned to go ahead and disclose to the person I am in the car with that I am carrying, I do have the pistol, and to keep it on the down low.Lesson 4, situational awareness. I never really considered who was around me and what they are doing until about a year ago. I started watching videos about situations and DGUs. What I noticed most is that people that had to DGU could see a threat coming and were in a defensive mode when the threat had arrived to them giving them a better chance at defending themselves. I have started paying attention to my surroundings and have developed a system to kinda just check that I know whats going on around me. When I started this I felt hyper aware and it was exhausting mentally to always be watching people and noting what they were doing. You don't have to do that. I've learned that people give ques when they are up to know good. Their feet are a good indicator of where their attention really is as well as their posture, hand position, and body language. If I see someone with hands in pockets, head up, shifting eyes, I just avoid going within an arms reach and keep a more keen focus on them as I am passing. This is a skill that become second nature when you do it enough. And for the love of all that is holy if you see someone carrying in a sloppy manner don't try to confront them or talk to them about it. That is their problem to deal with not yours. I've read a couple stories on here about people doing that and just NO!I think its also worth noting that knowing the condition of gun at any point is part of self awareness. For example, do you know if the gun is cocked, is a round chambered, safety on or off. Those things. My shield 45 has a thumb safety in addition to the two stage trigger safety that I use when I'm not wearing it. When I put the gun on, the safety is off and a round chambered. I can tell you the state my gun is at any point in the day I am carrying it and that is valuable information to know. I am also under the impression that the less steps you have to take from draw to fire the better. When micro seconds count, you can't be playing with the tiny thumb safety.Lesson 5, just carrying the gun isn't enough. There are skills that need to be learned to properly manipulate the firearm such as reloads, malfunction recovery, awkward shooting, off hand shooting, etc. When I got my shield that first thing I learned was how to quickly recover the weapon from the holster. Things don't always go as planned. Thats why we carry in the first place, but we should be able to adapt and overcome the obstacles in front of us. The last thing you want is a jam when you need your gun to work. Learning to get the gun back up and running could be a life saving skill. I practice my reloads and drawing very often to keep those skills sharp. Dry fire drills are fantastic and have helped me a lot with proper grip, trigger squeeze, and muzzle control when pulling.So at this point I am rambling a bit but I just wanted to share some of the things I learned in just a month in hopes that it can give people new to carry like me some insight and that veterans of carrying can add to it and elaborate or even bring up things I still have yet to learn. This community has been a great resource for anything I could ask and I have never been called stupid or anything bad for simply asking a question. I look forward to learning more in the coming years that I am adapting this lifestyle. Stay safe out there guys and gals! via /r/CCW http://ift.tt/2CMUA3H