NOTE: USCCA Customer Engagement team members get a lot of questions, and they pass a good number of them along to Concealed Carry Magazine Senior Editor Ed Combs. If you have a question, you can either ask it below or email it to editor@usconcealedcarry.com. We, of course, cannot guarantee answers to all questions — Ed’s a pretty busy guy — but we’d love to help you out with whatever’s stumping you.
Jared Blohm
Managing Editor
Concealed Carry Magazine
Question:
What gear should I get next?
Answer:
Well, that depends on what you already have, now doesn’t it?
If you have a gun and the necessary gear to store, transport and clean it, then it’s time to move on to everything else.
If you have a sidearm and a holster that you like to carry it in, then I would say it’s time to move on to some other everyday carry items. But if you are not 100 percent satisfied with your holster, you should resolve that issue before you move on to anything else. If you do not have a quality belt that is designed for carrying a gun, then you need to resolve THAT issue before you move on to anything else. If your holster and belt are treating you right, but you do not yet have a way to carry an extra magazine other than in your pocket, then I would advise that you move on to properly carrying an additional gunload. If you haven’t yet found a jacketed hollow-point load that prints predictably and accurately out of your EDC pistol or revolver, that’s the next imperative. Once you have all of those handled, that means that you’ve got the whole firearm situation pretty much squared away (unless you’ve been itching to get your sights upgraded).
Don’t Forget a Flashlight…
Next would be a flashlight that strikes a good enough balance of brightness and size so that it will be bright enough for defensive use but small enough that you will actually carry it all the time. If you can find a light that meets those criteria and you don’t want to just clip it to your pocket, I would recommend that you next buy a belt carrier for it. Once you’ve got everything listed above, you’re so far out ahead of the average person that you could almost just stop buying gear other than training rounds, leather conditioner and batteries.
Add a Little Extra to Your EDC
But what fun is that? If you can afford to do so, buy another knife or a new pepper-spray carrier or one of those backpacks that unfolds into body armor. Buy a blunderbuss for officially kicking off Thanksgiving dinner. Apply for the paperwork to buy a machine gun or a pen gun or a short-barreled shotgun or some other National Firearms Act (NFA) item. Declare that you’re going to buy a new gun every New Year’s Day, like I used to do before I got boring. Decide you’re going to start collecting oddly specific guns, like old Iver Johnson Model 1900 revolvers or the Ted Williams-branded shotguns and rifles Sears used to sell. I could run a daily Twitter feed of the guns and gear that I think you should buy if you just want to buy something for the sake of buying it.
Which means I’m probably the wrong guy to ask about what guns or gear to buy next because my answer is always, “Yes, let’s go buy some more guns and gear.” Try as I might to be a minimalist, it’s just not in me.
