A couple of months ago I wrote “Concealed Carry: It’s About to Get Real,” referencing my impending status as a daily concealed carry holder in my state, which now ascribes to a “shall issue” rule thanks to the positive SCOTUS decision in the Bruen case. Since then, I’ve immersed myself into everything concealed carry as it relates to discovering my preferred method of carry, the best gear to help me achieve my goals of safe carry, accessible carry and, mostly, comfortable carry.
Mind you, no person or organization does gun safety and training better than NRA, and I wholeheartedly urge you to seek out an NRA Certified Instructor for quality training, especially if you are a new gun owner and don’t know where to turn. You simply won’t find better training on the fundamentals of marksmanship than what NRA offers (after all, they’ve only been doing it since 1871).
Fast forward 151 years since NRA’s founding, and women now make up the fastest-growing demographic of gun owners. This means that women are also partaking alongside our male counterparts in accumulating the requisite gear that goes along with gun ownership. But we don’t want to just amass a bunch of unusable or unsuitable gear that will end up in a cardboard box (we’ve seen the men in our lives do that with impunity). Too, from an economic standpoint, frivolity these days is foolish, so it stands to reason that we women tend to be more deliberate in our research (more often than not, that means surfing the web) before making an investment purchase.
While a considerable percentage of advice offered on the internet and social media should be ignored, there are definitely some diamonds in the rough. I am grateful to have found some. Thus far I have been getting pleasantly schooled on the web by a handful of incredible women subject-matter experts. I may be a little late to the party on becoming a bona fide regular concealed-carry practitioner—and discovering these amazing women who already have dedicated followings—but I recognize honest advice when I see it. These women are not out to be the next bikini-clad AR-toting calendar girls. They are serious gun girls whose journeys into gun ownership and personal protection are similar to most of ours, and we can benefit from their experience.
And that is why I was so pleasantly surprised to see an email land in my inbox yesterday, titled “Discover Discussions: Women and Concealed Carry.” It contains a video interview (one in a series of four) hosted by Aimee Langdon of Langdon Tactical, along with guests Sarah Hauptman from the wildly popular PHLster LLC holster maker and Tessah from the similarly popular Armed and Styled. All of these women have created some of the most thoughtful, intelligent (and frankly best) instructional videos on how to comfortably and purposefully carry concealed and find the right holster, and I plan to share them with you in the coming months.
If you don't already follow these women, this video is a great introduction to who they are and why they are so passionate about sharing their knowledge with women.
—Ann Y. Smith, Editor in Chief
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