Not all states allow for concealed carry, and the states that do allow for it each have their own laws regarding the practice. Some states allow their residents to freely conceal carry while others require classes and licensing before an individual can conceal carry a weapon.

In the state of Florida, a license is required for conceal carry and only individuals who are over the age of 21, have not been convicted of a felony, is not a fugitive from law, have not had a history of domestic violence, and have not been diagnosed with a mental illness qualify for a concealed carry license. In order to obtain this license, one must take a defensive handgun course, get fingerprinted, and submit all paperwork along with a check for $117 to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The following tips and tricks to carrying a weapon concealed only apply to those who are legally allowed to do so. If your state does not allow conceal carry, you are doing so at your own risk. If you have the need to use such force to defend yourself, be prepared to defend yourself in a court of law.

I personally believe that EVERY law-abiding citizen in the USA should be allowed to conceal carry a weapon for self-defense. I find it utterly ludicrous that the most dangerous places in America where you will need to have self defense the most is also where the laws prevent you from doing so. It helps the criminals more than the citizens in my opinion, but alas, the laws are there. And while a lot of law enforcement officers also believe in this right to self-defense, if you are caught with a weapon where the law prohibits it, they are required to perform their duties as a LEO and you WILL be arrested.

Just a fair warning, I know there are a lot of people out there who conceal carry where they are not supposed to. I believe in our rights to bear arms, but I just want to say that I do not condone the breaking of the law and this website is not intended to facilitate such actions.

With all that said, let's begin.
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There are several different ways to carrying concealed and each have their own advantages and disadvantages and each have their own criteria for when you're picking a weapon. No matter which method of carry you choose, use a holster. Do not "Mexican Carry" meaning you just shove the loaded weapon into your pants like they do in the movies. This is a very dangerous practice and, believe it or not, has resulted in some... unfortunate accidents in the past. If you're wondering what kind of unfortunate accidents I am talking about, just think about what part of your body is right in front of the muzzle if you shove a weapon down the front of your pants...

Here are some of the different ways to carry.

Outside the Waistband

What you'll need:

• Good shooting belt - 5.11 Tactical Trainer's Belt (The Operator's belt is too wide for standard belt loops)
• Good leather holster, friction retention only - Don Hume Leathergoods, Galco Gunleather

This is the typical way to conceal carry a firearm. The holster attaches to the belt on the outside of the waistband.

The most important aspect to help in quickly presenting your firearm from a concealed position is a stable holster. In order to accomplish this, you must have a very stable shooting belt. The most common thing to happen to normal belts when you start to conceal carry is that they start to sag where the weapon usually is due to the weight of the weapon. I've found that even the thickest, double, triple stitched leather belts sag when you carry every day. The 5.11 Tactical Trainer's Belt is made out of several layers of nylon and has a stainless steel buckle with a matte black finish. I carry a full-size 1911 with a steel frame every day, and I've tried many different types of belts. My weapon is heavy enough that just about every belt I've used has eventually started to sag. The 5.11 belt is the only one that seems to be holding up to the constant pressure.

It's pretty expensive for a belt, costing you $30 to purchase, but LA Police Gear always has promotions such as if you buy 3 pairs of the 5.11 Tactical pants you will get the belt for free. Trust me, take advantage of this deal, those pants are excellent and you'll want to have at least 3 pairs of them anyhow.

After you get yourself a good sturdy shooter's belt, you'll need a good leather pancake holster. I recommend against any holster with a snap type of retention system because it'll rob you of time if you need to quickly get your weapon out of the holster. They make molded kind that are molded specifically for your type of weapon so the friction of it sitting in there retains the firearm good enough so it will not accidentally fall out, but all you have to do is tug on it sharply to get it out of the holster without having to fumble with any kind of snaps or anything.

Another feature in a pancake holster I recommend to look for, is that it has a strip of leather that goes up alongside the side of the weapon where it meets the body. This helps to prevent any snagging when you draw your weapon, especially if you're wearing an undershirt, and if not, you won't feel all the controls on the weapon against your body.

I personally recommend the "H721 O.T." pancake concealment holster from Don Hume. OT stands for open top because it doesn't have any kind of active retention system. Make sure you order the right size belt loops, get just the right size for the belt, don't get it too big or too small. The 5.11 Tactical Trainer's Belt is 1.5" thick. So try to get 1.5" loops. Too small obviously wouldn't fit, and too large belt looks would result in a loose fit on your belt, and you don't want any movement.

I find the quality of Don Hume holsters is very nice for a very reasonable price. The only thing I don't like, is that it seems they have recently opted to stop making holsters with the option of different size belt loops. Now they all just come with 1 3/4" loops, before you could choose if you wanted 1 1/2" or 1 3/4". It's unfortunate they picked 1 3/4" as their standard since I think 1 1/2" is much more practical since that's the width of most belts. Galco Gunleather has some very high quality holsters, but you'll notice an increase in price as well. Their holsters are also of very nice quality.

They also have models where it attaches to the belt via snap button loops so you can put on and take off the holster without unbuckling the belt. These are very convenient, but I feel that the standard loops are more stable than the quick release kind. But both are pretty good solutions to this type of conceal carry.

What I DO NOT recommend, are slide type holsters. They are very convenient in that if you own a certain firearm in different lengths, let's say you had a full size 5" barrel 1911, and another ultra compact 3" barrel 1911, both would fit in a slide style holster just fine, but I don't recommend this for 2 reasons. The exposed muzzle is just asking to be scratched up or worn down by the metal rivets on your jeans, or anything else you might brush by, and if you accidentally expose the muzzle on a regular holster, all they will see is the tip of the holster, and a lot of people won't even know what they just saw, but with a slide holster, if the muzzle is shown, they will actually see the muzzle of the weapon and there's no doubt what it is they just saw. And you don't want those problems, even if you have the legal right to carry, you don't need the cops chasing you down for no reason.

As for the weapon, most people seem to believe that the shorter the weapon, the better. I feel that an even more important aspect is how thick the weapon is. I find that if the weapon is thin enough, you can conceal just about any reasonably sized weapon. For example, I am not a big person, but I can conceal a full-size 1911 on me in this way and have never had an incident where someone had noticed that I was armed. That is possible even though the 1911 is about 8 inches long because it is a very thin weapon. So I feel that as long as the weapon you choose is not overly bulky, you can conceal it in this way pretty easily. Just always be aware of how your shirt is, sometimes, especially when getting in and out of a car, your shirt can get hooked on the weapon and reveal the holster or worse the weapon itself. So always give your shirt a slight tug when getting out of your car to make sure that it is concealed.

Inside the Waistband

What you'll need:

• Pants that are about 1-2 inches larger than you're used to.
• Good shooting belt - 5.11 Tactical Trainer's Belt (The Operator's belt is too wide for standard belt loops)
• Good leather IWB holster - Milt Sparks 1911 IWB Holsters, Galco Gunleather, Don Hume Leathergoods

Inside the waistband holsters conceal better than the outside the waistband. Some IWB holsters allow for something OWB holsters never can, and that is to carry concealed even with a tuck-in shirt. Not all IWB allow for this, but there are some that do allow for this. One example is if you plan on carrying a 1911, Milt Sparks carries a holster called the Versa-Max 2. If you order it along with the optional kydex clips, it has a slot between the firearm and the clip where it clips on to your waistband that you can tuck your shirt into.

I personally would not recommend using this for tucked in shirts simply because if you don't like it tucked in baggy, the firearm's profile might still show through. but if you normally leave it a little baggy at the hip, then this option would work pretty well. Otherwise, stick with having a smaller handgun and a pocket holster to use in these circumstances.

With an IWB holster, the bulkiness of the weapon really becomes important for the sake of comfort. Also, length of the weapon now doesn't matter in terms of visibility, but it does play a factor in comfort.

Keep in mind that with either IWB or OWB carrying methods, the profile of the grip of the handgun will show if you bend over at the waist. Keep that in mind if you need to tie your shoe or something, try to kneel down with your legs if you can.

Pocket

What you'll need:

• Pocket Holster - Galco Pocket Protector

Please do not mexican carry, they make pocket holsters for if you want to carry a weapon in your pocket. Not only is it dangerous to keep a weapon in your pocket without a pocket holster, but the outline of the weapon tends to show through the fabric of your pants especially if you're wearing anything thinner than denim.

For pocket carry, you will need an ultra compact weapon, such as small framed revolvers like any J-Frame Smith & Wesson. Make sure it is either hammerless DAO or at least have a shrouded hammer. You don't want to have a hammer catching on the way out if you need to draw quickly from the pocket.

This is the Smith & Wesson model 642. It shoots 5 rounds of .38 Special or .38 Special +P with a double-action-only(DAO) trigger. This is the preferred weapon in my opinion for a pocket carried weapon. Your pocket tends to be the source of a lot of lint, and semi-auto's can get clogged up with lint causing them to misfire right when you need them to work. The S&W J-Frame revolver, like this 642 and the 442 (same revolver, but in black, also comes in a more matte black finish and named the M&P 340 revolver), only carry 5 rounds, but 5 rounds that fire are going to be more effective than 10 rounds that don't.

Also, don't be under the impression that small firearms have less recoil, I am willing to bet that out of all the handguns you own, this little J-Frame will have more recoil than any of them. It is a great choice for conceal carry since it is light, small, reliable, and the DAO trigger is among the best I've tried among other compact revolvers of the same size.

A good holster for this weapon is the Galco Pocket Protector. It should go for around $20-$25. Find it at CheaperThanDirt.com which has it for $19.96.

The claw shaped protrusion is there to keep the holster from coming out of the pocket as you draw the weapon. The mouth of the holster has a strip of metal in it that you can shape. This keeps the holster from collapsing on itself if you have it in your pocket without the weapon so you can easily reholster the weapon. Make sure you adjust this metal lip not too wide, but wide enough that the weapon can be easily drawn out of it without snagging. Be sure to flare out the ends slightly to aide in this.

If you insist on getting a semi-automatic for pocket carry, please note that you will probably take a hit in terms of power, but you will gain speed and maybe ammo capacity. Some popular choices for small semi-automatics are:

• Bersa Thunder .380 - This is an Argentinean company, I haven't even heard of them a year ago, but while I was searching for a nice small little pocket gun to carry when carrying my full-size 1911 is not practical, I stumbled upon this. And upon reading about it, found that it is fairly popular and has very good reviews. I've held them before and they feel very comfortable and the construction feels very solid. it holds 7 or 9 rounds of .380. That's what their website says, I guess they have one magazine with a slam pad and another without, and the one with the slam pad would hold more than the other.
• Kel-Tec P3AT .380 - They also make 2 9mm's, the P11 and the new PF9, but I've read about some problems in reliability in their P11 handgun, but I hear nothing but good things about their P3AT .380. I'm not sure about the PF9, it is somewhat new and I haven't heard much about it.
• Walther PPK - Yes, this is the famous 007 gun. The side of the weapon says 9mm Kurz, but that's really just the .380 Auto like all the other examples I've listed so far.
• Kahr PM series 9mm - Very compact 9mm handgun. Possibly the most powerful out of this list, but the second to least comfortable to hold and shoot in my opinion. The recoil is very snappy and muzzle rise is substantial, but in close distances it won't matter. The grip is square and very small and even though I don't have giant hands, it still feels very small for me. I've found that you can add a Hogue grip wrap over it and it makes a great deal of a difference.

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General Advice

First of all, many people wonder if you should keep your weapon on your strong side or your weak side for cross draw. Drawing from your strong side is much faster and can get your muzzle pointed at the target much earlier than drawing from your weak side over. A lot of people seem to feel more comfortable drawing cross draw, but it is simply much less efficient than drawing from your strong side.

Having a single or double magazine pouch can be useful too. Especially if you choose to go with something like a 1911 where it is a single stack weapon and only holds 8 rounds. Hopefully you'll never be in a situation where you'll need more than 8 rounds, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Also, speaking of hoping for the best, plan for the worst, always have a backup to your firearm. Anything can happen to your firearm, it can jam, it can be taken away, you can run out of ammo, etc. etc. So just to be on the safe side, try to carry a nice sturdy knife with you at all times as well. And if it doesn't bother you to carry more than one firearm, it can't possibly hurt.

One thing I see from conceal carry license holders a lot, which is unfortunate, is that they seem eager to show off that they have it. I highly suggest that you DO NOT show anyone that ID unless it is to law enforcement. The reason being that if an attacker knows you are armed ahead of time, yes, that COULD serve as deterrence, but it can also backfire and cause the attacker to use deadly force as a preemptive strike. It is far better if you have the element of surprise on your side.

Coincidentally, I am writing this while at work, and at my job, I check a lot of licenses, I just now, as I am writing this, had a person show me his conceal carry license as a form of ID and he had it in the front of his wallet, making sure it is the first license that is shown when he opens his wallet. That is exactly what I'm talking about.

Lastly, if you are pulled over by police, and you are armed, after handing over your license, registration, and proof of insurance like he/she asks, and before engaging in any kind of conversation with the LEO (explaining why you broke the law you did counts as conversation) make sure you show your conceal carry license and declare to the LEO that you are currently armed and ask what he/she wants you to do with your firearms. DO NOT reach for your firearm at ANY TIME unless instructed to do so by the LEO. Do not declare that you have a firearm until AFTER you show the concealed carry license.

Most likely, the LEO will acknowledge that he understands you have a firearm and tell you that it is fine that you just keep it where it is and not to bother with it. But if the LEO does instruct you to remove the firearm for any reason (to unload it or if the LEO requests to hold on to it for the moment), make sure you do so in slow and deliberate movements, if you can verbalize exactly what you are doing at every step of the way. This is to ensure that the LEO, at no time, thinks you are reaching for your weapon in an aggressive manner. Just like you have the right to use deadly force if you feel your life is in danger, so does the police.