The Pros and Cons of Off-Body Carry

If you’ve found yourself caught in the middle of the age-old debate of appendix carry or whether to keep your pistol in your man bag or purse, this blogpost might shed some light and help you decide for yourself where your shooter should stay parked and ready. Here are the pros and cons.

Reasons not to Carry Your Pistol Off Body

Though it might seem less obtrusive to your pelvis or champ stamp to place your Glock in your backpack or side satchel, there are some definite drawbacks to this approach.

You can’t put your bag down. If you’re planning to store your gun in your bag, you can now think of your bag as your baby. It has to stay with you. You can’t put your baby down and walk away. You can’t really take your eyes off of it when you’re out and about because you open up the chance of someone else getting into it or stealing it with your gun inside. Pants don’t really present such a problem.

If someone takes your bag, they’ve got your wallet and your side arm. It’s not out of the question that one day somewhere you’re going to be walking down a sidewalk in your stilettos with your purse on one shoulder and some perp will take that thing right off your arm. Or they grab that bag and attack you. Now the bad guy has your stuff and he’s armed.

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Off-body bag carry is much slower. If I have my gun on my body and I practice those draws, I can be really quick, but no matter how much you practice, that bag is just going to slow you down. Maybe it gets caught against an inside pocket or gets tangled up in your phone charger. Maybe you have to unzip the bag to pull it. If you have one with a quick draw tab, like these on our website, it might improve your chances a little. I did a range test on it, and even a special designed bag is still slower than appendix.

Bags have more things for triggers to catch on. If you put a gun just in a bag that can just slide all over the place, come out of the holster, get stuff caught in the trigger guard, etc., it could go off in your purse and take somebody out. And what about when you reach for it? Are you sure you’re grabbing the grip and not the muzzle? It could be point straight up at you.

Of course there are things you can do to mitigate some of these cons and risks, such as holsters and special clips, but the safety and speed of a conceal carry holster will never be matched. But there are some pros as well to bag carry.

Reasons Why You Might Be Interested in a Bag-Carried Weapon

You’ve decided to go low clothing or no clothing that day. If you're not wearing enough clothes to effectively conceal a firearm—like at the gym or beach or when you’re in your birthday suit—you might need a bag-carry option.

Bag-carry could offer some tactical advantage. Here’s an even more legit reason. If you’re going through an area known for violence and you want to be ready but inconspicuous, you can slip your hand into your bag and be ready to aim in a split second. No one can see your hand, but they’ll feel the rounds coming out of that murse.

The bag’s capacity offers a tactical advantage.If you’ve already got your bag for off-body carry, now you can carry some EDC items you would normally leave at home. Spare magazines, medical kit, flashlights, and even a plate of armor so the bag becomes a makeshift shield.

Now you can carry bigger guns and add suppressors, muzzle devices, flashlight, etc. Yes. You can fit an AR-15 in certain bags that don’t look too crazy to carry around. You might consider some smaller shoulder-mounted guns as well. Maybe there aren’t a lot situations in everyday life when you need them much firepower, but one never knows, right?

Whatever way you end up going, hopefully you’re weighing and thinking through the pros and cons, and maybe this list gave you some serious considerations. Just don’t create a false sense of confidence for yourself because you’ve got a pistol somewhere in your purse or duffle. The real-world scenarios that necessitate a quick reaction are likely different than what you’ve visualized as you place that pistol between the sunscreen and your Ray Bans.

You don’t know how you’ll react or how quick and desperate they might be. However you carry, it’s important to get good training and lots practice.

Train Hard. Train Smart. Live Free.