In my last job as a SEAL, I had to carry concealed weapons as part of my duties. I went nowhere without a least two weapons.  As the popular Navy SEAL saying goes: “Two is one and one is none.” Most of the areas that I had to carry in were extremely dangerous.  To clearly define dangerous, in some of the places that I had to carry, if a “good guy” noticed my gun, I was headed straight to a foreign jail, and if a “bad guy” noticed my gun, I was headed straight to a shootout.  For obvious reasons, I needed to avoid both of those dangerous scenarios. I give this background to ensure the readers that the opinions that I share come from experience and not from theoretical musings.  Take notice that I use the word “opinions” as I use that word purposefully.  I will never claim that what I teach or write about is the right way or only way to do something.  What I will claim is that my opinions are based on experience and significant thought and research. There are many ways to carry a concealed handgun and all of these come with their individual capabilities and limitations.  It is important to think about the pros and cons of each as well as your expected use before you decide your individual course of action.  In this post, I am going to cover the use of “holster shirts” and the limitations that I see in their use. As will become evident in future posts, I will usually stick to discussions around defensive firearms use as our primary concern.  I define defensive firearms use as using a weapon to stop or deter a lethal threat to your life or another’s life.  I am not going to discuss these topics from a weekend range shooter, or a competitor shooter’s point of view. “Holster shirts” come in many shapes and sizes; most are tight and are meant to be worn under another shirt, while others are normal shirts with holsters stitched into their construction. Holster Shirts The one capability (pro) that I see with using a tight undershirt type of carry is that they provide for very good concealment of the firearm.  You generally do not have to worry about “printing” (being able to see the outline of a firearm under your clothes) with these types of holsters. That one positive capability is outweighed by the many limitations: -       Slow to draw – the more secure something is, the slower it is to get to! -       Sweeping others  –Crossdraw rigs require that the weapon starts out facing the wrong direction and that results in the “sweeping” (intentional or unintentional pointing of the weapon) 180 degrees, which can be extremely problematic in public -       Sweeping yourself – another limitation of crossdraw rigs is that it is very difficult to remove a weapon pointing backwards from under your arm without “sweeping” your own arm -       No close quarters options – when you have to draw across your body, it does not take much for the bad guy to trap your weapon against your body -       Completely different physical actions from traditional weapons presentations This last point is the most important.  Whatever you practice the most you will do in a high stress situation. The important part of that this point is that if you practice nothing, you will do nothing…can you say, “deer in the headlights?” So if you have practiced your weapons presentation out of your favorite outside the waistband hip holster, but you carry your pistol in your long underwear shirt, be prepared for a surprise when the rubber meets the road. My favorite story is that of my SEAL buddy who lived for new gear.  His house looked like a cross between REI and a Police equipment store, and yes you probably guessed that he was not married yet! With all of that those options, he was always changing his gear around.  He decided that having a pistol on his belt was not cool enough so he mounted it on the front of his body armor load bearing equipment.  The theory was sound and it did make it more comfortable to sit in a car, but I saw an opportunity to make some easy money. He was incredibly fast with his pistol and constantly beat me at every competition.  So I offered him a challenge: one shot with our Car-15s and then a weapons transition to our pistols for one more shot. Whoever was quickest won $100.  That much money would be sure to add to the stress level I knew I needed to create for him. We lined up and the starting buzzer sounded.  Off he blazed with his rifle, beating me by at least half a second, then a blazing fast transition; his hand beat mine to the pistol by a good bit.  Yet, I walked away with a smile and $100. WHY? His hands may have been faster, but he was left grasping for a pistol on his hip that was not there anymore.  I will never forget the confused look on his face as he looked down and realized that his pistol was not where his muscle memory told his mind it should have been, it was sitting on his chest instead. The point of this story is to plan ahead, and practice; getting attacked is not the time to start developing muscle memory. Larry