All cops need to carry in plain clothes sometimes, either off duty or on the job. Yet concealed carry can be a real challenge for many POs if most of their gun-toting time in uniform. Unlike the CCW-issued citizen who is used to the challenges of concealed carry, too many cops don't bother to master the discipline and figure "Ah, what the hell, I'm a cop - who cares if someone knows I'm carrying?". I hope that the faulty logic of that line of thinking is obvious. But it is true that effective concealed carry without looking like a wanna-be tactical mall ninja can be a challenge. That's why I'm always so happy to find products that make the task easy. Here's two.
Vertx Concealed Carry Bags
Let's say that you were an established company in the professional uniform business (Fechheimer) , you'd recently made a very successful entrance into the tactical plain clothes and concealed carry market, and you now wanted to expand into the concealed carry bags segment of the market, bring to it the best-designed and executed set of bags, slings and packs yet.
How would you go about it?
You already have the fabric, sourcing, and manufacturing expertise. But what about the design? Naturally you'd want a well-respected, armed-all-the-time expert from a tactical field who had great ideas about what makes such a thing useful and functional, and was highly competent at both designing the bags and testing them. But, if you were really committed to bringing the best-yet bags to this discerning high-stakes market, and you really understood design, you'd hire an industrial designer to work with that expert. Industrial designers have expertise in design, manufacturing, human factors, and aesthetics, and in making them all work together. If you're serious about producing a highly functional, high quality product, you use one.
Vertx did that. And it shows.
There's no one that doesn't consider the Vertx line of concealed carry bags and packs to be superb. Some feel that they are merely superb, while others will tell you that they are the best on the market. Now, me too. I finally got a chance to use two bags from the line recently: the EDC Satchel and the EDC Commuter Sling. I won't bore you with all the specs and terrific features here; you can check them out on the Vertx pages linked to (which include videos showing the bag features), and there are a number of more extensive YouTube reviews of these products that go into great detail. Specifically, check out the videos by Matt Jacques, the tactical expert who was in on the design. Suffice to say that that I found the bags to be 1) highly functional and convenient as bags, 2) comfortable at concealed-carry, and more important, superb at concealed gun-access, and 3) low-key and non-attention-generating. The materials are top stuff, the construction excellent and rugged, the design clearly done by people who know ergonomics and how bags, including concealed-carry bags are really used by real people.
Carrying off-body isn't the best way to carry, but it is -- in the real world, especially off-duty -- sometimes the only practical way to carry. Which we all should. I've tried almost all the concealed carry bags on the market, like many of them (others not so much), and the Vertx line is currently at the top of my list. If you try one, you'll buy one!
Kakadu Jack Shirt & Wyatt Vest
Carrying concealed -- off duty of even plain clothes -- is sometimes a real pain in the butt, to be honest. In the magazines and advertisements you always see some guy wearing jeans, a work shirt, and a mid-weight jacket to conceal his belt-worn handgun. He looks very dapper and rugged, but what does he do when he's in a restaurant and has to take his coat off? What's he do when it's 100 degrees and 90% humidity outside?
That's why there are so many carry and concealment options for the concealed carrier.
My issue had always been the high heat problem. Shorts and a t-shirt are as much clothing as I care to wear when it's Georgia in New England. Carrying under the T doesn't work for everyone in all circumstances, and a vest over a tucked-in T often looks just plain out of place (I wonder why that guy's wearing a vest in this heat?). But the Jack Shirt from our friends down under (Kakadu Traders) solves the problem. It looks a little scruffy - like a sawed-off work shirt, and wearing it you simply look like a working stiff. It's light enough to be comfortable in heat yet just heavy enough to move out of the way on the draw stroke (and you can always use the old trick of slitting a seam and inserting a zip tie to add stiffness). My most high-heat concealed carry problem now solved! And the Jack Shirt also looks pretty "blending" over a couple layers in cooler weather, too (see the picture of me that was shot in the late winter).
Jim at Kakadu also sent me their new Wyatt vest to take a look at. I had always written off integral-holster concealed-carry jackets and vests as neither fish nor fowl, and a bit gimmicky. But I learned something new! This unlined vest really works. It holds a full-size gun in place more comfortably than a shoulder holster, access is easy sure, and it doesn't need to be removed indoors. It's styled to fit in most places. For about six months of the New England year I now have a new concealment method that fills a real niche for me.
