Okay, training time... You think you need a coat to conceal this?
This is the "mighty" (not so "shiny") Ruger LCP. A very popular pocket pistol.
Those are drink coasters in the background and my hand is lying on the table.
I'm currently storing it for someone else. I've shot it, Karen has shot it. Personally I think it shoots like ****. She also dislikes it. Trigger is awful, ergonomics are worse. But I can keep it within 4" of target at 7 yards. Barely. Measure 4" from the center of your chest. It'll hit that.
For another perspective, here it is in my dominant hand (right) in a proper finger-off-the-trigger one-handed grip. Well, more like two finger grip. I have pretty big paws and longish fingers and you can see the problem for me with this particular firearm -- my index finger can almost reach past the end of the barrel in a normal grip.
It fires a .380 ACP cartridge, which means the bullet itself is roughly the same size as a 9mm with a much shorter casing, meaning less gunpowder charge and a lot less bang. The round is probably considered slightly underpowered for personal defense use. Police officers I've discussed .380 ACP with have said they've seen it be ineffective against biker leathers, when fired at the wrong angle, amazingly enough.
But this isn't a post about gun likes and dislikes, it's an educational post in reply to the inane babbling about coats, since generally, folks saying such things have not a sIngle CLUE about firearms.
That said, I'm not going to volunteer to take a round from it. You can if you like.
So there ya go. No coat required. Thousands of people conceal that thing every day. In Condition 3, you could shove it down your jockey shorts if you're so inclined. I'm not. Pistols live in holsters or cases at my house.
For the gun-phobic: It's back in the safe. You can come back out now. It won't harm you.
You might notice that thing is about as far away from "shiny pistol syndrome" as something can get. That thing isn't just ugly, it's fugly.
In a defensive scenario, you're pretty unlikely to even be able to use it effectively much more than an arm's or two's length away without practice. Point shooting it in a defensive scenario though, would be no problem at all.
One former cop described the .380 ACP pistols to me this way: "The 380 is the pistol in your back pocket for when the jerk is on top of you and either is trying to get your duty pistol away from you or just did. You yank it out of your back pocket, put it to his head, and pull the trigger. It always works when used that way."
Tough job being a cop. No thanks. But that's his professional opinion of it, anyway.
Meanwhile, one of my instructors has carried a Glock 19 daily, for over 20 years. He doesn't wear coats unless it's cold out, and he's usually in shorts and a polo shirt most of the summer. If you don't know how or look for it, you'd never know he was carrying.
There's a LOT of pistols between the Ruger LCP and a Glock 19, size-wise. No coat needed. Definitely.
There's your dose of reality for the day. Hope it shows the reality vs the complete misconception about what's out there and can be concealed.
If you think all pistols are the stupid stuff in the movies, or on TV, you're just spewing bad information. Sure the Smith and Wesson 939 looks pretty and shiny for the cameras, but it's not what folks are carrying around for self defense, typically.
Even just watching a re-run of "Criminal Minds" last night while I was doing other stuff, I laughed out loud at one of the characters and what they think the FBI would let him carry on the job. I'll leave it to to figure out which character and which firearm isn't FBI issue, and doesn't fire a round the FBI would normally carry. Not too many FBI folk will be carrying something they can't reload from their buddy's belt if he goes down in a firefight. That'd be a very dumb way to die.
Maybe I should write in smaller letters or lighter font. Shhhhh