Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last week, we took a look at useful vs necessary upgrades to your carry pistol. I have a few more options, so if you want to check out that article and comment on what else you think are absolute upgrades, be sure to click the link here to add them. With the weather getting high into the 80s and 90s across the country, it can be tricky to carry larger firearms, especially with a light cover garment like a shirt or tank top. So how do you stay concealed? Let’s take a closer look at the basics of printing.

What Is Printing?

When I start talking about properly carrying concealed, I often will get people asking what printing really means and how to avoid it. Printing is basically where your shirt or cover garment doesn’t appropriately conceal your handgun and will oftentimes start to draw an outline of your handgun onto the shirt or “printing” an outline on your cover garment, which is where the name comes from. The element of surprise is one of the absolute greatest strengths of carrying a concealed handgun. If you risk having your cover garment too tight or try carrying too large a handgun for your clothes, it can be incredibly difficult to confidently carry a pistol without worrying about printing.

There have been several instances where I have seen people try to conceal their handgun, but the shirt rides up, or is entirely too tight on an Outside The Waistband holster, where it is very clear they have a handgun under their shirt. When a concealed handgun is so poorly concealed like that, it can be alarming to regular people in the area, but you will no longer have the element of surprise. Being lazy about concealing your handgun or not keeping the idea of printing in mind is ultimately putting yourself at more of a risk than if you weren’t carrying both physically and legally speaking.

Important Factors About Printing

Carrying the right size handgun and having the correct clothes for what you’re trying to carry are two of the most critical factors to avoid printing. You will oftentimes have a harder time carrying a full-size handgun with an optic and a weapon-mounted light than something smaller like a Glock 43X with no accessories attached. Everything from your clothing and even belt choice can have an effect on your overall comfort. In the summer months, most people don’t wear a thick, sturdy leather belt but instead go for a lightweight option that is breathable. And of course, when peak summer temperatures hit, we will switch out our layers for lighter shirts and shorts.

Lightening up your carry gun is probably the easiest way to reduce bulk and allow your cover garment to sit normally on your body. I can’t tell you how many people wear a tighter-fitting tank top and thin shorts, then wonder why their gun sticks out like it has its own design in the shirt. The best course of action when you have minimal layers on is to keep the carry gun simple and allow your shirt and shorts to be slightly bigger so it flows over the gun rather than hugging your body and showing everyone you have a carry gun on. If you think about the overall size of your carry gun compared to your clothing, you won’t have any issues with comfortably concealing your handgun without stressing about printing.

Less Conspicuous Than You Think

Most new concealed carriers will stress about being able to see their gun and will start to look at their carry gun in mirrors or reflections to make sure there’s no printing going on. While it’s certainly important to be aware of potential printing, you shouldn’t check it constantly in public either. The advice I give people is to check it once and twice at a maximum out in public, then leave it alone completely. The truth is, most people don’t notice small things like your gun bulge if you just remain confident and play it off casual.

Keeping a calm demeanor and not acting suspicious will make the vast majority of people around you not be suspicious, which ultimately lowers their guard, not worrying if you’re armed or not. Confidence is key in this situation and when you’re paranoid about your gun showing, you’re anything but confident. It may be a learning curve, but trust me, 98% of people won’t realize you’re carrying a gun even if you have a slight bulge in your shirt, so the key is not getting obsessed about it.

Overall Thoughts

Printing is one of those things that people either stress entirely too much or not enough. You should absolutely plan ahead to avoid printing so people will have no idea, but unless you’re careless and lazy about carrying, the vast majority of people won’t realize you’re even carrying a handgun with an inside-the-waistband holster. Be confident and don’t bring attention to yourself and things will work out for you.

What do you guys do to make sure you don’t print during the hot summer months? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below. If you have questions about carrying concealed or firearms in general, feel free to shoot me a message on Instagram @fridgeoperator. Stay safe out there and we will see you next week for another edition of Concealed Carry Corner.

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