Welcome to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last week, we looked at some of the tough realities when it comes to carrying concealed. If you happened to miss that article, be sure to click the link here to check it out. This week, I want to take a deeper dive into what is actually necessary versus what is useful. So many people say the magwell or two-tone coloring on their handgun is an absolute must and then proceed to explain why it’s completely necessary when, in reality, most times it’s just what they wanted or it can be slightly useful. I decided to take a look at the three top items to see if they’re really must-change items to carry safer or if it’s just something you want. Let’s take a closer look at useful vs necessary concealment items.

Red Dots – Necessary

Now, some of you are probably sitting in your chairs, somewhat surprised. I am saying a red dot is a necessary item on your carry gun. If you had asked me 10 years ago what I taught, I would have said it is absolutely an optional item, but in modern times things are a little different. Companies are pairing various red dot optics with handguns straight from the factory and if I had to guess where the general trend in the market would go, I would say there’s a reasonably high chance that red dots will just become standard options that come with every handgun in the next 10-20 years.

Whether you have aging eyes or you’re just a new shooter, once you learn the muscle memory of how to pick up the red dot, getting your sight on target does become faster, you are more accurate at further distances and it’s just a simpler sight picture over traditional iron sights. I still carry 50/50 between iron sights only and a red dot mounted, but I do feel more confident and know I am way more capable at distance or stress with a red dot than traditional iron sights. This is one of the only items I will say is truly a necessary item on a carry handgun just because it offers so many improvements over traditional iron sights.

“Upgraded Parts” – Not Necessary

This is probably the section that will ruffle some feathers, but it’s been a common theme over the last few weeks. You absolutely don’t need to switch out factory internal parts for “upgraded” aftermarket parts. Major manufacturers like Glock or Smith & Wesson pour astronomical amounts of money into making their pistols reliable while having a reasonably safe trigger weight and safe reset for consistent, reliable performance for thousands of rounds. Now, plenty of people have told me over the years they tear out every trigger and striker spring to make their carry gun “better” than it was factory.

I’ve always had a problem with people doing maybe an hour or two of research online and claiming to know more than the actual manufacturer of the firearm. No, Jeremy, I hate to say it, but you don’t know more than the group of engineers who work at Glock about their gun. If you want to install an optic or change out the backstrap so the handgun fits your grip better, that’s perfectly understandable, but anything internally should be absolutely left alone. I know some may completely disagree with me and that’s alright, but the manufacturers truly do know how to make their guns reliable and work best. Personally, I keep everything internal stock on my carry guns.

Weapon Lights or Lasers- Useful But Not Necessary

When it comes to attachments like weapon lights or lasers, it can really boil down to application and what you plan on doing throughout the day. I run weapon lights on roughly 4-5 of my carry guns, with a few others being just the gun only. If you’re carrying mostly at night, having a weapon-mounted light can be the deciding factor in a given situation. It completely changes the field in your favor. There was one particular situation where a friend’s business alarm was going off and I was with him when it happened. When we got to his business, he told me to come inside to see if there was anyone, but he had no light on his gun or even a handheld. I took my light out and we cleared the property because I had a light with me.

That was one situation and it may not make having accessories a necessity, but it certainly does add to how useful a light or laser can be in a given situation. For those of you who never are out after dusk, I would say it’s not necessary, but for those of you who go out at night on a regular basis, having a weapon light can be a massive benefit and there’s merit to saying it can be necessary. The big downside to weapon-mounted lights is the extra bulk that comes with them and the need for a speciality holster also makes it more difficult to carry right out of the gate. At the end of the day, I would leave this one up to the person concealing and let them decide what’s best for their personal life.

Overall Thoughts

For these, I think it’s good to have three different examples with three different outcomes. The red dot optic on a carry gun has become almost standard at this point and I think we will continue to see that happen in the coming years and decades. People always change out internals and I think that’s an incredibly big mistake for the reliability of your handgun. When it comes to various accessories, I would say that’s more up to personal preference as long as it doesn’t change the overall function of the handgun internally.

Let me know what other options you think I should talk about when it comes to carrying concealed. If you have questions about carrying 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.

TFB’s Concealed Carry Corner is brought to you by GLOCK