Our first cold front blowing in last night got me to thinking about how we carry our defensive handguns in colder weather. To begin with, colder weather gives us a greater choice of concealment garments that will allow us to properly conceal a larger handgun. But it is not the time to wipe that smaller gun you carry during warm weather and put it back in the safe.
That small semi-automatic or revolver can do important duty in cold weather. Get it out of your pants pocket and start carrying it in one of the outside pockets of your heavy coat. Opening a heavy coat and unzipping a vest to get to your big gun can take time that you may not have. The smaller pistol in an outside pocket may be a lot quicker to get to, especially when the criminal attack comes as a fast, close-in surprise.
In addition, you might consider carrying that backup gun on your support side. This doubles your options as to which defensive handgun you can go to in an emergency. It is also an excellent way to start training to shoot with your support hand in case you have neglected that part of your defensive practice. In addition to all of that, walking around in the wintertime with your hand in a coat pocket will not be considered unusual and will put you way ahead of the curve should you be attacked.
One important wintertime consideration is whether or not you can operate your defensive handguns while wearing gloves. If the gloves are too thick, the trigger guard too small or trigger pull too light to be trusted with a gloved trigger finger, now is the time to find out. During these winter months, your dry practice should involve gloves. You need to be proficient with operating your guns while wearing gloves or have a plan for getting the gloves off quickly.
Will someone think that you are paranoid for carrying two defensive handguns? Nope, you are just winterizing for defense.
