WOMENS WEDNESDAY: A Lady Talks Concealed Carry on MOF Podcast

Welcome back to the Matter Facts Podcast on the Prepper Broadcasting Network. We talk prepping guns and politics every week on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify. Go check out our content at mofpodcast.com on Facebook or Instagram. You can support us via Patreon or by checking out our affiliate partners. I'm your host, Phil Rabelais, and my co-host Andrew Bobo is on the other side of the mic, and here's your show. Welcome back to Matter of Facts Podcast. Andrew's not here. I traded him in for a cuter co-host and Mrs. Matter of Facts is going to fill in and have a discussion with me this afternoon about a decision she recently made. Yes. Do you want me to say it? Well, I mean, either you will or I will. That's kind of how this works. I told Phil last night and made his day And probably his year that I was ready to get my concealed carry. And this comes on the back of me having carried for six years, I think now. I don't know. I mean, I know you don't remember. I'm going back through my head about. I think I got my, yeah, I got my first, the first time I got my permit was 2016. Want to say that? Yeah, because I have to re-up it every five years and I had to re-up it last year. So what, I guess there's several things to unpack. Like, why now? Why not before? Like, you know, walk us through that mind, that thought process. Because, like, I know you and I have talked about you conceal caring off and on for years. I've never really pushed you on it because I've always looked at it as, It's an enormous responsibility, and if it's not one you're comfortable taking on, you just don't do it. It's kind of like any other life-altering decision. If you don't buy into it, no amount of me pushing you is going to make you commit to it. So I always decided if you weren't willing to, then I was going to carry everywhere, and I was going to kind of take ownership of the family safety, which is why I was kind of surprised the other night when you just kind of suddenly announced to me like you were ready to take the plunge. I don't know. I just, I, you know, you can't, I can't really say, Oh, well things have gotten worse in the world. Cause I mean, worse than what? Um, I guess, you know, recently, uh, I've had to drive into new Orleans for work. And I mean, I, the, The madhouse of what it is 25 miles away from our house is insane. And the stories just keep coming with more and more. Like, it's just insane what's happening down there. And granted, I've only had to go down there twice. I don't look forward to you having to go back to New Orleans East for work. And I'm fortunate that I would think that with my new job, that's going to start in August with the new school year, that I probably won't be having to go into places like new Orleans as often as I do with my, my job right now. So, um, you know, just looking at what's happening down there. Um, I'm in a, a different emotional place than I was say six years ago when you got your concealed carry. Um, I'm kind of in a place where I, um, I'm, I don't want to be caught having to take shit off of someone in a situation, you know, like I don't want to be caught unaware. Um, there have been times where I have, you know, you see the videos of people who, um, I think Stuart actually, or somebody shared a video of the guy who was behind a car or a truck on an on-ramp, and they stopped their car and got out. And, you know, Phil, you've always said to me, like, you were in a weapon. And that's always stuck. And I've always thought about, well, if this happens, what's going to be my steps? And then if this happens, what are going to be my steps? And, you know, we talk a lot about our values. preparedness lifestyle that we live. And it only goes so far with me. And so I think about what's in my car right now. I have stuff if I have a blowout. I have stuff if I need a tourniquet. And if there's some sort of emergency that I come up on, or if I'm in an emergency that I need those tools to get us through until an EMT or, you know, somebody gets there to help with more experience than I have. You know, I have all that stuff. But, you know, I'm just so I'm going through my checklist and where everything is. And actually it was a conversation we had with Piper a few weeks ago. I don't even remember who we were having this conversation with. Oh, we were talking about tourniquets and all of our emergency equipment gear in our cars. And you asked Piper, where is mine located in the truck? And she knew exactly where it was. And I said, well, where's mine located in my Jeep? And she had no clue. And, um, so it just kind of, it just started the ball rolling of, um, maybe we're not as prepared. Like I, I guess, um, You know, Piper and I see you living the life that you've always lived. I mean, this is always who you've been since you and I have started dating. And Piper's no different. And so I see myself in a different light. And it kind of made me feel like maybe she sees me in a different light. Like, Dad's always going to have this stuff. Dad, I know exactly where that kit is. I know what bags on the top of your roof are. um, in the truck. I know where to go. You've talked to me about, um, the, the thing that breaks the window. If we have, you know, Lord forbid we drive off the causeway or, you know, whatever. And she knows all that stuff in your truck and she knows you've talked to her about all that stuff. But in mom's Jeep with the cool leather seats that heat up and the, you know, the, what do you call it? Pavement princess that, um, That stuff is– some of it's there. It's not in a place where if I'm somehow incapacitated and can't get to the back end of my Jeep, I can't get to that kit. So it made me start thinking, well, I need to move that. I need to make room in the glove box or make room in the thing in the middle. Center console. Center console. Thank you. And put that stuff in a closer reach to me. Like for you, it's just a, you can just put your arm up on the roof and you've got your gear. I am not in a good position to get that stuff. You know, I think about, you know, like the wreck that I was in 18 years ago, however long ago, the wreck that I was in. There was absolutely no way, because I was in a vehicle very similar to my Jeep. I was in a Durango when it first came out. There was absolutely no way with the condition that I was in and the injuries that I had, bleeding out from the bottom of my leg because my foot had been ripped off, and no cell phones. I mean, it was 2002. There was no way that I was going to crawl to the back of my Durango and get my gear where I needed to get it to put a tourniquet on my leg. And if that happens again, there's no way I'm going to get to it. Lord forbid that happens again. Oh, sorry. But now it is a thought of, I'm not with you all the time. And for the most part, I have Piper in my car more than I have you. Piper is at the store with me. Or, you know, you're not always there. And Lord forbid that I ever have a wreck again that puts me in a situation like that where I'm literally hanging out of the driver's seat, conscious, and the thought of, There's so much blood and the coyotes are going to smell it and they're going to eat me. That was my thought at 18 years old in this wreck. Not, I have to stop the bleeding. Wasn't my thought. Thank God that shock set in. But what if that happens to me again? What if that happens when Piper's in the car again? What if that happens when the three of us are together in my car? You know, what happens if We have to go to New Orleans or even over to the Target area where it's not the safest place to be. I mean. You see all these reports of women and children who are followed and watched over in that area where Target and. I mean, we live on one of the major thoroughfares in the United States and human trafficking is. Um it's astronomical on. Human trafficking drugs a lot of drugs passing through this area i mean it's it's the i-10 corridor it is what it is and everything comes along with it. Right you know and of this i've always thought like that like you know you and i we've always told piper you hold my hand you do not let go of the buggy you do not you know we she knows how to act in a store. She knows to, to look for her surroundings and, you know, keep an eye out and things like that. And as she gets older, we give her more and more responsibility. And it's not that we tell Piper things that are going to keep her up at night. Although I think she's at a point now where she puts two and two together. And, you know, sometimes it does keep her up at night. You know, she, she's exactly it. she thinks about, it's crazy, she thinks about the same things at 10 years old that I remember thinking about at 10 years old. You know, my house was broken into when I was a kid. And it was because where I lived, where my family lived, and at the time, you didn't lock your doors at night. Stupid, but you didn't lock your doors. And so these guys just walked into the den and Raided the gun safe. I mean, like, not the safe, but what is it called? Gun cabinet. Raided the bar. Took all of the alcohol that was there. Swords. My dad had swords from Japan that his father had purchased. Or maybe not Japan, but when he was in the service. You know, and they're loaded. And they're firearms that, had they wanted more, all they had to do is just walk up to the... front of the house where the bedrooms were and shoot us all in our sleep. You know, that, I don't think I've ever told Piper those things. And she's probably listening on the other side of the wall of her YouTube channel isn't blaring right now, but you know, it's conversations to have. It's, it's things that we've lived through. And, um, so back to like the target area, it's, it's something that you've talked about previously on, on the podcast and different episodes of watching your back as you put her into the car. You know, I have a conversation that we had a few weeks ago when we were grocery shopping and this man is just eyeing you down and I'm uncomfortable at this point. Like he will not stop looking at you. And I, You and I got into it a little bit, but I was ready to deck the old man. Like, what the hell is your problem? And you raised a good point to me because sometimes, believe it or not, and I know when my father-in-law hears this, he's going to be like, I told you. Sometimes I'm a little hot-headed. No. Right, Carl? Not you. No. Well, sometimes I'm ready to just. Sicilian Scottish blood mixed. Sometimes I'm just ready to take people out. And, you know, you had told me, you were like, what would you have done? Like, you wouldn't have acted that way had you not been there. Like, I wouldn't have acted that way had you not been there. That's what you said to me. And you were right. What would I have done? I didn't have a weapon on me. What if crazy googly-eyed man, maybe he was just checking out your legendary beard. who knows? But it, it upset me enough that I wanted him to know, I see you watching us. Like I see you y'all. When we, we were at the checkout counter and that's what it was. We were at one, one station, one lane. And then he was at like one either next to us or one over. And his wife is just talking it up with the, um, the lady at the counter and, And he is just like staring at us. And so I tell Piper, I was like, go stand next to your dad. Do not leave your dad's side. Like I didn't know what he was doing. And so we pack up, we finish up right around the same time and they walk out in front of us. He's literally turning around to look at Phil. And I'm like, what the hell is wrong with this man? And so we get, so we're down the same lane where our cars are parked and they're probably three or four cars down. He's loading his car watching Phil. And I'm like, what the hell? So I am standing, I am standing on the other side of Phil's truck. Phil's closer to this man probably to put himself in between me and this guy because I'm ready to just go take him out because, you know, I could totally do that. And I'm just staring down this man and he finally looks at me and we make eye contact and he stops looking. He's like, oh, in my head, I'm thinking, oh, he's finally sees that he's been caught staring. And it's like, I don't, anyway, that's, that's a crazy story. But the, the point you raised was what would you have done? I'm this man probably stood a foot taller than me. He was an older, older man, probably in his seventies, I would think. He was late 60s, early 70s. Anyway, obviously bigger than me. And had he wanted to do something, he could have overpowered me and I would have had no weapons except for my Sicilian Scottish blood. And that probably would have gotten me so far. But I don't know. So that was one thing that I continued to play over and over in my head. I've continued to play over in my head like moving things in my car to make it at at arm's length just to make sure I mean what's the point of having that stuff in my car if I can't access it if I need it you know I can't put a bar like you have on my roof because I have that I mean the top of my car is glass so I can't put a bar there so there's we're gonna have to look at something maybe there's You know, there's all sorts of things we can look at. Clear out your center console and draw up in there. Because when I had the Mazda, that's where mine lived. It was right there in my center console where it was within arm's reach at all times. Yeah, but I think there's some stuff in that basket in the back that's not going to fit in my center console. Okay, so like the tire stuff, I don't need in there. But anyway, that's something that. I was referring specifically to like the blowout kit. Well, the blowout kit is in my center console. Yeah. And the rest of that stuff is all like emergency roadside stuff. Yeah, but still, I mean, I don't know. I want to go through it. Maybe I'm in some sort of nesting. I don't know. Prefer nesting mode? Prefer nesting. I also told Phil yesterday that over the summer I'm going through all of our camping gear and consolidating and organizing things into one bin instead of three. Definitely nesting. I'm not pregnant. Anyway, so there's that. There's things that are happening super close to home. You know, we don't live far from the interstate. We still have to go out and do things. And I'm not always going to be with you. And, you know, I'm going back into a school setting. This time I'm not, for my job in August, I'm not going to be at the front desk like I used to be, which was super boring. to me it's one of the most dangerous positions in a school. Um, not that the bad guys are necessarily going to come through the front door, but you know, you have to be prepared. And it was something that I discussed with the owner of the school and the, um, the COO at the time, I, you know, told him I'll bring a gun. Like I will carry, it's a private, it's, you know, private school. Anyway, so I'll be in a classroom now. So I'll have my own classroom. I'm not at the front desk. I'm going to be able to lock the door if I need to. I've already, so this is a school I used to work at. So I know the classroom. So I know exit points. I know I have three windows that face the road. So like I've already thought about if we have to go into a lockdown, where are my kids going to go? If we have to evacuate, you know, if there's a chance that I could save those kids, you know, whatever. Now my classroom is going to be towards the front of the school by the front door. So locking the door is going to be the best thing that I can do. So, you know, I've already started to go through that process of where everything is located. Where could I stuff the kids? I have two large closets. Can I just throw them all in there? You know, I've already started thinking about that stuff. I've thought about even bringing up that conversation again. I don't think it's going to go anywhere. It didn't go anywhere last time, but I don't know. So, plus I don't think parents are going to feel very safe if their STEM teacher's carrying a gun, but you know, we could totally turn that into some sort of lesson about trajectory and I mean, explosions. Firearms are all physics and chemistry at the end of the day. I can make a hell of a lesson out of that. I mean, we could totally make that a STEM lesson. Anyway, so there's all that stuff. There's just all that stuff. And I think I'm in a different frame of mind. I think the camping trip that we took in April, meeting the women that came with us and Um, even talking to the men that came with us, I, I feel like I'm just at a point now in, um, being in this lifestyle as long as I have and totally like just jumping in head first in the last few years. It's, it's just one of those things where it's time. So, and then, so that kind of goes into what's held me up. Well, I have always told Phil and it has, it has, Continues to be. Because Phil, I think, has doubted if I would be strong enough to kill someone if I absolutely needed to. I've never doubted that. This mama bear will take a person out. You almost had a beep. Specifically, my worry wasn't that you wouldn't do what you had to do to protect Piper. My worry was always that you wouldn't protect yourself. Well, maybe, I don't know, maybe at some point. But it's a conversation worth having because it is the thing I hear from predominantly a lot of women, a lot of mothers, is that they just can't bring themselves to that mental ledge where they're going to take another person's life. And when I ask them, would you do it to protect your kid, they're like, oh, in a split second, but they wouldn't do it for themselves. And I've always countered that with, but to not defend yourself is to deprive... your child, and I'm assuming your spouse, of you for the rest of their lives. Yeah, and I get that. And I still think, yeah, absolutely, I would do what would have to be done. And I've always felt like that. I think my drawback has always been I love shooting rifles. handguns sometimes scare the hell out of me and having that on my hip or wherever and then possibly having to use that you know but you know now as I sit here and think about it at this moment I'm totally cool like let's call up Mike and let's you know let's get this done had you asked me three years ago I'd be like you know what I'm good I'm fine. I did ask you three years ago. Well, I know, but you were like no interest whatsoever. Well, I know that. And that's, I'm just giving an analogy, dear talker. Um, so that's where I'm at. That's, um, just, uh, kind of seeing where things are. Uh, I can remember, I guess, when was it? 2007 or eight when the market. Crashed and, The housing market? Yeah, everything kind of went ballistic. I can remember hearing stories in New Orleans, people getting shot for different reasons, gas stations and whatnot, just really random stuff because people were on edge. They've lost their money. They've lost their homes, whatever. And so they're on edge, and they're at a point in their life where, They didn't care how their ends were met. They were going to make those ends meet. You know what I mean? And I. Can see that that's coming again in this country. You know, there's baby formula shortages, gas prices, diesel prices are almost $ 10, if not $ 10 in some places. Meat prices are up. It's almost $ 4. 50 here for a tank of gas. Meat prices are up 40, 50%. Yeah, food is up. I mean, I am so thankful that we did not have to go through what these moms and dads are going through with not being able to feed their children. And they're bringing up recipes from the 50s, 40s, and 50s of how to make their own baby formula just to feed their children. Mm-hmm. I just, I can't even fathom what scared you talk about scared. Oh my gosh. So yeah. When you talk about what would I do to keep Piper safe? They've got to be going through that same thing. Like what would you do to make sure your child is being fed? You know? And I, I just, I just see, and I'm hope I am so wrong, but I just see this country as, going in that direction again to where people are going to do whatever it takes to make those ends meet. And if it means taking, stealing, killing from other people, we've seen them do it before. They will do it again. And I just, I don't want to be caught off guard. You know, I, sure, I'm in a, I'm in a weapon when I'm driving. I'm in a nice big weapon when I'm driving. But what happens, like there's one video that continues to be shared where they're going down into almost like this tunnel, but it's not really a tunnel. It's just an underpass, I guess you could say. And the car stops in front of them. And the driver, so the car stops in front of them and people are getting out. Well, the driver that this video is coming from realizes what happens and rams the car, rams on the side and is able to get out of there. Well, what happens if I'm in a position where I have no room to ram that car or scoot to the side and get past them? And now I'm stuck. I've hit the car and now my car is totaled and I can't get out of there. Hopefully I've taken some of them out in the process, but you just don't know. And so where's my backup? Right now, there is none. And I don't want to be in that situation. I just don't want to be in that situation. And Lord forbid I ever have to use it. So I've made my husband, I mean, I get him some pretty awesome Christmas gifts. And each year I have to trump myself on these Christmas gifts. But I don't think I can trump myself anymore. I've made Phil like the happiest husband ever ever. There's nothing I can get him for Christmas that's going to trump this. I mean, my point of view is I've always kind of wished you would get your concealed carry permit. But like I said at the top of the show, it was never something I was willing to push. Because it's not, hey, honey, here's a bag of tourniquets and medical equipment in case you hurt yourself or somebody else hurts themselves. This is a literal... Like, you are literally taking the power of life and death into your hands. I know. And it's an incredible responsibility that I think you're perfectly capable of dealing with. But it's an incredible responsibility, which is why I don't push it on anybody. I recommend. I offer to help. I've offered several women throughout the years to take them to the range, teach them how to shoot, walk them through how to get their concealed carry permit, like, My point of view has always been like, you know, good people should have a method of protecting themselves, period, end discussion. And you weren't comfortable with that, and I didn't push. And now that you're saying this is something you want to pursue, I mean, I think literally within the next five minutes after you tell me that, I said, okay, give me five minutes three times a week to start training at the house. We've got, not sounding like an infomercial, but I mean, we're sitting here in my office. We've got several pieces of firearms training gear and targets on the wall behind me. I mean, I can give you the next best thing to a shooting range right here at the house, which frankly is what you need because you said you wanted to learn how to draw from the holster, how to present, how to shoot properly. And I agree with what you said earlier when you said that, like, you're surgical with a rifle. You always have been. You shoot as well as I do with a rifle. But you've always been a little intimidated by handguns, I felt, and you've always struggled shooting them. And at least to me, like you've announced, like you kind of get frustrated with yourself because you do struggle to shoot handguns, but you shoot rifles all day and it doesn't bother you and you're damned accurate. But like I pointed out, you haven't invested the time I have in shooting handguns. Which was never an issue when we were more concerned about home defense, because if somebody kicks in the front door, there's enough rifles in this house, you can pick your favorite one. But if you're going to really commit to being a concealed carrier and to your handgun being a primary weapons system now, whereas it never has been before. It's just a certain amount of training you're going to have to buy into. But the one thing that I don't think we've talked about, and it kind of relates back to the grocery store incident. Okay. What? I know what's coming. What? You say it. Nope. Go for it. Just remember that people are listening, so be nice to me. I'm always nice to you. Lies. We disagree sometimes, but I'm always nice. I've always been very particular about telling people that conceal carry. Your goal at the end of every day is to take your gun from wherever you store it, anywhere you're going to go with it, and bring it home. not having discharged around. I know. Because above and beyond the fact that legally you're going to have to defend yourself in a criminal court, above and beyond the fact that you could be sued civilly to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars for shooting somebody, and you could be sued for that whether it's a good shoot or not. But then you have the moral weight of, I've just burned somebody down. So the thing I always tell people is I'm like, at least... When I started concealed carry, I became a much more risk averse person. I became much less likely to confront a person like the old man at the grocery store who was staring me down. I never took my eyes off of him. I was watching him. I was checking him. I wanted to, I don't know if you see, I doubt you noticed, but I was looking at his hands because his eyes were locked on to me. But I was looking at his hands because if his hands go to his waistband or his hands go to his pockets, that tells me he's reaching for something. I was watching all of him. But my point is. I was just watching him in red. But my point is I was not going to confront him. I wasn't going to challenge him because. I know. And that kind of pissed me off even more. But my point of view is the same thing I told you then is I don't know what his mental state is. He could be. I mean, I could remind him of a nephew of his for all I know. And he could be a mental patient off his meds. And I don't know. So if the goal is to avoid a fight so that I don't have to win it, then the key to that is to never initiate a fight if you can help it. Well, I didn't initiate a fight. But I know what you're saying, and I get that. I understand the weight of what's on my hip, what would be on my hip. I understand what comes with it. Obviously, it's not something that I take lightly. I mean, it's taken me years to even get to the point to say to you, okay, I think I'm ready. I mean, years. And it's not something that I don't. haven't thought of for these six years or however long, because it, it's an everyday thing in our life. Now I see you put that gun on and I see you take that gun off. And, you know, I see you in here practicing on the, the targets behind us. So it's not something that's just out of sight, out of mind, because it's, it's literally in sight every day. So it, do I think about it every day? No, but it is, it is something that I have thought about. So, I understand the responsibility that comes with the decision. And I understand what could happen if I ever have to use that gun. I understand that. And that's why I said, Lord forbid I ever have to. I hope I'm never in that situation. But I'm at the point where I don't want to be caught with my pants down if I do get in that situation. Mm-hmm. Fair points. So, now that we're past the psychology. So, you're going to have to carry a firearm. Okay. Where is this going? Well, fortunately, we already know what firearm you're going to carry. Yes. I mean, we've had a Smith & Wesson shield that's kind of been like, quote, unquote, your go-to handgun for you. That is my gun. There's no quote, unquote. That's mine. You didn't let me finish. He air-quoted me. Well, I was going to say that was going to be your concealed carry gun if at some point in the future you decide you want a concealed carry. But regardless, it is your handgun. So we've already kind of had a little bit of flirtation with a Smith & Wesson J-frame that you decided very quickly. Was not for you. Negative. Pattern is full. Nope. But you like the shield a lot better. I do. I like the shield. I feel comfortable in the shield. I totally agree that I always need more practice than, than we're ever out at the range. But, um, my, the injury in my arm can handle the shield. And, you know, I, I think I, you know, I'm not like the best marksman out there and not running targets and stuff like that, but what I can do with that handgun would get me out of a situation if I ever needed it, you know? Yeah. And as far as like draw a presentation, shooting technique, frankly, we can work on all that. Well, I've never practiced that. So that is something that is just going to be a repetition. You know, that is something that I'm just going to have to learn muscle memory on that. Yeah. Well, and a lot of that is also, I mean, like the techniques of how to get your gun out of the holster without piercing your body unintentionally, like those are pretty well understood. And it's just muscle memory, like you said, until your brain can cut out that whole section of thought where it's like, how do I do this? And it's just, I need my gun out of my holster and your hand just does it. Yeah. That's just muscle memory in practice. we're going to have to spend some time figuring out, like, literally how you can carry a gun on your person. Because I've had this conversation with a lot of other women, and you and I have had this conversation. I've always said there's two ways to conceal carry. You could dress around the gun, which is something, frankly, a lot of men choose to do. A lot of men will get, like, a little one-size-bigger shirt, or they'll buy a reinforced gun belt, like I wear just every day all the time. You know, like we might get our pants one size bigger on the way so there's room for a gun. We tend to dress around our gun. I find that stereotypically women are much less likely to wear pants with belt loops so they can wear a gun belt and wear big billowing shirts to cover the gun. You know, most women want to wear what they want to wear and they want the gun to dress around them. And that's possible. You just got to kind of figure out. I mean, there's so much out there now. Like I saw an advertisement for Um, these leggings that have, I mean, they're specifically designed for women who carry. So I could wear my fat pants and it's still be able, you know, still be able to carry. Well, and there's, I mean, there are options for like a, uh, they call them belly bands. It's just a, it's like a six inch thick band of elastic with a holster built into it so that you could wear that under a t-shirt with yoga pants on. No belt, no nothing, no pockets even. I mean, they have, oh, what do they call them? They have, like, tights, something you normally wear underneath a knee-length skirt that literally has pockets built into the inside of thighs for a gun. I've seen those, too. Yeah. I mean, there's... These thighs already rub. We're not putting a gun down there. Anyway. But I guess my point is, like, you know, I feel like there's been so much... experimentation, and therefore so much progress made in clothing and accessories to help a woman conceal carry comfortably and be able to work with everything else you want to wear in the last five years. I think a lot of it's honestly down to the fact that it's been clearly stated the largest growing segment of gun owners nowadays is women. The chubby old white man market is tapped out as far as firearms ownership. Everybody's got enough guns to arm the Marine Corps It's women that are really stepping into owning firearms for the first time, concealed carrying for the first time. And as a result of that, the market has said, what can we do to put these guns into women's hands more reliably? Because I've always said if you're not comfortable, literally if you're not comfortable carrying, you're not going to carry. Right. Like if the only way you're going to carry is if you have a big old thick gun belt and pants with belt loops... And inside the waistband holster like I carry, if I tell you that's the only way you can carry, what I've just told you is when you want to wear a dress, you will not carry. When you want to wear yoga pants, you will not carry. When you just want to lounge around the house, you will not carry. And that's not productive in my opinion. So I guess my way of looking at it is we're going to have to literally look at your wardrobe and say we already have a single holster for that shield. It's inside the waistband, single clip. I think it's a black rhino. But it's a decent holster. It'll work. It's not going to cover you in all different respects. I know at one point you were interested in concealed carry purses, which I'm... Well, I. Knew you were going to bring that up. That was a conversation I had with my sister a long time ago when she was... She was looking at getting one of those purses. I don't feel comfortable with that. And here's my reason. That purse, knowing me, is going to be put down somewhere. And, you know, even at a restaurant, I put that. I put my purse next to me or whatever. I do not want any chance of that gun either being taken or... I mean, I don't carry a big purse anyway, and I haven't carried a purse in years until the last six months when I needed to start carrying a purse again. And I don't know. I just don't feel comfortable having my gun in the purse. I just don't. I'd rather have it on me so I know where it is at all times. No, that's a fair point. I mean, I was always really unhappy with the idea of, Of concealed carry purses because my point of view is, first of all, the purse is a target for a purse snapper. Right, exactly. And now when somebody takes your purse, they've taken your gun too, which just freaks me out. But the other problem is always, in my head, I think to myself, I'm like, where does the average woman, how does she treat her purse? It's in the backseat of the Jeep or it's sitting in a chair at the restaurant or it's left on a desk when you go somewhere else. And the problem is none of that is the way you would treat your gun if it wasn't in a purse. Like if you had your gun and you just, you were in a restaurant, you wouldn't set it in a chair out of your reach. That's what I'm getting at. But the other side of that equation is knowing how women usually treat their purses. If all of a sudden you start carrying your purse with you everywhere, you carry it in the bathroom, you carry this and the other, someone's going to notice that's out of the ordinary. So it's, Now, I am kind of obfuscating the fact that most people are so eyeball locked on their phone all the time. Like you could paint yourself pink with purple polka dots and they wouldn't notice. But the point is you're still acting in a way that's out of the ordinary that could draw attention. So my point of view is if I'm knowing that criminals tend to have better situational awareness than most people do, if I see a woman who's kind of being really territorial about her purse, there's something in there she's afraid of losing. which is a target now. So, I mean, I've always stated, like, I think the best way to do this is for us to figure out how to make concealed carry work with every outfit you would want to wear. And if that means. That means a new wardrobe. No, no, no. Cha-ching! It doesn't mean... But here's the thing. I'm joking. It doesn't mean a new wardrobe. It means probably six different holsters so that you have one that fits... With all those different outfits so that we integrate the firearm and you carrying into what you normally wear. So that you don't have to completely retool your whole wardrobe around the idea that I'm going to carry a gun now. We make the gun fit you. And I'll just say, I know you probably haven't noticed, but I've got a bag full of old holsters. I didn't know. But they're holsters that I tried them and I didn't like them. Or I tried them and they didn't fit. Or they worked for a while and now they don't work. That's just the thing we go through as concealed carriers. We're going to have to get a bunch of different holsters. And probably a belly band. I don't know. We'll look at as many different options as we have to so that you can carry wearing as many of your current outfits as possible. To give us the most flexibility. It's the reason why I have a hip holster and an ankle holster for my J-frame. Because you and I have talked about that. I mean, if I'm wearing like dress pants and a coat, I know I'm going to shuck that coat at some point in the evening. So I can't carry my J-frame on my waist where it's visible. So I'm going to ankle carry it. No one ever checks a person's ankles for handguns. They do now. They do now. But the point is... I have those two different holsters. I have, you know, three, I have four different holsters for two different carry guns. And no matter, five, five, yes. Okay, anyway. Moving on. Moving on. But the point is, like, I have all these different options as far as different firearms, different ways to carry, different places to carry, so that no matter what the situation is, I can comfortably carry no matter what I wear. We have to get you to the same point. And then we have to train you up on how to draw, how to present, how to reholster, even though I don't think that's going to be as big of a problem, depending on what holster you wind up carrying. What else? The whole legalese and everything, your concealed carry instructor will cover with you, although I can pretty much fill you in on most of that fairly quickly. I mean, you're talking about prohibitive places, which are pretty self-explanatory. You know, government buildings, police stations, court. You can't sit at the bar. I know. Yeah. She and I have had that conversation a couple of times over the years. Well, it's not that we wanted to go sit at the bar to drink. We wanted to sit at the bar because it skipped the line. And then I'm like, oh, crap, we can't because you have your gun. So then we sit in line for... 45 minutes to an hour to eat dinner. I mean, no big, I get it. I get it. I'm not, I'm just saying, but she did. Get annoyed at it quite a few times when I first started. I understand it. But now I don't even ask. Like, I'm not like, Phil, you want to just go sit at the bar? Cause I know what the answer is going to be. I remember. I do. I do kind of grow tired of like literally everywhere I go and I get offered a beer, I have to play the refuse. Oh, well see, I can't drink. So yeah. Well, I mean you're, you're covered on that, but like, Not that it applies to you because alcohol makes you die. But that's another thing that I had to deal with. Everywhere I go, we live in the South. It's pretty common. If you go to a man's house and you're a nerd man, he's going to offer you a beer or something alcoholic. And I just refuse because with a concealed carry permit, if my blood alcohol content is like, what,. 001, if it registers at all, I just lost my concealed carry permit and Probably have to do some jail time just for drinking while having a concealed handgun. Brandishing is not an issue in this state, but it could be in some other states if we're traveling. You're fortunate in the fact that you have me, so I'll kind of do a lot of the legwork as far as when we do go out of state. There are certain states we just are going to naturally avoid because our concealed carry permits wouldn't have reciprocity with them and wouldn't be honored. Or we're going to have to secure our firearms, unload it, so on and so forth, using the travel rules. One thing this is going to come in really handy, Alabama. We like to go to Alabama. For years and years and years, I made it a pretty common practice because here in Louisiana, you can carry a handgun in your vehicle, no permits, no nothing. Just free and clear. It's perfectly legal here. So every time we drove to Alabama, I had a handgun locked and loaded in my glove box. Found out years later, I was committing a felony. State of Alabama, if you have a firearm within reach of the driver, from the driver's seat, and that driver doesn't have a concealed carry permit, you have just committed a felony in that state. If the driver doesn't have a concealed carry? Anybody. So if.... Okay, I think I get what you're saying. So someone in that car had to have a concealed carry. Yes, and this is also why whenever we go to Alabama, if you and I would stop at a rest area or whatever, I had to keep the gun with me because I legally couldn't leave it in the vehicle with you not having a concealed carry permit because if a cop would have just happened. I mean, I understand the odds are virtually nil. But I always thought to myself, if you're put in a position where somebody tries to break into the car and you wind up popping them, I'm not going to bring you home from Alabama. You're going to go to jail. Is that law still in place there? I would have to look. With Kay Ivey? I think. Bless her heart. She's probably done something. I seem to remember in the back of my head someplace they ended up repealing it, but I'd have to double check. But the point remains, having a concealed carry permit yourself, we would have reciprocity with like 29 other states in the country. Most of the cool ones that we want to go to anyway. What's Florida? Well, that's a dumb question, but Florida, because we'll be going there soon. Yeah, we can go. well mississippi alabama florida is all good so we just. Need to stay in the south okay well. Not even stay in the south like louisiana can still carry permits are pretty well received throughout the country and the only places that they're not accepted is like You know, hellish places that I wouldn't go to if you paid me, like California and Illinois and New York and Washington State and Washington, D.C. Anyway, sorry if I'm picking on a state y'all happen to live in, but, you know, I just think that your politicians are retards. But I digress. Focus. Focus. Focus. I can't get on a gun control stupid rant twice in a row. Y'all won't listen to us anymore. so yeah I mean I kind of feel like I feel like we have some work to do I meant what I said before though I mean you give me five minutes three times a week and I have no concerns at all about how you're going to do as far as draw and presentation everything I think spending that five minutes three times a week with Manda's Laser Academy I think I'll actually improve your trigger pull fair bit which will help with your accuracy. Yeah, I know. That's something that you've been on me about just in general is to start back on the Mantis. Yeah. It kind of lumps under the same thing, though. It's one of those if you don't buy in, then I'm kind of hesitant to push because it's like any other thing you're going to practice. Like if your heart's not in it, If you're doing it because I asked you to do it and your heart's not in it, you aren't going to get anything out of it. No, I understand that. You haven't asked me to do this. Yeah. I haven't. I have witnesses, at least a thousand of them now. I have it recorded. You've never pushed me to do something I don't want to do. And especially something that carries such a heavy weight to it. Hmm. What else do you want to know? Well, we talked about what got... We talked about what the holdup was and what got you over the hump kind of all in the same breath. And I cried. That's okay. I mean, look, I hate to say it this way, but quite frankly, our life experiences are what make us. And a lot of times a person has a little bit of trauma in their past, and that motivates them to make changes that prevent it from happening again. I mean, that's human. That's the way we should be, is not to dwell over what happened, but to say, The saying I've always heard was, you're crazy if you wear a helmet outside so a meteor doesn't hit you in the head. But you're not crazy if you've already been hit in the head by a meteor. In other words, if you're trying to prevent an unlikely thing from happening a second time, you're not crazy. You're learning from your mistakes. Or you're learning from experience. So I'm always very quick to point out, if a person has had a home break-in, or they've had a bad car accident, and they say, I want to take some kind of preemptive action so this doesn't happen again, that's just you learning from your past experiences and putting yourself in a better position. It just took me a while to get here. 18 years and then 20 years. 20! I can do math. Did you just have one of those I feel old moments? 20 years ago in October was the wreck. Oh, Lord have mercy. I'm old. Your husband turns 40 this year. I know, we need to do something. Yeah. Hint, hint to the listeners. Yeah, it's called, I'm going to go on a solo camping trip and I'll come back after three or four days and everybody's forgotten about it. Negative. Because I hate having people's mail. You forget that I have Andrew's phone number. You forget he's in Michigan and we're down here? We have Waze. Okay. Oh, now he's worried. The whole daggum Taliban didn't get me in Iraq. This woman's going to be what does me in. I can see it now. You're just now figuring that out? I sleep next to you every night. Which makes me half crazy. I always tease him that he asked for the crazy. He begged for it. He got on one knee and asked for it. I was tricked. I was misled. Well, you haven't left yet, so I guess we're doing something right. Yeah, it's called masochism, best I'm aware. You want me to get the shovel in the back? No, no, no. We'll save that for another day. No, but I mean, that's about all I can really think to go through as far as you conceal carrying. I don't foresee you being... the type to like go for that second concealed carry gun or say, Oh, I want to carry this or I want to carry this. Like I I've always, I've always kind of surmised that like to you guns are appliances. You know what I'm saying? It's like, it's a thing to do a thing. And that's as much as it is to you. Like, you're not like me where it's like, I really like guns just for the sake of guns. Like they're cool and they're fun. And, To you, it is literally just a thing that does a thing, which is fine. And I don't foresee you getting to the point where you say, I want to carry a bigger gun or a smaller gun or a different gun. It's like, this is the one because they'll carry a gun. I think you're going to be pretty content with that, at least for the time being. Yeah, I think so. We've got to do a lot of holster shopping. Well, we. If you have a bag of holsters, we can try first. Yeah, so none of them fit your gun. Oh, well, why did you even bring that up then? My point was we're going to go through quite a few holsters, trying to find the ones that work for you that you like. It's cool. I would be interested, though, for the ladies who listen to the podcast that do conceal carry. You don't have to message me privately, but if you're in the group, I would definitely appreciate recommendations on what's worked for you and why it's worked for you. So if you have like some holster that you like or maybe some way that you, you know, you do conceal carry and you've tried other things and this is what works for you, I'd be interested to know those things. So speak up, ladies. Help a sista out. Yeah, and I would specifically be interested, because this is something I have no experience whatsoever, is like non-traditional holsters. Like the belly band, for example. Not the flashbang, for God's sakes. But like, you know, non-traditional holsters. Because I've never carried with a belly band or garter holsters or any of this other stuff that's like specific to women. And I have no experience with them. And I don't really know anybody that has experience with them. So if there's anybody out there in the audience that has experience carried with any of these items anyone that is a lady that has kind of figured out these are the different things that seem to work we're all ears that that that is something i can't help gilling with because i just don't know where to go if we're talking about inside the waistband holsters you're going to wear with a belt or even without a belt just you know with pants we can figure that part out. Yeah and i would just encourage you to to comment or you know like to to leave a comment um, in, in the group so that a discussion could get going because as much as I love the private messages that I get from your audience, uh, it's, I, there's some discussions that I feel could be, um, could be really good in an open forum like the group itself. So, and I would love to hear from just, I would love to see more women active in the group. Yeah. And I know there's a good handful in there. A lot of them are, A lot of them are quiet, and you and I have kind of a sidebar, but kind of related. This is one of the reasons why I really enjoy bringing you on the show, because I've been very frank about the fact that Andrew and I, two guys in our late 30s, talking about a lot of these subjects, just doesn't seem to resonate very much with women. I mean, we kind of can't present a woman's opinion or point of view on anything for obvious reasons. And I really appreciate having that completely opposite point of view on a lot of these subjects. But it's also the fact that, like, I know there's a lot of women out there that are into prepping, but they're very quiet about it. And I haven't figured out, like, what the secret sauce is to get them to come out, be more active, be more vocal. But I'm hoping that having you on, a lady prepper, a normal person.... Thanks, Holly. Well, no, all joking aside, like, when we go out and we're not side by side, you look like a normal person, and I look like an escaped mental patient that lives in the woods. You do not! Okay, but my point is, like, you know, large, physically imposing man with foot-long beard, and compare that to you, and you look like a normal person. Yeah. So, like, my hope is that... Thanks, my friend. I guess my point is, like, you've always struck me as being more approachable than me. And I think you are, in some ways, like, a better steward of this message that we're trying to bring to people. Because you do come across as a little more grounded, as more of a normal person. You know what I'm saying? I hear ya. I get ya. But... I guess we'll kind of start wrapping this up. You totally floored me the other day because I don't even remember how it came up in conversation. You just dropped that bomb on me and walked off. And I was like, huh? Oh, yeah. We were coming out of the restaurant last night and we drove through the Home Depot parking lot. And my question to you was, how do they keep all this wood out and it not get stolen with the price of wood being what it is? And your response was, well, they don't do it in New Orleans. And then that's when I said, oh, by the way, and here we are today. So I can thank a stack of plywood for motivating me. There you go. Yes. No. Well, and fortunately, I think you're not going to commit like the one huge faux pas of people that want to conceal carry. It drives me the craziest when somebody who wants to get a concealed carry says, well, I'm only going to carry if I think I need it. And it drives me crazy for two reasons. First of all, there's the seatbelt analogy of if you don't drive down the road at 70 miles an hour with your seatbelt off and then try to hurry up and slam it on right before you get in a wreck. It's not going to work. But the other thing I tell people all the time is, and it goes back to being very risk averse, it's like, if you think you need a concealed carry gun, why wouldn't you just not put yourself in a situation where you feel like you need it? Like, I've literally talked to people that say, well, if I go to a certain place, I'll carry. And it's like, why don't you just not go to that place? If you think you're going to need a gun to be safe there, just don't go. Obviously, there's something going on there that makes it unsafe. Just don't go. I get it. So I think once we get you comfortable with it, I think once we get you trained, once we get you permitted, I think you'll be in good shape. We just got to start doing the work because... I'm six years into this journey of carrying a gun everywhere I go that won't get me a felony in five, 10 years. And it's second nature at this point. And we've just got a lot of, got some work to do to get you to where I'm at. So a part two is coming. Oh yeah. There, well, there will, I don't think there's just going to be a part two to this. Cause like, maybe I'm, I guess maybe I'm overselling it, but like to me, you know, Conceal carrying, it's like prepping. It's a lifestyle. It's a state of mind. It is not an activity. Like, I cannot explain to you how much I have literally freaked out because I've gotten in my truck and I've managed to get like a block away before I realized I left my gun at home. And I've turned around and come back to get the gun. Yeah. Just, you know, every now and then I have one of those stupid moments, but point is... I think this is something we'll be talking about a few times as you go down this road to getting your permit and start to carry every day. And hopefully the ladies out there will be able to offer some good advice to get us pointed in the right direction. And we'll revisit this in the future. Sounds like a plan. Matter of Facts podcast heading out the door. Phil and Mrs. Matter of Facts. My name is Gillian, by the way. For those that don't know, I have a name. I wasn't going out her, but okay, yeah, Gillian. Of course, people know who I am. Anyway, heading out the door. Goodbye. Bye, y'all.