Originally Posted by
arcfide
Haha, just in case anyone thinks I'm a circus performer who carries while on the tight rope or something, I do actually have some legitimate (to me) excuses for my behavior. :-)
1. Part of it is really my recognition that getting into a fight might require that level of activity and impact, and I want to have a solution for my gear.
2. Health and comfort are part of it. If a gun is doing long term damage to my spine, or nerves, or if I'm reducing circulation to my body, or the like, that's a problem. I believe firmly in retaining my mobility as a part of my overall practice of health. To me, that means not just reserving a part of the day for "motion" and staying more or less static for the rest of the day. ANd most people I know are remarkably static even in times when they are "working out". People just don't have free range of motion in a lot of cases, and I'm convinced this isn't particularly healthy.
3. Kids. I'm often playing with kids, rough housing around, or building snow forts, quinzhees, or the like. Or maybe I'm out climbing trees with them, or helping them with their gymnastics when they ask for it, or anything else (kids will have some new game all the time). And in many of these cases, it's the spontaneous capacity for play that is really important. I might only have a short window of opportunity to bring a bit of joy into that kids life through that sort of work. Being able to be spontaneous in that way while still taking my responsibility to protect them seriously is important to me.
4. Living and working and spending an evening where I can actually be free to move and not cramp up is pretty important to stress relief. I consider it a bonus if I am able to do that while also carrying, because otherwise I might not be carrying for most of the day, and in that case, I'm not prepared to protect those around me who matter to me.
5. Kids, again. When rough housing with kids, retention becomes seriously important. It's good to be able to hug someone without printing, but it's better to be able to hug someone without them accidently banging their forehead into your gun or accidently popping it out of its holster. It's especially good if three or more of them can be climbing all over you and you can still retain your gun well and have control of things. For a lot of these situations, if I don't have a good firearm solution, it means either neglecting to participate (not a very good option), or neglecting to be prepared to defend them. Fortunately, most of the time in these situation I'm in an "open carry" friendly or tolerable environment, which has been the saving grace here.
Anyways, thanks for the ideas everyone, I've got a few things to try. I still suspect that the best thing is just to accept less concealment and stick with OWB strong side carry with active retention.