Tatiana Whitlock
tatianawhitlock.com
Concealed Carry Lifestyle
May 6, 2022​


Instructor: Tatiana Whitlock
Location: Howell Gun Shop, Gray ME
Weather: Indoor Range
Round Count: 250ish – low round class.

-----
We started off in the classroom with a visual presentation of the agenda of the class and how the day was going to flow. The slides were extremely well done, with the right number of pictures and words on each slide. I hate PowerPoint slides that are crammed with too much information.

Talked about clothing layers, type of clothing, and issues with clothing when drawing and presenting. Men and women have different challenges. Can you extend your arms out in a draw presentation with a man’s suit on? Can a woman move quickly in a tight skirt and raised heels on her shoes? How does a winter puffy coat impact your draw? Compression baselayers protect your skin and wick moisture away from your body, will the base layer get in the way of your draw or reholstering. We talked about different types of holsters, the good the bad, and the unconventional. Which were good, which were bad, and what types were unsafe.

There was a detailed section in the presentation about printing. Not just your gun’s outline showing in and around your cover garment, but the choice of clothing. Tatiana was saying that some: gun people, cops, and criminals are always looking for US (people carrying guns). Your choice of clothing, apparel, stickers, and swag are all telegraphing you probably have a gun on. I knew this but did not think of it as deep as we went into it. One slide was a series of belts. She pointed to the cobra buckle and said typically if you see someone wearing this, they have a gun. Kore belts, tactical nylon belts, anything with the 5.11 logo on it. We went down the typical gun guy's “cool guy” clothing choices and says it all printing in her view. She suggested we not wear anything that gives any clues that we are gun-wearing people. Go the hiking, fishing, and outdoors look before walking in public places with your salmon shoes, 5.11 pants & shirts, tactical baseball cap, and shooting shades on. Switched on bad guys are looking for these things. Made a lot of sense to me. Cause in the world I look for these tells on the public. I am guilty of wearing some plaid 5.11 shirts with their small logo. I wear the cobra or Kore belts, but my belt buckles are hidden. I did wear a Kore belt with a suit the other day. Need to get a classic leather gun belt.

We went over how the human body works, if you see someone kind of looking at the area your gun is, fix your glasses, rearrange your hat, women fix their earrings. The person's eye will be attracted to your movements, and you have them move them off your gun area.

We had some in-depth conversations on how to deal with gun placement on your body and safety with small children around you. We had a student with small children, and it was a concern. T (Tatiana) is a mother of two and has the practical experience to talk about this with competency.

We headed to the range.

We worked our two-handed draw stroke from concealment, clearing our cover garment, and then one-handed draw. T is very big on one-handed shooting from concealment. T watched us carefully to see how we did and if we were safe. She politely corrected and made suggestions when needed. (Not all instructors are polite or nice) She was also gauging our competency. We broke for a 30-minute lunch and when we came back, we were told to bring all of our 4-season clothing into the range. We would be adding layers.

NOTE: Howell gun range is awesome. They offer great food that you can order in the morning, and it will be ready for lunch. They have a nice lounge where you can relax and eat with big leather movie-style chairs and high-top tables.

After lunch, we did a set of reps from concealment with “summer” clothing. It was just a T-shirt for me. We did it with two hands five times and a strong hand only five times. (About 12-15ish yards)

We started to add layers of clothing and repeated the drills with each additional layer. It was clear as we added layers getting the gun out became harder. During the winter phase, I had a big puffy down coat with a hoodie underneath. I would normally not zipper it up, but in the class I did. I found it would get caught up on my ass sometimes. Grabbing all my layers (t-shirt, hoodie, winter coat) was not always 100%. In the real world, I would have a JFrame in my winter coat pocket for this reason, but this was a class to see where the fail points were. Clearing all the layers one-handed and getting the gun out one-handed was not fast. Add movement in and my one-handed presentation was even longer with all the layers on and zipped up.

We did this with all the types of clothing we brought. We added stuff in our coat pockets and saw how they changed getting the coat out of the way. Pockets zippered add tension, stuff in your pockets added weight, and bulk and changed how the fabric moved. I was going to bring a suit, but my wife suggested that if I damaged it in training, we were going to have a conversation… I left it at home. But I will be dry practicing in a suit and perhaps getting a different cut.

Tables and chairs were brought in, and we did all from sitting down. Clearing the clothes, getting the gun out, shooting from sitting, sitting, and getting up, sitting getting up, and then moving. As we added layers this became interesting. Sitting changes, the way your clothes move. Make sure you are not sitting on your coat or shirt. I have a problem with kicking the chair backward with my calf, clearing my layers, and getting to draw my pistol all at the same time. I always seem to not be able to draw until I was standing up or already ¾ of the way of the X. If I was just sitting there was no issue, clear draw and shoot all from sitting. For some reason adding the other two tasks, I could not do at the same time. That is something I need to dry practice

We did some shooting while moving. Getting the gun out from your seasonal layer move shoot when the hot word was called. In these drills, marksmanship was critiqued. Anything not a solidly good center mass was talked about as being a possible miss or pass through into a “baby” If we encountered a reload and we were close enough, one headshot.

We ended the class with us not facing the target in all 4 directions and from many distances to target. Being mindful of our muzzles, our footwork and looking at the problem, and squaring up to the target before getting our gun out. There is a very good chance we could not be facing the threat when it goes down.

This was an interesting class. I very much enjoy Tatiana’s classes. (This was my second) she explains things very differently than any other instructor I have been with. When I take a class, I normally dress for the class. If it's an outdoor class and it's going to be cold outside. I make sure my warm clothes are large enough to allow me to easily draw all day long. I have dedicated winter jackets that I use just for training classes that allow easy access to my gun and reload. I have sweatshirts and jackets that have side zippers (like the police wear) so the clothing does not bound up and I have easy access. I don’t wear these out in the world. My normal clothing does allow me to wear my gear comfortably, and allow me to access the items easily. 95% of my items don’t scream GUN GUY even if you know what you are looking for. I take into account that I might need to get my gun out when I am in public, or I might have to move quickly.

This is an awesome class that if you carry a gun, I highly recommend you take. She teaches this all over the country check her website.
##