At the age of 41 I will be applying. Got my basic firearms safety certificate and will be dropping off my application to the local PD in the next few days. Finally biting the bullet and buying a firearm that I hope I never ever have to use.
Wish me luck! Any and all advice is welcome.
Thank you
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Spend good money on a holster. Don't get one of those cheap Blackhawk nylon or Kydex holsters from Walmart. I have a small bin full of holsters I tried but didn't care for, so find the one that works the best for you. Serpa holsters that have a button release retention system will keep your pistol secure in the holster, but can malfunction if you end up rolling around in the dirt with someone. Most decent holsters with have either active retention like a strap with a snap on it. Or they'll have passive retention, relying on the tightness of the holster to keep the pistol in place.
Avoid wearing a holster that has the pistol pointed toward your groin or inner leg. Otherwise if you accidentally hit your femoral artery, you'll bleed out pretty quick. I prefer an inside waistband leather holster worn at 3 o'clock on my belt, that angles the grip forward a little, and points the muzzle down behind me. Milt Sparks makes a good one, or Bianci, or DeSantis. There are a lot of good holsters out there and you can pay up to a couple hundred dollars. Also remember that an accidental can easily happen when you're inserting a pistol into the holster while you're wearing it. If you take it out of the holster and are putting it back in, always make sure you don't get your shirt tail or jacket caught in the trigger guard.
Spare magazines are a necessity too. I wear two of them in a Kydex carrier on the left hip. And you might as well get used to carrying a small tactical flashlight with you at night, 300 lumens or so. The ones that use the rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries are the best. And always carry a phone. Not sure what pistol you'll be carrying, but always keep it in condition 0: One in the chamber, full magazine, and the safety if any, off. Glocks are good, because they don't have an external safety, and seconds count if you ever need to use it. And get used to wearing hoodies in cool weather, and large-sized Hawaiian shirts in the summer.
Also if you haven't done this yet, memorize those four rules, and live by them every minute of the day.
That's about all I can add, except for this: You pretty much give up your right to be an asshole when you start carrying. There are a lot of stupid people in this world, and they can piss you off sometimes. So you have to let a lot of shit slide and have nothing to prove. Your weapon it's not a tool for first response, it was meant to be used for last resort.
