How the way we walk can increase risk of being mugged

[Seth]

Walk like you are carrying a concealed weapon. Both criminals and cops recognize the distinctive style when you have a hidden pistol in your pocket. Just look up how police stop and frisk.

The criminals, and possibly the cops, won't recognise it here, as we are defenceless Marxist sheep who have been stripped of our right to carry deadly weapons on our person.

Too fucking right. You might try carrying something in a hip holster that's NOT a gun but that makes you feel like you are...wait, that won't work because you don't know what it's like to carry a gun.

I guess you're just fucked.

[Tyrannical]

Oh, and criminals are aware of this and are pretty good at spotting fellow criminals packing heat. I'd especially practice the hand rests on gun since it is the most obvious.

[pErvinalia]

My mouth is like a bazooka...

[pErvinalia]

I have a slightly clipped gait on one side, because of my hips being slightly out of line. So maybe that's why I never get challenged. It looks like I am packing heat!

[FBM]

When I'm stateside in warm weather when wearing a jacket makes me look consipcuous, I carry in a clip holster around back. It makes me sit up straighter, but other than that I doubt it's too terribly noticeable.

[Seth]

Oh, and criminals are aware of this and are pretty good at spotting fellow criminals packing heat. I'd especially practice the hand rests on gun since it is the most obvious.

I have a "tell" that I use deliberately when I encounter a cop, to let them know I'm armed. I reach back towards my rear pocket but put my thumb on the back of the slide over my shirt or jacket as if to rotate the gun forward, even though it's in a holster, while looking directly at the officer and making direct eye contact, perhaps with a slight chin raise.

It's the "I'm a good guy and I want you to know I'm armed" move which is the antithesis of the criminal's nervous avoidance behavior. Works every time. I've never had a police officer brace me about my concealed handgun when I do that. Learned it while on the job working plainclothes.

It also works on crooks by the way, and so far always makes them change direction abruptly. A Clint Eastwood-like squint or narrowing of the eyes with a down-tilt of the head so you're looking out from under your brow is a great "don't fuck with me" look that I practice in the mirror from time to time. It can be as subtle as direct eye contact with the slightest tuck of the chin to a menacing slow tilt down combined with raising the shoulders and moving them forward. That's a last-resort posture because it's read as "I'm about to kick your ass" and if misused can get your ass kicked big time.

It's worth it to practice your posture and "war face" in the mirror so you understand what it looks like and can put it on in an instant.

[Seth]

When I'm stateside in warm weather when wearing a jacket makes me look consipcuous, I carry in a clip holster around back. It makes me sit up straighter, but other than that I doubt it's too terribly noticeable.

SOB holsters (small-of-the-back) are great for concealment but uncomfortable as hell and slow to present from. I sometimes wear one with my suit if I need deep cover or a "New York reload", but only with a small revolver or small, flat auto. I used to carry in a shoulder holster but became uncomfortable after sitting in a cop class behind another cop wearing a horizontal shoulder rig. I spent 8 hours staring down the muzzle of his pistol. Didn't like it much. And shoulder rigs have the same problem as cross-draw and SOB holsters, which is that to draw and present you have to sweep a 90 to 180 horizontal arc with your muzzle during a high-stress event where a negligent discharge is highly likely. This puts everyone in that arc in unnecessary danger and slows your presentation. The best position is always on the strong-side hip where you can draw, present, aim and fire as quickly as is humanly possible in a straight line from the ground to your target. This significantly minimizes potentially covering non-threat targets on the way to shooting.

Summertime is polo shirts untucked and winter is long-sleeve pull-over type shirt, sweaters, or jackets. Used to wear a vest, and I must have a half-dozen of them in various styles including really nice tooled-leather ones, but unless you're a cowboy who dresses like a cowboy every day, they are dead giveaways that you're packing.

I used to wear a fanny-pack (pouch for you Aussies) back in the 80s when it was "fashionable" for men to wear them but gave them up some time ago except when I go for a run/walk in my shorts and tee shirt. Then I carry a compact .38 revolver in a belt pouch that also has my Camelback water bladder in it.

When in the woods I open carry in a tactical holster which varies in style depending on what I'm doing.

[JimC]

I walk like a maths teacher...

Very, very scary...

[Tyrannical]

This looks fun

[FBM]

DeNiro must be on HGH these days.

[pErvinalia]

Oh, and criminals are aware of this and are pretty good at spotting fellow criminals packing heat. I'd especially practice the hand rests on gun since it is the most obvious.

I have a "tell" that I use deliberately when I encounter a cop, to let them know I'm armed. I reach back towards my rear pocket but put my thumb on the back of the slide over my shirt or jacket as if to rotate the gun forward, even though it's in a holster, while looking directly at the officer and making direct eye contact, perhaps with a slight chin raise.

It's the "I'm a good guy and I want you to know I'm armed" move which is the antithesis of the criminal's nervous avoidance behavior. Works every time. I've never had a police officer brace me about my concealed handgun when I do that. Learned it while on the job working plainclothes.

It also works on crooks by the way, and so far always makes them change direction abruptly. A Clint Eastwood-like squint or narrowing of the eyes with a down-tilt of the head so you're looking out from under your brow is a great "don't fuck with me" look that I practice in the mirror from time to time. It can be as subtle as direct eye contact with the slightest tuck of the chin to a menacing slow tilt down combined with raising the shoulders and moving them forward. That's a last-resort posture because it's read as "I'm about to kick your ass" and if misused can get your ass kicked big time.

It's worth it to practice your posture and "war face" in the mirror so you understand what it looks like and can put it on in an instant.

Nothing like living in fear... (perhaps justified, I don't know).

[Jason]

I walk like a maths teacher...

Very, very scary...

I walk like a victim, but I'm an Iaido master. Go figure.

[Seth]

Oh, and criminals are aware of this and are pretty good at spotting fellow criminals packing heat. I'd especially practice the hand rests on gun since it is the most obvious.

I have a "tell" that I use deliberately when I encounter a cop, to let them know I'm armed. I reach back towards my rear pocket but put my thumb on the back of the slide over my shirt or jacket as if to rotate the gun forward, even though it's in a holster, while looking directly at the officer and making direct eye contact, perhaps with a slight chin raise.

It's the "I'm a good guy and I want you to know I'm armed" move which is the antithesis of the criminal's nervous avoidance behavior. Works every time. I've never had a police officer brace me about my concealed handgun when I do that. Learned it while on the job working plainclothes.

It also works on crooks by the way, and so far always makes them change direction abruptly. A Clint Eastwood-like squint or narrowing of the eyes with a down-tilt of the head so you're looking out from under your brow is a great "don't fuck with me" look that I practice in the mirror from time to time. It can be as subtle as direct eye contact with the slightest tuck of the chin to a menacing slow tilt down combined with raising the shoulders and moving them forward. That's a last-resort posture because it's read as "I'm about to kick your ass" and if misused can get your ass kicked big time.

It's worth it to practice your posture and "war face" in the mirror so you understand what it looks like and can put it on in an instant.

Nothing like living in fear... (perhaps justified, I don't know).

You've got it exactly wrong. I don't live in fear precisely because I'm prepared and trained to take care of myself in any situation (except crazy girlfriends). Do you buy a fire extinguisher or homeowners insurance because you live in fear or because you have made a rational evaluation of the nature and probability of the threat and have decided to take appropriate measures to reduce the risks?

The mindset you appear to advocate is one of oblivious ignorance, which you seem to think represents bliss. Why then do you have brakes on your car? After all, what could possibly go wrong without them?

[Seth]

I walk like a maths teacher...

Very, very scary...

I walk like a victim, but I'm an Iaido master. Go figure.

Obviously you want some practice...

[pErvinalia]

Oh, and criminals are aware of this and are pretty good at spotting fellow criminals packing heat. I'd especially practice the hand rests on gun since it is the most obvious.

I have a "tell" that I use deliberately when I encounter a cop, to let them know I'm armed. I reach back towards my rear pocket but put my thumb on the back of the slide over my shirt or jacket as if to rotate the gun forward, even though it's in a holster, while looking directly at the officer and making direct eye contact, perhaps with a slight chin raise.

It's the "I'm a good guy and I want you to know I'm armed" move which is the antithesis of the criminal's nervous avoidance behavior. Works every time. I've never had a police officer brace me about my concealed handgun when I do that. Learned it while on the job working plainclothes.

It also works on crooks by the way, and so far always makes them change direction abruptly. A Clint Eastwood-like squint or narrowing of the eyes with a down-tilt of the head so you're looking out from under your brow is a great "don't fuck with me" look that I practice in the mirror from time to time. It can be as subtle as direct eye contact with the slightest tuck of the chin to a menacing slow tilt down combined with raising the shoulders and moving them forward. That's a last-resort posture because it's read as "I'm about to kick your ass" and if misused can get your ass kicked big time.

It's worth it to practice your posture and "war face" in the mirror so you understand what it looks like and can put it on in an instant.

Nothing like living in fear... (perhaps justified, I don't know).

You've got it exactly wrong. I don't live in fear precisely because I'm prepared and trained to take care of myself in any situation (except crazy girlfriends). Do you buy a fire extinguisher or homeowners insurance because you live in fear or because you have made a rational evaluation of the nature and probability of the threat and have decided to take appropriate measures to reduce the risks?

The mindset you appear to advocate is one of oblivious ignorance, which you seem to think represents bliss. Why then do you have brakes on your car? After all, what could possibly go wrong without them?

The point is, do the crime statistics reflect the need to practice your scary faces in the mirror? They certainly don't here. Perhaps they do where you live. There's reasonable precautions and then there's obsession with the possibility that something bad is going to happen to you.