I first started carrying a concealed handgun legally in 2007. I had no experience with concealed carry and not much
relevant experience with handguns.
I looked on the internet for advice and I ended up at THR.
One of the first things that I read about was something called
The Walmart Walk. Apparently the idea was to strap on your new handgun and go walk around Walmart. It was Immersion Therapy, the idea being that you would realize by doing that that your concealed handgun didn't glow in the dark and not everybody in the store knew you were carrying a gun.
The only thing that I can probably add to this discussion is it one of the biggest lessons that I learned when I first started carrying was go buy the good holster first.
I wasted a lot of money on cheap nylon holsters before I finally talked my wife into letting me buy a Galco holster.
I realize that Galco is not a premium brand but it is at least a good entry level holster and it was certainly better quality than the Fobus holsters I was buying.
I only have two guns in my "Carry Rotation" but when I bought both of them I ordered a Kramer Leather holster for each pistol the day I bought the gun.
I think I learned a lot from carrying a gun at work. At work I had to open carry but it was just there and everybody knew it and after a while it became a real non-event. Except for when I had some idiot client employee who either wanted to know why I thought I needed to carry a gun at work (Because your employer told me to. If you have an issue with that take it up with them) or let me know that he knew it wasn't loaded or that it wasn't real.
I don't think any client employee ever tried to take it from me.
I heard somebody tried that with a guard on another site and got their wrist broke but since I didn't see it I can't verify it.
And finally, in case anybody's wondering (and you're probably not) this is the song that was playing on the radio my other first time.
It's funny how my mind goes there every time I hear this song