I NEVER KNEW IT HAD A NAME

A copy of my letter addressed to Mr. Karlon Rama, Sun*Star sports columnist where a part of this letter was featured in his column, STAGE FIVE, on May 21, 2008.

Sir:

I am a regular reader of your column, STAGE FIVE, and I find it very informative, interesting and a perfect medicine to my ignorance of other things and events that are somewhat close to my heart yet quite invisible to my senses. 

So, on the Sun*Star Cebu issue of May 12, 2008, you featured a particular way of carrying or wearing a handgun, which is concealed in an inside holster and tucked inside the belt line of the pants, and the possible ways of drawing it out without having the holster go along with the gun. Very few have mastered it due to the difficulty it entailed but you’ve done your research well and you deserve my respect and thanks.

I really appreciate your concern about lawmen and how should they behave or dress when off-duty and, in the event when facing with a threat, what technique or ways should they choose to apply in drawing out their sidearm to answer a lawful calling.

I am a former policeman and was trained by an Israeli anti-terrorist commando officer during my SWAT days. I worked undercover then as an anti-narcotics operative so it would be proper for me to wear and carry my handgun inside the beltline to be more effective. Concealed yet easy to draw. As you were saying, “...(Massad) Ayoob developed a modification of the Hackathorn Rip…by having the thumb of his strong hand hook the garment…hand moving up…giving him a clear path from which to draw”.

It is the same technique I practiced and perfected since 1991 and I didn’t know it had a name and, much more so, it had a Mr. Jordan, a Mr. Hackathorn or a Mr. Ayoob lay credit to this idea or technique. I don’t read gun magazines either save for scanning the eye-popping features and photos of collectible and contemporary guns. I advocated then of carrying a gun discreetly as against the general conception of most law enforcers in plainclothes who display their firearms to affirm their status symbol.

When drawing, I let the thumb of my strong hand hook the lower part of my t-shirt to protect the hammer spur from getting snagged from the garment as my hand goes on its upper motion while my middle, ring and little fingers are slightly curled to quickly catch the handgrip, the index finger extended far away from the trigger, so as to prevent it from being accidentally fired during that one swift motion. I could quickly draw a concealed gun with my developed technique as if I’m drawing a gun on a side holster in a match. Believe me, it’s a blur!

Sometimes, I wore a shirt tucked inside my jeans pulling the exposed garment just enough to have a sagging effect. Then I slid my holster with the gun through the neckline into the inside of the beltline fixing it so it would not create a bulge. Security guards in malls, theatres and bars don’t bother to frisk seeing a guy wearing “in-shirt”. Upon drawing, my weak hand would grab a fistful of the sagged part of my shirt ripping it up almost chest level and, at the same time, my strong hand (hooked thumb, curled three fingers, extended index) would draw the gun out where it would meet the weak hand, now as a support, in the center. One drawback though is that your gun will get rusty due to accumulation of sweat especially during hot days.

The use of both hands in the latter dress-style and/or technique is never a problem to me, defensive-shooting wise. You don’t make yourself a conspicuous target by just standing inert; you’ll have to confuse your opponent by moving sideways or downward. People, you know, always presume one position of firing stance and automatically spend a round to where their intended target is at and, in the process, will miss or slightly graze his target where, in this rule, the first bullet fired should count.

But that was eons ago. I assimilated perfectly well with civilian life and guns are not a part of my life now except, perhaps, reading your column about people and events that are having had to do with guns. But my warrior mentality and reflexes have not receded any and I find myself more preoccupied with blogging, mountaineering and bladed weapons nowadays and, that, is another story.

Thank you again, sir Karlon, for that feature on your column about concealed guns and the ways with which to draw, it sure woke up a lot of memories, which I found in common with and glad to share it with.

God bless!

Respectfully yours,

Pinoyapache