National Carry AcademyCarrying a Little Extra-Part 1
August 9, 2016
You’ll never see an argument regarding what’s an overall better weapon, a long gun, or a handgun. It’s universally accepted that a rifle is a better fighting weapon when you simply compare them side by side. A modern sporting rifle has a higher capacity, is more accurate and easier to shoot, has longer range, penetrates better, and the list goes on and on as to why a rifle or shoulder fired weapon, in general, is better than a handgun. Do you know what a handgun does better than a rifle? A few things, but most importantly it conceals.
A handgun is easy to carry every day without issue and is widely accepted as one of the only options for a gun outside the home. We accept the downsides of a handgun because it can be concealed and carried relatively easily. However, we just saw a massive coordinated attack in Paris, France, and another coordinated attack in California, both by terrorists armed with rifles. In these situations the local laws made it impossible, or incredibly difficult to fight back, but if you could, would a handgun be sufficient?
Would it be sufficient against a full auto AK? or an AR 15? Multiple shooters? Maybe, but individual skill and experience would rule the day. However, how much more effective would a rifle be? With short-barreled rifles becoming more and more popular it’s becoming an reality to conceal carry a rifle, or semi-auto sub gun. This idea isn’t practical for everyone, and certainly isn’t possible for everyone, but it is an interesting concept to explore.
This idea isn’t entirely new, H&K produced a briefcase that was designed to fit and allow firing of the MP5 submachine gun, and this was designed decades ago. The idea of civilians and just normal defensively minded people carrying something bigger than a handgun is new, and blogs have popped up about the entire subject.
Options
The first option is short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns. Of course, these are NFA controlled weapons, and cost quite a bit to make, or buy. They require a $200 dollar tax stamp and a variety of paperwork to both buy and manufacture. Operationally these are the easiest to use and most effective option for rifle concealed carry. Some states also do not permit SBRs or SBS weapons. The option for these people is a rifle turned into a pistol, like the AR and AK pistols, or SIG MPX, and CZ Scorpion.
Rifles turned to pistols.
These rifle turned pistols are pistols in the eyes of the law. I personally prefer a pistol caliber variant of an AR, or the SIG, and CZ options. How these weapons are clumsy, heavy, and you lose a lot of the advantages of a rifle when you take a stock off. What you can use is the SIG Brace, the KAK Shockwave, or the Thordsen cheek rest to aid in stabilizing the weapon. It’s important to realize that the ATF has stated that shouldering any of these ‘manufactures’ your weapon into a short-barreled rifle. This isn’t a law, but an opinion from the ATF, so how much weight does it legally have? I honestly don’t know, since there is no precedent for these kind of opinions. Plenty of people online have photos and videos of them using the “Just know that the ATF has this opinion” if you plan to shoulder any of these legal to possess items. You can legally use these accessories as a cheek rest, though, which may not be as stable, but does improve the accuracy greatly.
Turning a Pistol into an SBR
This one can fall into the SBR category and is a little different in my opinion. You can easily convert a Glock into a short-barreled rifle with a collapsing or folding stock, foregrip, and provide room for rails. Kits like the Fab Defense KPOS and the CAA Roni convert your Glock, and with the KPOS your Glock or 9mm Sig P226/SP2022 turns into what is basically a submachine gun sized rifle.
The Easy Alternatives
If you don’t or can’t do the SBR or SBS route, and you don’t want to risk anything, you only have two other options that I can find. First off is the Kel Tec Sub 2000. This is a rifle and is treated as such by law. The rifle does fold in half to about 16 inches long, and it hides easily. Kel-Tec does have some quality control issues, and these weapons can be hard to find.
Another option is the Mech tech carbine conversion. This device can convert your Glock, 1911, or Xd series into a rifle. You replace the slide with the Mech tech upper, converting your handgun into a rifle. The shortest variant is the CCU with a folding wire stock. The overall length of this weapon is twenty-four inches, so it’s not the smallest option, but it allows you to use a familiar platform and a variety of calibers. I imagine one of these equipped to a Glock 20 could get hot with some good 10mm loads.
Full Sized rifle.
To house a standard AR with a sixteen-inch barrel you need a rather large bag, and still have to break the weapon into two pieces. For an AK, the shortest option you have is an under folding stock. These are still very large weapons, but it can be done with a big bag. This option is the worst for day-to-day carry, but for bugging out it is still a good idea to be as covert as possible. The last option is a bullpup firearm like the Tavor. The Tavor is 26.1 inches, so it’s still pretty big.
These are your options in terms of weapons you could carry in the event you’d need to engage an active shooter, or multiple active shooters. These aren’t the only options but are the most common. When deciding to carry some form of long gun one should still carry a pistol. A pistol gives a shooter an immediate ability to engage a target, versus a concealed long gun requiring some time to get into position. In part 2 we’ll cover carrying options, training, and tactical considerations.
Nancy Thorne is founder and principal of Thorne Business Research. With more than 30 years experience as an information research and writing professional in small business, trade associations and large corporate environments. She has expertise in writing blog posts, articles, newsletters and reports for a diverse group of clients in a wide variety of industries. Prior to becoming an independent writer and information professional, Ms. Thorne held research and analytical positions with Bank of America and Citicorp and was a licensed teacher of English.
Carrying a Little Extra-Part 1
August 9, 2016
You’ll never see an argument regarding what’s an overall better weapon, a long gun, or a handgun. It’s universally accepted that a rifle is a better fighting weapon when you simply compare them side by side. A modern sporting rifle has a higher capacity, is more accurate and easier to shoot, has longer range, penetrates better, and the list goes on and on as to why a rifle or shoulder fired weapon, in general, is better than a handgun. Do you know what a handgun does better than a rifle? A few things, but most importantly it conceals.
A handgun is easy to carry every day without issue and is widely accepted as one of the only options for a gun outside the home. We accept the downsides of a handgun because it can be concealed and carried relatively easily. However, we just saw a massive coordinated attack in Paris, France, and another coordinated attack in California, both by terrorists armed with rifles. In these situations the local laws made it impossible, or incredibly difficult to fight back, but if you could, would a handgun be sufficient?
Would it be sufficient against a full auto AK? or an AR 15? Multiple shooters? Maybe, but individual skill and experience would rule the day. However, how much more effective would a rifle be? With short-barreled rifles becoming more and more popular it’s becoming an reality to conceal carry a rifle, or semi-auto sub gun. This idea isn’t practical for everyone, and certainly isn’t possible for everyone, but it is an interesting concept to explore.
This idea isn’t entirely new, H&K produced a briefcase that was designed to fit and allow firing of the MP5 submachine gun, and this was designed decades ago. The idea of civilians and just normal defensively minded people carrying something bigger than a handgun is new, and blogs have popped up about the entire subject.
Options
The first option is short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns. Of course, these are NFA controlled weapons, and cost quite a bit to make, or buy. They require a $200 dollar tax stamp and a variety of paperwork to both buy and manufacture. Operationally these are the easiest to use and most effective option for rifle concealed carry. Some states also do not permit SBRs or SBS weapons. The option for these people is a rifle turned into a pistol, like the AR and AK pistols, or SIG MPX, and CZ Scorpion.
Rifles turned to pistols.
These rifle turned pistols are pistols in the eyes of the law. I personally prefer a pistol caliber variant of an AR, or the SIG, and CZ options. How these weapons are clumsy, heavy, and you lose a lot of the advantages of a rifle when you take a stock off. What you can use is the SIG Brace, the KAK Shockwave, or the Thordsen cheek rest to aid in stabilizing the weapon. It’s important to realize that the ATF has stated that shouldering any of these ‘manufactures’ your weapon into a short-barreled rifle. This isn’t a law, but an opinion from the ATF, so how much weight does it legally have? I honestly don’t know, since there is no precedent for these kind of opinions. Plenty of people online have photos and videos of them using the “Just know that the ATF has this opinion” if you plan to shoulder any of these legal to possess items. You can legally use these accessories as a cheek rest, though, which may not be as stable, but does improve the accuracy greatly.
Turning a Pistol into an SBR
This one can fall into the SBR category and is a little different in my opinion. You can easily convert a Glock into a short-barreled rifle with a collapsing or folding stock, foregrip, and provide room for rails. Kits like the Fab Defense KPOS and the CAA Roni convert your Glock, and with the KPOS your Glock or 9mm Sig P226/SP2022 turns into what is basically a submachine gun sized rifle.
The Easy Alternatives
If you don’t or can’t do the SBR or SBS route, and you don’t want to risk anything, you only have two other options that I can find. First off is the Kel Tec Sub 2000. This is a rifle and is treated as such by law. The rifle does fold in half to about 16 inches long, and it hides easily. Kel-Tec does have some quality control issues, and these weapons can be hard to find.
Another option is the Mech tech carbine conversion. This device can convert your Glock, 1911, or Xd series into a rifle. You replace the slide with the Mech tech upper, converting your handgun into a rifle. The shortest variant is the CCU with a folding wire stock. The overall length of this weapon is twenty-four inches, so it’s not the smallest option, but it allows you to use a familiar platform and a variety of calibers. I imagine one of these equipped to a Glock 20 could get hot with some good 10mm loads.
Full Sized rifle.
To house a standard AR with a sixteen-inch barrel you need a rather large bag, and still have to break the weapon into two pieces. For an AK, the shortest option you have is an under folding stock. These are still very large weapons, but it can be done with a big bag. This option is the worst for day-to-day carry, but for bugging out it is still a good idea to be as covert as possible. The last option is a bullpup firearm like the Tavor. The Tavor is 26.1 inches, so it’s still pretty big.
These are your options in terms of weapons you could carry in the event you’d need to engage an active shooter, or multiple active shooters. These aren’t the only options but are the most common. When deciding to carry some form of long gun one should still carry a pistol. A pistol gives a shooter an immediate ability to engage a target, versus a concealed long gun requiring some time to get into position. In part 2 we’ll cover carrying options, training, and tactical considerations.
Nancy Thorne is founder and principal of Thorne Business Research. With more than 30 years experience as an information research and writing professional in small business, trade associations and large corporate environments. She has expertise in writing blog posts, articles, newsletters and reports for a diverse group of clients in a wide variety of industries. Prior to becoming an independent writer and information professional, Ms. Thorne held research and analytical positions with Bank of America and Citicorp and was a licensed teacher of English.