23d • Development Group
Every Day Carry (EDC) Considerations for the Responsibly Armed Citizen
P – Primary Projectile
A – Alternate Blade
C – Contingency Less than lethal
E – Emergency Bare Hands
Let’s pull back the curtain and examine what this could mean with each.
Primary. As for everything in the life saving equipment category, I recommend the best and most reliable and highest functioning gear within your budget. We discussed the idea of a baseline vs ideal. Or effective vs effective and efficient which varies with time/place but knowing what you should strive to carry for you and having matching skills is very important.
Primary should always be the most “killy” (technical term) but it will depend on what you have with you, (Can’t always carry concealed handgun while traveling) and how proximate distance to threat(s). (I.e. if your at contact distance, I don’t recommend going for your gun when you have decent empty hand or knife skills)
As a rough outline, for our purposes this will be a modern, magazine fed handgun of 9mm or higher caliber. (Personally not a fan of revolvers or the 380 cartridge or something similarly wimpy) Of course, you do you Boo, this is just my definition.
Should include a reliable holster. Bonus points if it’s quick to draw from, concealable, able to deploy with both hands, from seated position, or lying on your back. (BTW the Inside the Waiste Band (IWB) appendix holster fits all of the above for most)
Now as a baseline, this should be something that you can depend your life on, while carrying a round in the chamber, (AKA not a Sig P320 or High Point) Hopefully we’re all in agreement so far.
When it comes to what is ideal in this category, I opt for a full frame (Not as easy to conceal, but better magazine capacity and easier to perform with) 9mm, with RMR, Weapon Light, threaded barrel for suppressor… insert your favorite add on here. Something that you can really perform with, even when the threats deserve an extra serving of lead, or you have to operate under less than ideal circumstances. Also a back up mag, both filled with quality hollow points, (this video was helpful comparison on that note. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgvrzHV73rI) I carry G9 but again, it’s your choice.
As a standard alternate, a quality defensive blade will often beat out even a fast drawstroke at or close to contact distance.
It doesn’t run out of bullets, malfunction or fail to work, as long as you do. Again, depending on the situation, this could be bumped up to primary, not alternate depending on the distance, backdrop, etc. When it comes to blades, there’s so many good options out there…and just as many bad. I highly recommend a minimum 4 inch blade that is razor sharp and will never fold back on you. A fixed blade is almost always stronger, and faster to deploy, but not always easily concealable.
I personally have rocked Cold Steel variants for a long time, I like the way they torture test them and so I know what I can expect for performance. But there’s too many quality manufactures to list here. I highly recommend though if you do carry a knife for self defense purposes that it is not your “Do everything” blade that dulls after opening up 10,000 amazon boxes. Also, same rule applies for life saving equipment, do you really want to trust your flimsy Walmart special with your life? You’re probably shaking your head but there’s a reason I say this.
Without getting into the specifics of knife fighting and the several different styles, it is essentially a stabbing implement first and slashing second in almost every discipline. And where your life is concerned it should be able to inflict death dealing damage in short order. Talking about timers and switches here. A topic for another time, but if you know, you know.
As with all tools, it counts more who the operator is so much more than what the tool is. If you’re Jason Bourne, Bobba Yaga or the Accountant you only need a pencil or butter knife right? I suggest a strong look in the “uncompromising mirror” and ask yourself – are you skilled enough to be dangerous with a blade? Or should you acquire some training? This gets overlooked much more than in the shooting community where training is an assumed necessity.
On this note, when was the last time you sunk your blade into meat wrapped in clothing and protected by bones? If you never have, it’s much different than a gelatin dummy or cardboard box. Different rules and expectations apply.
A good blade can get you out of danger, or able to properly and more safely deploy your handgun in a lethal encounter, but situations aren’t always lethal. Which is why a less than lethal option is a good idea to have in your toolset.
The Contingency category is where I list less than lethal options like, tasers, pepper spray, brass knuckles, flashlights with contact bezel rings and other improvised weapons. Which, although the primary use case for these is for when your life isn’t in immediate danger, they can also help in life threatening situations as well.
Now there’s a good argument that for most law-abiding citizens, deescalation skills and avoidance is the best contingency move, especially when there’s no present threat to life.
Still in my own life I recall situations where there were dangerous dogs and belligerent sloshed-out-of-their mind friends, turned violent. My go to in these situations is usually some kind of restraining or controlling technique over pepper spraying my friend. Also, I’ve seen tasers not work due to jackets, dudes continue to deal out life threatening conduct after getting sprayed and problems escalated because of the use of less than lethal weapons.
For my own part, I’ll keep a flashlight with strike bezel that has the added benefit of potentially reducing opponents visibility while I’m able to better ID threats. But I’ve had some time adding hands on skills of controlling techniques that helps bridge this gap too. Not to mention, sometimes we don’t have weapons or our standard kit for whatever reason. At the end of the day, as my friend Andre is apt to say, “the weapon is the man.” All else is supplemental. Which brings up empty handed combatives skills.
Emergency. We have to remember that like Travis Haley is well known for saying, “We don’t get to choose the moment, the moment is going to choose us.” And in that moment, we may not be properly armed. Bad guys usually don’t pick fair fights, they’ll most likely to attack when they have the advantage and you don’t. So if you’re not dangerous in the shower… your undertrained.
When it comes to combatives, I’ve grown up around self defense or streets savvy martial arts. I’ve been able to witness and practice some Karate, RATS, Krave Maga, Systemia, BJJ, USAF Combatives, and TFT to name a few. By far, the most reliable and repeatable real destruction techniques are the Target Focus Training derived from the Navy SEAL’s Combatives program. It’s just the simple blend of science-based injury mixed with good basic tactics.
It assumes that the opponents will be bigger, faster, stronger, better armed and likely more of them. They map out the points of the body which by way of sports science, prison footage and street encounters, result in reliable injuries. Combined with the principles of turning your body into a bludgeoning and joint manipulating machine. It exploits the most vulnerable parts of the human anatomy and uses the body’s autonomic nervous system to effect reliable hospitalization level injuries.
All of this wrapped up in winning principles, not techniques to memorize. Yes I’m a believer. Seen it work in record time in several situations. And it strips away all the useless movement, ego and flashy cool things that are fun to watch but don’t usually work in real life.
But regardless of which system or principles you choose to operate by, do you have the skills to protect life without any tools, improvised or otherwise?
Now this is a basic framework and it bares repeating that this is an order that you should re-arrange based on the threats and problems sets you encounter on the day. However, as a basic flow, if you handgun is out of bullets, and you’ve expended your spare mag(s), what do you reach for next? Don’t just call it a day next time on the flat range, but use the opportunity to deploy your knife or other equipment and see how quickly and reliably you can access it. Practice it until it becomes instinct.
Something that I’ve found helps me is to keep things in the same position whenever possible. For example, don’t continually swap between holsters or various pockets for your spare mag or blade. What you deploy in training is what you’ll likely reach for in reality and any hesitation or fumble could cost a life.
I’ll close with a quote from Gen Douglas MacArthur. - "In war you win or lose, live or die and the difference is just an eyelash." My hope is that you ensure your gear is optimized for you and think through your EDC by using the PACE framework so that more good guys beat out the bad guys and return home. Stay dangerous my friends, and as always, Stand Ready and Be Prepared.
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Every Day Carry (EDC) Considerations for the Responsibly Armed Citizen
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