This post is an interview transcript. Listen to the recent interview with Tanner Guzy of Masculine Style.
Tanner: What's going on, guys? This is Tanner Guzy coming back with another episode of the Masculine Style Podcast. Now, before we dive in too deep on this, I will just tell you that today's episode is one that has been in the works for a very long time.
It was one that I started speaking with our sponsor for today, Kimber, about six or seven months ago but it ended up proving to be much more timely because it is related to how to stylishly carry a concealed weapon.
With everything that's been going on in the world at the time of this recording, this is in December of 2015, the recent attacks in Paris, the recent attack in San Bernardino, California, this is a topic that ended up proving to be timely. Before we dive any further into it, let's just get a few things out of the way though.
To see the show notes for today's episode, head on over to masculine-style.com. If you would like to follow me on my most popular social media channels, please feel free to do that. You can check me out at Twitter, which is @masculinestyle, Instagram which is @tannerguzy and then I also have a YouTube channel which I will be linking too as well.
So let's get through the intro and then we will come back out and we can talk about this controversial but very interesting topic.
Helping men across the world take their appearance from a negative beyond the neutral and into a positive. The Masculine Style Podcast is less about the what or the how and more about the why. If you're a man who lives intentionally but no one else would know it by the way that you dress, Tanner Guzy is here to help you improve every aspect of your appearance. Welcome to the Masculine Style Podcast. Here's Tanner Guzy.
Tanner: Before we go any further with this, I want to give you road map to today's episode. Like I'd been doing with other episodes in the past, I brought on a guest and I'm really excited to have him on and be a part of this. And so what he and I do is talk about some of the mechanics behind this: a few things that need to be considered when carrying a weapon as far as how to make it work with your clothing, a few sources that he recommends to better understand this topic and then a little bit more of that kind of how to stuff.
Once we come out of that conversation with him, I'm going to be sharing with you guys some of my thoughts on this because like I talk about in the intro, like we talk about really everywhere on the site, anything related to the masculine style, it's always about the why. And I get asked a lot why do I choose to carry a weapon? And I want to be able to talk about that and so I'm going to dive into this now.
My reasons to do this are different than yours. They're different than my guests who actually, believe it or not, chooses not to carry a weapon, does not affect his credibility on this topic at all though. And so we'll dive into that. And then the third part, as always, would be our section on the icon and the embarrassment for that episode.
So going into that, let me tell you a little bit about my guest who I brought on. His name is Antonio Centeno and he runs a site called Real Men Real Style. This is an excellent resource for a lot of guys who are wanting to dress in a way that is like I talk about more professional, more intentional, more deliberate. And the big draw for Antonio is his YouTube channel. He's got a few hundred thousand followers. He does vides on the daily, really, really good information.
Antonio is a former member of the Marines and he's also the resident style author for a little website you may have heard of called The Art of Manliness. So definitely knows his stuff, definitely knows his stuff when it comes to this topic, and a really, really good guy to have on as part of this. And so I will make sure that I have links to all of his information down below so that if you're not following him you are able to do that.
Just a little word of warning, as is always the case, there's always some sort of, I don't know, technical bug or whatever else, the audio for Antonio is pretty great. Mine, my microphone wasn't working. It still picked up everything on the internal microphone on the computer but my sound is a little bit scratchy. But go ahead, listen to this section of the podcast. Antonio, again, great information on here, talks a lot about this interesting stuff. And we'll go from there.
Antonio, I'm really excited to have you here and join me in on this conversation. This is one that I've never actually — I spent a lot of time going through as many articles as I could find trying to figure out a way that you could carry a weapon and still dress stylishly. Because it seems like those two worlds are kind of diametrically opposed. You've got the men's wear world where the idea of a weapon is almost kind of antithetical to their interpretation of what a modern man is. And then you've got the concealed carry, the gun guys, who very much see dressing well or being overly concerned with how you dress as something that's effeminate or at least un-masculine and not worthy of the pursuit.
And I think that there is something that could be accomplished. And so your article that you did with the Art of Manliness was one of the only ones that I was able to find that actually shed some light on this issue in a way that I think appeals to men who find themselves in between. So I'm excited to have you on board to talk to us about this stuff.
Antonio: Thanks. I'll do what I can and it's something that's, I think we talked a little before. I actually don't conceal carry. Just a number of reasons why. However, it is something that I spent five years as an officer of the Marines. I've been out to a number of the embassies. I have friends in various law enforcement services across the world. And I know for them — and I think that's why I wanted to cover the subject is I approach from a very practical point of view.
I don't care what your opinion is about guns in general. It's the reality that many men need to carry for their job and they need to dress well and they would like not to be printing all over the place. That was the point that I wrote from. It's not that I'm looking to have a whole bunch of dapper dudes with concealed weapons and everything like that. It's more of let's hit the practical point of view because no one was talking about it when we put it out. Now, there are some great guys covering. Did you see the video that the guys over at Teaching Men's Fashion put out?
Tanner: No. No. Tell me about this.
Antonio: They put out a great video and I love it because they lost — what's interesting is they lost I think quite a few subscribers. But the gents over there — Definitely go check them out. Just type in “teaching men's fashion.”
Tanner: I'll make sure I'll link to that one.
Antonio: Two brothers out at Florida. And really good video.
Tanner: Yeah. I know when I did — I did an Instagram post a few months ago with a Kimber, a little micro, who is the sponsor for this episode and I had it with, side carrying it. I was showing the difference between how it could print and how it doesn't. And I can't believe how many subscribers or how many Instagram followers I lost, how many comments and hate emails I got and everything. I approached it the same way as you. I don't think that this is a — Actually, I don't think that it is a moral imperative or it's an imperative as a man that you're not a man if you don't carry a gun, which is the way a lot of people lean, and I certainly don't see it as this thing where if you do then you're automatically violent and evil and oppressive and all those.
I mean, it's just practical and that's the approach that I want to be able to take. And even as you and I had our conversations, just talk about the practicality of how to do it and how to do it effectively as opposed to the morality of the issue that a lot of people can caught up in.
Antonio: Yeah, it's a very emotionally charged article and one that I — I mean, if you type in concealed carry with a suit, you'll probably see that I think the top three results on YouTube or on Google, we should pop up there. It's simply, I think, we've got one with Lucky Gunner, with the Art of Manliness, with A Tailored Suit. In fact, the one I got at A Tailored Suit, I don't think it's actually public. I've never actually–
Tanner: [Indiscernible].
Antonio: Yeah, it's kind of like unlisted. I put it out there. And then when Bret asked me to write about this over at the Art of Manliness I said, “Sure, why not?” But it is something I have to admit I'd been — When you create content, you oftentimes attract that type of person and I knew that somebody that was concealed carry, they needed more service than I could give them with my online custom clothier.
I know that you work with a clothing business. This is something that it really is nice when you have somebody that comes to you in person and you can actually look at how the jacket fits on them, how the vest fits with them, then you can actually say, okay, we've got a little bit printing here. If concealed carry is something very important to you and you don't want to have anyone be able to spot this then we need to adjust the jacket now. The first time I wrote about it was from my own clothier and it was more for clients that I was receiving who were all military working in embassies and had that need. I created it for them. And then it kind of ballooned from there.
Tanner: Got you. Yeah. That makes sense. Because this is not something where your article or this podcast or even the article that I've written in the past is something to try to convince men who do not carry to choose to do so but it is a way to teach men who already choose to do so to do it in ways that is effective for them and that they can still dress well while they're doing it. It's funny that you said it about my being able to work with that because I don't very often deal with it. Usually, it's something that I bring up.
But I had a client just about, I don't know, six or seven weeks ago come in and he was very, very nervous to bring up the subject with me. You can't get me in trouble. I don't want this to turn into a thing. It didn't sound he could get in trouble because he does everything legally but he was very uncomfortable with the fact that he had to tell me that he conceal carry and that he wants to be able to have his suit fit in a way that it doesn't have any printing.
I think there was visible relief when I told him, it's like, “No, I do it too. So let me tell you what I found or a good solution to my own personal problems with this.” I think that's a good thing for really anybody in this industry to be able to do is understand that, yeah, it's not a moral issue. It's a practical issue. It doesn't need to be emotional one. Whether you agree with it or not, just treat your clients or treat you guys in a way that you can help them solve their problems as opposed to–
Antonio: And I consider this like a crucial conversation that you need to have with your tailor or your seamstress, whoever you're going to work with. And as long as you're not putting them in the position of you violating the law, then you have your right.
You should be able to exercise this. But however, they are a private business. And understand that they also have the ability, they've got a moral stance where they — and it could be something very horrible.
Like I had one friend, his father was murdered with a handgun. And for him it was just something wasn't, that he couldn't just be — And I don't even, I can't even understand what that would be like, to be a young teenager and have your father taken away from you.
I respect that. But you can have that conversation before you even show up. So give the tailor a call and ask him straight up, “Hey, is this something that is going to be a problem? And if so, let's find a way around it.”
Tanner: I think that's an excellent point. And I love that you are pro freedom of association because that's not a popular opinion to take as often anymore but, yeah, the businesses doesn't want to serve you because you carry, good, don't let them, don't make them, they don't need to.
Antonio: Yeah. And there's always other people out there that you may have to drive farther but you want to work with someone who is very comfortable because it's just not going to be — Yeah, it's just not going to be a good deal if you try to force the issue.
Tanner: Right. So tell me a little bit about — Obviously, you had your military experience. Have you ever personally dealt with conceal carry and then is it something that you really have any real experience with or was it just being involved doing the research for this article that you–
Antonio: It was more doing the research and having a number of personal friends. I have personal friends having it seems like entire armory. We go out, spend time, we shoot together but it's not, no, I've never gone through and actually got my license and all of that stuff required.
Tanner: Got you. And so, what do you think is the most difficult aspect of dressing well for a man who does decide that he wants to carry a weapon?
Antonio: So, for a lot of guys, they're stuck with — I mean, it really starts with the weapon. They have certain weapons that they already own or that they're stuck with or that they feel good about and they want to stick with those. When you have a larger weapon, you're just going to have more that you've got to conceal. So, for a guy that wants to show absolutely nothing, he wants to wear slim fitted clothing but he wants to carry a larger type of handgun, we just have an issue
Tanner: Just the physical reality of it.
Antonio: Yeah, exactly. And that's something that is hard to overcome because a lot of guys don't want to compromise on fire power, which is something like I'm going to have this because I need the stopping power. Or I want to be able to carry this many rounds. So those are certain things you've got, okay. So, in that case, you need to — They bring in the impossible set of their idea of what can be done is sometimes not within reality with the clothing they want to wear.
Tanner: Well, I've spent a little bit of time online on different forums and I think the thing to me that's always interesting about that argument and you can take it to its extreme either way of sacrificing fire power for style or feasibility or practicality because you can say, well then, you should just be driving everywhere in a tank because, obviously, fire power is the utmost priority and that supersedes every other concern, then take the tank, have the full AK, your rocket launcher and you'll never be messed with.
And then the other option is well, all you ever need to carry is a little derringer because that's going to do the job but then that may not always do the job and so I think that taking that right approach of trying to find the right, not even compromise but the right balance between the two, especially because they're tradeoffs. I see my carrying my weapon as like having a fire extinguisher in my home or wearing my seatbelt. I hope that I never, never actually have to use either one of those. But I have them with me in case that I do. That's the same thing with my carrying a weapon.
But the tradeoff in dressing more poorly every day for that one time where I may need, I could potentially be better off with a nine millimeter round versus a 380, the tradeoff doesn't seem like that's worth it for me because of the likelihood of my being in the situation is so slim. Does that make sense?
Antonio: It does. And that's the fun part. Because every man gets to make this decision for himself. I look at it as a positive thing of you get to possibly, if you're stuck with one type of weapon, you get to maybe experiment with some others. I'm a happily married man. I'm with one woman the rest of my life. When it comes to firearms, you got options here. You could play around.
Tanner: You don't worry about cheating.
Antonio: You can cheat on your 45.
Tanner: That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, and I think that — That's a great point especially for men who are not in law enforcement or in security or in situations where they really are kind of issued a firearm and they have to need it. If you're just a civilian like I am, then there's no reason for me to — Recently I have tried carrying both a 45 and a nine and for me the tradeoff hasn't been worth it. I'm happy to stick with a 380. But for somebody else it may very well worth it.
Antonio: Many people in law enforcement and even the military, you do have the option. You can find ways of like I would rather be using this or I feel more comfortable, especially when you are playing close detective. You're just going to have more options. In addition, there's multiple carries. So some people like to have two weapons with them. They're also going to–
Tanner: Yeah, to be able to do that, where you got your backup and your primary.
Antonio: Exactly.
Tanner: Yeah, absolutely. And so I love that. I think that is absolutely the right approach as far as the difficulty of finding the right balance. You can't look to a specific podcast episode or website article or anything. You're just going to say a plug in how do you like to dress and how much you need self defense and then we're going to put this algorithm together and this is going to tell you the ideal. It doesn't work like that. You have to experiment and play around with it yourself before you can find out what actually ends up working for you the best.
Antonio: Completely agree.
Tanner: Okay. So do you think that armed men have more incentive, less incentive or maybe just different incentive than unarmed men or other guys when it comes to wanting to dress well?
Antonio: Well, I think what's their goal of dressing well? And if it's to send a message — I mean, if you're well dressed, I just feel that you're less likely to be accosted. You're just less likely to even be perceived as a threat. I mean, for me, it's about situational awareness as well, understanding where you put yourself in. So obviously, if you're dressed well and you're in a part of town where you would be asked, approached by people asking for money perhaps, I mean, you're putting yourself I think in the wrong position.
But I think in general, a man who decides to conceal carry, he just needs to be more aware of his situations. He's the kind of guy that you're not going to be going out and getting drunk when you conceal carry. Hopefully, I mean, you're not that stupid because I don't know about you but just strange things whenever you drink alcohol beyond a certain point. And you need to be having your mind on on top of you. So I would say that it is important because it's just another form of sending a message to people.
Tanner: Yeah. I like that idea a lot because you don't want to be a soft target, you don't want to look like you're somebody that can be easily picked up on or taken advantage of which I think dressing well and dressing intentionally helps you avoid that. But at the same time you don't want to overly look like you're a threat because then that will make those who come out of from a bravado perspective as opposed from a predator perspective to still see you as a target as opposed to just kind of blending in and wanting to do that.
I also think that the alcohol thing is interesting. I don't know, for me when I started carrying weapon, not that I was prone to fighting before but my level of hot headedness and reactive-ness when I have somebody, when I am in the situation that could escalate to a fight, I'm much more conscious and cognizant of my weapon than I would be if I didn't have it because I would hate to get in a scuffle with some guy and then have it turned into a life or death situation over something like splashing me with his car or some silly little trivial thing. I think there's a level of politeness that comes from that.
Antonio: Who wrote the saying an armed society is a polite society?
Tanner: And I agree with that. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So even though you don't carry personally, let's say hypothetically, if you were to, how do you think you would prioritize variables of comfort, concealability, style and accessibility?
Antonio: Comfort, concealability, style and what was the last one?
Tanner: Accessibility.
Antonio: Accessibility.
Tanner: Because obviously, when you conceal carry–
Antonio: I would put comfort as the last because you can become comfortable with many things. I mean, that's just something that is important. I mean, it's not — I became more comfortable, like I'm not comfortable swimming when I first started jumping in the pool.
And as I swam more, I became much more comfortable. So initially, someone will be wearing a weapon in a way that they may not feel comfortable but they're just oftentimes not used to it being there. Or they're not used to carrying in that way. And that's something that you can–
I'm not talking about rubbing a rough spot or anything like that but I am saying getting used to that. I would put that one as last. After that, I would say concealability. I think a lot of people are kind of like how we're our own worst critic. No one notices. Most people are oblivious to-
There's a friend of mine, Perry Marshall, and he runs a really great company with Google AdWords but he talked about a guy named John Mendoza who worked for him and he called — So John, he was working with a guy in Vegas and they were learning to gamble. The guy took him to a strip club and had basically a that he had with him and. This was back in I think the '60s or '70s.
And there were a couple of people in the bar that looked around and like immediately noticed. But everyone else was oblivious. And the point was those guys are — you don't gamble with them. They're not marks. Those people have very — They heard a shotgun and they went, “What in the world is going on?” And I think most people though are not — So you're getting to that why place at number three because most people are going to be oblivious to that small bulge. They're not just noticing. It's going to be other concealed carry personnel or basically law enforcement that are looking for things like that.
Tanner: Yeah. Because we get so hypersensitive to the way that things look when you're overly cautious about it. I had a conversation about that with my barber today because for me I have this weird kind of cowlick in my hair that I see that's just kind of omnipresent problem, that my hair never does what it's supposed to. And he looks at me and he just says, “You're the only person in the world who even notices that.” Maybe me and my wife. For most people, it's not this thing.
And that's how I feel about printing because if I see any of it then I get really sensitive too and it bothers me. You're absolutely right. Unless you are trained to look for it, nobody has any idea what it is that's going on. They're not concerned with it and so most people aren't even going to be aware of it.
Antonio: I mean, if they're trained to look for it then that's a whole another type of — You better hope they're on your side because they got the drop on you.
Tanner: Exactly. Yeah, at that point, it doesn't matter how concealed it is anyway.
Antonio: Exactly.
Tanner: Okay. So it would be comfort last, concealability third. What about style and accessibility?
Antonio: I would say — I'm not going to — I would nitpick if I would say one. I personally like if you're going to carry a weapon for it to be very — I mean, for you to be able to grab it and to have quick access. So I put that one as number one, style second. But I don't feel one has to go in front of the other. I think you could have both.
Tanner: Yeah, that makes sense especially because, yeah, I think accessibility is — I mean, I know that the vast majority of situations are within like a 21 foot radius and there's all these different variables that accessibility ends up being huge because anytime that you end up fumbling for it, it could potentially cost you or somebody, somebody you know or somebody you love their lives. But I don't think, I agree, I don't think that those are antithetical to each other. I don't think that you have to have accessibility at the expense of style or vice versa. With those, you can get the best of both worlds. Right?
Antonio: Agree. Yeah.
Tanner: So, let me ask you then with this: Do you recommend for your clients or recommend for your friends who do carry that based on different situations that they may find themselves in, does what their wearing impact what they carry or does what they carry impact what they're wearing?
Antonio: I have find it — I mean, when they approach me with this issue is what's they're carrying is going to affect what they're wearing. But in order to normalize that, it's like I do try to get them, “Hey.” There's nothing wrong with a uniform when you're a well-dressed men. I mean, for me, I love — Notice that I'm wearing a sweater. I love really nice sweaters. To me, they're a shortcut. Here in Wisconsin, we've already entered — It gets really cold. I'm talking deathly cold, down to -35.
So I really like to be able to wear full thermals underneath and then casual clothing on top. If I'm going to film, I will occasionally — But this right here is a great uniform for me. A guy that's going to conceal carry, he needs to find that uniform, oftentimes having a sports jacket, being able to bring in a vest, all of these things that are going to help, being able to bring in the right type of trousers that cut in a way, making sure all of your trousers are cut to be able to accommodate your concealed carry. And just make that — I mean, that's just part of the way you dress on a normal basis.
So it's not anything out of the ordinary. Maybe if you're a plain clothes detective, that it's not something that everything is able to fit around you so when people see you in clothing that you concealed carry with, they're not saying, “Oh, you're carrying your 45 today,” or something like that. It's like they actually can't tell because this is what you wear every day.
I also like — I mean, uniforms are just nice. And when I see a uniform, it's finding your style of clothing. People get used to it. They become accustomed to it. So, if you're going to a bookstore every day and you're always the guy in a sports jacket with a vest or maybe drop the best but you've got a medium colored shirt so it's not necessarily going to have a very stark contrast if somehow your jacket was to get flipped up. There would be less contrast of the weapon. So little things like that. I think you can build into your wardrobe then it becomes almost a no brainer getting dressed.
This post is an interview transcript. Listen to the recent interview with Tanner Guzy of Masculine Style.
Tanner: All of that. I've even been experimenting with that myself because for a while I carried a smaller back. I carried about my 5 o'clock and I didn't like what that ended up doing as far as printing or the potential for a back injury if I slip on ice or anything. And so I started carrying, experimenting with carrying both at my 3 o'clock of at my 1 o'clock, on my waist. I can't tell you, as far the most comfortable and the best accessibility is my 1 o'clock but it sucks for concealability unless I'm wearing either a 3-piece suit or double breasted jacket.
And in my own head I'm thinking, okay, well, maybe I need to adapt my style in a way where I kind of embrace those two elements as my personal suiting uniform because of what that does when it comes to all those other variables with carrying a weapon. So yeah, the idea of a uniform, I hadn't thought about it really to that extent the way you brought that up but I like that a lot and I think that takes a lot of the thought out of it for most guys. And then it frees us up to be able to focus on more important things.
Antonio: Yeah. I find it refreshing that there's I think it was — was it a banker? It was one of those bankers without any morals on Wall Street.
Tanner: Which one?
Antonio: Yeah, exactly. I'm trying to think. Was it Michael Milken? It was one of those guys and he talked about how he wore — I wore about the same clothing every day. And you've heard even — what's his name over at Facebook?
Tanner: Yeah, Mark Zuckerberg.
Antonio: Yeah He's talked about this, that simply just you don't have to think about it. When it becomes a hassle, when you're having to think, over think this, that's when it becomes an issue. Because if you conceal carry, you're doing it because of your job or you're doing it because you want to exercise your legal right. So whichever it may be, just make it easy.
Tanner: Yeah, I know that makes sense especially because the easier you make it on yourself then, I mean, that's why you need the muscle memory, you need to be able to know where it's coming because in the event you ever need it, those are all to your advantage.
The less thinking you have to do, then the more effective you can be and it's used and, obviously, when you don't use it then you haven't used up that kind of mental stamina at the beginning of your day you're trying to figure out, okay, I'm wearing this, how do I make it work with this caliber of weapon and blah, blah, blah?
You just kind of get in your uniform and then you can focus on different things throughout the day. Okay. Do you think that there's anything — Would you recommend carrying anything beyond just a firearm for a civilian who wanted to do conceal carry? A pocket knife? A tactical flashlight? Anything like that? Is that even something that would maybe be situational or based on different scenarios?
Antonio: Yeah, it's going to be really situational. If you find you do a lot of field work, the flashlight, all of that stuff is going to make sense. But if you usually have access to your vehicle, from a style perspective, I like to keep things very minimal. I keep a lot of that stuff in my truck because it's something — My truck, wherever I go, my truck, I've got access, I mean, very quick access to those things and rarely do I need them in emergency situation. However, again, if I work security, if I'm leaving my vehicle for prolonged periods and I need a light, then it just makes sense.
Tanner: Yeah, that does make a lot of sense. Again, just tailor, no pun intended, actually pun intended, tailor to your needs, right?
Antonio: Exactly.
Tanner: Cool. Okay, well, I really appreciate you taking the time to just answer some of these quick questions. One of the things that we didn't talk about which I usually do with my guests at the beginning but we'll do this here at the end with you is tell me out of the three different style archetypes, where do you think you fall primarily? What do you most identify with?
Antonio: Breaking it into three, that wasn't — I was like, “Ah.” I almost felt like [0:29:31] [Indiscernible]. But I would say rugged although I'm almost — I've never really thought of myself as a rugged stylistic individual but of all three I'd have to say I definitely probably go down there. It's more of probably just my history and simply the way I'd been raised and the way that I look at myself.
Tanner: Awesome. Yeah, I'm actually surprised to hear that. I think based on what I've seen from you on YouTube and when we've had the opportunity to meet in person, I would have pegged you very primarily refined.
But knowing a little bit more about your philosophical bent and your kind of approach to life as oppose to just your style, I can definitely see you much more rugged than anything else. Very cool. I appreciate your, again, taking the time to come and do this. Why don't you hang on after we close this up and we can chat for a little bit longer? But I will make sure that all of your information is up so that my guys can come find you if they're not following you already and we'll go from there.
Antonio: Sounds good, Tanner.
Tanner: Thanks, Antonio. Pretty good stuff, right? I love Antonio. I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to work with him over the last couple of years. Again, I appreciate him coming on the show and sharing his thoughts and his expertise on this. Before we go any further and we start to talk about a few more of the philosophical and even the more controversial things related to this, I do want to tell you that today's episode is a sponsored episode and it is brought to you by a company called Kimber America.
Now, Kimber, they make excellent firearms and you can check them out at kimberamerica.com. They sent me four to play around with as an opportunity to really get to know their product by bringing them on as a sponsor. They sent me what is their smallest, their little pocket carry. There's Micro. It's a little 380. They sent me an Ultra which is a nine-millimeter. And then they sent me two 45s that are basically the equivalent of like a Colt 1911.
Their Micro, their 380 has become my daily carry. I love this little gun. I love the way that it feels. Its body is extra slim and so I can carry it very, very well in almost anything that I'm wearing. At the same time, even though it's a smaller size, it's an entirely metal frame. And so the weight is substantial. It's not so light that I feel like I'd lost it. I'm always kind of aware of where it is. And then the added bonus to its weight is how beautifully it shoots.
I love the accuracy of this thing. It's just been phenomenal. Yes, I have spent some time with the other guns and they're excellent and quality firearms as well. But for me, that little 380 has become a daily carry that I absolutely and thoroughly enjoy carrying these things. So if you were in the market for a firearm that you can wear well and wear well with more tailored clothing and summer clothing, I 100% recommend that you go and check out Kimber. It's at kimberamerica.com.
Now moving on, let's talk about some of this stuff. I certainly don't believe that in order to qualify to be a man that you have to carry a weapon. But I do understand that violence is something that has always been a part of human society and it always will be a part of human society. I don't deal with a lot of violence. I've never had to fire my weapon at a person. I've never even really been in a fight. But I understand that the primary reason that I don't have to do that is because there are good men in the world who are willing to do that on my behalf.
The only reason that I don't experience any violence in my life is because there are men to whom I have outsourced and the rest of society has outsourced the responsibility of performing acts of violence. Now there are people in the world who are selfish and sociopathic and evil and awful and they want to do harm to any or as many people as they possibly can. It may be because of an ideology. It may be because of a desire for more resources. It may be because of some sort of mental disorder. It may be out of anger or fear or revenge or any other motivation to attribute to it. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
There will always be people who want to engage in violence. And the problem with that is that violence is the gold standard. Whoever is willing to engage in it will almost always trump and supersede those who are not. Now, yes, there are times and situations in which violence can be met with non-violence and it can be done in a way that is effective. And yes, I'm an advocate of taking advantage of those opportunities when they present themselves.
But I'm not so naïve to believe that all violence in the world can be solved by the golden rule or by hugging it out or by offering money or by cowering in the corner. There are people who want to do harm and the only thing that will stop them is having harm done to them. Period. Full stop. End of sentence. Now because those people exist in the world and because I don't know when or if I will ever encounter them, I believe it is my obligation to be able to stop them from doing that violence to me, to my family and to my loved ones.
Now, I just shared this earlier, this last week on Facebook. This is a quote that is by a man named Brian Cerny. I don't know him. I don't know anything else about him. For all I know, he's some communist pacifist or some crazy neo-Nazi. I don't really care. Because what he said in this quote is something that I stand behind and it's something that I shared and I'm going to read it to you. This sums up very well my stance on this.
He says, “I stand behind you in line at the store with a smile on my face and a gun under my shirt and you are none the wiser and yet you were safer for having me next to you. I won't shoot you. My gun won't pull its own trigger. It is securely holstered with the trigger covered. It can't just go off. However, rest assured that if a lunatic walks into the grocery store and pulls out a rifle, I will draw my pistol and protect myself and my family and, therefore, protect you and your family. I may freeze up. I may piss my pants. I may get shot before I can pull the trigger. But I won't die in a helpless blabbering heap on the floor begging for my life or my child's life. I won't be that victim. I choose not to be. As for you, I don't ask you to carry a gun. If you are not comfortable then please don't. But I would like to keep my right to choose to not be a helpless victim. There is evil in the world and if evil has a gun I want one too.”
And that pretty much sums it up for me. I think that he does an excellent job of being able to lay out the reason for it. Now, a lot of people think, “Well, how often do you see this kind of violence and how often are you experiencing this?” Especially for me in Salt Lake City, Utah where it's such a minimal thing. And to them I would say that's the same reason I wear a seatbelt or that I have a fire extinguisher in my home. I hope and I pray that I'm never in a situation where I need to use either one of those things.
But I'm not paranoid for wearing a seatbelt. I'm not paranoid for keeping a fire extinguisher. Because I know that in the event of an accident that will protect me, a seatbelt will protect me. And I know that in the event of a fire — The fire extinguisher is such a good example because a fire could spread much more quickly than the Fire Department can get to my home and put out my fire. If the life of my son or the life of my daughter is dependent on the two-minute, three minute difference between my being able to act with a fire extinguisher in my possession and the amount of time it takes for the Fire Department to show up and put the fire out for me, it is not only my desire but I believe it is my obligation to make sure that I have the necessary tools on hand to be able to save the lives of my children.
I've never been in a situation of a house fire. I hope that I never am. And I am not paranoid for choosing to have a fire extinguisher in my home. Now, that translates over perfectly to carrying a firearm. Again, I'm not going to tell that this is something that you need to do although for many men I actually do believe that that is the case. I do believe that you should be carrying a weapon but I also believe that you should be comfortable with it. I absolutely believe that you should be trained on how to use it because otherwise you end up being more of a danger to yourself and to your family than a help.
But I choose to take that responsibility into my own hands because when I find myself in a situation where my children or my wife's life are on the line, I don't want to outsource our protection to somebody else. I would love to have the police be there at my beck and call instantaneously. That's not possible. And so I choose to carry a firearm. And there are other reasons. There are political reasons. And we could go on to that for hours and hours. But basically, really what this comes down to for me is it is an amoral tool that because there are people in the world who choose to use immorally then I have a responsibility to know how to use and to choose to use it morally.
Now let's move on to today's icon and embarrassment. Now as you'll remember going through this earlier conversation with Antonio he talked about a video from a channel called Teaching Men Fashion. So after we had our conversation I went back through and I watched this video. I think it's a great clip. They're able to demonstrate a lot of stuff that goes through and outlines better ways to carry — I happen to choose to carry in my appendix which is basically it's like your 1 o'clock.
For me, it's best for concealment, best for accessing. Yeah, it's more uncomfortable but I get over it. I don't actually carry it appendix in my car. I don't want to give any more details on that just for security reasons. But they go through and they talk about all these different ways and methods in which you can carry and do a lot to be able to help guys understand that it's not an either-or situation. You don't have to dress in baggy or combat clothing to be able to carry well and carry responsibly.
And so today's icon are the guys from Teaching Men Fashion. I will make sure that there is a link to their video. Go check it. Watch it out. Make sure that you give them a thumbs up and leave them a comment because as you can imagine they got a lot of heat for that episode. I appreciate what they're doing and I appreciate the responsible way in which they've approached it, which is a perfect segue into today's embarrassment.
Now I know that a lot of guys, you probably already assume that you know who I'm talking about. You think I'm going to say gun's rights activists or men who refuse to believe that violence is necessary or any number of anti-gun people. Yes, I have my problems with these people. But when it comes to today's topic in regards to carrying and carrying well, the embarrassment are open carry idiots.
Now, these are not just people who choose to open carry. I'm an advocate for that especially states like mine here in Utah where that's legal to do. I think that if you choose to do that and you've methodically and responsibly made that decision to do so, then I think that that's a good thing. When I talk about open carry idiots, I talk about guys who end up dressing and carrying and looking like they're ready to shoot up a grocery store or school.
There is a responsible way to be an open carry guy. It's to dress professionally and to dress well and to carry a pistol on your side almost like you look like a law enforcement officer. You continue to be friendly and respectful and act almost as if it isn't there. That is the responsible to be an open carry advocate. Now, the irresponsible way, the embarrassment way to do it is to make sure that you are always in head to toe in military gear and to carry something like an AK47 strapped across your back and to walk into areas where you know it's going to draw attention and you know that it's going to cause stir and panic and havoc.
I don't think that men walking around in that kind of gear should cause those kinds of reactions. But whether or not it should, it does. And it does more to hurt the cause for those of us who believe in the second amendment and especially for those who believe in open carry than it does to help the cause. It's selfish. It's grandstanding. It's attention getting. And it has nothing to do with furthering your cause and everything to do with real world trolling of your ideological enemies and I think that it is a foolish and a dangerous game to play. So today's embarrassment 100% open carry idiots.
Well, I just want to thank you guys for taking the time to tune in to today's episode, a very fun, a very interesting topic. Thanks again to Antonio for coming out and spending some time with me. If you would like to learn more about this I will have links to my original article that I wrote about just a couple of years ago. I will have links to Antonio's article that he wrote too on the Art of Manliness. Both of those talk a little bit more about the mechanics of it. Make sure that you check that out.
If you are on the fence about carrying a weapon, then I encourage you to go spend some time at your gun range, become familiar with different firearms, become familiar with the process. Take some time to watch YouTube videos of men who are advocates of responsibly carrying a weapon. Spend some time talking to law enforcement officers, military veterans and be methodical in your approach to it. Be deliberate about it.
It's not an easy decision. It's not a light decision and it shouldn't be treated lightly. But it is one that I think should be made deliberately as opposed to being done by default. Whether that's choosing to carry or not to carry, your inertia shouldn't be what makes that decision for you.
If you would like more style advice, I encourage you to head on over to my site and sign up for my 10 Free Masculine Style Essentials. These are not a list of ten different items that you need to own but it's ten different philosophical approaches that you need in order to be able to learn to dress well and dress in a way that is most effective and most helpful for you. So head on over to the site. Again, I'll have a link for that so that you can learn more about that. And then also get signed up for the newsletter where I share helpful information, links to new videos and new podcasts so that you can continue to dress in a way that is to your advantage as opposed to just being that neutral or even to your disadvantage.
Thanks again for listening. Leave a rating and a review and remember that a man of masculine style is one who dresses in a way that is both deliberate and intentional.
This post is an interview transcript. Listen to the recent interview with Tanner Guzy of Masculine Style.
