Carrying a concealed firearm can be a nerve-racking thing at first. If you haven’t had much time to wear the holster it could be uncomfortable, so much so that you don’t want to carry it anymore. I personally dealt with this by wearing a holster around the house in the appendix position and when standing at the showroom counter. This was the easiest way for me to get used to the pressure of the holster pushing against me and after probably 4 or 5 days it was fine. 2 weeks in I didn’t even know it was there anymore. Appendix carry is the fastest draw but it may not be possible for you to do all the time, maybe a uniform or wearing a suit or dress will prevent you from doing so. That is wear off body comes into play.
For women, I usually am not a fan of purse carry for a couple reasons.
1. If you are approached by a bad guy who wants your money, where is the money? Your wallet…in your purse. Where is that firearm? In your purse. They can just take the whole purse and you are defenseless.
2. The other reason is, that most people who do so just toss a gun in the purse without a holster. That’s a very easy way to have an accidental discharge. A pen or keys or anything really can go in the trigger guard and bump the trigger back, or you go to grab something out of the purse and it gets tripped up and pulls the trigger. If you want to purse carry use a holster, or a dedicated CCW purse with its own compartment is an option.
They make so many cool bags for concealing a firearm: backpacks, fanny packs, slings, computer bags, gym bags, purses. Some look tactical and definitely telegraph there is a firearm in that bag, most look like a regular old bag. CCW-specific bags will have a dedicated compartment for the firearm to be separated from the rest of the items you keep in a bag.
Now carrying this way doesn’t mean you should toss a gun in a bag and think you are good. Train. Train to get that gun out of the bag when you need to get it out. Practice getting to your weapon, drawing it, and getting it in the action. It’s no different than practicing your normal draw during dry fire. Practice drawing from the bag sitting down, standing up, from the seat next to you in the car, and kneeling down with the bag next to you. There’s never a time when you will say I practiced too many scenarios. Find something that works for you and practice, practice, practice.
-Cano