With day 1 in the books, I began Day 2 of the USCCA Concealed Carry Expo by popping in to watch a bit of attorney Andrew Branca’s presentation on the law of self-defense. By 7:50am, the meeting space was standing room only, and by the time he began talking at 8:00am people were spilling out into the corridor. I caught up with him after his talk when he was signing free copies of the third edition of his book published by the USCAA.

Before the exhibition hall opened to the public at 9:00am, I went around and did an inventory of the exhibitors. I counted 91 vendors distributed as follows:

1. Holsters and Packs: 28 (31%) – not including companies specializing in carry for women
2. Guns: 9 (10%) – Bond Arms, FNH, Glock, Heizer Defense, Kahr, SCCY, Springfield Armory, Taurus, Walther. Noticably absent: Ruger, Smith & Wesson, and Sig Sauer.
3. Women’s Specific Carry: 8 (9%) – Clothing, purses, and other holstering systems designed specifically for women.
4. Clothing: 8 (9%)
5. Ammo: 6 (6.6%)
6. Training: 6 (6.6%)

The other 25 vendors included target companies, retailers (Brownell’s was there), safes, etc.

This shows how important figuring out a way to carry is to the concealed carry movement. As I will discuss in future posts, many people, including many small business owners, have tried to find ways of building a better mousetrap, particularly for women.

I also took the opportunity today to observe and shoot in the Mobile Tactics trailer, a three lane mobile shooting range. It was a pretty amazing operation that I will write more about, but suffice to say that the noise-level inside and outside the trailer was less than most indoor gun ranges I’ve been to. Look for it wrapped in a Sig Sauer banner at the NRA meeting next month in Louisville.

Another seminar I checked out and will write more about was Beth Alcazar’s session on “Why Women Hate Guns: Encouraging Women to Accept, Own, Use and Carry Firearms.” I was a bit disappointed that the room was not full for this seminar as it was for others, but it was notable that 40% of the 75ish people there were women.

The grand finale of day 2 was the Concealed Carry Fashion Show, MCed by Armed American Radio’s Mark Walters. More about it later, but I came away quite impressed by the production values and models, some professionals and some — like Beth Alcazar noted above — not. A few quick snap shots below.

I like this one because it shows an ankle rig made by my own holster-maker, Matt Rector of MTR Custom Leather in Ramseur, North Carolina. I also left a kerambit with him to make a belt holster for – I am very excited about that!

I carry a non-tactical murse myself, so I have been looking hard at this somewhat more tactical — but definitely not at all tacti-cool — one by Man-Pack.

Looking forward to day 3 of the CCX tomorrow, and to getting home to my wife, kid, cat, bed, and home cooking.