Ken Hackathorn has been training military, law enforcement, and civilians, how to effectively, responsibly, and safely use firearms for more than 50 years. He began as a firearms instructor in the Army, worked in law enforcement, and was one of Jeff Cooper’s first instructors at the American Pistol Institute, which is now known as Gunsite Academy. Hackathorn is an old guy – older than me – but it’s the old guys who know things. This is because they have what most younger and new shooters don’t – experience.
I first trained with Hackathorn at what now seems like an impossible 30 years ago. Since then, I’ve followed his guidance and periodically reached out to him for advice. We’re not best buddies or even close friends. Professional associates would best describe our relationship, and we don’t agree on everything gun related. But I do know Ken and his training/experience pedigree well enough to take stock when he offers guidance about guns. A lot of millennials and hot-shot keyboard and range warriors should as well.
Recently Wilson Combat posted an excerpt from a video with Ken Hackathorn and Paul Howe on social media. In that clip Ken made what I now consider a legendary comment, and it was that any pistol you carry in the appendix position is potentially a “decocker.” This of course was a play on words, and a damned fine one I might add. He took a term used to describe a type of pistol that you can “de-cock” with a lever, and used it to suggest that if you carry in the appendix position there’s a possibility that you might shoot your pecker – or your balls – off.
This was not speculation; it has in fact occurred more than once. In fact, recently a civil suit against a holster maker by a fellow who did shoot his pecker off, put that holster maker out of business. Because of this, another major holster maker now includes a warning with their holsters, which they internally reference as the “Weenie Warning.”
The primary problem with appendix carry is that it’s difficult – very difficult – to holster in that position without pointing the pistol at a part of your body. And very likely, it’s a part of your body that you definitely do not want to shoot, damage, or have permanently removed. Remember rule two: never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy, and also remember and accept the fact that humans have a proclivity to do monumentally stupid things?
The rage on the Internet, from those with hurt feelings who like to carry a pistol next to their penis, was instant and vile, and essentially an unorganized example of cancel culture at work. It was clear that few if any of those who commented on the clip or teaser had watched the full video from which the clip was taken. If they had, they might have learned something, or at least had the context within which the comment was given.
But of course, no one has time to actually learn anything anymore. And instead of attending a real training course from someone with the experience of Hackathorn, or from a reputable school like Gunsite Academy, many would much rather kneel at the feet of an Internet influencer, take part in a firearms fantasy camp, or take a class that might best be described as “intertrainment.”
Negligent discharges occur all the time. And the rule of the negligent discharge is similar to the rule about motorcycles. As they say, there are two types of motorcycle riders: those who have wrecked, and those who will. The same is true of shooters. There are those who have had a negligent discharge, and those who will. I have, and I always – as you should – expect another. It’s a bad thing, but it does not have to be a terrible thing, IF you always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.
Every year shooters are injured by a negligent discharge when drawing or holstering a handgun, regardless of the carry position. I was at Gunsite Academy when it happened once. A student negligently left their finger on the trigger when holstering. If you’re carrying on your hip, it usually means you get a survivable hole in your butt cheek or in your leg. If you’re carrying in the appendix position, well, as Ken Hackathorn so wisely observed, there is the potential for a “decocking” to occur. Why would anyone believe that holstering in the appendix position would preclude that from ever happening? (There are also two rather important arteries located along each leg in the near proximity of your jewels.)
Carry your concealed handgun how and wherever you want; thankfully there’s not a governing body that dictates that location to us. If you want my advice – another old guy with a military, law enforcement, and civilian, firearms training background – it would be wise to — at least while you’re training — to trust your trainer, especially one who has established themselves as a stalwart like Ken Hackathorn, and who has more than a half century of experience in an industry full of posers.
Trust the trainer that knows how to provide practical, responsible, and SAFE, training, even if it hurts your feelings. Hurt feelings are one thing, shooting your balls or your pecker off is a different kind of feeling. I expect someday I’ll have another negligent discharge, because humans – gun writers, firearms trainers, and Internet heroes – tend to do stupid shit. If I’m doing my job – being safe – I’ll be pointing the gun in a safe direction when it happens, and embarrassment will be the worst thing to come of it.
There’s no doubt that the current cool trend is appendix carry. If you regularly practice, it offers a very fast presentation, and if you’re built right for it, it offers long-term comfortable carry. But keep this in mind: there is a very fine and sometimes blurry line between cool and fool. Be careful which side of that line you live on.
NOTE: The primary role of any firearms instructor is safety. They are not in the feelings business, they are in the safety business.
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