A few months ago my wife asked me to go with her to a local shopping mall to pick up some things for the holidays and added that she didn’t want to go by herself because of recent gang activity in and around the mall. I agreed that going alone was not a good idea, even if there weren’t any problems with local gangs and shady characters.

I’ve had my concealed handgun license for over 10 years and have had a lot of formal training in the defensive handgun and wasn’t about to go to the mall or anywhere for that matter, without my cut-down M1911. So I put on my inside-the-waistband-holster and we headed out.

Visiting the first couple of stores was pretty normal except for being quite crowded, especially in the large hallways and courtyards between all of the stores.