Concealed Carry For A Paraplegic?

A reader sent me the following question in an e-mail:

"Do you or your readers have any suggestions for a paraplegic seeking a good concealed-carry sidearm?"

Yep.

He included a link to this post over at Brain Shavings. Here's the question asked in full:

"...what pistol(s) do you recommend for a paraplegic with limited grip strength, who wants to carry a concealed weapon while in a manual wheelchair?

It'll be carried in either a shoulder holster or a holster positioned in the small of the back. The jurisdiction is Ohio, so the rules & restrictions are not an issue. It should be relatively lightweight and easily concealable, of average reliablity (or better), with better-than-average stopping power, a caliber of .38 or larger, and shouldn't be too hard to break down and clean. Magazine capacity, appearance and price tag are immaterial. Utility über alles."

Say Uncle took up the question in a post of his own. Say Uncle's a Glock fan. I'm not. If you want to buy a Glock that's your decision, but not one I'd imitate.

That being said I think a Glock might be less than a good choice (all its other faults aside) to meet the specfic needs of a person with limited grip strength. The trigger pull may be too long & heavy.

Enter JMB. A 1911 clone by any of the reputable makers would seem ideal, espcially in a Commander or Officer's length pistol. Kimber has a few options to choose from for compact pistols. Springfield Armory Inc has ultra-compact & micro-compact pistols. Para-Ordnance, Colt & many others make decent (depending upon one's standards) 1911's that are chambered for cartridges starting with .4 & otherwise meet the criteria set out above.

The reason the 1911 is perfect is the single action trigger pull which will be easier to reach & operate. You're looking at 4 or 5 pounds or so for the trigger pull. 1911's are usually very easy to field strip & they can be had in concealed carry friendly options, such as a lightweight frame & shortened length.

Next on my list would be another design JMB had his fingers in; the Browning Hi-Power.

CZ has some excellent offerings which are based on the Hi-Power design. The main difference is the Hi-Power is a single action whereas most CZ's are double action.

Berreta as well as Taurus both have large frame offerings that should meet all the requirements. Taurus also has some medium framed pistols (scroll down for the double action pistols) that should serve the purpose.

EAA has the Witness series of pistols (in steel or polymer framed versions as well as full sized or compact versions of each) which I can't seem to stop hearing good things about.

Ruger has its P-series of pistols which would be worth a look.

The reason a double action pistol is okay is that, provided it has a manual safety instead of just a decocker, it can be carried just as a single action would be carried. This allows for a shorter trigger pull length as well as a lighter trigger pull than a double action only pistol such as the Glock or the Taurus Millenium series.

All of the pistols I recommended above would more or less fit the criteria. Thye can be relatively light weight (say around 30 ounces give or take a few), chambered in a decent cartridge (most are offered in 9x19mm, .40 S&W & .45 ACP), are fairly easy to field strip for cleaning, & have suitable trigger pulls for a person with grip strength issues.

Now will all of those pistols be perfect? By all means no. It could turn out that not one of them fills the person's needs. But if that's the case then a compromise will have to be made, most likely in caliber. If a 32 ounce pistols is too much weight to hold while aiming, then reducing wieght will almost necessitate reducing cartridge size. If grip strength is an issue with a .45 ACP that weighs 38 ounces, Lord knows recoil will be problematic if the wieght gets dropped down to 28 ounces.

So if none of those suggestions seem workable, I'd have to advise looking at a .380 ACP or perhaps even a .32 ACP.

Of course if I were in a wheel chair I wouldn't worry too much about carry weight, as I'm sure I could find some way to hide a small mountain howitzer on the wheel chair itself. In all seriousness I would, if possible, look into a short barreled pump action shotgun for carry in such a situation. If you wish to explore that option without running afoul of the Gun Gestapo, permits (actually tax stamps) for most short barreled pistol gripped shotguns run around $5. You just have to wait however long it takes the ATF to get off its ass & process the unconstitutional paperwork.

But a single or double action (not to be confused with double action only) pistol by any of the makers mentioned above (or by others that I neglected) should suit the needs listed. I didn't mention any revolvers because frankly I don't have as much experience with revolvers as I do semi-automatics. A revolver could be an adequate choice but I'll stick to talking about semi-auto's as they're what I know best.

Of course this is open for discussion & if anyone has some thoughts or recommendations to chime in feel free to do so.

Posted by Publicola at October 26, 2004 05:19 AM