These days, with all of the calendar and planner functions available on our phones and easily carried computer pads and tablets, we are seeing fewer and fewer people carry the kinds of notebooks and schedulers that were everywhere just a few years ago. However, if such things are still common in your world, firms like Uncle Mike’s and BLACKHAWK! make different ones that resemble planners and Galco makes one that actually is fully functional in that role. All of them allow you to bring a firearm along unnoticed to places where you can’t “wear” it but you still might need it.

There is some overlapping of those smaller diaries with the still generally unnoticed, divided pouches that are made by just about everybody these days but that were initiated by Uncle Mike’s almost 20 years ago. Their GunPak, BLACKHAWK!’s Belt Pouch, DeSantis’ Gun Caddie, and others can be carried in the hand or worn on the belt in ways that fanny packs never could and they allow the wearer to carry a firearm with them just about everywhere they go; even allowing the user to reach inside them without revealing the handgun.

Some of these pouch-like devices are simply amazing at allowing you to carry a firearm undetected in all kinds of situations and environments. But that brings us full circle in regard to the subject of additional considerations with these designs as to what you do when the gun is still in any of these Off Body devices we have been discussing but they are not with you.

All of the items mentioned can inadvertently promote carelessness or a lax attitude in regard to the securing of the weapon when it is out of your immediate control, and that is something that can creep up on even the most safety-minded individual. While the laws in many states and municipalities require that unattended firearms be formally secured and both common sense and our own individual sense of responsibility (and of right and wrong) are sure to lead us in the same direction, these non-traditional carriers can instead, lead us astray and perhaps make us less diligent about such matters than we should be.

When we come into our homes or maybe enter our workplace, it is very common to remove a body-borne handgun (or maybe handgun and holster combination) and lock it up in a safe, cabinet or desk drawer. Because of how it is carried, we are reminded that it is a firearm and it must be respected, handled safely and secured when not in use. But a purse (with the gun unseen inside) can be hung over the back of a chair. A waist pack, not looking like a gun, can be tossed on to a bed or a table as those packs not used to transport firearms have always been tossed aside. A briefcase, made specifically to not look like a gun carrier, can be abandoned alongside a desk. And a calendar or notebook, designed to fool everyone as to its true nature, can be set on top of a desk, table or cabinet and forgotten. Worse yet, many such things can be inadvertently left behind altogether in restrooms, restaurants, cars, and cabs because they are not attached to us the way “holsters” are.

Don’t let this dissuade you from choosing any of these items if they can be helpful to you in defending your life, but always consider the big picture in making any decisions as serious as these.