Excaliber wrote:kauboy wrote:Excaliber wrote:
A
The "level 1" retention holsters linked in the OP are all designed with intuitive levers or buttons that would be depressed during any gun grab attempt. A thumb-break requires the correct grip AND knowledge of how to properly disengage it in order to draw the gun, as it requires an action not required of a normal draw. Disengaging it is not as intuitive as depressing a button that one's finger or thumb would naturally fall on during a draw attempt.
For this reason, if the premise is that OC *could* increase the number of gun grabs (though I doubt there is much evidence supporting this), a thumb-break would be the superior option.
This is likely the reason that most duty holsters use thumb-breaks.
You are correct that there is little history of gun grabs from civilians in Texas. That is largely because open carry won't begin until this coming January. Right now a criminal doesn't know someone is carrying a gun until it is drawn, and he doesn't try to grab what he doesn't know about. However, there is extensive history of gun grabs from the openly carried holsters of law enforcement officers. Prior to the invention of retention holsters, the vast majority of these were from holsters with simple thumb snap retaining devices. I believe this history is worth learning from, because the hard way to learn about this hurts a lot.
I had an opportunity to explore holster retention pretty thoroughly while I was writing the requirements for a 200 officer police department's holster regulations. Level 1 is friction only. A secondary device like a thumb strap or lever is Level 2, and two active devices or actions required to release the gun are level 3 (See Mas Ayoob's description of the level rating system
here.)
A thumb break is not only intuitive for the wearer, it is in fact very easy for an observer to analyze and attack. It is even easy to do from the front, and this was proven many times in actual incidents. That method (which I won't describe here) is taught in prisons and is very well known among the criminal element. Our training cadre demonstrated it to every new officer at the range to make sure they were aware of just how easily and quickly it could be done. A thumb break is also easy for an adversary to release during a gun grab from the rear because placing the hand on the grip naturally places the thumb in position to release the thumbstrap. Even without releasing the thumbstrap, a vigorous yank will usually free the gun.
Simple thumb strap holsters are rarely used by uniformed officers in agencies with high levels of contact with suspects because of the danger they represent. You'll see things like hoods, shield, and hidden levers, but rarely thumbstraps except for nonuniformed or administrative personnel and the occasional old timer who's still carrying a revolver. Level 3 (2 active retention devices) was my standard choice for uniformed duty.
The retention mechanisms in the original list are relatively intuitive in that they are placed in positions that are readily activated
by the person wearing the holster and both less obvious and more difficult to release by someone else. They are specifically designed to not be obvious, although if an opportunity is given for a close look it will often reveal where they are. However, even if they are correctly identified by an adversary, they are designed to be difficult for anyone but the wearer to actually remove the gun.
I provided the original list and requested folks stick to the retention definition I outlined in order to provide a resource for those who recognize the hazards involved in gun grabs and want equipment that is well designed to make them significantly more difficult. When open carry becomes legal, folks can of course carry holsters with simple thumbstraps for retention. If they choose to do so, I sincerely hope that they make that decision with full knowledge of the drawbacks and that they invest in a good hands on weapon retention course (which is a great investment for anyone) to learn how to defend it.
