Can civilians carry handcuffs?

[Kyle(Houston)]

Leave the cuffs at home.

Exactly...with a little fur on them...lol

[Lindy]

BGs don't wear nice stuff, and folks that do are generally seen as above board.

Bad guys tend not to carry in holsters at all - that way, they ditch a gun, and there's nothing to indicate they were carrying.

[anygunanywhere]

Leave the cuffs at home.

Exactly...with a little fur on them...lol

Not cool.

Anygun

[DoubleJ]

I carry a pair about 75% of the time, but not for the reason you cited...and not because I think I am LEO.

so, the question no one else is going to ask is, "Then, why DO you carry the cuffs?"

not meant in an antagonistic tone, just curious is all.

[RCP]

Sheeple really don't care, and seldom notice.

Why would you want to appear to be LEO?

No offense intended, but to me what you propose is pretty much the same as using a CHL badge.

Anygunanywhere but not cuffs or badges.

+1

[Kyle(Houston)]

Leave the cuffs at home.

Exactly...with a little fur on them...lol

Not cool.

Anygun

what is not cool with having a pair of furry handcuffs at home??

[anygunanywhere]

Leave the cuffs at home.

Exactly...with a little fur on them...lol

Not cool.

Anygun

what is not cool with having a pair of furry handcuffs at home??

Explaining to the 10yo daughter why hand cuffs have fur on them and out of respect to Venus Pax whom I admire greatly.

[Kyle(Houston)]

Leave the cuffs at home.

Exactly...with a little fur on them...lol

Not cool.

Anygun

what is not cool with having a pair of furry handcuffs at home??

Explaining to the 10yo daughter why hand cuffs have fur on them and out of respect to Venus Pax whom I admire greatly.

Just like a gun I would hope anything of this nature would be locked up and out of reach of any children. I would think anyone on this forum is of legal age to own a gun so I see no harm in talking about something adult like a pair of handcuffs. I used no profanity in the post so I see no harm there?

I do not know Venus Pax but I would hope he or she is of legal age to own a gun so I don't think the mention of a pair of furry handcuffs would be something that a person of legal gun carrying age would not have heard before.

Now with that said if I have offended anyone I apologize. If this forum is OK with talking about using deadly force but can't handle a very faint sexual reference then I might need to move on.

[McKnife]

Can civilians carry handcuffs?

I see citizens dressed in blue with a badge do it... so can i.

[flintknapper]

I carry a pair about 75% of the time, but not for the reason you cited...and not because I think I am LEO.

so, the question no one else is going to ask is, "Then, why DO you carry the cuffs?"

not meant in an antagonistic tone, just curious is all.

Hi DoubleJ,

It is a fair question….and I take no offense to it.

I noticed my post seemed to be a bit of a “thread killer�, so I don’t mind explaining.

I will ask that everyone recognize, I am NOT encouraging or promoting the carry of handcuffs . I use them most often to balance the weight of a shoulder rig I carry, but I have found them to be a useful tool beyond what they were primarily designed for.

Let me take a moment to bore everyone with the reason I have handcuffs at all. It is not because I fancy myself LEO or want others to think I am. If I had wanted to be LEO… I would have done that 30 years ago.

A brother and sister in law on my wifes side of the family adopted an infant child. At about age 8 they were beginning to experience some problems with her. This grew worse over the next two years and they sought medical help.

Their daughter was diagnosed severe BiPolar/ODD. The coming years…despite medication, resulted in increased physical violence against her family and others. The police had been summoned dozens of times to remove her from the home temporarily.

A change in job required them to move from Tulsa, Okla. to Houston, TX. They knew that they would not be able to get the whole family moved without incident. They phoned me and asked if I would come to Tulsa and take “R� back with me, while they made plans for the move.

I told them I would be happy to…but wanted to talk to them about it first. We all knew the possibility of “R� having an episode and getting violent could happen on our trip back

With that in mind…. I required them to provide me with photocopies of both of their DL’s, a recent photo of “R�, and to sign a paper I had drawn up assigning “R� to me in “Loco Parentis� for the duration of one week.

I assured them that I would only restrain their daughter if absolutely necessary and in the most gentle way possible. They had no problem with this…and were relieved that a family member would be transporting her.


. The trip was uneventful and we had a wonderful time visiting the whole way back. I noticed during the trip…how well the added weight of the cuffs balanced my shoulder holster. My P-13 is all stainless steel and a double stack to boot, so it is no lightweight @ 3.25 lbs.

The week we had “R� as our guest was sometimes good, sometimes not. One evening my wife discovered that “R� had not been taking her medication (found it rat-holed in a dresser).

My polite request that she resume taking her medicine as prescribed was met with immediate hostility. After much cursing , posturing, and threats…she marched into our bathroom and locked her self in.

I gave some time to settle down and then tried to convince her to come out. That resulted in more of the same behavior, so I informed her that if she didn’t come out…she was going to spend the night in there. To which she replied “You can’t keep me in here� (many expletives deleted).

I told her “Well, actually I can�. I went and got the cuffs, put them on the door knobs like in the photo below and told her to let me know when she wanted to cooperate. About midnight she was ready.



She started back on her meds. and the rest of the time she was with us was great. I took her to Houston when it was time and had no further incidences. Unfortunately, things got worse for “R� and no amount of psychiatric help or medicine seemed to help much.

Currently, she has observed her last four birthdays in a correctional institution near Tennessee Colony and just got two more years added for striking a CO. We pray for her often. Her condition is not something she asked for or can control, she was just born with it, (or it developed).

So, that’s my sad handcuff story…and the reason I got them.

Since then, I have actually used them for reasons besides balancing my pistol.

On one occasion while out of town… we went out to dinner with other family members and friends. The restaurant served alcoholic beverages and since I was unsure if they were 51% or not (and not wanting to walk back to the car) I just chose to leave my pistol in the vehicle.

Since it was not my vehicle…I didn’t have a lock box. I pulled the cuffs out, put one end around the pistol, the other around the seat base and covered it with a jacket. Not a reason to carry cuffs, I know. It was sure handy however.



Another time I was going around the loop in Nacogdoches when I witnessed an accident. I stopped to see if I could help. A family in a mini-van had been hit from behind by a truck.

There was small amount of fuel leaking under the rear of the van and I told the driver about it. The passengers were anxious to get out of the vehicle but the sliding door and the passenger door were jammed shut against the door rails. The driver said to just break out the big window on the side and get the kids out. So that’s what I did. What did I use?



Again, not a reason to carry cuffs but they were handy.

I have used them to link together two coolers and generator in the back of a truck (hunting trip) so we could all go inside a sporting goods store and shop.

At home they could be tossed to an intruder instead of holding him at gunpoint, I know I’d rather put on cuffs than be shot.

God forbid you should have to enter a room in your house where you KNOW an intruder is. If I did…I would want to create a distraction. Toss the cuffs forcefully into the room to draw attention, then enter.

But, basically I’ve just kept them since I already had them. I have found no down side them (concealed) and have actually used them to my advantage. Not reasons for anyone to carry them, just an explanation why I have.

I am looking at a shoulder rig by Andrews Leather that has as an option…a sheath that will allow carry of a fixed blade knife on the ammo side. That would balance the rig very well too, and be of more use day to day.

Sure hope no asks why I would need that!

Sorry for the length, but you asked.

Flint.

[anygunanywhere]

Leave the cuffs at home.

Exactly...with a little fur on them...lol

Not cool.

Anygun

what is not cool with having a pair of furry handcuffs at home??

Explaining to the 10yo daughter why hand cuffs have fur on them and out of respect to Venus Pax whom I admire greatly.

Just like a gun I would hope anything of this nature would be locked up and out of reach of any children. I would think anyone on this forum is of legal age to own a gun so I see no harm in talking about something adult like a pair of handcuffs. I used no profanity in the post so I see no harm there?

I do not know Venus Pax but I would hope he or she is of legal age to own a gun so I don't think the mention of a pair of furry handcuffs would be something that a person of legal gun carrying age would not have heard before.

Now with that said if I have offended anyone I apologize. If this forum is OK with talking about using deadly force but can't handle a very faint sexual reference then I might need to move on.

Kyle,

Normally I would not have responded. I do occaisionally jab at certain male members who eagerly respond. I will not join in a joust with you over this. I just thought that a response from a lady did not deserve your furry handcuff remark. I would not have done so in her presence in public, nor would I do it on-line.

Your comment about anyone on this forum being of legal age to own a gun shows you obviously need to reaquaint yourself with the mission statement etc of this forum because those of us who frequent this daily and have been doing so since near inception understand where you are somewhat askew in your understanding of how things work here.

I will allow the moderators and others to intervene further if necessary. If I am deemed off-base by my comments to you I am certain others will let me know as well and I will respond appropriately.

Anygunanywhere

[boomerang]

Explaining to the 10yo daughter

If you were honestly concerned about that, a private message would have been a better choice.

Instead you quoted his comment (multiple times, I see) thereby drawing attention to it. Interesting.

[Kyle(Houston)]

Kyle,

Normally I would not have responded. I do occaisionally jab at certain male members who eagerly respond. I will not join in a joust with you over this. I just thought that a response from a lady did not deserve your furry handcuff remark. I would not have done so in her presence in public, nor would I do it on-line.

That is why I do not use a "screen" name on the forums. I honestly had no idea that I was responding to a female and honestly my comment was not directed at a him or her. It was just a comment about handcuffs staying at home. Nothing more nothing less.

To be honest...I have no idea if you are male or female.

Your comment about anyone on this forum being of legal age to own a gun shows you obviously need to reaquaint yourself with the mission statement etc of this forum because those of us who frequent this daily and have been doing so since near inception understand where you are somewhat askew in your understanding of how things work here.

Again I did not use any profanity in my post nor did I attack any member. If you think I directed it specifically towards the OP then you are mistaken. Like I said before I have no idea if the poster is Male or Female. Even so the post was not directed at the poster. It was just a obviously ill attempt at humor on what I thought was an Adult forum. Again I apologize if I offended anyone. I did not realize this forum was that uptight about talking about adult issues.

Thanks,

Kyle

[anygunanywhere]

Explaining to the 10yo daughter

If you were honestly concerned about that, a private message would have been a better choice.

Instead you quoted his comment (multiple times, I see) thereby drawing attention to it. Interesting.

He also requoted his comments. Interesting you just chose to point mine out.

Interesting.

Anygunanywhere

[jason]

I've worried a lot less about accidental disclosure of my carrying. It is not a crime, so that is one worry out of the way.

If someone saw it, I expect most people would rather not get involved and wouldn't call the cops, particularly if I'm not doing anything suspicious looking.

Cuffs would be one added thing to keep track of.

I conceal the best I can using dress and holster combination that work for the activity/outing/weather.

In time, you'll become more comfortable with your carry.