Pocket holsters are illegal?

[Zackmeister]

I celebrated my twenty first birthday today by getting a NAA Guardian. The gentleman who rung it up told me that carrying it in a pocket holster or wallet holster as he called it was illegal and would be a felony as too many cops had been killed with a gun carried that way. But he said in the pocket with no holster is fine.

He was full of beans right?

 

[dasmi]

I would say yes.

 

[bakert]

I'm not sure about Texas laws but think he's full of more than beans!!

 

[K-Man]

There is nothing illegal about carrying a gun in a pocket holster. Seems like he may have been a bit confused. There is a requirement that if you carry a gun in one of the infamous wallet holsters, which look like a wallet AND allows you to shoot/operate the gun without pulling it out of its holster, that you have to register it as an Any Other Weapon (AOW). The fee is $200+.

There are a number of holster makers who can provide you with a quality pocket holster for your new Guardian - all perfectly legal.

 

[RUT]

>>too many cops had been killed with a gun carried that way.<<

I wonder how, exactly

 

[boofus]

If it is a container that you can use to shoot a gun while it is hidden inside, then it is considered an Any Other Weapon under the National Firearms Act of 1934. So you gotta either pay $200 if you build it yourself, or buy one from a Class 3 dealer and pay $5 to transfer it to yourself.

Those wallet holsters that leave open access to the trigger are considered the same kind of animal as those briefcases that you can conceal SMGs inside. If the trigger is covered it isn't an AOW though.

 

[Hkmp5sd]

The deal is if it doesn't look like a gun while in the holster and you can fire it from that position. As long as you can still tell that it is a firearm, you're ok.

 

[RyanM]

What's the exact text of the AOW law? It sounds like the BATF could rule that all cardboard boxes with holes in the side big enough to stick your hand through are AOWs...

 

[wdlsguy]

Here are some ATF letters on the subject:

http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/wbardwel/public/nfalist/atf_letter18.txt
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/wbardwel/public/nfalist/atf_letter19.txt

 

[RoyG]

 

[Standing Wolf]

I'd take my business elsewhere: I hate encouraging nitwits to spread ignorance by giving them money.

 

[klover]

Mr Roy:

Could you please name or post a link for that neat piece of black plastic?
Thanks.

 

[Sir Aardvark]

In California it is illegal to have any gun concealed in a "Wallet Holster".

If you read thru California's laws they pretty much frown upon ANYTHING that disguises a weapon, such as: lipstick knives, shotgun shell knives, single shot .22 air guages, belt buckle guns, cane swords, and wallet holsters.

Pocket holsters are still OK, though.

 

[CajunBass]

I was told the same thing about the NAA belt buckle holster for their mini-revolvers. Although the dealer used the world "illegal", I took it to mean "restricted". He also said that wallet holsters were included..anything that disguised the fact that a gun was a gun.

 

[RoyG]

Could you please name or post a link for that neat piece of black plastic?

Pachmayer Tactical Pocket Holster (no longer manufactured).

Found the picture here...

A Smith&Wesson 2" Model 36 Page

I would love to find one for the house gun also...

 

[RoyG]

I did find this one on ebay...


Orginal North American Wallet holster for the .22

 

[GEM]

Ah, the old gun store dude. Amazing how that guy gets around!

 

[3rdpig]

More gunstore BS. You hear more lies and misinformation about guns in gunstores than you do from Brady. Every time I go into a gunstore I hear at least one outrageous lie, or laughable piece of misinformation.

 

[JimC]

I don't know if this is correct or not but, from the Kramer Leather web site in the FAQ section ...

Why don't you make a wallet holster?
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms has declared them to be illegal.

Now I don't know and truth be told, I don't care either way but, I think a reputable company like Kramer would know what they are putting on their own web site.

 

[GEM]

From NAA about their wallet holster

http://www.naaminis.com/faqgeneral.html

Why has the wallet holster been discontinued?

The wallet, in and of itself, is a benign piece of folded leather. The minirevolver is a time-tested, high-quality small firearm but, when you join one with the other, watch out! _ you've just created what ATF defines as 'any other weapon', a rather nefarious classification which includes pen guns, cane guns and other disguised weaponry. While legal to own, AOWs require registration and payment of special taxes similar to those for fully-automatic weapons. Possession of an AOW without meeting these requirements subjects the holder to a felony charge (which further exposes us to the liability of a lawsuit).

The distinction between the WH and the folding holster grip or the belt buckle, as it has been explained to us, is that the WH weapon is operable from its disguised state (no need to remove it from the wallet in order to fire it). Both the HG and BB require that the gun be additionally manipulated (opened, removed) before it is functional, and so suffer no 'special' classification. The WH was a very popular accessory and it's a great disappointment that we're unable to offer it for sale.

 

[MillCreek]

I used to have one of the wallet holsters to fit an AMT DAO Backup in .380. This was the type of wallet holster that allowed firing of the weapon while still in the holster. It had a cutout for the trigger and for the reciprocation of the slide.

When BATF came out with their ruling, I noted particularly that mere possession of the holster along with the pistol was now a felony unless you did the AOW registration. So I discarded the wallet holster post-haste, since the $ 20 holster certainly did not warrant payment of the $ 200 registration fees.

 

[Bobo]

And yet, according to the manufacturer this is legal...
http://www.artofthehide.com/Use-ATF-Safety.html
and look at the one here called the "Scorpion".
http://www.palehorseholsters.com/prod01.htm

 

[azrael]

wow Ron Graham renamed his holster business...Learn something new everyday..


Bobo...The "Scorpion" is perfectly legal as Ron suggests...Ya gotta remove it from the holster to fire it...

 

[gazpacho]

There are plenty of pocket holster makers that offer models that "print" like a wallet when it is in your pocket, which is fine and 100% illegal. You still need to remove the gun from the holster to fire it. Some offer holsters that actually look like a wallet, but still require you to draw the weapon before you fire it. According to the BATFE, this is legal, but local or state laws might say otherwise. I really don't think they are worth the effort. A good pocket holster will allow you to draw the weapon while leaving the pocket holster in your pocket. The legal wallet holsters I've seen require you to first draw out the wallet, then draw out the weapon. Any kind of pocket holster that allows you to fire the weapon, without drawing the weapon first must be registered AOW by the owner/carrier before it will be legal. It simply isn't worth the effort, plus it leaves you with a holstered weapon that has an exposed trigger.

 

[The Mayor]

What about hammerless revolvers, which can be fired from inside a coat pocket?