Month: May 2025

We’ve had this conversation before on this website:

Should Your EDC Be A Throw-Away Gun?

The fact is, if you are involved in a self-defense shooting, say goodbye to your pistol.

The police are just doing their job, and one of their tasks is to collect evidence; ergo, your gun ends up in an evidence bag. Typically, the police will hold your firearm for a specified period until the investigation is completed.

If you are cleared and no charges have been filed, you can expect to get your gun back. Maybe. There is no set timeframe for returning your gun to you. Every state is different. But your gun will be logged as evidence.

Since I started to conceal carry—about the time Glock Gen3 pistols were introduced—I decided to be on the throw-away side of the fence. Both my EDC and pickup truck guns are throw-away guns.

Okay, I’ve thought about this issue a lot, and I think I disagree with Bob Sadowski on this one.  Here’s why.

Let’s be honest:  unless you live or travel in a high-crime area, the chances of you being involved in a self-defense shooting are fairly slim.  That’s not to say it’s impossible, of course — none of us is going to sign on to that foolishness.

But for my part, I want to know if that situation does happen to me, that I can absolutely, positively depend on my gun, and that confidence may well be the thing that saves me from harm.  I don’t want to feel any hesitation that when the hammer drops, there’ll be a boom and the bullet will go where intended.

To be fair, Sadowski is not recommending going with a cheap gun — let’s leave Saturday Night Specials to the criminal element, and let them deal with the consequences of a mag falling out of the gun, or a firing pin snapping, or all the other mishaps that El Cheapo guns are prone to.

But using my own situation as an example:  my everyday carry gun is a Springfield 1911.  It’s not a Nighthawk or an Ed Brown 1911, but it sure as hell isn’t a Jennings or Raven either.  I’ve always been reluctant to spend the extra money necessary to climb up the flattening shallow slope of the quality curve;  sorry, but “good enough” is fine for me, whether guns, cars, watches or even food.  (That I don’t have the wallet to be able to afford the premium is neither here nor there — when I have had the wherewithal, I’ve never spent it.)

So if I do have to ventilate some scrote to protect me or mine, then yeah, my Springfield could end up rusting in some poxy evidence locker somewhere.  That would be sad, believe me, but then again, it’s a sacrifice worth making because that means it worked as I expected it to do.

What I’ve done is make sure that my backup EDC is also a 1911, and should I lose the Springfield under the above circumstances then I’m going to have equal confidence in its replacement.

I’m not going to be held hostage by sentiment or some romantic notion of ownership.  At the end of the day, as much as I love my Springfield, if it fulfills its intended purpose, then it’s a job well done and yeah:  I can believe that it gave up its life for me.  How’s that for romance?

But I’m not going to leave the Springfield at home and carry a Glock 21 (which I couldn’t care less about losing because I have little regard for the spongy-triggered Glock pistols, as any fule kno).  Thanks, but no thanks.

As for a truck gun… well, that’s a whole different set of circumstances (assuming that we’re talking about a long gun like a shotgun or rifle).  Here we’re talking about shall we say some crowd control instead of just one or two individuals.  And under those circumstances, I really don’t care what happens to the piece if I’ve used it as intended.

What I’m more worried about is the possibility of theft (which is not an issue with a carry piece).

But I’ll tell you what:  a truck / trunk gun should not be that M1 Garand National Match, no matter how much you trust it to take care of business.  Honestly, one of those Mossberg 88 pump-action shotguns — preferably the second-hand one you picked up at that gun show for $90 all those years ago –should be the direction of your thinking.

Now, if you’re fairly sure you might be involved in some serious action… then you should stay home.  Seriously.  Only idiots go out looking for trouble.  But if there’s no choice in the matter, then take the very best long gun you have — and I don’t mean that $15,000 A.H. Fox side-by-side, of course;  I’m talking about an AK-47 or AR-15 because we’re talking about Last Resort / End Times / SHTF action, and you owe it to yourself (and to whomever else you’re protecting) to take the absolute best you can.  Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.

But the chances of that happening are even less than being accosted by some scrote at a 7-11 when you popped out for an emergency pack of baby food.  The Random Goblin Encounter is what your EDC is for;  End Times will be a different situation altogether.

Pick your gun accordingly, and be careful (but prepared) out there.