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All this discussion of open carry, holsters, belt or no belt, reminded me that in the late 1980's my then wife bought me a Freedom Arms .22 caliber belt buckle gun. I wore it unloaded to our Christmas party that night and it has been stored away ever since.

I'm curious to find out if I can legally wear it once open carry happens. Would the buckle suffice as a holster? When inserted into its place in the buckle it cannot be cocked and fired. A release has to be manually activated to remove it for use. It would be on a belt and openly visible. Sort of a conversation piece but also a tiny back up with 5 CCI Stingers ready for action.

karatedad wrote:All this discussion of open carry, holsters, belt or no belt, reminded me that in the late 1980's my then wife bought me a Freedom Arms .22 caliber belt buckle gun. I wore it unloaded to our Christmas party that night and it has been stored away ever since.

I'm curious to find out if I can legally wear it once open carry happens. Would the buckle suffice as a holster? When inserted into its place in the buckle it cannot be cocked and fired. A release has to be manually activated to remove it for use. It would be on a belt and openly visible. Sort of a conversation piece but also a tiny back up with 5 CCI Stingers ready for action.

I could be wrong, but I believe it is illegal to carry a hidden gun (belt buckle gun, cane gun, etc.) in public.

TVegas wrote:

karatedad wrote:All this discussion of open carry, holsters, belt or no belt, reminded me that in the late 1980's my then wife bought me a Freedom Arms .22 caliber belt buckle gun. I wore it unloaded to our Christmas party that night and it has been stored away ever since.

I'm curious to find out if I can legally wear it once open carry happens. Would the buckle suffice as a holster? When inserted into its place in the buckle it cannot be cocked and fired. A release has to be manually activated to remove it for use. It would be on a belt and openly visible. Sort of a conversation piece but also a tiny back up with 5 CCI Stingers ready for action.

I could be wrong, but I believe it is illegal to carry a hidden gun (belt buckle gun, cane gun, etc.) in public.

Um, I carry a hidden gun every day. Even in public.

I've got a bit of a belly but it wouldn't cover that. I don't think you could call it hidden.

Jago668 wrote:

TVegas wrote:

karatedad wrote:All this discussion of open carry, holsters, belt or no belt, reminded me that in the late 1980's my then wife bought me a Freedom Arms .22 caliber belt buckle gun. I wore it unloaded to our Christmas party that night and it has been stored away ever since.

I'm curious to find out if I can legally wear it once open carry happens. Would the buckle suffice as a holster? When inserted into its place in the buckle it cannot be cocked and fired. A release has to be manually activated to remove it for use. It would be on a belt and openly visible. Sort of a conversation piece but also a tiny back up with 5 CCI Stingers ready for action.

I could be wrong, but I believe it is illegal to carry a hidden gun (belt buckle gun, cane gun, etc.) in public.

Um, I carry a hidden gun every day. Even in public.

We probably all do here.

Jago668 wrote:

TVegas wrote:

karatedad wrote:All this discussion of open carry, holsters, belt or no belt, reminded me that in the late 1980's my then wife bought me a Freedom Arms .22 caliber belt buckle gun. I wore it unloaded to our Christmas party that night and it has been stored away ever since.

I'm curious to find out if I can legally wear it once open carry happens. Would the buckle suffice as a holster? When inserted into its place in the buckle it cannot be cocked and fired. A release has to be manually activated to remove it for use. It would be on a belt and openly visible. Sort of a conversation piece but also a tiny back up with 5 CCI Stingers ready for action.

I could be wrong, but I believe it is illegal to carry a hidden gun (belt buckle gun, cane gun, etc.) in public.

Um, I carry a hidden gun every day. Even in public.

That's not quite what I meant.

TVegas wrote:

karatedad wrote:All this discussion of open carry, holsters, belt or no belt, reminded me that in the late 1980's my then wife bought me a Freedom Arms .22 caliber belt buckle gun. I wore it unloaded to our Christmas party that night and it has been stored away ever since.

I'm curious to find out if I can legally wear it once open carry happens. Would the buckle suffice as a holster? When inserted into its place in the buckle it cannot be cocked and fired. A release has to be manually activated to remove it for use. It would be on a belt and openly visible. Sort of a conversation piece but also a tiny back up with 5 CCI Stingers ready for action.

I could be wrong, but I believe it is illegal to carry a hidden gun (belt buckle gun, cane gun, etc.) in public.

I believe that you are correct. This might be classified as a special class of weapon. IANAL

karatedad wrote:

I've got a bit of a belly but it wouldn't cover that. I don't think you could call it hidden.

That's not what I thought you were talking about! That's actually an interesting question for the belt holster debate. It is on your belt and it appears to be secured in a sort of holster....

I seem to remember the BATFE reclassified this as "any other weapon," but I could well be wrong,

Chas.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:I seem to remember the BATFE reclassified this as "any other weapon," but I could well be wrong,

Chas.

Only if it was capable of being fired while in the "holster." I can't find the source for that, but it was around 2007 and included those pocket holsters you could still fire from (exposed trigger, etc.).

That looks like a "belt holster" to me...

Can anyone please tell me who to contact to get a definitive answer if I can legally carry this hand gun or not? I assume it would be a state issue rather than local or federal.

karatedad wrote:Can anyone please tell me who to contact to get a definitive answer if I can legally carry this hand gun or not? I assume it would be a state issue rather than local or federal.

If there was we wouldn't have had a couple 8+ page threads about what a belt holster is.

I see what you mean. We know the local police chief, so I will start there and work my way up.

NAA makes 2 kinds of belt buckle "holsters" for their revolvers.