Welp, it’s happened again. An innocent person was negligently shot, this time inside a Walmart by someone who seemingly didn’t intend to do so.
According to the Valdosta Police Department, a 34-year-old woman sustained a gunshot wound to her ankles at the store at 3274 Inner Perimeter Road. Police said the injury is non-life-threatening, and she received medical treatment.
According to police, John Eady, 21, was carrying a firearm in the front pocket of his basketball-style shorts. Police said Eady did not have the gun in any type of holster, and his cell phone was in the same pocket.
When Eady reached into his pocket for his cell phone, the firearm was inadvertently discharged into the ground. According to police, the shrapnel from the bullet and the tiles from the flooring struck the woman in the ankles, according to police.
During the last two weeks or so, we’ve had a plethora of incidents regarding unintended and negligent discharges. However, this particular incident offers a different set of circumstances. According to the report, the violator wasn’t trying to clear the gun, nor were they in the process of shooting (deliberately). They were carrying the handgun, likely in accordance with the state of Georgia’s constitutional carry statute, in a concealed fashion.
Eady has since been arrested and charged with reckless conduct.
Pockets Aren’t Holsters
As you would expect, the typical local news reporter isn’t educated or experienced enough to ask specific questions such as, What was the make and model of the gun? Was the gun secured in a pocket holster? Was the violator touching, moving, or fiddling with the gun in their pocket?
If this were 1996, a person might have an excuse, flimsy though it may be, for not securing a compact handgun in some sort of pocket holster. However, this is the 21st century and good concealed carry holsters are easy to find. Companies like DeSantis, Galco, and Tuff Products all make pocket holsters to both secure a compact handgun in place and cover its trigger.
None of these pocket holsters are expensive or difficult to come by. But they all serve an extremely important role…that of assuring a sub-compact handgun doesn’t shift around in your pocket while preventing anything — including human fingers — from coming into contact with the trigger.
Pocket Carry Etiquette
While I don’t do it often anymore, I have utilized pocket carry for both a backup gun as well as in situations that were…less than permissive. There are two basic or primary rules when it comes to concealing a handgun in your pocket; jeans, shorts, jacket, down vest, whatever.
Number 1) No naked guns. Don’t just drop a naked gun into a pocket. As highlighted earlier, there are far too many good, affordable options for a pocket holster to not use one. The only true reason you aren’t using a pocket holster is you’re being cheap and lazy and thereby reckless and negligent.
Number 2) The gun pocket is for the gun only. If you decide to go the pocket carry route, then that’s all that goes into that pocket. Period. No loose change, car keys, pocket knives, etc. should occupy the same space as the gun. This includes clip-on accessories like flashlights and knives which are secured to the top edge of the pocket. If you can’t dedicate a pocket to carry only the gun in a holster, you need to figure out a different way to carry.
Parting Shots
The Walmart incident above is certainly not the first time a person carrying a gun in their pocket had it “go off.” Fortunately, it seems that the woman who was shot will be alright…or as good as you can be after taking a bullet to the lower leg.
Since no one lost their life, it’s unlikely that the Valdosta Walmart story will get much traction after the initial report. Nonetheless, the incident is another reminder that we should be treating our concealed carry guns with respect as the deadly force instruments they are, not casually tossing them in a pocket to ride along like some kind of good luck charm.
My strong encouragement would be to take a resolute stand against naked guns. Remember, your pocket is not a holster.
Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.
“ The only true reason you aren’t using a pocket holster is you’re being cheap and lazy and thereby reckless and negligent.”
Thankfully we have you judging us and leading us to the promised land.
As you step down from your high horse, i would posit that there are exceptions.
I have carried an LCR, sans holster, in my jacket pocket when entering a very, let’s say sketchy environment.
Because of my ability to shoot FROM/THRU the jacket pocket. Something I have trained to do using extremely inexpensive jackets purchased from the Goodwill.
Not all of us walk the same path.
You’re behaving in a negligent fashion…just saying
He’s not talking about ‘special use cases’ like you describe (although, they can have the same issue for some).
He’s talking about it being the normal mode of carry all the time for a person.
Mrs Haz and I are fans of the popular show Tracker, despite its usual deficiencies in how guns are portrayed. The main character (whose backstory includes being raised by a prepper father in various skills including firearms) always tucks his 1911 Govt into his belt at the 6 o’clock in a classic “naked holster” method seen on TV, and with the hammer down to boot. Yet touted by the show as the knowledgeable-in-all-things hero. Massad Ayoob would have words, lol.
Moderation = censorship
?!?
Every comment I make. Without exception is moderated. It takes hours for it to clear. Makes it impossible to get involved.
So I rarely comment anymore.
I pocket carried at work for over 12 years. If you practice drawing your firearm. Every week. You won’t have an ND.
Why do some folks improperly replace the second letter “l” with a “p” when writing the word “Well”…?
Its not improper. Its just an informal usage of ‘well’ as a colloquialism for a specific purpose.
‘welp’ is used as an informal introduction of a remark expressing resignation or disappointment. The ‘p’ at the end represents it being cut off with a glottal stop ‘sound’.
Oh, so you’re saying “welp” is comparable to someone writing “I seen”, or “irregardless”, or “your” in place of “you are” (you’re).
Well, ALL of the above is improper grammar…
No, I did not say that.
informal use of a word as a colloquialism for a specific purpose is not the same as improper grammar.
‘welp’ is sort of like ‘gonna’ – ‘gonna’ is an informal colloquialism for a specific purpose, its an informal use of ‘going to’, its specific purpose it to indicate an action someone is going to take (i.e. ‘I’m gonna go to the fair’ … ‘I’m gonna take that thing down.’ etc…)
There are lots of these in the English language, not improper but simply informal uses of words or phrases or sometimes are contractions or combinations. Sometimes they get formalized into the English language and loose their informal colloquialism status as such and we use them every day but never realize they derived from informal uses of words as a colloquialism, you even had one in your post the word ‘you’re’. Most contractions in the English language originally derived from informal colloquialism usage to avoid a more formal wording.
you mean like, loose instead of lose?
the tubes perform the absolute best version of peter gunn.
whelp.
wordplay is fun.
axe me pacifically.
“you mean like, loose instead of lose?”
LoL. You caught the typo.
😂
Violated all of the above
https://www.walb.com/2026/06/10/update-man-arrested-after-accidental-shooting-valdosta-walmart/
Generally good advice, but there are exceptions. Just like the first glass of water in the desert, the first legally carried gun in an otherwise undefended space is the most important, and there are activities where the only way to carry is naked.
The perfect guns for this situation are the earlier generation S&W Bodyguard .380s, which have a long, somewhat-heavy, double-action only trigger pull, successfully designed to mimic an S&W double-action revolver trigger pull, along with a very stiff, barely-protruding, manual safety that is hard to take off on purpose.
The latter is not great, and requires practice, but that gun is absolutely NOT going off in the pocket by accident so long as rule 2 above is followed (nothing else in the same pocket).
Per the article, the negligent shooter was one “John Eady,” who had been carrying a handgun “in their pocket.” THEIR pocket? What was this “John,” some kind of “Siamese twins” freak?
Apparently not, for we can be sure that the article would have noted such an extraordinary circumstance. Rather, we must suspect an act of intentional deformation of the language, regrettably aimed at assuaging pervert sensibilities. This America, Comrade: we speak grammatical English here.
“their” is a possessive adjective used to show ownership IF it comes before a noun.
In the article “their” is used three times in these uses:
“Was the violator touching, moving, or fiddling with the gun in their pocket?” – “pocket” is a noun in that question, “their” came before the noun.
“The Walmart incident above is certainly not the first time a person carrying a gun in their pocket had it “go off. ” – “pocket” is a noun in that sentence, “their” came before the noun.
“Since no one lost their life, it’s unlikely that the Valdosta Walmart story will get much traction after the initial report.” “life” is a noun in that sentence, “their” came before the noun.
“their” is used properly in the article.
subtle in that it always seems kind of plural to me.
the first two quotes could have been his/ her without bothering me, even though the second one is sorta plural.
“subtle in that it always seems kind of plural to me.”
That’s probably because you learned it that way in school as a kid (or passively from other kids).
The word “they” is routinely described in grammar books as the “third-person plural personal pronoun,” this is the way most people learned it in school as a young kid and then were introduced to ‘their’ as a possessive pronoun of ‘they’ that was a third-person plural personal pronoun. So kids learned to have a sense of ‘their’ as if plural because ‘they’ was taught as a plural personal pronoun and in lessons it was intermixed just to show usage.
Things change though, and today that grammar usage is outdated which is why all the leading grammar style guides now also support a singular “they” or “their.”
That’s why it seems “kind of plural” to people, its because they kinda learned it that way as a young kid.
… even though there is a plural form also as a possessive pronoun to indicate ownership by multiple people or things, and that depends on how its placed and the context for the subject. For example…
“The guys forgot their manners.” – plural use of ‘their’
“The person forgot their manners” – singular use of ‘their’
The singular use is (usually) gender neutral, like its used in the article in its individual sentences and the question, for example:
“Was the violator touching, moving, or fiddling with the gun in their pocket?” – “pocket” is a noun in that question, “their” came before the noun – ‘the violator’ is the gender neutral subject thus ‘their’ is possessive adjective singular.
“The Walmart incident above is certainly not the first time a person carrying a gun in their pocket had it “go off. ” – “pocket” is a noun in that sentence, “their” came before the noun – ‘a person’ is the gender neutral subject thus ‘their’ is possessive adjective singular.
“Since no one lost their life, it’s unlikely that the Valdosta Walmart story will get much traction after the initial report.” “life” is a noun in that sentence, “their” came before the noun – ‘no one’ is the gender neutral subject but can be more than one for ownership and this one is subtle but ‘their’ is possessive adjective singular because its ‘life’ and not ‘lives’ for the noun.
I don’t disagree with anything said here, but…. I haven’t seen the phrase “cocked and locked” in a long time and it appears to have been forgotten. Carrying a live round in the chamber with only a “trigger safety” is just asking for trouble. I have two S&W handguns that have both a grip safety and an ambidextrous thumb safety (I’m left handed).
if you’re describing naked pocket carry, i agree. i would want a dao say, p250 or so.
but condition one in a (pocket or otherwise) holster is safe.
I’ve witnessed far more cocked and locked attitudes firing randomly than cocked and locked firearms randomly firing.