and so I'm on the range today with my good buddy Jeff Bloovman. We're doing a little pistol and
rifle stuff today, but we got a break in the rain and I wanted to talk about something. A question
that I've answered a few times in threads and forums and stuff like that but it relates to
appendix carry and seatbelt position. So there are questions about how to stage your seatbelt
and how the seatbelt interacts with the gun in the holster. Now prior to making holsters
for a number of years I was a auto mechanic and so I've got a lot of knowledge about how seat
belts work and how they integrate with the SRS or the airbag system in the car so let's start
here people talk about anatomy and gun access but a really critical thing to know is how seat belts
work what they're supposed to do and what they're intended to do and trying to do in the event of an
accident and that information is prerequisite to staging the seat belt relative to your holster so
buckle this up now I always tuck my shirt over the seatbelt now a couple things to know the
seatbelt has the inertial lock right for slow speed sudden stops but it's integrated into the
SRS system a lot of modern seatbelts in addition to that a little inertial lock are hooked into
the airbag system and they've got an explosive pre-tensioner and the the mechanism that spools
and unspools the seatbelt so when you have a collision the sensor that senses a collision
sends the signal to the SRS system and it and it deploys the airbag and activates the pre-tensioner
now only a small part of what the seatbelt is doing is keeping you from colliding with the
windshield what it's mostly doing is positioning you to receive the airbags pulling you into the
seat to reduce whiplash because if you're out here and experiencing the accident you're gonna
move around and the structure of the seat and the design of the headrest is also designed to
reduce whiplash and whiplash causes concussions and other serious problems so you don't want to
mess around with that so that's one thing that it's doing so it pulls you into the seat hold
you in place to reduce whiplash and also holding you in place in the correct position to receive
the various airbags the other thing that it's doing is when you're in an accident you're not
just rocking forward your entire body is moving forward in the car and what happens is when you
move forward in the car you move downward as well so anybody who's been an EMT can tell you
about leg injuries and knee injuries that occur in a car accident people's legs get
crushed in some cases like in this one in this vehicle there's an SRS airbag under here which
deploys in order to prevent knee injuries so your legs are being held in place as well now
what happens is when the seatbelt tensions it pulls down across your lap and locks your your
back side and your legs into the seat to keep your legs from subducting under the dashboard
and getting injured if you're of the mind let's just for example where I'm going to put the
seatbelt up high and behind my gun what happens is that allows you to slouch down it tightens
down over your abdomen with incredible crushing force when that pre-tensioner goes off so people
say oh I'm gonna stage you know I'm gonna stage my seatbelt behind the gun and across my belly
in the event of an accident that is very far from optimal seatbelt placement and regardless of what
your other concerns about firearm access are you are vastly more likely to be involved in a
car accident than you are to be in a gunfight in your car so the position of your seat belt takes
absolute priority over any other consideration for your if you're concerned about your safety
you're going to care about where your seat belt is correctly positioned in the correct position for
your seat belt is low across your hips as normal now in this position it's not preventing me from
accessing my gun I can still get in there and get a full frying firing grip on the gun without any
interference from the seat belt and when the seat belt tightens it's going to pull down across my
hips and keep my hips in the correct position for an accident the other concern is well isn't that
going to push the gun into my pelvis or caused an injury if it's not oriented directly on the
bones of your pelvis it's just going to squish into your soft abdomen and even if something
occurs where the seat belt tensioner fires and it ratchets down on your gun and you get like a deep
contusion like a black and green bruise and it causes like some other small superficial problem
that is far better than the leg and knee and whiplash injuries which will occur if your seat
belt is not being worn correctly as somebody who makes holsters and it's somebody who has knowledge
of seatbelt mechanisms my recommendation is to wear your seat belt as designed and not
reposition the lap belt relative to your gun in any way at all so that's my rundown on seat belts