The former Assistant Director of the FBI made himself look both sexist and foolish after essentially telling CNN that women can’t carry pistols because they wear skirts and dresses.
Thomas Fuentes -who before becoming CNN’s Senior Law Enforcement Analyst served just shy of three decades in the FBI and served as Assistant Director from 2004 to 2008- attempted to shoot down the idea of female staff carrying concealed in schools, claiming that certain choices of attire would prevent them from keeping a handgun on their person.
“Sandy Hook had an all-female faculty, from principal to teachers,” he began. “For a woman, where are you going to hide that gun during the day?”
“If you wear a dress, if you wear a skirt, are you going to have to wear a jacket every day with a belt and a holster, the way a detective on duty would do? It’s not a real practical solution for a variety of reasons,” he added.
The comment has been widely criticized by law enforcement officers and lawfully-armed citizens alike, who often point to the countless methods in which a woman -including one in a dress or skirt- can safely conceal a firearm.
In addition to slimmer, single-stack firearms that are easy for women to conceal (albeit at the trade-off of magazine capacity, effective range and recoil management), multiple methods of carry exist to assist with smaller female frames, including appendix carry (wearing the pistol along your pelvic line, rather than on your hip), garter holsters, belly band-holsters (that act as both a holster and slimming brace), and even holsters that attach to one’s bra, such as the “Flashbang.”
In addition, the general rule in clothing when it comes to “dress around the gun,” meaning that it is better to wear clothing that, while still able to be complementary to one’s looks, should assist in concealing the firearm.
This isn’t the first (or likely, the last) embarrassing gaffe has been uttered from a CNN expert and retired federal employee. Earlier this week, retired Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling referred to an AR-15 as a “full semi-automatic” rifle, causing veterans, law enforcement and armed citizens to scratch their heads in dubiety.
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