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More Colorado gun sales were recorded in 2021 than 2000, 2001, and 2002, COMBINED.

You read that correctly. For a variety of reasons, more and more Coloradans are buying firearms. Not least of which is an interest in concealed carry, which allows responsible handgun owners to covertly carry a weapon in public after passing several rounds of training and certification.

Statistically speaking, the vast majority of concealed carry owners will never fire their weapons, or even be in an incident that requires showing one for self-defense. However, for people with the misfortune to be caught in a dangerous situation, access to a concealed weapon could mean the difference between escaping the situation safely or not escaping it at all.

While concealed carry classes are designed to teach their participants the ins and outs of both the firearms they carry and the legality surrounding them, the topic of magazines doesn't come up as often. However, magazines are a vital component of firearm use, and even the highest-end handgun is worthless in a dangerous situation if it doesn't have ammo to fire.

As a result, most experts actually recommend carrying more than one magazine if you plan to conceal carry. There are two principal reasons for this: the risks posed by magazine failure and the fact that a single magazine often isn't considered to be enough ammunition for a violent encounter.

Magazines Are Prone to Failure Too

Anyone who has interacted with a firearm can appreciate all of its complex, moving parts. Several different mechanisms are required to work perfectly in order to fire each bullet. There's a reason professional gunsmiths require so much training: learning all of the mechanical functions of a firearm is a lot of work on its own, and that's before you even get into the particulars of maintaining, cleaning, and replacing them.

As everyone knows, an improperly maintained firearm is prone to jams. What not everybody realizes, is that magazines can also be prone to jams. Just like the firearms they feed into, magazines will also wear down over time. This can manifest in a variety of ways, such as the magazine's feed lips having difficulty latching onto a firearm, springs losing their tension, and particulates like dirt clogging the follower.

The potential for failure in all of these different magazine systems means every magazine has a slight chance to jam when fired—no matter how well maintained. As mentioned above, a firearm is useless in a dangerous situation without being able to properly fire, and unjamming a magazine requires time the situation flat-out may not allow. 

Carrying a secondary magazine doesn't completely remove the risk of firearm failure, but it significantly minimizes it. 

One Magazine Might Not Be Enough

This next topic can get a little grim, so let's start by looking at some basic math. 

In the state of Colorado, all handguns are limited to a maximum size of 15 rounds. In practical terms, many handguns used for concealed carry err on the smaller side and might feature even lower capacity than that. 

A study by the American Shooting Journal found that an accurate law enforcement member has about an 18% accuracy rate, meaning less than one in five bullets actually hit an attacker during violent confrontations. For civilian CCW permit holders, that accuracy rate is likely lower. That same study also points to an FBI-backed statistic that the average violent encounter requires about three shots to resolve. 

Doing the math means a reasonably accurate CCW holder will need a full magazine of ammunition just to incapacitate ONE attacker in a life-threatening situation. If there's more than one attacker, a single magazine automatically isn't enough. Given that risk, it's no surprise law enforcement specialists suggest carrying multiple magazines. 

Remember, the first and foremost goal of concealed carry—or any form of self-defense at all—should be to escape the situation as quickly and safely as possible. In many cases, this means being aware of potentially dangerous situations and taking steps to avoid them ahead of time, or verbally de-escalation situations before they have a chance to turn violent. 

When non-violent alternatives aren't an option, being properly equipped can make a massive difference in the outcome of an altercation.