A particularly dumb idea

If you read any of the shooting press magazines you've no doubt seen ads for these fake badges that advertise the bearer as the holder of a concealed firearm permit. When I first saw the ads, it struck me that this was a product that was worse than useless. The whole point of carrying concealed is to conceal the presence of a firearm until there's no other choice but to bring it out and use it. It's a last ditch, emergency reply to a threat, when everything else has failed. Your ace in the hole, as it were- something that an armed attacker isn't aware of. When you draw that weapon, it's because you have no other choice. Why in the world would you want a badge that advertises the fact that you're armed?

In Massad Ayyob's excellent book, In the Gravest Extreme: The Role of the Firearm in Personal Protection, he notes that some concealed permit holders are what he and other cops term "gun-flashers." They take every opportunity to show off the gun they're carrying. Mas says he considers such behavior just above that of the other kind of flasher. It's a display of insecurity, a desire to be perceived as having a certain power that is granted by the possession of the weapon. 

People who flash their gun, or carry a badge, are in effect playing cop. That's a very bad idea. As a citizen with a permit to carry you have no special privileges other than being able to carry that weapon. If anything, you have to be even more circumspect about your behavior. In most states there are specific laws about where you can and cannot go while carrying, and producing a weapon in an altercation that does not justify even the possibility of the need for lethal force would generally be considered an aggressive act that escalates the situation.

So if you have a permit to carry concealed, keep it concealed. And stay away from those flasher badges. If you want to wear a badge, become a cop. And if you haven't read Ayoob's book, do so. It's the single best thing ever written about the legal, ethical, moral, and emotional aspects of armed self-dense.