GUN TOTE'N MAMAS™
Reviews & Testimonials

APRIL 2010 - CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE

Used by permission of Concealed Carry Magazine:

"A Holster Maven - a Tale of Three Purses"
by Kathy Jackson

RAVEN
"Claudia Chisolm, the president of Kingport Industries, has been working with leather goods for a long time. But it wasn’t until 2008 that she realized what a tremendous market exists for quality, affordable concealed carry purses and bags. That was the year that Kingport Industries displayed their wares—travel gear, luggage, and shoulder totes—at the SHOT Show for the first time. Chisolm was overwhelmed by the number of people approaching the booth and asking if any of her purses were designed for concealed carry. Thus was born Gun Tote’n Mamas, a new line of concealed carry gear from an old company.

“I’m not out to produce a trendy purse,” Chisolm told me when I visited her at the 2010 SHOT Show. “We want to produce classic, everyday styles that are affordable for people and that will stand up to the test of time.” The GTM Raven is a great example of this philosophy, with its sporty, casual appearance and obvious attention to functionality. Chisolm has worked hard to get the practical features right on this purse, and it shows. Raven is small, as concealed carry purses go, a rectangle smaller than a piece of standard typing paper and not much thicker when empty than the Glock 26 I laid on the table next to it. But its size is deceptive. With a multitude of pockets and organizer pouches, Raven can easily carry all the essentials, including the necessary tools of self defense. The exterior is made from strong, padded leather which relaxes to a butter-soft texture, while the interior compartments are lined with a heavy, slick nylon that looks as if it would stand up to a world of abuse.

Raven’s crossbody design means that the purse always rides in the same spot on the user’s hip and in fact becomes a part of the user’s outer clothing if she lets it. That’s important: it’s one less temptation for those inclined to lose focus and walk away from their firearms.

The reinforced strap means that a purse snatcher will never manage a slash-andgrab. If you’re willing and able to defend yourself while firmly attached to a purse that you simply can’t relinquish in order to escape, that’s a good thing.

The nicest thing about this purse is not how it looks, but how it works. Because the gun compartment zipper uses two sliders and encircles three sides of the gun compartment, the purse is fully ambidextrous and provides three basic options for the draw. Option one is to set the purse up for a horizontal draw similar to other concealed carry purses. It’s slow but functional in that configuration. Option two is to set it up for a vertical draw, unzipping the compartment and coming in from the top. This is better and quite natural, especially for those already accustomed to crossdraw carry. But option three—which will be available to the public beginning in mid-June—is the best: using tuckable pull tabs similar to those on the best fanny packs, you can set this purse up for a rip-and-grab vertical draw. That makes the Raven the fastest and most convenient purse draw on the market.

Although Gun Tote’n Mamas Raven appears small and slim, looks are deceptive: a full-size 1911 easily snugs into its padded gun compartment.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010 - CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE

Shopping for a Concealed Carry Purse
Lately I’ve been looking at concealed carry purses.
By Kathy Jackson

Shoulder straps

"There are at least two schools of thought about shoulder straps on concealed carry purses. Some designers, such as Gun Tote’n Mamas, have chosen to reinforce their straps with thick wire or a metal cord running from one end of the strap to the other. The purpose of the cord is to defeat the slash-and-grab purse thief. Because there is a firearm within the purse, the reasoning goes, the user’s ability to retain the purse and defeat a purse snatching is of primary importance. Generally, purses with this reinforced strap will be worn crossbody, and will thus become as much a part of the user’s clothing as an attached fanny pack would.

Left-Handers

" .... On the good side, I want to give a special shout-out here to Gun Tote’n Mamas, a newer company that obviously put a lot of thought into making honest ambidextrous designs that truly work as well for left-handers as they do for right-handers."