This past weekend my girlfriend and I picked up a Smith and Wesson M&P Shield. Since I got my CHL permit about a year ago, I haven't actually had anything to carry. I do have 2 other handguns, a Springfield Armory XDM 9mm and a Smith & Wesson M&P45. I love both, but unfortunately they're not as easy to conceal as something like the Shield. My research into what to get for my carrying piece began about 6 months ago. Being in Texas and the Texas State Guard I certainly had more then enough resources to go through aside from the Internet. My buddy was also doing some research and was let me in on all the information he had gathered. I was between the Kahr PM9 and the Smith & Wesson Shield. I found some decent reviews of both guns on YouTube (this guy actually has a ton of reviews of for many different guns.

So after gathering all my notes and research and comments from other people I headed over to my local Gander Mountain (which now stocks 5-6 variants of the .50cal rifle and various Desert Eagles - I want one!) and proceeded to get my hands on not only the Shield, but the PM9, the BodyGuard from Smith & Wesson as well as the XDS and a few models from Sig Saur. I was definitely sold on the Shield though, I enjoyed the size, the form factor and how it looked.

We haven't taken them to the range yet, but this coming weekend we definitely plan on doing so this coming weekend. I feel a lot better having something that I can actually carry around daily. My next task is to find a holster that I like.