Founder · Lead Reviewer

Chris Raper

Founder & Lead Reviewer, Conceal & Carry Network · Retired North Carolina Law Enforcement · NC-Certified Concealed Carry Instructor

A retired North Carolina lawman with more than four decades in law enforcement, a U.S. Air Force Security Police veteran, and since 2006 the founder and lead instructor of Concealed Handgun Carry, Inc. in Elm City, NC. Every guide on this site is researched, photographed and signed off by Chris before it goes live.

Biography

Chris Raper spent more than forty years as a North Carolina law-enforcement officer, after four years in the United States Air Force Security Police. Carrying a handgun every working day for four decades — and qualifying with it, year after year, under departmental standards — is the background behind every opinion on this site about what a carry gun, holster or belt has to do.

In January 2006 he founded Concealed Handgun Carry, Inc. in Elm City, North Carolina, and has taught the state-approved North Carolina Concealed Handgun Carry class there ever since, with his wife Dianne Raper as assistant instructor. The school's class schedule runs well beyond the permit course: defensive shooting, a handgun skills clinic, a women's handgun class, an AR-15 carbine class, shotgun home defense, and an After Deadly Force seminar on what happens legally and personally after a shooting. He is a graduate of Massad Ayoob's Lethal Force Institute, whose use-of-force curriculum informs that seminar.

Two decades of students bring their guns, holsters and questions to his classes every week. That — plus years in the firearms trade handling, selling and fitting gear — is where the review calendar for this site comes from. Before founding Conceal & Carry Network, Chris published gear reviews and buyer's guides at RainerBallistics.com and RobertsDefense.com. He started this site on a simple premise: a concealed-carry buyer's guide should be written by someone who has carried for a living, taught thousands of people to carry, and handled the gear across a counter — and it should say plainly what a product is good at and where it falls short.

Certifications and qualifications

• North Carolina Department of Justice certified Firearms Safety Instructor (Concealed Handgun Carry)
• NRA Certified Pistol Instructor
• NRA Certified Rifle Instructor
• NRA Certified Shotgun Instructor
• NRA Range Safety Officer
• Graduate, Massad Ayoob's Lethal Force Institute
• Full list and documentation: Instructor qualifications at Concealed Handgun Carry, Inc.

Classes Chris teaches

• North Carolina Concealed Carry class (state-approved permit course)
• Defensive Shooting and Handgun Skills Clinic
• Women's Handgun Class
• AR-15 Carbine and Shotgun Home Defense
• After Deadly Force seminar · Firearm safety · Suggested reading

Career timeline

• 2006Founds Concealed Handgun Carry, Inc., Elm City NC; begins teaching the NC Concealed Handgun Carry class (January)
• 2026Founds Conceal & Carry Network (concealncarry.net)

How Chris reviews

Every guide goes through the same process, described in full at Why trust us. Chris selects products from what his students carry and ask about and from what sells, not from what pays the highest commission. Specifications are checked against the manufacturer's published data and corrected where retailer listings are wrong. Product photographs come from our own photo set (see image credits). Where Chris has carried, shot or lived with a product, the article says so and describes what happened; where a guide is built from product examination, specification review and student and buyer feedback rather than range time, the method line at the end of the article says that instead. Nothing is labelled "tested" that wasn't.

Editorial independence

Conceal & Carry Network earns commissions through affiliate links, including the Amazon Associates program (full disclosure). Commissions never decide what gets recommended. Products that fail — a safe with a dead keypad, a holster that collapses, a pistol with a known recall — are named as such. Corrections are made publicly on the About page.

What Chris tells every concealed-carry student

Practical guidance drawn from twenty years of teaching the NC Concealed Handgun Carry class and four decades of carrying on duty.

1. Buy the holster with the gun, not after it.A pistol without a proper holster stays in the drawer. Budget for a rigid, trigger-covering holster and a real gun belt on day one — see the holster guide and gun belt guide.
2. Shoot it before you carry it.Every carry gun gets at least 200 trouble-free rounds, including your chosen defensive load, before it goes in the holster. A gun that chokes on hollow points at the range will choke when it matters.
3. Size to your hands and your clothes, not to the internet.Micro-compacts are easy to hide and hard to shoot; compacts are the reverse. The sizes chart and compact vs subcompact vs micro-compact explain the trade-off.
4. Recoil you can't manage is capacity you don't have.Fast, accurate follow-up shots beat an extra round in the magazine. If a .380 or a heavier 9mm lets you shoot better, that's the right gun — see low-recoil carry guns and 9mm vs .380.
5. The permit class is the legal minimum, not training.North Carolina's course teaches the law and basic safety. Take a defensive shooting class afterward and shoot a timed, scored drill a few times a year — see draw drills.
6. Know where you can't carry before you leave the house.Posted premises, schools, government buildings, and the rules for vehicles change by state and by year. For North Carolina start with where you cannot carry and the NC FAQ; the statute controls.
7. A quick-access safe is a bedside tool, not a burglary safe.Small electronic safes stop children and casual grabs; they do not stop a burglar with a pry bar and five minutes. Match the safe to the threat — quick-access for bedside, a bolted full-size safe for the collection.
8. Bolt it down. Every time.An unbolted safe is a carrying case for the burglar. How to bolt down a gun safe covers floor and wall anchoring for every common type.
9. Treat biometrics as a convenience, backed by a key.Fingerprint readers fail with wet, cold or dirty fingers. Enrol multiple fingers, keep the backup key off the safe, and read are biometric safes reliable and the recall notice before buying.
10. Don't hammer sights. Push them.Drifting sights with a punch scratches slides and cracks tritium vials. A sight pusher costs less than one slide refinish — here's how to use one.
11. Think about the day after.Chris's After Deadly Force seminar exists because most carriers have never considered the legal, financial and personal aftermath of a shooting. Read castle doctrine and stand-your-ground, and consider a legal-defense plan before you need one.

What Chris covers on this site

Chris writes and signs off every category on the site. The hubs below are the starting points; each links on to its full cluster.

Articles under this scope

• Best concealed carry gun
• Best concealed carry gun for beginners
• Best concealed carry guns for women
• Best micro-compact 9mm
• Best Glock for concealed carry
• Best SIG Sauer for concealed carry
• Concealed carry holster guide
• IWB vs OWB holsters
• Appendix carry guide
• Best gun safe
• Best handgun safe
• Best biometric gun safe
• Best rifle safe
• All gun safe reviews
• Best sight pusher
• North Carolina concealed carry FAQ
• NC castle doctrine & stand-your-ground
• Concealed carry glossary

Photo gallery

Photographs from Chris's own classes at Concealed Handgun Carry, Inc. (Elm City, NC) and from his product photo set. All photos courtesy of Chris Raper.

From the review bench

Role and limits on this site

Chris is the site's author of record. He selects products, writes or edits every guide, and approves the method line on each article. He is a certified firearms instructor, not a lawyer; the North Carolina series is informational only. Questions, corrections and product requests go through the contact page; class enquiries go to Concealed Handgun Carry, Inc.

Frequently asked questions

Does Chris personally test every product on the site?

No, and the site doesn't claim to. Each article's method line states whether it is based on hands-on use or on product examination, specification review and student and buyer feedback. "Hands-on" is used only where it is true.

Is Chris still teaching?

Yes — Concealed Handgun Carry, Inc. in Elm City, NC runs the state permit class and defensive courses; see the class schedule.

Can I ask Chris about a product that isn't covered?

Yes — use the contact page. Student and reader requests set much of the review calendar.

Is Chris a lawyer?

No. For legal advice consult a licensed attorney; for statute text see the NC General Assembly.

Resources and further reading

Sources & approval

Credentials are taken from Chris Raper's own published Instructor page at Concealed Handgun Carry, Inc. (concealedhandguncarry.com/instructor-qualifications/) and from his prior publications. Yellow fields are pending his input and are not shown publicly.