US-12624919-B1 - Front-opening handgun holster

Abstract

A handgun holster is provided herein which permits the removal of the handgun through the front of the holster as opposed to the traditional vertical removal of the handgun from the holster. The handgun holster comprises a housing having an internal cavity. The housing is defined by two parallel sidewalls which are a fixed distance apart, a fixed rear spacer wall and a front hinged spacer wall. The handgun can be removed from the holster when a person is in a seated position and/or in a more natural motion. This allows the handgun to be more readily produced for use in situations where a user may be in a vehicle, a tight space, or when the holster is mounted horizontally. The hinge is kept closed with sufficient pressure being provided by torsion springs in a hinge mechanism. However, the front hinged spacer wall can be moved to an open position by lifting the gun into a frontal position.

Inventors

• Tyler Randall Cunningham

Assignees

• Tyler Randall Cunningham

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20240411

Claims (18)

1. 1 . A front-opening handgun holster comprising: a housing having an internal cavity with a rectangular cross section and which is planar and which is defined by: two parallel side walls having rear sidewall edges, and opposing front edges, one of the front edges being a spring hinge front edge which is configured for reception of a spring mechanism, a fixed rear spacer wall located between the side walls, and which is flush with the rear sidewall edges, the fixed rear spacer wall having a width that comports with fixed spacing of the parallel side walls, and a front spacer wall having a spring hinge end which mates with the spring hinge front edge and an opposing closure end which overlies the other front edge; and, wherein the spring mechanism comprises a rod and at least two torsion springs, which are configured to fasten the spring hinge end of the front spacer wall to the spring hinge front edge.
2. 2 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 1 , wherein the handgun holster is of a size and configuration capable of accommodating either a semiautomatic pistol or a revolver.
3. 3 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 1 , wherein the handgun holster is made of a plastic selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic acrylic-polyvinyl chloride, injection molded polymer, leather, nylon and combinations thereof.
4. 4 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 1 , wherein, the housing is of a shape which can accommodates a specific type of handgun.
5. 5 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 1 , wherein the internal cavity of the housing is shaped to accommodate a single stack or double stack semi-automatic pistol.
6. 6 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 1 , wherein the housing has a rectangular opening to the internal cavity along a top of the two parallel side walls.
7. 7 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 1 , having a front opening which is rectangular and perpendicular to the sidewalls and is located between the spring hinge front edge and the other front edge.
8. 8 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 1 , wherein the two parallel side walls are flat.
9. 9 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 1 , wherein the sidewalls cover the trigger, trigger guard and at least 50%, of the length of the barrel of a handgun which is placed in the holster.
10. 10 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 1 , wherein the sidewalls of the housing have parallel and flush top and bottom edges.
11. 11 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 1 , wherein the parallel sidewalls have rear sidewall edges which are spaced apart by a distance of the width of the fixed rear spacer wall and which are identical and are curved along a height of the holster.
12. 12 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 1 , wherein the front edges of the sidewalls each have different configurations.
13. 13 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 12 , wherein one of the front edges of the sidewalls is a spring hinge front edge and is configured for reception of a spring mechanism such that the spring hinge front edge has a protruding centrally located section which is flush with plane of the side wall and has a rounded edge that contains a channel therethrough.
14. 14 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 13 , wherein the spring hinge front edge also contains flat sections which are indented from the length of the protruding centrally located section.
15. 15 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 1 , wherein the fixed rear spacer wall is curved in accordance with the curvature of the rear sidewall edges and is located between the sidewalls at the ends thereof.
16. 16 . The front-opening handgun holster of claim 1 , wherein the front spacer wall and/or the side wall, adjacent to the front closure front edge has a button or latch mechanism which retains the front spacer wall in a closed position.
17. 17 . A method of removing a handgun from a holster comprising: providing a front-opening handgun holster which contains: a housing having an internal cavity with a rectangular cross section and which is planar and which is defined by: two parallel side walls having rear sidewall edges, and opposing front edges, one of the front edges being a spring hinge front edge which is configured for reception of a spring mechanism, a fixed rear spacer wall located between the side walls, and which is flush with the rear sidewall edges, the fixed rear spacer wall having a width that comports with fixed spacing of the parallel side walls, and a front spacer wall having a spring hinge end which mates with the spring hinge front edge and an opposing closure end which overlies the other front edge; and, wherein the spring mechanism comprises a rod and at least two torsion springs, which are configured to fasten the spring hinge end of the front spacer wall to the spring hinge front edge; fastening the front-opening handgun holster to an article of clothing; inserting a handgun into the front-opening handgun holster, and, removing the handgun through the front spacer wall of the front-opening handgun holster.
18. 18 . The method of claim 17 further comprising wherein the article of clothing is a belt or a tactical clothing article.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/466,435, filed on May 15, 2023, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to the field of firearms. More particularly, the present invention relates generally to holsters for firearms, and more specifically, holsters for handguns. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The history of the United States is replete with the presence of firearms. While historically, the use of firearms tended towards the purposes of national defense and hunting, with the advent of the 19th century, more and more firearms were produced and carried for the purposes of personal defense. Most often these firearms were handguns, such as revolvers, which were generally carried on the dominant side hip of the user in a hip holster. Since the public carry of firearms was not generally prohibited during this period of history, the concealment and/or surreptitious carry of firearms was not largely prevalent. With the advent and progression of the 20th century, and the migration of populations to city centers, there was an increase in the density of many cities. This resulted in more restrictions being put into effect on the open and/or concealed carry of most firearms. However, handguns did still remain in public view, particularly for military and law enforcement personnel. These personnel continued to carry a handgun in a holster in order to hold it securely. While holsters can be worn in a number of ways, such as on a belt at the waist, under an armpit, or around an ankle, the majority of such noted military or law enforcement personnel continued to largely holster their weapon on their hip. Throughout the 20th century most handguns transitioned to the use of semi-automatic pistols as opposed to revolvers. The semi-automatic pistol could hold more ammunition and was more easily reloadable. Along with the advent of the semi-automatic pistol, there were increasing incidents which required that military and law enforcement personnel be required to access their firearms more quickly and in different scenarios. For example, military personnel started to need to quickly unholster their weapon in the event of an ambush or surprise attack. Likewise with the gradual increase in crime and emboldening of criminals, law enforcement personnel saw the need to be able to quickly address violent crimes such as robberies and carjackings with a quick presentment of their side arms. These scenarios have continued up and through today. Certain users of handguns must be still able to remove a handgun quickly and easily from a holster regardless of the type of holster used. Additionally, these users need to be assured that, when not in use, the handgun will remain safely in the holster. As to the issue of safe storage, these needs have been met by various holster designs that have incorporated straps, flaps, hood enclosures, and the like, to secure the handgun therein. However, these solutions generally require the unfastening of these enclosures before drawing the handgun. This can take an unacceptable amount of time in exigent circumstances, e.g., combat. Also, in some instances, the handgun can be equipped with an accessory, such as a silencer, a light and/or a laser sighting device, in which case, the holster must be capable of accommodating such accessories, yet still enable the gun to be removed from the holster with a quick and short draw, preferably with a length that is shorter than the overall length of the gun and accessory combination. Still further, law enforcement personnel have at times been the target of unprovoked attacks by gun-wielding criminals. This has occurred in certain instances when the law enforcement officers are seated in a seated patrol car. In addition, police patrol cars tend to be full of various equipment which makes the available space to move around quite limited, and thus, makes it even harder for police officers to quickly unholster their weapons in such cramped positions. Therefore, despite an increase in methods of retaining a handgun in a holster, there has not been a commensurate development in methods which allow a user to quickly release the handgun using one hand only. Therefore, a need exists for an improved handgun holster that can be easily operated with the same hand that withdraws the firearm from the holster and wherein the handgun can be removed from the holster while in a seated position. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention can be directed to a handgun holster which permits the removal of a handgun through the front of the holster as opposed to the traditional vertical removal of the handgun from the holster. The handgun holster comprises a housing having an internal cavity. The housing is defined by two parallel sidewalls which are a fixed distance apart, a fixed rear spacer wall and a front hinged s