clear leather

The act of drawing a firearm, particularly a handgun. This comes from the fact that for many years, holsters, particularly those used by the police, were made of leather. Thus, if the officer's handgun came completely out of the holster, he "cleared leather."

That stupid perp wouldn't put down the knife, so I had to clear leather. That got his attention.

clear leather

The actual definition of this word refers to a pistol clearing (being drawn from) it's leather holster. Got started back in the days when police officers and federal agents still used leather duty holsters

Police Officer 1: Did you hear what happened yesterday? Chuck had to clear leather on a suspect!

Police Officer 2: No shit! What happened?

Police Officer 1: Shots fired, he killed the guy. Apparently he pulled a knife on Chuck

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