Jarrod Needs, Author at Personal Defense Network

The Baby Blanket Approach to Personal Safety

November 21, 2016 By Jarrod Needs & filed under All Articles, Defensive Issues.

The realization that you are solely responsible for your personal safety and protection is an important undertaking. Once this occurs, people are quick to look for easy and simple solutions to try to protect themselves. The problem is that personal safety is neither easy nor simple, and requires an honest look at how your probable…

Are You Ready To Carry a Defensive Firearm?

October 24, 2016 By Jarrod Needs & filed under All Articles, Defensive Issues.

I’m not asking if you passed an arbitrary state minimum course or qualification course as an armed professional. I’m asking, are you really ready to carry a defensive firearm? Many people in both the civilian and professional worlds seem to believe that passing these minimum standards means they are ready — but that could not…

Less-Lethal Defensive Tools – Exploring Non-Lethal Weapons

August 16, 2016 By Jarrod Needs & filed under All Articles, Non-Firearm Defensive Tools.

From time to time, I get a student who openly admits they would have a problem shooting someone.

Why I Don’t Like Ultra-Compact .380s

January 4, 2016 By Jarrod Needs & filed under All Articles, Self Defense Firearms.

Reading the title of this article, you may think I’m going to say the .380 is just not powerful enough.

Securing Your Firearms

September 29, 2015 By Jarrod Needs & filed under All Articles, Personal Defense Equipment.

I separate firearms safety rules into two categories: gun handling and general firearms safety.

Chest Ready Position

August 25, 2014 By Jarrod Needs & filed under All Articles, Defensive Training Concepts.

There are many ready positions to choose from in defensive firearms and even more opinions on why you should or should not use a certain ready position. I choose and teach my students to use a chest ready position, which is simple to achieve by starting in a shooting position and bringing the handgun straight…

The Case Against Mechanical Safeties

March 26, 2014 By Jarrod Needs & filed under All Articles, Defensive Issues.

Many people new to defensive shooting give me the “Are you crazy?” look when I say that one of my strongest recommendations for a defensive pistol is that it have no mechanical safety. One of these people was my wife when I bought a new M&P last year. At the local gun shop, as the…

Advantages of Striker-Fired Pistols

February 12, 2014 By Jarrod Needs & filed under All Articles, Handguns, Self Defense Firearms.

The difference in where the weight begins on the double action only (left) and the striker-fire action pistol(right). The trigger must also be moved to this position in order to fire another round. Photos: author Being a defensive firearms training instructor who sees many students at their first formal training means I see many students…

Selecting Proper Defensive Ammunition

November 16, 2013 By Jarrod Needs & filed under All Articles, Defensive Issues.

One area often overlooked by people new to defensive shooting is the importance of selecting proper defensive ammunition. We did a recent comparison of the effectiveness of defensive ammunition versus full metal jacket target ammunition so we could show our students the difference the bullet design makes. It is amazing to me to see people…