A discussion I’ve had with students and friends, almost as frequently as the “Which gun should I buy?” discussion, is in response to that age-old statement, “I have a shotgun for home defense. All I have to do is rack it and the bad guy will go away.” I have heard this skewed logic many
Have you ever heard the phrase “Friends don’t let friends carry mouseguns”? I have; in fact, I’ve uttered it more than a few times myself over the years! The implication, of course, is that calibers below a certain threshold, arbitrary though it may be, are not suitable for protecting one’s life. What that threshold is,
Commit yourself now to the reality of your responsibility to protect yourself and those you care about in a worst-case scenario. If you’re reading this, I assume you already think you’ve accepted that reality. But have you committed to being able to do it without your preferred tools? Have you committed to being able to
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
Editor’s Note: Repeated student errors in defensive handgun classes sent the author on a mission to understand why these mistakes were happening, and what we can learn from them about reloading pistols. Not long ago, I saw a post in an online firearms forum (Best advice, all too often: “Never read the comments!”) and followed
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
The media has manipulated language to instill fear in people about guns. Here’s how we can use facts and reasoning to help educate our fellow citizens about self-defense, the Second Amendment, and personal liberty.
A poker game is a good metaphor for personal defense. Some of the same basic elements are in play, from the cards you are dealt to the bets you must make. Sometimes your strategy works out and you walk away with a big stack of chips, and sometimes you fail miserably despite your best efforts.
Avoiding conflict should be everyone’s preference … but if you carry a gun, it also becomes your responsibility.
As a student of self-defense, I have taken literally hundreds of hours of self-defense training courses spanning the broad spectrum of self-defense learning. Unarmed courses, armed courses, different types of weapon courses, decision-making courses, driving courses, instructor-level courses, and many more have been part of my quest, if I can borrow a phrase from my
