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To Rack or Not To Rack: The Perpetual Shotgun Question

January 28, 2017 By Daniel Watson & filed under All Articles, Defensive Issues, Home Defense.

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…

When Does a .380 Beat a 9mm?

January 7, 2017 By Grant Cunningham & filed under All Articles, Defensive Issues.

You may have heard the phrase, “Friends don’t let friends carry mouseguns.” 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, exactly, depends…

Diversify Your Self-Defense

December 1, 2016 By Rob Pincus & filed under All Articles, Defensive Issues.

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 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…

Pistol Reloads, Blue Guns, and Brain Function

November 7, 2016 By Andy Loeffler & filed under All Articles, Handguns.

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…

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…

The Semantics of Civilian Firearms Education

October 11, 2016 By Klint Macro & filed under All Articles, Defensive Issues.

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.

Poker Defense

September 26, 2016 By Aaron Israel & filed under All Articles, Defensive Issues.

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.

Conflict Avoidance: Practicing What I Preach

September 7, 2016 By Rob Pincus & filed under All Articles, Defensive Issues.

Avoiding conflict should be everyone’s preference … but if you carry a gun, it also becomes your responsibility.

The Future of Self-Defense Training

September 6, 2016 By Joshua Gideon & filed under All Articles, Defensive Training Concepts.

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…