Carrying a firearm for self defense is an important decision. Of course, practice with your carry holster and carry firearm is paramount to making sure your system is ready if and when the need arises. I realize that not everyone has the time or money to take a class or two every year, but everyone DOES have the time to read some pertinent articles regarding concealed carry and self defense. I have met Mr. Greg Ellifritz last weekend and have been poking around his website. It has some excellent articles worth reading and they will really get you thinking about situations, as well as how to maximize your time on the range. I urge everyone to take a look at your leisure. Greg Ellifritz - Active Response Training
Hey rjrivero, Thanks for that reminder! It looks like there's LOTS of reading to be done there. I have been fortunate in the last few months to have taken courses from several instructors including John Farnam. The one thing that really helped me improve is the time I spent at home. As you mentioned, classes are expensive in time and money. Like any other skill though, the time spent in class is small compared to the time we should be practicing at home. (Think piano lessons. ½ hour once a week with your instructor, but at least ½ hour every other day at home practicing.) Spending time practicing your draw and acquiring your sight picture and squeezing that shot can be done literally anywhere. (OK - I admit, my SO gets upset when I'm picking off the guys on Law and Order ) But seriously, dry fire practice is a great way to build that muscle memory. When at a hotel, I will bring a silhouette target to hang on the inside of my door. I also use a shot time (free apps are available for Droid and iDevices). By the end of a week, I have decreased my time for my first shot on target significantly and improved my aim as well. All it takes is a few minutes at home (or away) to keep those tools sharp!
Relevant quote: Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician. Jeff Cooper
It has been said... you can either be the sheep, or the Sheepdog. How many CCW's and just gun shooter's would actually have wanted to be armed in the theater? Or in Arizona? Carrying and willing to step into a situation are 2 entirely different things. The mindset is to be willing to ACT, and react to a gunshot. Cops and Soldiers head towards the sound of gunfire. Most others don't. None of us know what we would do. If you though, are at peace with yourself, and believe that killing is not the noble thing, but saving a life is the noble thing, then you have it in mind. The majority don't carry because they wanted to always be a cowboy or a cop. And there are those who just see it as some kind of status symbol like the new IPhone. They can tell their buds. But they are few. There are cops who retire never having shot. The majority of servicemen do not serve on the front lines. The states that have passed CCW laws have not become Dodge City. And you never hear about the cases where the gun was drawn and the problem solved with no shot being fired. When it happens no one reports it. More children drown in buckets of water or in a pool than get shot with "daddy's gun" Then there are the idiots who shoot themselves taking bullets apart in a vise to get the brass to scrap. (Happened he lived too bad one more sheep could have been buried), but there was the idiot around Hamilton Ohio who tried to scrap copper wire off a live high power line, (crispy,crunchy, dead sheep). Train, arm yourself with info as well as the weapon. But get it in your mind, we all die, sometimes we get to chose how it MAY happen, as a sheep or a Sheepdog. Being eaten, or trying to stop the eater.
Mike, Impeccable timing with the sheep/sheepdog comment as I've been sharing this with some other friends this morning. I have been having some deep conversations with a new friend over the last few weeks and have come to realize I am one of those likely to step in, as I have stepped in in the past. Joe
Grew up with a sister 18 months older and 7 years younger. Spent some time in Uncle Sam's Army. And I am not scared to die. I am not a believer in suicide, that is a selfish act. But if you DO die trying to protect someone, you are doing a selfless act. Sheepdogs will die to defend the flock. it is not there intention. They just go down fighting. The original Hebrew was not "Thou shalt not kill" it was "Thou shalt do no murder" You can provoke a fight and shoot and go to jail for it. But you can get involved. Some what the same as I have said, you do not get to choose the day you die, but you may be able to choose the how. But that is a matter of having faith. You believe in GOD's purpose, if you were meant to die then you die. If HE is not done with you then you don't. "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" If a guy just killed someone in the woods, but then heard a child scream and jumped in a river and drowned while saving that child how would he be judged? That would be a moral dilemma. On the one he commited murder, on the other he saved a life. I would not want to be the judge. On the cross were 2 thieves. One asked to be forgiven, the other mocked Jesus, one was saved the other not. Not to get too religious. But they both had a choice. Those who have no faith wonder about a GOD who would let things happen as they do. It is because we have free will. Some people choose to do the wrong thing. The question is will you do the right thing even if no one ever knows you did, in the dark, alone, no pats on the back, no thanks, no awards? The big thing is if you train, if you learn to use the tools you have chosen, firearms, even in stressful situations, it may become ingrained, you may act never knowing you clicked off the safety, you didn't remember inserting a new mag, you just reacted and the threat was removed. Your body has the adrenaline pumping and you either throw up because you realize you took a life, or just because your body needs slow itself down. You and/or others are alive because you the sheepdog, barked and bit.
