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How can YOU enhance your physical security?

How can YOU enhance your physical security?

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As I’ve said countless times, both in print and in classes, your personal safety isn’t just about buying a gun. Here’s some discussion on how to look at security in a more holistic manner.

I’m a “gun guy”. I don’t think I really started out to be one, but over the years it’s worked out that way. Why not? Guns are fun, they have intricate mechanisms and endless opportunities for accessorizing (which we all refer to as ‘customization’, lest we be thought of as less manly!)

The problem is that because so many people in the defensive training world come to it through the ‘gun guy’ portal, we as a community tend to look at self defense as a gun thing. Need to feel safe? Too many of use would prescribe going to the gun store and buying a new gun!

But the gun is just a tool of response. It doesn’t really prevent anything from happening or being initiated, it just gives us a very efficient tool for stopping an event from progressing to the point that we’re hurt or killed. It’s useful (and legally allowable) in only the narrowest and smallest number of cases.

Don’t get me wrong; when you need a gun, there is very little that will directly substitute. Those cases where shooting is the correct answer are certainly low in incidence (they’re not common), but definitely high in consequence (the results of not shooting can be catastrophic in a personal sense.)

Again, though, when compared to the myriad of other types of interpersonal conflicts which occur on a daily basis, legitimate lethal force cases are few and far between. It stands to reason that if we can stop incidents from even happening, we might have fewer cases where we need to make that life-altering decision to pull the trigger. The bonus is that if we can prevent such momentous incidents, we can probably also prevent the more mundane crimes which consume the vast majority of law enforcement resources.

Your physical security should consider wider-ranging things like deterrence and detection of a threat, not just the response to that threat. In the shooting world these things are often given only lip service, but they’re what actually keep us safe by stopping incidents before they occur.

There is an excellent primer on these concepts of physical security at a blog called WeaponsMan, and I strongly encourage you to read it. It’s a little dry, and the last segment on “Principles of Warfare” is incongruous and not at all useful, but on the whole the article is really quite good. Read it and think about the concepts and their application!

-=[ Grant ]=-

  • Posted by Grant Cunningham
  • On May 1, 2014

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