Where are we going wrong?

Daughter, 22, shot by dad who says he mistook her for intruder Hardly a week goes by that I don’t see an article like this cross my electronic desk, and they bother me. Quite a lot, actually. Why? Because I don’t think we in the firearms world are doing enough to truly educate people. We […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On May 15, 2017

An excerpt from my next book!

I’m writing another book, this one dealing with a structured approach to preparedness and personal security. It’s a different approach to the topic, and I think it will be tremendously useful to help you achieve a balanced approach to your safety. It integrates self defense, medical response, and disaster preparedness into a cohesive and manageable […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 28, 2017

Caring for your defensive flashlight

You do carry a high-intensity flashlight as part of your everyday ready kit, don’t you? If not, you should! I believe the compact high-intensity flashlight is the most useful self defense tool you can carry. It serves as a detection device, allowing you to spot danger before it can reach you; as a deterrent, using the […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 14, 2017

The Pistol Caliber Carbine: the gun tactical hobbyists love to hate

If you ask a tactical hobbyist what he or she thinks about the pistol caliber carbine, you'll often be met with scorn. "They're not a rifle", they'll say, and that's true — but sometimes, not being a rifle makes them better for the person who isn't a tactical hobbyist. Here's why.

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 27, 2017

A gun on your nightstand isn’t the best idea, no matter who says so

One of the things I find myself doing on a regular basis is serving as a counterpoint to the fantasies running rampant in the defensive shooting world. I do this by bringing rational thought to the topic of personal defense, and today I’m doing it again! A recent article on the Concealed Nation website dealt […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 20, 2017

Things people say: “If it ain’t raining, it ain’t training!”

I remember my first serious (multi-day) defensive shooting course. It was a spring day in the early 1990s and, as is normal here in the Pacific Northwet (no, that’s not a typo) it was raining like crazy. It was a cold, wet, miserable day. Being a native Oregonian I was prepared for the conditions, but […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 6, 2017

“What is mindset?” — an excerpt from my new book!

Have you ever thought about what it takes to make the decision to protect yourself? Maybe it’s a matter of simply reframing your viewpoint. Here’s an excerpt on mindset from my new book, Protect Yourself With Your Snubnose Revolver: Mindset First, you need to make a decision: that your own life and the lives […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On February 6, 2017

Think before you shoot. A long time before.

A sad tale crossed my desk earlier this week. It seems one Billy Williams was awakened in the night by one of his children, who reportedly told him that someone was trying to break into their house via the front door. Mr. Williams retrieved a handgun from a safe in his bedroom and walked to […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On January 27, 2017

Fort Lauderdale and the wisdom of traveling light

Last week’s shooting attack at Fort Lauderdale Airport gives us an opportunity to look at risk management from a personal standpoint. Airports are a favorite target of terrorists and are obviously attractive to deranged individuals as well. Part of the attraction is no doubt their status as a consistent no weapons zone; no matter where […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On January 13, 2017

The Fort Lauderdale attack: it’s not the gun. Again. Still.

Just a few days ago a man with a history of mental issues boarded an airline in Alaska, after declaring his gun in checked luggage as required by law. He sat down in his seat and the suitcase containing his pistol and ammunition was placed in the cargo hold beneath him. When he got to […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On January 9, 2017

Things people say: “Thinking while shooting”

I recently posted about the need for instructors to teach, and for students to learn, how to think during a defensive incident. Everyone agrees that it’s a necessary thing to do. The problem is that many of the people agreeing don’t really know what it means. Unclear on the concept Case in point: someone sent me […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On January 2, 2017

All training is an abstraction. Is that good or bad?

A couple of weeks ago someone posted an interesting video on social media. It wasn’t the video itself which was interesting, but rather the reactions to it. The video was of an exercise from a defensive shooting class. The exercise was a good example of forcing cognitive processing rather than a Pavlovian draw-and-fire response, which […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On December 23, 2016

Fast food drive-throughs can be dangerous. Here’s how to deal with them safely.

If you use the drive through at a fast food restaurant, here's what you need to know to keep yourself (and your passengers) safe!

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On December 19, 2016

Questioning the premise of your preparations

My apologies if you’re not a fan of the show South Park, but an old episode has a training lesson for us. On that episode, some little people known as Underpants Gnomes presented their 3-part success plan: Phase 1: Steal underpants. Phase 2: ??? Phase 3: Profit! The joke, of course, isn’t that there’s nothing in […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On December 5, 2016

“You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”

The quote is from comedian Steven Wright. Wright is right. Think about it the next time someone says that the path to situational awareness is to see everything. You know what I mean: “Look for out-of-state license plates.” “What color shoes are the people in the restaurant wearing?” “Do you know how many left handers are […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On November 11, 2016

Standards and integrity

If you're a fan of standards, you have to be sure that those standards have integrity. That's how you verify that they actually mean something.

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On November 7, 2016

Time is running out to sign up for Threat-Centered Revolver in Arizona!

Just a month from now I’ll be teaching my Threat-Centered Revolver class in sunny Phoenix, and if you want to attend you need to book now! December 3 & 4 I’ll be at Phoenix Firearms Training, basking in the warm sun and teaching responsible revolver owners how to defend themselves with the classic double action […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 31, 2016

Generally speaking, you shouldn’t specialize.

If your goal is to make you and your family safer, to learn how to survive dangerous events, you need a generalist’s perspective. That’s because there are a wide range of things you need to know to make safety happen consistently, which means that you need to study and prepare in many different areas […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 28, 2016

Do you need to modify your carry gun? Should you?

In the dim past (which wasn’t really all that long ago), if you needed to change something on your carry gun you took it to a gunsmith. You’d wait for him to do the work, pay him lots of money, and go home happy — more or less. That was the state of things largely […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 17, 2016

Will your kids know what to do in an emergency?

One of my recurring nightmares (probably influenced by television) is being in a critical, terrifyingly dangerous situation with my wife. In every episode of this nightmare she can’t see the danger coming and I’m forced to yell instructions to her — instructions on either what do do (“run!”) or what not to do (“stay still!”) Instead of […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 14, 2016

Things People Say: “I want to buy a gun to keep myself safe”

Anyone who’s been around guns for any length of time eventually gets asked for advice: “I want to buy a gun to keep myself safe. What should I get?” It’s tempting to launch into a discussion about shotguns versus rifles versus handguns, or maybe about 9mm versus .40 S&W, striker-fired versus double action/single action, or […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 10, 2016

Do you want to be a better shooter or a better defender?

I received quite a number of emails, blog comments and social media interaction about Friday’s topic, “Meaningless increments of precision.” A large percentage of them asked questions or made statements which revealed that the person was fixated on the notion that becoming a better shooter makes or keeps someone safer. This is going to sound […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 3, 2016

Meaningless increments of precision — and why you should avoid them

When we talk about self defense (and particularly when gun people talk about self defense), the topic of measurement will eventually come up. In the gun world we love to measure things, and we can measure just about anything. The problem is that the measurements we make may not be important. I use the term […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 30, 2016

The difference between doctrine and dogma

The world of self defense seems to be full of polarizing opinions. While it can be said that any field of specialization has its strong opinions (and adherents to them), my observation is that this one is by far the most Balkanized. It doesn’t matter how you look at it, someone else will see it […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 23, 2016

Choosing a defensive handgun: making the best of bad alternatives

An interesting question came up in a class I taught recently. It had to do with defensive carry firearm recommendations in states which restrict the models available for sale (such as in Massachusetts and California.) How is someone to pick the best of the worst options? The attributes of an ideal defensive handgun When picking […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 19, 2016

“We face the same criminals the police do!” Yes, but…

Every once in a while I see the tired old cliché “we face the same criminals the police do!” It’s usually used to justify some particular type of defensive firearms training, too often centered around the trainer’s police experience. The idea, of course, is that we need to adopt the attitudes, tactics, and armament of […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 9, 2016

Are shooting classes all there is to self defense?

In the last couple of years I’ve had a somewhat radical change in my thinking about self defense. Rather, a change in thinking about teaching self defense. I’ve always focused on helping that half-percent* of gun owners who are interested in taking shooting classes to improve their gunhandling skills. In that respect I’ve been like everyone […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On August 29, 2016

Why your CCW class isn’t enough

If you’re like most people who read this blog, you’ve already been through a CCW class of some sort. (CCW, of course, stands for Carrying a Concealed Weapon, which is a catch-all term for the practice, licensing and study to carry a handgun concealed on your person. The term ‘CCW class’ is generally applied to […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On August 22, 2016

Preparing isn’t about fear. It’s about serenity.

Just recently I ran into an interesting reaction to the idea of preparation for personal security and family defense. Specifically it was a reaction to hardening the home and making it more difficult for people to get in, whether to burglarize or attack. “I shouldn’t have to do that”, the person wrote. No, you shouldn’t. […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On August 15, 2016

Someone you know is attacking you. Could you respond appropriately?

Those of us in the defensive training world usually talk about bad guys as though they’re complete strangers. The rapist on the jogging trail, the masked home invaders, and the carjacker at the gas station are all anonymous. We don’t know them, they really don’t know us, but fate causes our paths to intersect. When […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On August 8, 2016

Page 3 of 17‹1 234 5 ›»

Blog