Coronavirus: What we know now, what’s coming, and how to prepare

This is going to be a very long post, and for that I apologize. The situation with the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease known as COVID-19, has been both fluid and unclear. I’ve avoided posting anything specific to this point, simply because we didn’t know enough. Today we do, and the situation has focused […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On February 27, 2020

The Ambiguity Zone, Part 3: Information is power, but not if it’s ignored

When things are ambiguous, correctly processing all relevant information becomes critical.

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 27, 2019

The Ambiguity Zone, Part 2: Crossing the line

The Ambiguity Zone is that space of time, no matter how long or short, where potentially life-altering decisions must be made with the limited information available. Do we respond, or wait for the situation to become clearer?

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 13, 2019

The Ambiguity Zone

There is a time in any incident where it's not clear what's happening — or even that anything is happening. How do we handle that?

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 6, 2019

Going shooting in the wilderness? Be safe!

Instead of belonging to a gun club or using a commercial range, many gun owners enjoy heading out into the countryside to shoot. In my area of the world, this is often an old gravel pit out in the woods. There are lots of such locations scattered around the Pacific Northwest, as they’re used to […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On August 30, 2019

You are not a security camera, and that’s a problem

Surveillance cameras are all over, and sometimes they're used to sell ideas about self defense. The only problem is that sometimes they sell the wrong idea.

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On August 9, 2019

Following up on the Three Easy Steps: Readiness as a habit

Last week I introduced Grant’s Patented Plan To Becoming More Self-Reliant In Three Easy Steps ™: Buy a pocket knife. Buy a small high-intensity flashlight. Carry them with you every day. My approach to preparedness, whether the subject is self defense or disaster readiness, is to start with becoming better prepared to handle common, […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On July 5, 2019

How to get prepared in three easy steps

I admit to a bit of creative over-simplification in today’s title, but there’s an important lesson in it. My wife and I were walking in the woods recently, and the topic of conversation touched on preparedness. Rather, the lack of preparedness amongst a large percentage of the adult population. How the other three-quarters lives […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On June 28, 2019

The critical skill no one teaches

The ability to judge risk is critical to the long game of self defense. (As it happens, it’s also critical to efficient preparedness, investing your retirement funds wisely, and the choice between flying or driving to your vacation destination.) Yet, despite its importance, it’s very rarely talked about — especially in the self defense community. […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 15, 2018

You shouldn’t listen to the “shoulds”. Or should you?

Lately I’ve been allowing myself to do something I caution others to never do: read the comments. Whenever I’ve come across a news story that has something to do with self defense or disaster preparedness, I read a few of the comments left by others. I’ve noticed something interesting: they often use the word “should”. […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 1, 2018

The “long game” of self defense

It’s easy to think of self defense as a thing you do in response to a bad guy. After all, that’s what most self defense courses focus on: bad guy appears and you perform the indicated response. So neat. So tidy. So precise. And so misleading. Self defense doesn’t start when the bad guy appears, […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 17, 2018

Self defense, quantum physics, and negative outcomes

The great physicist Werner Heisenberg is responsible for describing a very interesting phenomenon in quantum physics: our observations effect the behavior of quanta (quantum particles). In other words, by simply observing an experiment, it’s possible that we inadvertently change the outcome. Quantum physics gets really weird after that, but this is as far we need […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On July 23, 2018

What if nothing happens?

No matter what the preparedness focus, be it just self defense or a full-blown disaster, in the back of everyone’s mind is a little voice that wonders if they’re not being just a little silly. “After all”, the little voice says, “you’re spending a lot of your time, energy, and money on something you don’t […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On July 16, 2018

The best defense is still not being there

A few weeks back I wrote an article on why I don’t entertain the notion of “what-if” scenarios. If you haven’t read it, you should. On a somewhat related note, I also don’t entertain the notion of the foregone conclusion scenario. It’s the one that presupposes a specific outcome or a specific event in an […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On July 2, 2018

The fishing hook fantasy

Why do so many survival kit suggestions have fishing gear in them? Over the years I’ve noticed that survival/escape/bugout/get-home kit contents always seem to include fishing gear. I don’t mean poles, reels, and aluminum boats with fish-finding radar, but hooks, line, and perhaps some weights. The idea is that if you’re stranded somewhere you can […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On June 18, 2018

“But what if…”

In my job I get some wonderful emails from people who’ve read one of my books or taken one of my classes. I also get awful emails, usually from people who’ve done neither of those things. There is a special class of email, though, that I really dislike getting. It’s the “but what if…” question […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On June 4, 2018

A new way of looking at likelihood and plausbility

A couple of decades back I started to talk to my defensive shooting students about the likelihood of being attacked and needing to use their firearm to defend themselves. It seemed to me that some people, based on their lifestyle and habits, were more likely to need to use lethal force than others. It also […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On May 21, 2018

Selling defense without talking about prevention

“F**k marketing. There are too many people in marketing.” — Steve Jobs A while back I saw a slick promo video for a training organization (which will remain nameless), and it’s bothered me ever since because it makes the job of teaching people how to truly stay safe so much harder. The video showed footage […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 23, 2018

Do you have conflicting security priorities? You’re not alone.

A couple of weeks ago I talked about how the “I won’t go anywhere I can’t carry a gun” attitude affects the lives of those who pretend to put it into practice. The people who say things like that also have a tendency to insist that everyone can carry all the time, and fail to […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 16, 2018

You can find perspective in some odd places

It must be said that I’m not really a travel bug. Don’t get me wrong; I’m no hermit, but I don’t have the intense wanderlust many people do. I can appreciate it, even envy it to an extent, but I’ve never had it. So it was something of an oddity for me to be reading […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 2, 2018

You don’t need to win. You need to survive.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not a fan of macho nonsense. And I don’t particularly care where it comes from. So much of the defensive training world is built around the lifestyles of people who spend all their free time on the range or at the gym; some shooting instructors quite literally live at […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 12, 2018

What does “preparing for the worst case” mean?

In both the self defense and prepping communities, people talk about preparing — training and equipping — for “the worst case scenario”. “We train for the worst case”, schools brag (and their students claim). What, actually, is the worst case? The mind runs wild If you were to take a little time (or perhaps watch […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On January 22, 2018

Where are your tripwires?

Whether you’re prepping for survival or studying self defense against a criminal, you need to consider the circumstances under which you’d respond — where your tripwires are, the things that will trigger your response. Some people call them “a line in the sand” or “point of no return”, but no matter what the term the […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On December 15, 2017

You win 100% of the fights you don’t have

Ever heard the old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? It should be engraved on concealed carry licenses all across the country. You’re always better off taking small precautions (regular immunizations, checkups, and eating properly) to prevent getting sick than you are spending lots of money trying to get well […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On August 28, 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

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

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

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

“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

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

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