Want to improve your skill development? Take notes during class. Lots of ’em.

A couple of years ago I was teaching a class in which there was an interesting mix of students: there were two public-sector firearms instructors, one from a state agency and one from a federal agency, along with the normal range of people you’d find at any shooting course anywhere in the country — blue […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On June 17, 2016

Did your defensive shooting instructor get his certificate from the University Of Facebook?

A couple of weeks ago I was witness to an interesting incident on social media. There were two involved parties with me as a mutual contact observing both sides. In that incident are lessons for those who are searching for reliable self defense training and information. The first party — who is fairly well known in the defensive […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On May 9, 2016

How to afford the training you need? Sell a gun! (I’m serious.)

One of the issues I confront frequently is the excuse that people “can’t afford” the self defense or defensive shooting training they need. They’ll acknowledge that it’s important, agree that they should have it, then say that they just can’t find the money for it. Then they post pictures on Facebook or the gun forums […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 25, 2016

“It’s a training issue.” I don’t think that means what you think it means.

Hoo boy, I heard it again just the other day: “it’s a training issue”. The subject at hand was a discussion about the traditional double action pistol, the kind that has a long and heavy double action first shot and a shorter, lighter single action (DA/SA) for each subsequent shot. I’m not a fan of […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 11, 2016

Is “Constitutional Carry” good for the rest of us? Let’s make sure it is through education!

So-called “constitutional carry” is becoming more popular around the country. This refers to being able to carry a concealed handgun in public without any sort of permitting or licensing process, assuming that the person is legally allowed to possess the handgun. (The term “constitutional carry” is itself a reference to the Second Amendment’s wording of […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 28, 2016

Boring doesn’t sell, and realistic self defense skills are kind of boring.

No matter what you’re trying to get people to buy — from cars to breakfast cereals to political candidates — you have to make it exciting, because if it’s not folks will just pass it by. (Yes, political candidates. Anyone remember Scott Walker? He was an early entry into this year’s Republican field and widely […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 11, 2016

You don’t need to be a SEAL to defend yourself with a firearm. You need more relevant skills.

Last week I got two emails about my front page headline: “You don’t need to be a Navy SEAL just to be safe!” One applauded me for “telling it like it is”, but the other one insisted that I was doing people a big disservice by saying that, because if everyone trained to the level […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 7, 2016

Airsoft for defensive shooting practice: good idea or a waste of time?

A question I’m frequently asked regards the value of non-firearm projectile launchers like Airsoft and BB guns as training devices for defensive shooting. This is a discussion that doesn’t lend itself to soundbites; there are some important principles which need to be understood to be able to gauge, for yourself, the value of any non-firearm […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 1, 2016

Do you carry religiously? You may not be as safe as you believe.

I know that most of the people reading this blog are here to learn about defensive shooting, concealed carry, firearms training, and related topics. The rest are interested in things like rifles, revolvers, reloading, and other technical issues. In other words, regardless of the group into which you fit, if you’re reading this you’re probably […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On January 18, 2016

The problem with defensive shooting is that it’s dominated by enthusiasts. That’s not necessarily good for you.

I have a confession to make: I once screwed up a lot of people who came to me for advice. Wait, it’s not what you think! It does, however, directly apply to what I do today, and probably why you’re reading this blog. Allow me to relate my short story. Back in my much-younger days […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On January 15, 2016

What did you change your mind about in 2015? Here’s what I did.

I’ve come to the belief that one of the most profound questions you can ask anyone who purports to be an expert in any field (to include defensive training) is “what have you changed your mind about?” This isn’t an easy question to answer, and most people you’ll ask will try to wiggle their way […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On January 1, 2016

Defensive Shooting Myths and Misconceptions: “I shoot that gun really well.”

If you spend any time around the internet, whether on gun forums or social media, sooner or later you’ll see someone defending a sub-optimal choice of defensive firearm by saying “I shoot it well.” Now of course everyone is certainly free to carry what they deem fit, and I don’t want to suggest they’re not, […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On December 28, 2015

The important role of a training partner in your defensive shooting skill development.

In the defensive shooting world we talk a lot about carry guns, calibers, holsters, belts, and all manner of accessories from flashlights to scopes. A large reason for this focus on things is because they’re easily understood and readily quantifiable; it’s easy to compare things by numbers, charts and graphs. We pay comparatively little attention […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On December 7, 2015

No, things really haven’t changed: self defense in a post-Paris world.

The bodies in Paris hadn’t even been buried when the agendas got trotted out. No, I’m not talking about gun control or immigration restrictions; I’m not talking about refugees or intelligence sharing or air strikes or border checkpoints, either. I’m talking about the “you need to prepare to deal with this new threat!” brigade. If […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On November 23, 2015

What if you disagree with your defensive shooting instructor?

You’re at a defensive shooting class; maybe this is your first, maybe it’s your twenty-first. Your instructor says (or does) something you disagree with. What do you do? There are a lot of different approaches to teaching self-defense shooting, and while at least 90% of the mechanics that are taught are the same from instructor to […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On November 2, 2015

Tap-Rack is an action, not a dance. You don’t need to add moves to it.

I recently read a blog post about a trainer who got into trouble talking about the “tap-rack” methodology for clearing malfunctions. It seems this person, as many do, added a step to the procedure: “squeeze” (or some term which implied pulling the trigger.) This resulted in a virtual spanking from the internet experts, who decried […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 26, 2015

How many self defense classes have you taken this year? They may be holding you back!

One of the common recommendations in the training world is to study with as many different people or schools as you can, to get as many different perspectives as possible in order to get a more fully formed opinion of the subject of defensive shooting (or self defense in general.) I think the idea is […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 19, 2015

The Bullpup Rifle Experiment, Part 3: what did I learn about the Steyr AUG?

(If you’re coming in late, please read Part 1 and Part 2 of The Bullpup Experiment for some background on the project!) While I got to play with several bullpups during the last few months, the vast majority of my hands-on experience was with the Steyr AUG A3 M1 model. As I noted in Part […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 6, 2015

The Bullpup Rifle Experiment, Part 2: what did I learn about bullpup rifles?

If you’ve read Part 1 of The Bullpup Rifle Experiment, you’ll know that I started out this little project with a relatively simple goal: to find out what the bullpup rifle was all about. I wanted to learn what they were good for, what they weren’t, and perhaps even a little bit of why they […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 30, 2015

What’s the difference between tasks and skills in defensive shooting training? Does it matter?

When training defensive shooting techniques, it’s common — too common, in fact — to focus on the skill used rather than the task to be performed. Now some people will say that those are the same thing, but they’re not. In fact, they’re very different. I recently read an article on the importance of and […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 11, 2015

Is the old lever action half-cock safety really all that safe?

We’ve all been taught about the half-cock notch on lever action rifles. How safe is it, really? When I was growing up lever action rifles (with the exception of the Savage 99) had no safeties. It was assumed, and taught, that the safe way to carry a lever action with a round in the chamber […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On May 19, 2015

What can a foiled terrorist attack teach us about defensive planning?

By now you’ve no doubt heard about the tragic incident in Garland, Texas. For those who missed it, on Sunday a “Draw Mohammed” Cartoon show was held in that town; contestants vied for the best cartoon in celebration of free speech. There were speakers who are active in the free speech movement, including a Dutch […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On May 5, 2015

Just what is a “critical skill”?

I really should stop reading stuff people link to on FaceBook. I really should. It’s like chocolate chip cookies; you know they’re bad for you, but you eat them anyway! The latest was a linked article which talked about practicing your reloading skills. In it, the other repeatedly referred to reloading the gun as a […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 29, 2015

“Because that’s the way I was taught” is never a good answer.

A few years ago I was teaching a class in which there was a student who’d been to several different shooting schools — including one which, in my opinion, teaches some distinctly odd material. This student was doing a particular maneuver in just such an odd manner and I asked him why. “Because that’s […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 13, 2015

Don’t let what you CAN’T do get in the way of what you CAN do. That goes for your children, too.

A story out of a middle school in Alabama has made the rounds recently. The principal of that school suggested that parents send their kids to school with canned food, which they could hurl at an attacker in self defense. Predictably, the gun community (particularly certain segments of it) responded with scorn and derision: […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 27, 2015

The case for buying two identical concealed carry guns. You can thank me later.

It’s quite popular in the world of concealed carry (CCW) and defensive shooting to say that “all guns break”. As I’ve said before, that’s true — but some guns break more commonly, more predictably, than others. However, even the best and most reliable gun, like the most reliable automobile, becomes less so as the round […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 26, 2015

The first shot isn’t necessarily the most important, but you’d better train as if it is!

It’s been said that the most important shot in a defensive encounter is the first one. I’m not sure I agree with that; I believe the most important shot is the last one, the one which leads you to determine that you no longer have a lethal threat in front of you and that you […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 19, 2015

What is defensive training really worth? Here’s a very different way of looking at it.

I got an email the other day from a reader, and the discussion revolved around the cost of self defense training: “Actually the cost of training may be worthy of a blog article. I was thinking yesterday that it seems very arbitrary. It’s too high from the perspective of a student out to get […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 13, 2015

Your attacker isn’t an animal. He’s a lot more dangerous than that.

What’s the opposite of anthropomorphism? Anthropomorphism, as you know, is the attribution of human characteristics to animals (or inanimate objects.) People who believe that guns cause people to shoot each other, for instance, are engaging in a kind of anthropomorphism: attributing desire and the ability to command to a metal object. It’s a tendency […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 11, 2015

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