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For at least a decade I’ve subscribed to the idea that a teacher needs to be open to change, and that in fact one of the best ways to gauge the quality of a teacher is to ask what he (or she) has changed their mind about. If they’re learning, if they’re growing, they’ll experience evolution in ...
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Another hump day, and another great collection of articles to improve your safety and self-sufficiency!
Having a stash of food to see you through an emergency has long been recommended (even FEMA and the American Red Cross say you should have food stored). Six months of food is a good goal, and a year’s worth is even better, but many people don’t ...
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Last week I talked about the mistaken notion of seeing self defense and personal safety as a battle to be won, because such a mindset can lead to bad decisions. Today let’s look at a related topic: your view of the place for your concealed carry gun might be affected by some mistaken training notions.
Shortly after I wrote last week’s article someone sent me ...
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It’s almost the Ides Of March, but I’m not going to stab you in the back — instead, my new camel caravan has brought information to keep you from being stabbed by the sharp knives of misfortune of all kinds!
Preparedness is more than just guns; I advocate an approach that recognizes the wide range of hazards you face, and ...
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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 the shooting range. Surprisingly few of them have ever held ...
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It’s the last day of February and I’m finishing out the month with more great resources for your health and safety!
It’s probably fitting that, in some circles, I’m known as “The Revolver Guy”. I’ve written what have been called the “standard works” on the topic, teach one of the few national revolver-centric courses ...
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Ever heard of “defensive gun use porn”? It’s a term to describe a genre of stories where good guys use their guns to beat the bad guys. Such stories are a staple of many firearms-centric blogs and news sites, and they serve not so much an educational role as they do a cheerleading one.
You’ll notice you don’t see a lot of that ...
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If it’s Wednesday, this must be the awesome collection of personal safety and preparedness articles known as the Hump Day Reading List. What do you know — correct on both counts!
Those who’ve read Prepping For Life know that I make incessant fun of the “two is one and one is none” philosophy; it’s usually nothing more than a ...
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A few quick notes of interest:
— On last Thursday’s Training Talk, martial arts and combatives expert Cecil Burch and I talked about defensive use of the knife. Cecil may be known as “the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Guy”, but he also has multi-decade experience in several edged weapon disciplines. He’s taken that knowledge and applied it to plausible self defense for the rest of ...
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Happy Valentine’s Day! Here are some Hump Day articles to help keep you and your Valentine safe, secure, and happy!
It’s not exactly a secret that my concealed carry autoloading pistol-of-choice is a Steyr S9-A1. I started carrying its predecessor, the S9, more than a decade and a half ago; it’s reasonable to say that between the two ...
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What’s great about Wednesday, you ask? Why, the great articles on self defense and preparedness that I have for you, of course!
Man sees teenager rifling through his car and goes out with his gun to confront said teenager. He decides to hold the teenager at gunpoint while they wait for the cops to arrive, and when the ...
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A popular concept taught in many defensive shooting courses (including mine) is movement off the line of attack. It’s variously referred to as “getting off the X” or “lateral movement”, and probably some other terms I’m not remembering, but the concept is pretty consistent: make it harder for the bad guy to hurt you by getting out of his way.
It’s Wednesday again, and here are more great self defense, travel safety, and preparedness articles for you to peruse while you wait for Friday to arrive!
Probably not, as John Farnam explains. I’ll deviate from his recommendations just a bit, though, and suggest that having fewer but higher quality lights is really the way ...
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If you have a concealed carry firearm, and you use that firearm against another person, the chances of the police seizing that gun for evidence are very high. If your attacker is injured or dies, it’s a certainty that your gun will end up in the evidence locker.
Once in evidence, your gun will not be returned to you until after all legal proceedings are ...
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While everyone else is at SHOT Show this week, I’m hard at work bringing you great self defense and preparedness information!
This is a pretty good article that looks at some of the reasons defensive shooting instruction often doesn’t deliver what it promises (or is expected) to deliver. I’m in particular agreement with #3.
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?
If you were to take a little time (or perhaps watch an apocalyptic movie or two) I’m sure you could imagine an absolute ...
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If you saw this announcement earlier, we’ve changed the date to take advantage of the low airfares before Spring Break.
When we checked airline tickets, we discovered that in the week before our original dates the prices dropped by more than half (in many cases)! If you were holding off because of travel costs, delay no longer and get ready to join my in ...
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Let’s be honest: There is a ton of really awful self defense training aimed at women. I’m not sure why that is, but I constantly see bad techniques, bad advice, and bad teaching methods pushed at women — and the offenders are both men and other women.
It doesn’t need to be that way, and on last night’s episode of Training Talk I discuss ...
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Like a bad penny, I just keep turning up — but unlike a bad penny, what I bring you every Wednesday is actually worth something! Here’s another great group of articles to help you keep yourself and your loved ones safe from all sorts of bad things.
Claude Werner is fond of saying that gun ...
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The first Training Talk episode of 2018 was like throwing a lit match into a dynamite factory: Should you use lethal force to protect your property?
My special guest Aaron Israel of Fundamental Defense and I discussed a Christmas Eve incident where a man shot and killed his 22-year-old son, mistakenly believing that he was a car thief stealing the man’s pickup.
It was ...
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Last night was the season finale of Training Talk. 2017 was a great year, and we capped it off by inviting all of the Special Guest Experts back on the show for a self defense roundtable!
Not everyone was able to make it, unfortunately; some were traveling for the holiday, others had family emergencies, but we did manage to ...
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This is the last Hump Day Reading List of 2017. Not to worry, though, because I’ve found some really good articles to end the year on a high note!
While this article is specific to preparedness, it’s also applicable to the narrower subject of self defense training. I’ve heard a lot of excuses from people who won’t prepare ...
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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 function is the same: the circumstances which ...
Continue Reading →It’s getting closer to Christmas, and though we don’t have any snow on the ground at my house that doesn’t mean I don’t have any presents for you — here are a bunch of great articles to stuff your electronic stocking!
Some interesting observations about riots, from someone who’s been there. We’re accustomed to thinking of riots as being somewhat organized, but in reality they’re usually not. The author explains three often misunderstood characteristics of ...
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Christmas is coming, and I’m bringing lots of joy in the form of personal safety and preparedness information!
Most of these self defense myths have disappeared from the mainstream, but they seem to crop up whenever ill-informed relatives gather for a holiday meal. Jim Wilson explains three old saws that your Uncle might bring up over the mashed potatoes, and ...
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November is winding down, but the great information in the Hump Day Reading List never ends!
On Monday I said I was looking to teach in more parts of the country during 2018, and invited you to host one of my classes. I’m sure more than a few people wondered just what that entails and how to ...
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My last classes for the year were held a couple of weeks ago. While 2017 was a good year for teaching, it’s interesting to look back over previous years to see what’s changed — and, perhaps, where the market is going.
Over the last few years my Threat-Centered Revolver course has become the most popular class I ...
Continue Reading →Just in time for Thanksgiving, a buffet of great articles — and not a turkey among them!
Lots of folks are sticking lights on their carry guns these days without a real understanding of their purpose or their use. The light isn’t supposed to facilitate your shooting; it’s to enable you to search and find a threat. That’s not something that’s efficiently (or safely) done with a WML mounted on your pistol. Jeff Gonzales ...
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With the recent attack on a church in Texas, in which 26 people were killed and dozens injured, many people are looking for ways to prevent or respond to such attacks. And there are others ready to prey on that need with bad or incomplete information. Everyone, it seems, is suddenly a “Church Security Consultant”.
As a result you can find lots of misguided articles and ...
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I’m just jumping on an airplane to return home after four full days of teaching in Phoenix, but I wanted to share these articles with you before I left the warm sunshine!
I’m sure some people are getting tired of hearing me say this, but I believe it’s more important to carry a medical kit than almost anything else. Knowing ...
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