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A recent talk with a colleague reminded me that in our zeal to embrace the new, we sometimes lose sight of the virtues of the past.
Before you get all worked up and start calling me a “Fudd”, understand that I love the things modern technology has given us. Whether in firearms, electronics, or anything else, I’d never want to give up the progress we’ve made.
I’m ...
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Wednesdays are always better with great self defense and preparedness information!
Not every potentially dangerous situation is a surprise. Sometimes they develop from your interaction with another person. Anyone who has ever worked in a service job understands how unhinged people can become over seemingly innocuous things, and sometimes their anger builds to the point of violence. There are some ...
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Keeping kids safe around firearms, and teaching them to use them safely and responsibly, is a big task. If you’re a gun owner and a parent, it may be one of the most important things you do. That’s what we covered on last week’s episode of Training Talk, with special guest Barret Kendrick — Instructor and Dad.
We talked about how kids can live safely ...
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April showers have brought…May Hump Day Reading List articles! Don’t miss out on any of these great references for all parts of your protected life!
If you’ve read Prepping For Life, you know that I recommend doing threat assessments for everyone in your family. This is a very interesting article from the Active Response Training Blog, specifically on doing ...
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Last week I received an interesting email from a reader of my latest book, Protecting Your Homestead: Using a rifle to defend life on your property.
The sender was wondering about the utility of a lever-action rifle as a defensive tool, and said that he’d been told his lever action was only suitable for “short duration gunfights”. He was worried that his rifle wouldn’t be ...
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Spring has finally sprung in Oregon, and I’m celebrating with a great collection of articles for all aspects of your defense, safety, and preparedness!
Why do I say it’s dumb? Because these are five types of people you should ALWAYS avoid, whether you’re carrying or not! (Remember John Farnam’s famous advice: Don’t go to stupid places, do stupid ...
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“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 of a road rage incident where both drivers stop their cars and ...
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If you tuned into Training Talk last night at 6:pm and found nothing happening, I must apologize — we ran late!
Normally I start on the dot at 6:pm, but last night we had some technical problems that took us some time to resolve. We finally did, though, and started the show at about 6:16.
And what a show it was! Attorney Jim Fleming did ...
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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 understand that some people really, truly can’t. It just isn’t ...
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Is it Wednesday already? Wow, how time flies when you’re busy collecting great self defense and preparedness articles to share!
Something that the gun world often gets wrong is the difference between training and practice — and it’s not just a semantic argument, either. Training is where you learn new things, new skills; practice is where you rehearse and replay ...
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Today I’m proud to announce my latest book, one which I’ve wanted to write for some time — Protecting Your Homestead: Using a Rifle to Defend Life on Your Property!
This book is an outgrowth of my Perimeter Defense Rifle course, which looks at using a rifle in defense of life beyond what is normally considered handgun range. ...
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It’s Wednesday, and this week I have a particularly good selection of articles for your perusal!
Tomorrow evening, April 5, be sure to tune into Training Talk on Personal Defense Network. My special guest expert this week is Joshua Gideon, and we’ll be talking about active killers: what can we do to stop them? We’ll be looking at the ...
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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 an interview with globetrotter Anthony Bourdain titled “All the Things ...
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Another Wednesday, another collection of great articles to inform and educate about self defense, family protection, and preparedness!
There was a time when I was a die-hard GPS hater, but as the technology improved (and I learned how to use it most effectively) I changed my mind. There are times when compass triangulation doesn’t work, and times when ...
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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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