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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 effort to support a particular conclusion. For instance, I was going ...
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Believe it or not, the job I do isn’t actually all that pleasant. I’ve run into a lot of people who tell me they’d “love” to have my job; they tell me that “it must be fun”. They see the travel, or focus on the guns and shooting, without thought to what those things represent.
Trust me, it’s not all sunshine.
The reality ...
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It’s another Hump Day, and I’m here to share some more great personal defense and preparedness articles with you. (Which is actually redundant, because personal defense is but one form of preparedness, though not everyone realizes that — yet!)
A self defense plan (which is really just a part of an overall preparedness plan) is, I believe, ...
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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 pull out the hooks, attach them to some line, and drop them ...
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Wednesday the 13th is extra lucky, and I’ll prove it by sharing some really great articles to help keep you and your family safer and more secure!
This article from the Preparedness Advice blog is pure gold. The author looks at five pieces of common preparedness advice and takes each one apart, and I agree with just ...
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Let’s assume, for the moment, that you have a perfect teenager. He or she is always polite, gets schoolwork in on time, excels in extracurricular activities, has above-average SAT scores, and has never been in trouble at school — or anywhere else, for that matter.
This is a kid you can trust, and who has never betrayed that trust. You can rely on him or her ...
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It’s the first Wednesday of June? Why, let’s celebrate with some great self defense, personal safety, and family preparedness articles!
When you have children, defense planning gets substantially more complicated. The younger they are, the more impact they have. This article looks at the five biggest myths people have about keeping their kids safe, and it’s worth reading.
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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 about something I’ve said or written regarding the use of ...
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This week I bring you more great articles to help you and your loved ones live safer lives. Why not grab a beverage and do some reading?
An introduction to some of the ways to keep your guns from being stolen. (Frankly, I wish the author had simply said “never keep guns in your car, period.” I realize that ...
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The concept of minimalism intrigues me, because of its emphasis on personal growth rather than the acquisition of things. It forces one to ask “what’s important to me?” and “what do I really need?” rather than “oh, look, free shipping if I spend more money than I originally intended to!”
Sadly, in this case the self defense and firearms media is always working against you.
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I have no witty introduction this week, just a hand-curated assortment of articles that are worth your time to read. And a plug for my PDN show at the end (don’t miss it!)
I cover proper grasp in depth in my Threat-Centered Revolver course, because I believe it to be the single most important step to shooting ...
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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 seemed to me that, even when the defensive firearm was ...
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Is it Wednesday again already? How time flies when I’m collecting articles to share with you!
Krebs on Security posted this article about credit card skimmers — but this time there’s a new wrinkle: they were placed on card scanners at the checkout lines of grocery stores, right under the noses of the clerks. He even ahs video of ...
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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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