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More is not necessarily better, especially when you can’t take care of it

Any preparations you’ve made for your safety and protection — whether physical skills, gear and equipment, or storage commodities — need to be maintained to be useful. There is a cost to maintenance, and it’s one we often ignore in our zeal to always acquire more. That cost may affect your ability to respond efficiently […]

No, I don’t sell t-shirts. Here’s why.

Someone sent me a an email recently, and I’m sure the answer he got wasn’t the one he was expecting: “Why don’t you make up t-shirts for sale?”, he asked. “You could put quotes from your books on them, some of the cover art, etc. I’ll bet they’d do well.” Why not, indeed? I’ll admit it’s […]

After Las Vegas: Don’t be paranoid.

Following my recent post about the Las Vegas attack, someone sent me an email that said, in effect, the best way to survive such an attack was to not be there in the first place. If one only stayed away from all crowds, such as concerts and sporting events, one would never be the victim […]

Some lessons from the Las Vegas attack

As I write this it’s been five days since a man opened fire on a country music festival in Las Vegas, killing 58 people and wounding over 500. While information is still being processed by law enforcement, and there are still many unanswered questions about the motives of the attacker, enough information has come out […]

Bugging out, revisited.

As I’ve mentioned (and expanded on in Prepping For Life), I’m not usually a fan of the “bugout” concept — at least as it’s typically conceived. As many people think of it, bugging out is a semi-permanent relocation to a retreat preselected for its defensibility and likely stocked with survival provisions. Others think of bugging […]

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 […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted July 25, 2017
  • In mythbusting

There’s a difference between “infuriated” and “threatened”

I’ve noticed a trend in the last year. More and more news stories are covering incidents where gun owners (usually with concealed carry licenses) use their firearms inappropriately or even recklessly. Along with this trend I’m also seeing more gun owners cheering them on, usually from a “get tough on criminals” point of view. As […]

Things people ask: “How do you write a book?”

I was finishing up the manuscript for my 10th book this week when I received an email asking, in essence, how to go about writing a book. I don’t know that I’m very good at it yet, nor that anyone should follow my example, but I certainly have some experience under my belt! Every author […]

Where are we going wrong?

Daughter, 22, shot by dad who says he mistook her for intruder Hardly a week goes by that I don’t see an article like this cross my electronic desk, and they bother me. Quite a lot, actually. Why? Because I don’t think we in the firearms world are doing enough to truly educate people. We […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted April 28, 2017
  • In drills, practice, realistic

An excerpt from my next book!

I’m writing another book, this one dealing with a structured approach to preparedness and personal security. It’s a different approach to the topic, and I think it will be tremendously useful to help you achieve a balanced approach to your safety. It integrates self defense, medical response, and disaster preparedness into a cohesive and manageable […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted April 14, 2017
  • In flashlights, lubrication

Caring for your defensive flashlight

You do carry a high-intensity flashlight as part of your everyday ready kit, don’t you? If not, you should! I believe the compact high-intensity flashlight is the most useful self defense tool you can carry. It serves as a detection device, allowing you to spot danger before it can reach you; as a deterrent, using the […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted March 27, 2017
  • In carbines

The Pistol Caliber Carbine: the gun tactical hobbyists love to hate

If you ask a tactical hobbyist what he or she thinks about the pistol caliber carbine, you'll often be met with scorn. "They're not a rifle", they'll say, and that's true — but sometimes, not being a rifle makes them better for the person who isn't a tactical hobbyist. Here's why.

A gun on your nightstand isn’t the best idea, no matter who says so

One of the things I find myself doing on a regular basis is serving as a counterpoint to the fantasies running rampant in the defensive shooting world. I do this by bringing rational thought to the topic of personal defense, and today I’m doing it again! A recent article on the Concealed Nation website dealt […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted February 6, 2017
  • In confidence, security

“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 […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted January 27, 2017
  • In drills, practice, realistic

Think before you shoot. A long time before.

A sad tale crossed my desk earlier this week. It seems one Billy Williams was awakened in the night by one of his children, who reportedly told him that someone was trying to break into their house via the front door. Mr. Williams retrieved a handgun from a safe in his bedroom and walked to […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted January 13, 2017
  • In drills, practice, realistic

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 […]

The Fort Lauderdale attack: it’s not the gun. Again. Still.

Just a few days ago a man with a history of mental issues boarded an airline in Alaska, after declaring his gun in checked luggage as required by law. He sat down in his seat and the suitcase containing his pistol and ammunition was placed in the cargo hold beneath him. When he got to […]

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 […]

All training is an abstraction. Is that good or bad?

A couple of weeks ago someone posted an interesting video on social media. It wasn’t the video itself which was interesting, but rather the reactions to it. The video was of an exercise from a defensive shooting class. The exercise was a good example of forcing cognitive processing rather than a Pavlovian draw-and-fire response, which […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted December 5, 2016
  • In realistic

Questioning the premise of your preparations

My apologies if you’re not a fan of the show South Park, but an old episode has a training lesson for us. On that episode, some little people known as Underpants Gnomes presented their 3-part success plan: Phase 1: Steal underpants. Phase 2: ??? Phase 3: Profit! The joke, of course, isn’t that there’s nothing in […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted November 11, 2016
  • In awareness, mythbusting

“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 […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted November 7, 2016
  • In integrity, teaching

Standards and integrity

If you're a fan of standards, you have to be sure that those standards have integrity. That's how you verify that they actually mean something.
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted October 31, 2016
  • In context, teaching

Time is running out to sign up for Threat-Centered Revolver in Arizona!

Just a month from now I’ll be teaching my Threat-Centered Revolver class in sunny Phoenix, and if you want to attend you need to book now! December 3 & 4 I’ll be at Phoenix Firearms Training, basking in the warm sun and teaching responsible revolver owners how to defend themselves with the classic double action […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted October 28, 2016
  • In instructors, security

Generally speaking, you shouldn’t specialize.

  If your goal is to make you and your family safer, to learn how to survive dangerous events, you need a generalist’s perspective. That’s because there are a wide range of things you need to know to make safety happen consistently, which means that you need to study and prepare in many different areas […]

Do you need to modify your carry gun? Should you?

In the dim past (which wasn’t really all that long ago), if you needed to change something on your carry gun you took it to a gunsmith. You’d wait for him to do the work, pay him lots of money, and go home happy — more or less. That was the state of things largely […]

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 […]

Things People Say: “I want to buy a gun to keep myself safe”

Anyone who’s been around guns for any length of time eventually gets asked for advice: “I want to buy a gun to keep myself safe. What should I get?” It’s tempting to launch into a discussion about shotguns versus rifles versus handguns, or maybe about 9mm versus .40 S&W, striker-fired versus double action/single action, or […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted October 3, 2016
  • In integrity, realistic

Do you want to be a better shooter or a better defender?

I received quite a number of emails, blog comments and social media interaction about Friday’s topic, “Meaningless increments of precision.” A large percentage of them asked questions or made statements which revealed that the person was fixated on the notion that becoming a better shooter makes or keeps someone safer. This is going to sound […]