You are not a security camera, and that’s a problem

Surveillance cameras are all over, and sometimes they're used to sell ideas about self defense. The only problem is that sometimes they sell the wrong idea.

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On August 9, 2019

Make up your mind, before you need to

Daydreaming can be a good self defense technique. Here's an excellent example.

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On August 2, 2019

Following up on the Three Easy Steps: Readiness as a habit

Last week I introduced Grant’s Patented Plan To Becoming More Self-Reliant In Three Easy Steps ™: Buy a pocket knife. Buy a small high-intensity flashlight. Carry them with you every day. My approach to preparedness, whether the subject is self defense or disaster readiness, is to start with becoming better prepared to handle common, […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On July 5, 2019

Luck happens, but sometimes it happens to someone else.

This is a sobering tale, and I share it for a lesson that’s not immediately obvious. Concealed Carrier vs. Armed Robber The story is relatively simple: Mr. Miller was at his son’s house looking at a plumbing problem. His son was not home at the time, but was on the phone with his father. […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On June 21, 2019

The critical skill no one teaches

The ability to judge risk is critical to the long game of self defense. (As it happens, it’s also critical to efficient preparedness, investing your retirement funds wisely, and the choice between flying or driving to your vacation destination.) Yet, despite its importance, it’s very rarely talked about — especially in the self defense community. […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 15, 2018

You shouldn’t listen to the “shoulds”. Or should you?

Lately I’ve been allowing myself to do something I caution others to never do: read the comments. Whenever I’ve come across a news story that has something to do with self defense or disaster preparedness, I read a few of the comments left by others. I’ve noticed something interesting: they often use the word “should”. […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 1, 2018

The “long game” of self defense

It’s easy to think of self defense as a thing you do in response to a bad guy. After all, that’s what most self defense courses focus on: bad guy appears and you perform the indicated response. So neat. So tidy. So precise. And so misleading. Self defense doesn’t start when the bad guy appears, […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 17, 2018

Self defense, quantum physics, and negative outcomes

The great physicist Werner Heisenberg is responsible for describing a very interesting phenomenon in quantum physics: our observations effect the behavior of quanta (quantum particles). In other words, by simply observing an experiment, it’s possible that we inadvertently change the outcome. Quantum physics gets really weird after that, but this is as far we need […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On July 23, 2018

What if nothing happens?

No matter what the preparedness focus, be it just self defense or a full-blown disaster, in the back of everyone’s mind is a little voice that wonders if they’re not being just a little silly. “After all”, the little voice says, “you’re spending a lot of your time, energy, and money on something you don’t […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On July 16, 2018

The best defense is still not being there

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On July 2, 2018

When friends are strangers

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On June 11, 2018

Do you have conflicting security priorities? You’re not alone.

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 16, 2018

You can find perspective in some odd places

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 2, 2018

How fast should you shoot?

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 26, 2018

Porn takes many forms

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On February 26, 2018

Where are your tripwires?

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On December 15, 2017

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 9, 2017

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On August 28, 2017

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On May 15, 2017

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 20, 2017

Fast food drive-throughs can be dangerous. Here’s how to deal with them safely.

If you use the drive through at a fast food restaurant, here's what you need to know to keep yourself (and your passengers) safe!

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On December 19, 2016

“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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On November 11, 2016

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 14, 2016

Someone you know is attacking you. Could you respond appropriately?

Those of us in the defensive training world usually talk about bad guys as though they’re complete strangers. The rapist on the jogging trail, the masked home invaders, and the carjacker at the gas station are all anonymous. We don’t know them, they really don’t know us, but fate causes our paths to intersect. When […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On August 8, 2016

What do you do with all your situational awareness?

“Situational awareness”. It’s one of the throwaway personal safety tips that are always trotted out after a horrific news story. So you work really hard to have it; then what? No, seriously: what do you do with all that situational awareness? It’s one thing if your situational awareness finds an imminent attack, but that’s not […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On July 25, 2016

Threat Assessment: the first step in security planning

In the last installment I left you with the idea that planning your personal security is something that you should make the effort to do. You’ll havemore effective defensive preparations (you’ll get better results) and more efficient ones too (you’ll make the best use of your preparedness resources.) As I’ve pointed out in many books […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On July 8, 2016

Incident Analysis: Warning shots are a bad idea, especially when the run you out of ammunition.

Over at The Firearm Blog we read the story of one Bart Bryson. In investigating what appeared to be a burglary in progress he made a number of really bad decisions that could have left him very vulnerable. The short version of the story: he pulled up to an unoccupied home that he owns and spotted […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On February 15, 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

Personal safety apps: do they really keep you safer?

Sometimes I think people have a distorted view of personal security — particularly in the media! Now I know that’s hard to believe; after all, if you can’t trust the media, who can you trust? (In case anyone doesn’t get the sarcasm in that sentence, well — it’s sarcasm!) They’ve been reporting lately on a […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 17, 2015