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

All or nothing? Not in my world.

Getting started in preparedness, whether the entry point is in self defense or in disaster survival, can seem daunting. Even moving from one area of preparedness to another, particularly if they’re unrelated, can also be intimidating. Unfortunately, sometimes the people who are well-versed in those topics don’t make the situation any easier. Here's how to deal with those people.

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On July 28, 2019

Is there value in competitive shooting?

Much has been written about (and many arguments started over) the value of competitive shooting for the person who owns or carries a firearm for personal defense. There are generally two polarized views in this manufactured controversy. The first states that a defensive shooting is always a competition and that only competitive shooters can […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On July 12, 2019

How to get prepared in three easy steps

I admit to a bit of creative over-simplification in today’s title, but there’s an important lesson in it. My wife and I were walking in the woods recently, and the topic of conversation touched on preparedness. Rather, the lack of preparedness amongst a large percentage of the adult population. How the other three-quarters lives […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On June 28, 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

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

Can buying less actually give you more safety?

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On May 28, 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

What does “preparing for the worst case” mean?

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? The mind runs wild If you were to take a little time (or perhaps watch […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On January 22, 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

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

“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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On February 6, 2017

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

Plan your personal security like a vacation

In Monday’s article about self defense tips I mentioned that the path to personal security, home defense and family protection doesn’t come from digesting little soundbites or snippets of information. Those sorts of things might make you feel good or give you a temporary (and very illusory) sense of security, but in reality they don’t […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On July 1, 2016

Reliability testing your defensive ammunition: important but often ignored!

Last week I headed out to the range to do some testing. Not practice, really (though I did use the opportunity to get in some realistic practice drills), but ammunition testing. Now you’ve probably seen YouTube videos about ammunition testing, complete with gelatin blocks (or their synthetic equivalent) and breathless talk about penetration and expansion. […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On May 16, 2016

Choosing the ‘pool gun’ for your family and home defense: what’s best?

If you keep a firearm for home defense (more specifically, defense of yourself and others while in your home — we don’t use lethal force to defend mere property), it’s entirely possible that there may be more than one person who is authorized, capable of or likely to need to use it. You may have a […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On February 26, 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

The important role of a training partner in your defensive shooting skill development.

In the defensive shooting world we talk a lot about carry guns, calibers, holsters, belts, and all manner of accessories from flashlights to scopes. A large reason for this focus on things is because they’re easily understood and readily quantifiable; it’s easy to compare things by numbers, charts and graphs. We pay comparatively little attention […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On December 7, 2015

No, things really haven’t changed: self defense in a post-Paris world.

The bodies in Paris hadn’t even been buried when the agendas got trotted out. No, I’m not talking about gun control or immigration restrictions; I’m not talking about refugees or intelligence sharing or air strikes or border checkpoints, either. I’m talking about the “you need to prepare to deal with this new threat!” brigade. If […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On November 23, 2015

How many self defense classes have you taken this year? They may be holding you back!

One of the common recommendations in the training world is to study with as many different people or schools as you can, to get as many different perspectives as possible in order to get a more fully formed opinion of the subject of defensive shooting (or self defense in general.) I think the idea is […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 19, 2015

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

Got a new Glock 43? Looking for holsters and maybe sights??

The 9mm Glock 43 may be new on the market, but it’s already getting a lot of attention from both shooters and accessory makers. Here’s how to find out what’s available for this new “mini-9”! The introduction of the single-stack, striker-fired 9mm Glock 43 pistol has been hard to miss. Everyone’s been talking about it […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 27, 2015