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

There are no defensive shooting experts.

If, by “expert”, you mean someone with a significant amount of first-hand experience in the activity (i.e., shooting people who attacked them) . Here’s the dirty little secret no one in this business will admit to: none of us have enough — in most cases any — shooting experience defending ourselves against a criminal […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On June 7, 2019

“But what if…”

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On June 4, 2018

A new way of looking at likelihood and plausbility

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On May 21, 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

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On November 6, 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

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 […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 31, 2016

Meaningless increments of precision — and why you should avoid them

When we talk about self defense (and particularly when gun people talk about self defense), the topic of measurement will eventually come up. In the gun world we love to measure things, and we can measure just about anything. The problem is that the measurements we make may not be important. I use the term […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 30, 2016

Choosing a defensive handgun: making the best of bad alternatives

An interesting question came up in a class I taught recently. It had to do with defensive carry firearm recommendations in states which restrict the models available for sale (such as in Massachusetts and California.) How is someone to pick the best of the worst options? The attributes of an ideal defensive handgun When picking […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 19, 2016

“We face the same criminals the police do!” Yes, but…

Every once in a while I see the tired old cliché “we face the same criminals the police do!” It’s usually used to justify some particular type of defensive firearms training, too often centered around the trainer’s police experience. The idea, of course, is that we need to adopt the attitudes, tactics, and armament of […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 9, 2016

Defensive shooting fundamentals: I do not think it means what they think it means.

I want you to sit back and think for just a minute: you have 60 seconds to teach someone how to use a gun to defend herself from an imminent attack. What useful defensive shooting fundamentals can you give her in that small amount of time? This little exercise strips away all of the nonsense, […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On August 1, 2016

“It’s a training issue.” I don’t think that means what you think it means.

Hoo boy, I heard it again just the other day: “it’s a training issue”. The subject at hand was a discussion about the traditional double action pistol, the kind that has a long and heavy double action first shot and a shorter, lighter single action (DA/SA) for each subsequent shot. I’m not a fan of […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 11, 2016

Boring doesn’t sell, and realistic self defense skills are kind of boring.

No matter what you’re trying to get people to buy — from cars to breakfast cereals to political candidates — you have to make it exciting, because if it’s not folks will just pass it by. (Yes, political candidates. Anyone remember Scott Walker? He was an early entry into this year’s Republican field and widely […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 11, 2016

You don’t need to be a SEAL to defend yourself with a firearm. You need more relevant skills.

Last week I got two emails about my front page headline: “You don’t need to be a Navy SEAL just to be safe!” One applauded me for “telling it like it is”, but the other one insisted that I was doing people a big disservice by saying that, because if everyone trained to the level […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On March 7, 2016

My job is helping my students discover what’s important. Sometimes that takes guts.

Techniques, gear, and even concepts can be cool and exciting — but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily important to your self defense. My job, the way I earn my living, is to figure out what’s really important for my students and readers and then how to explain it to them. How and why do I do […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On February 5, 2016

The problem with defensive shooting is that it’s dominated by enthusiasts. That’s not necessarily good for you.

I have a confession to make: I once screwed up a lot of people who came to me for advice. Wait, it’s not what you think! It does, however, directly apply to what I do today, and probably why you’re reading this blog. Allow me to relate my short story. Back in my much-younger days […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On January 15, 2016

Defensive Shooting Myths and Misconceptions: “I shoot that gun really well.”

If you spend any time around the internet, whether on gun forums or social media, sooner or later you’ll see someone defending a sub-optimal choice of defensive firearm by saying “I shoot it well.” Now of course everyone is certainly free to carry what they deem fit, and I don’t want to suggest they’re not, […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On December 28, 2015

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

What if you disagree with your defensive shooting instructor?

You’re at a defensive shooting class; maybe this is your first, maybe it’s your twenty-first. Your instructor says (or does) something you disagree with. What do you do? There are a lot of different approaches to teaching self-defense shooting, and while at least 90% of the mechanics that are taught are the same from instructor to […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On November 2, 2015

What’s the difference between tasks and skills in defensive shooting training? Does it matter?

When training defensive shooting techniques, it’s common — too common, in fact — to focus on the skill used rather than the task to be performed. Now some people will say that those are the same thing, but they’re not. In fact, they’re very different. I recently read an article on the importance of and […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On September 11, 2015

What can a foiled terrorist attack teach us about defensive planning?

By now you’ve no doubt heard about the tragic incident in Garland, Texas. For those who missed it, on Sunday a “Draw Mohammed” Cartoon show was held in that town; contestants vied for the best cartoon in celebration of free speech. There were speakers who are active in the free speech movement, including a Dutch […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On May 5, 2015

Just what is a “critical skill”?

I really should stop reading stuff people link to on FaceBook. I really should. It’s like chocolate chip cookies; you know they’re bad for you, but you eat them anyway! The latest was a linked article which talked about practicing your reloading skills. In it, the other repeatedly referred to reloading the gun as a […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On April 29, 2015