“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

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

“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

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

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

Tap-Rack is an action, not a dance. You don’t need to add moves to it.

I recently read a blog post about a trainer who got into trouble talking about the “tap-rack” methodology for clearing malfunctions. It seems this person, as many do, added a step to the procedure: “squeeze” (or some term which implied pulling the trigger.) This resulted in a virtual spanking from the internet experts, who decried […]

Posted by Grant Cunningham
On October 26, 2015

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