The Cornered Cat
<— Older Posts Newer Posts —>
Different Domains
May 19, 2016

Not long ago, I came across an online video from a well-known trainer, someone I respect, who said some very important and true things.

He said that for ordinary people looking for training in firearms-based self defense, there’s little sense in seeking out instructors who have a military background. He pointed out that even though many excellent handgun instructors have been in the military, there’s very little experience in the military that directly applies to the ordinary person who intends to carry a handgun for self-defense.

Regardless of the branch, he said, very few members of the military use handguns at all, and of those that do, they rarely consider a handgun as the primary weapon system. He added that the rules of engagement between military and civilian gun use differ widely, and so do the expected situations where handguns might come into use. This means, he said, that an effective and good military mindset might in fact be a dangerous and perhaps illegal mindset for a civilian who carries a handgun.

So far, so good, I suppose.

Then he went on to say that ordinary citizens who want good defensive handgun training from an experienced source should instead attend classes taught by law enforcement professionals.

And that’s where he lost me.

He lost me because there is as wide a gap between law enforcement experience and ordinary citizen needs, as there is between military experience and ordinary citizen needs. Even though many excellent handgun instructors have spent time in law enforcement, there’s very little experience in law enforcement that directly applies to the needs of the ordinary person who wants to carry a handgun for self defense.

Military, law enforcement, ordinary citizen. These are three different domains, with different potential problems and different rules for solving those problems.

7 Comments
Nothing to Add
May 17, 2016

“There’s nothing wrong with deciding you are not able to take another person’s life. We all have unique moral principles that guide us. This is why I never proselytize about gun ownership. Having a firearm for protection purposes is a deeply personal decision of the same magnitude as deciding to lose one’s virginity, get married, or have a child. However, someone who cannot bear the thought of taking another’s life in self-defense should not have a firearm as a protection tool.”

– Claude Werner

Leave a comment
Instructor Development notes
April 28, 2016

Really enjoyed meeting a long-time internet acquaintance, Hsoi, for the first time last week. It’s always an adventure, meeting someone for the first time after you’ve known them for years. Really enjoyed getting to know him in person and wish we’d met sooner.

Hsoi attended the Instructor Development class I taught down in Texas at Karl Rehn’s facility (KR Training), which isn’t surprising since he has worked as Karl’s lead assistant for a number of years. In fact, he had asked Karl to bring me in after he read either Tamara’s or Melody‘s review of the class last June. So for that I owe him a vote of gratitude. (Thanks, Hsoi!)

As for our host, I’ll freely admit that Karl Rehn has long been one of my favorite people in the gun world. He’s  a quietly competent presence who might be easy to overlook in a day of flashy YouTube celebrities and overnight “experts”. Not just a nice guy (although he is that!), Karl is also a USPSA Grandmaster and a deeply thoughtful, highly experienced instructor who has been teaching for longer than I’ve been shooting.

When I met Karl face to face for the first time a few years back, I was at that time working as the editor for a national magazine about concealed carry. To this day, Karl remains the only person who ever fully, spontaneously understood the direction and scope of the work I’d been doing as the editor there. And I know that he did, because as we sat across from each other over dinner that night, he described it to me from his perspective as a reader and sometimes-contributor. To say that I was deeply impressed would be understating the case; I was blown away by the acuity of his vision, and a little humbled that he had seen my editorial choices so clearly.

Speaking of being a little humbled, having Karl in the class as a student was another type of adventure for me as an instructor. That’s partly because I know how very selective he is about the traveling instructors he invites to teach at his facility, and in this case, several of his staff would also be joining us so all the more reason that my own work had better be up to snuff. More than that, I’ve long deeply respected Karl as one of the strong pillars of the training community. He has built a solid school and kept it going for decades. What could I possibly have, to teach him or his people?

Thinking about that, I decided to embrace my inner imposter, and taught the class anyway. Glad I did, because it was full of very good people — everyone from brand-new instructors and people who were just considering becoming instructors, up through people who’d been doing it awhile and who were very accomplished and skilled at it. I like to think we gave full value to everyone there, no matter what their experience level when they arrived.

Anyway, Hsoi wrote up a very nice AAR of the Cornered Cat Instructor Development class in Texas. You should go read it, especially the part that involves spattered fly parts.

Leave a comment
Hey…
April 27, 2016

Instead of copying & pasting half the articles from my website, printing them out and saving them to highlight and re-read …

Why not just buy the book!?

(This post brought to you courtesy of a walk through the gun forums. I’m flattered that so many people like my writing, and I’m happy to provide good info as a public service. But … )

4 Comments
Wrong
April 3, 2016

It’s nearly impossible to get a right answer when the question itself is wrong.

“Which home defense gun would the best choice for someone who dislikes guns and does not believe in using violence under any circumstances?” is one example of such a question.

Defense guns don’t belong in the hands of those who don’t want them and aren’t willing to use them. This may be heartbreaking, but it’s the simple truth.

2 Comments
Instructor Development Qualifications
March 29, 2016

Getting ready to teach several classes on Instructor Development this year — the soonest one is coming up fast! That class will be held at KR Training in TX and I’m very excited about it.

During a longer conversation on Fb, I had just recommended several awesome, non-NRA instructor development classes from various schools and trainers when someone asked me:

“… ultimately, what qualifies them and you to teach instructors or instructor development?”

That’s what we call a Darn Good Question. It’s easy enough to look at someone’s credentials to teach defensive handgun courses, but what qualifies them to teach instructor development classes? What qualifies them to train the trainers?

In my case, any prospective student can see my training resume on this website on the “About” page — although it’s a little bit out of date right now, as it does not make any recent updates to the number of hours I’ve spent learning from others over the past couple of years. Over the past few months alone, I’ve added several NRA credentials and a 2 day private class from John and Vicki Farnam, and will have a weeklong Gunsite course under my belt by mid-April.

In addition to spending some 16 years of continuous study under some of the best instructors in the business, I also have put myself out there in writing. Potential students who wonder about my background can read an extensive, informative website where I have written in sometimes-exhaustive detail about my training philosophies, preferred techniques, mindset, and ideas about defensive firearms use. Or they can read one or both of the two books I’ve written (soon to be joined by a third), or the archives of Concealed Carry Magazine, where I served as editor for more than four years.

As students read the things I’ve written, if they are paying attention, they will soon realize that I have extensively studied the dynamics of violent crime, criminal mindset, how deadly events happen, use of force law, social patterns of behavior, human body language, teaching skills, public speaking skills, the history and use of concealed carry holsters, and a host of other subjects of interest to the armed citizen. I’m not shy about telling people what material I’ve drawn from in my writing — both of my books, and my website, are heavily footnoted — and I encourage others to study the source material as I have. I’m also (sometimes bitterly!) aware of all I don’t know and haven’t yet learned, so I’m constantly driven to learn more. That, too, shows through in my writing.

There’s also the little matter of serving as a staff instructor at one of the most highly-regarded schools in the country for more than thirteen years now, beginning as an apprentice and continuing on to become one of the lead instructors at that school. Or that over the past five years (still on staff at FAS, still teaching there when I’m home) I’ve also been running my own training company, teaching both co-ed and women-only defensive handgun classes throughout the country at many different facilities.

During my time at FAS, in addition to studying under Marty and Gila Hayes (who both have solid, nationally-recognized reputations), I have also worked alongside many highly-experienced and competent firearms instructors, and have learned from them at every opportunity. FAS hosts many of the best trainers in the industry, and so (in addition to the classes formally recorded on my resume) I’ve often had a “fly on the wall” view of these trainers when I’ve worked as an assistant in their classes. That has given me a tremendous opportunity to concentrate not just on the what of their classes’ content (as students do), but to really focus on how these master instructors present their material and run their ranges — and I’ve kept extensive notes on that over the years.

I can also point to students I have worked with, who review and recommend the classes they have taken from me. They say things like:

  • “If you’re looking to build your own curriculum, run it safely and effectively while minimizing risks to yourself and your students, this is a class you should take.” — Melody Lauer
  • “For anyone interested in improving their performance as an instructor, I highly recommend this class. It distills a lot of the tribal knowledge that has been developed over the years at FAS, Gunsite, and other ranges and presents it in an organized package that is a boon to any instructor. Bring an open mind and an empty notebook, because you’ll fill them both up with knowledge.” — Tamara Keel, writing in Shooting Illustrated.

So what we have there is a mix of education, training, and practice in the art and science of teaching students how to use guns to defend their own lives. Over the past decade and a half, I’ve had many good models and I’ve studied those models with a great deal of care. And I have freely shared what I have learned, and where I have learned it, so that prospective instructors can easily discover my background.

For the others I mentioned (Marty & Gila Hayes of FAS, John & Vicki Farnam of DTI, Tom & Lynn Givens of Rangemaster, Massad Ayoob of MAG), you’d have to ask them what qualifies them to train others how to teach. But I will tell you right now that most of their training and teaching resumes far outshine my own, either because nearly all of them started a decade or more before I did, or because they began with a vocational or experiental background that I lack. These are people I deeply respect and admire.  But I am in no way ashamed of my own experience or ability to teach.

Leave a comment
Gear check!
March 16, 2016

Here’s a little secret that’s a surprise to a lot of people: carry gear wears out.

This is true no matter what kind of holster we use, whether it’s leather or Kydex or hybrid or elastic or nylon or anything else. It’s true no matter how spendy or cheap the products were, and it’s true no matter how well made they are.

Flexible holsters (the ones made of fabric or elastic) tend to wear out much faster than those made of Kydex or leather. Not always, but it’s the way to bet. In my experience, soft holster products tend to last around a year before they wear out. When they do, they stop holding the gun as well, stop protecting the trigger as well, and stop fitting your body as well. The bit about not protecting the trigger as well is hugely important! If the material was just barely stiff enough when new to prevent trigger movement, it may not prevent trigger movement when well-worn.

Velcro just dies. It quits sticking. I used to have a holster (a good holster that I loved) that attached to my belt with a Velcro tab, so that nothing would show on the belt line. It was an awesome holster, but the Velcro was destined to stop working far too soon — and it did. My wake up call came one day at the range, when I drew my holster along with my gun as I was practicing.

Good leather will likely last several years, and gradually stretch to get looser and looser over that time. That’s why the best custom-made leather holsters always hold the gun too snugly when they are new. Eventually, no matter how well-made, the leather will become so loose that the holster fails the Tip Test, and then it should be thrown away.

Cheap leather doesn’t last as long as good leather. The wearing-out process looks about the same as it does on good leather, but goes a lot faster. Plus, it will tend to get softer and more pliant as time goes on, which means the holster is more likely to squish shut where it was rigid originally.

Good Kydex lasts longer than cheap Kydex, and both last a lot longer than basic plastic. All three types break suddenly, most often at stress points where they attach to the belt or at wear points that retain the gun. If you’re lucky, they won’t break in the middle of the grocery store, spilling your gun to the floor. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

Everything wears out. No exceptions! When a holster wears out or breaks after a reasonable amount of daily use, that’s not a fault in the product. It’s just the way things go. Unless the holster wears out much faster than one would expect given its core materials, or breaks prematurely because of a design flaw, the fact that something can wear out is no reason to recommend against its use when new.

But. Pay attention here…

It’s important to regularly check your carry gear to be sure it’s still in good shape. If you get in the habit of checking for holster wear whenever you clean your gun, your holster can’t surprise you in a dangerous way when it wears out. You’ll have enough warning to replace the product before it becomes untrustworthy.

Stay safe!

2 Comments
“But did you die?”
March 11, 2016

Lots of good responses to yesterday’s post about kids and gun safety.  But on one of the private groups I frequent online, there was some pushback from parents who did not want to keep their guns either on-body, or locked up in a secure fast-access gun safe. They said things like:

  • “We [keep our gun] in the top dresser drawer ready to go… My [daughters] know it’s not a toy.”
  • “Top of the closet, loaded. Our children are educated on gun safety.”
  • “Ours is bullet in chamber above our bed in a cabinet she can’t reach.”
  • “We have taught them gun safety and it’s never been a mystery to them. I grew up with unsecured guns and knew better.”

I don’t — honestly, truly don’t! — understand the resistance to using a secure, fast-access safe or keeping the gun on-body at home. Typing “fast access gun safe” into the search bar on Amazon brings up dozens of easy to use lockboxes that will store the gun securely and allow parents to quickly arm themselves without any chance of a child getting the gun when they shouldn’t. Many of them cost less than a meal in a nice restaurant with the family.

Let me put this in a little perspective, especially for those who grew up with unsecured guns and thus may not understand what the fuss is all about.

Although I truly hate to mention this, I’m over 40 years old (47 to be exact … where do the years go?). Like many other people who grew up around unsecured guns, I also grew up not wearing a seat belt.

Just for nostalgia’s sake, here’s what a child car seat looked like when I was a little girl.

 

Once upon a time, this was the safest place for a child to ride in the car.

Once upon a time, this was the safest place for a baby to ride in the car.

 

We had one that looked a lot like this, but most of the time my parents didn’t use it. They often let me ride on someone’s lap (my favorite: sitting on daddy’s lap, “helping” him drive). I can remember riding in the back of the family station wagon, playing cards with my brother in the cargo space. Or lying stretched out in a sleeping bag on the floor of the van, or letting the wind blow through my hair as we rode in the open bed of a pickup truck. All of those things were normal when I was a kid — and all of them are pretty much unacceptable parenting practices now.

We might smile when we remember things like that and say, “Oh, we survived those ‘dangerous’ practices, so they must not have been so dangerous after all!”

But when we say that, we’re being very foolish, because you know who we can’t ask? All the children who died before they got to be as old as we are.

 

Childhood deaths in motor vehicle collisions by age, 1975 - 2014. In 1974, approximately 16 percent of American infants rode in car seats. By 2014, that number had risen to over 98 percent. (Source: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/child-safety/fatalityfacts/child-safety#Trends)

Childhood deaths in motor vehicle collisions by age, 1975 – 2014. In 1974, approximately 16 percent of American infants rode in car seats. By 2014, that number had risen to over 98 percent. (Source: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/child-safety/fatalityfacts/child-safety#Trends)

 

The change in parenting practice from not using car seats at all to keeping children in very well-designed modern car seats has saved a lot of lives that would have otherwise been lost. This is true even though a lot of us survived riding in cars without car seats, or with the less-safe older styles.

So what does this have to do with locking up your guns where children can’t get them? Quite a lot! Here’s what modern “lock the guns up and educate your kids” firearms practices have accomplished on the child safety front.

 

Changes in parental safety practices -- most notably, locking up the guns rather than hiding them or storing them haphazardly around the house -- have nearly eliminated childhood deaths from gun accidents.

Changes in parental safety practices — most notably, locking up the guns rather than hiding them or storing them haphazardly around the house — have sharply reduced childhood deaths from gun accidents, even while gun ownership and use has continued to rise.

 

So while I’m glad to know that each of us survived our own dangerous childhoods, I’m also glad to know that we can do things more safely for our own children. What a wonderful time to be alive!

Thank goodness for modern quick-access safes, that allow parents to keep self-defense guns ready for quick use but out of the reach of children.

Thank goodness for modern concealed carry laws that allow responsible adults to keep firearms safely holstered on their bodies without fear of breaking the law by simply stepping past their own property line.

And thank goodness for parents smart enough and dedicated enough to teach their children how to safely handle and use firearms, even from very young ages.

 

 

Stay safe!

4 Comments