Personal Protection

THIS book was published 25 years ago and has been reprinted several times – and for good reason.

Someone Else’s Daughter: The Life and Death of Anita Cobby tells the horrific story of the crime that shocked and sickened Australia.

In January 1986, Sydney nurse Anita Cobby, 26, was abducted as she walked home from Blacktown train station. It was a hot Summer night and Anita, a nurse, was on her way to her parent’s house where she was living at the time.

What happened next forced Australians to confront the absolute worst of human behaviour. Anita’s body was found two days after her abduction. She’d been repeatedly raped and savaged, her throat slit in a final indignity.

Author Julia Sheppard details the crime, the police investigation and the criminal trial that saw 5 men sentenced to life imprisonment for Anita’s murder.

RELATED: The Janine Balding Story: A Journey Through a Mother’s Nightmare

This book is distressing to read in many parts but it also tells the story of Anita’s life and that of her stoic, loving parents Grace and Garry and how they coped with the shocking loss of Anita and the intense gaze of the press and the public. They were ordinary Australians who were thrust into the public arena in the worst of circumstances.

I had read this book when it first came out and then picked up my current copy at an op shop and re-read it, which I think had more impact on me the second time (and by this stage I am a mother to daughters).

This is one of the finest Australian true crime books. Julia Sheppard did an extraordinary job writing about this crime that has been dubbed Australia’s crime of the 20th Century.

THIS book was published 15 years ago and has been reprinted several times – and for good reason.

Someone Else’s Daughter: The Life and Death of Anita Cobby tells the horrific story of the crime that shocked and sickened Australia.

In January 1986, Sydney nurse Anita Cobby, 26, was abducted as she walked home from Blacktown train station. It was a hot Summer night and Anita, a nurse, was on her way to her parent’s house where she was living at the time.

What happened next forced Australians to confront the absolute worst of human behaviour. Anita’s body was found two days after her abduction. She’d been repeatedly raped and savaged, her throat slit in a final indignity.

Author Julia Sheppard details the crime, the police investigation and the criminal trial that saw 5 men sentenced to life imprisonment for Anita’s murder.

RELATED: The Janine Balding Story: A Journey Through a Mother’s Nightmare

This book is distressing to read in many parts but it also tells the story of Anita’s life and that of her stoic, loving parents Grace and Garry and how they coped with the shocking loss of Anita and the intense gaze of the press and the public. They were ordinary Australians who were thrust into the public arena in the worst of circumstances.

I had read this book when it first came out and then picked up my current copy at an op shop and re-read it, which I think had more impact on me the second time (and by this stage I am a mother to daughters).

This is one of the finest Australian true crime books. Julia Sheppard did an extraordinary job writing about this crime that has been dubbed Australia’s crime of the 20th Century.

What should you do if you see someone being victimized? Do you have a Good Samaritan Checklist? Most good people would be compelled to get involved; to be the proverbial “Good Samaritan”. Far too often, however, an attempt to intervene only makes things worse. Intervening at the wrong time or in the wrong way can put you, your family and your legal standing at risk. It can also endanger others in the area or even escalate the danger to the person you were trying to help. How can you avoid making things worse?

It doesn’t take much time to find examples of tragedy involving would-be heroes. You can also find plenty of stories about people who acted heroically and were successful with details that reveal how close tragedy was. The point of this article isn’t to diminish the likelihood of you helping someone when you can, it is to maximize your likelihood of success while minimizing the risk you expose yourself to.

The decision of whether or not to act in defense of others is one that you should serious contemplate, especially if you go armed in the public space and have trained to use your gun defensively. In the heat of the moment, complicated decision making or even accurately processing the information your senses are collection can’t be counted on. But, if you have a simple checklist to go down, your odds of making a good decision can go up dramatically. Commit these three questions to memory, so that you might come up with answers quickly in the event that you think you see someone being victimized and are compelled to get involved:

1. Do you really know what is going on?
2. Are you confident your involvement will make things better?
3. What is the least you can do?

By answering these three questions, your chances of making things worse will go do down significantly. Let’s look at each item on the Good Samaritan Checklist:

1. Do you really know what is going on?

In this situation, a well meaning witness got himself killed in front of his family by interjecting AFTER the initial violence had ended.

Are you sure you are seeing a victim that needs help? Is the person you are wanting to intervene on behalf of really the original aggressor? Is the person you think is the attacker really a plain clothed police officer trying to perform their duties? Open your senses and look for clues beyond the actors. There may be other witness in the immediate vicinity that you can ask for information as well.

2. Are you confident your involvement will make things better?

This question needs to be answered in two ways: First, if someone is being verbally assaulted and you interject, what are you really hoping to do? If you escalate things, will you make them worse. Keep in mind that making yourself a victim, even if you do help the other person, may very well make things worse for you and your family in the long run. It is all well and good to be willing to sacrifice for the greater good, but will your family and those who depend on you agree with, much less be made better by, your decision? It is one thing to get injured or arrested fighting evil when that evil attacked you directly, it is a very different price to pay when you interject yourself into a situation.
The second way you need to answer this question is in terms of your actual capabilities to make things better. If you are attacked in a way that overwhelms your preparations, you still need to do something. But, if you are witnessing a situation that is beyond your ability to confidently intervene, you are simply being reckless to get involved. An example might be wading into a situation where a crowd is physically attacking one person. If you were attacked by a group of people, doing your best to protect yourself, possibly disable one or more of them and attempting to get away are of the necessity. If you wade impulsively into a crowd that you know you cannot take on entirely by yourself and simply hoping things work out, you would be judged reckless by most people who take self-defense seriously. Keep in mind that it is much harder to protect someone else and yourself at the same time.

3. What is the least you can do?

That line from Edmund Burke is often referenced during these discussions, so let’s make sure we get it in here:

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

I agree… but, I know that there are often many ways to get involved beyond doing “nothing”. It may take a second or two to process your options, but after you’ve determined that you do know what is going on and that you can make things better, it is worth taking a moment to figure out the best way to intervene. Unlike at attack directly on you, when you decide to intervene you have the initiative. You have the opportunity to expose yourself, and everyone else around you, to as little additional risk as possible. Perhaps maintaining distance, possibly even staying hidden, contacting the police and simply calling out to the attacker to stop and letting them know they have been seen are enough. Perhaps threatening to get more involved without actually making contact is enough. Perhaps you can find an improvised tool to use instead of getting involved with bare hands, if that is your only other options.
Sometimes, the old adage about “being a good witness” is vita, especially when you are witnessing a property crime, including something like someone stealing a car or engaged in other serious crime. Remember, there is a big difference between being a Good Samaritan and being a Vigilante… but, in the heat of the moment, the line can get blurred very quickly.

Commit the Good Samaritan Checklist to memory as part of your training. One great way to get started is to share these concepts with others and discuss them… perhaps they will have some interesting points of view that help you understand your own inclinations better, especially if you talk to people who care about you and would be affected by the ramifications of your interactions.

-RJP

The post Good Samaritan Checklist appeared first on Personal Defense Network.

What should you do if you see someone being victimized? Do you have a Good Samaritan Checklist? Most good people would be compelled to get involved; to be the proverbial “Good Samaritan”. Far too often, however, an attempt to intervene only makes things worse. Intervening at the wrong time or in the wrong way can put you, your family and your legal standing at risk. It can also endanger others in the area or even escalate the danger to the person you were trying to help. How can you avoid making things worse?

It doesn’t take much time to find examples of tragedy involving would-be heroes. You can also find plenty of stories about people who acted heroically and were successful with details that reveal how close tragedy was. The point of this article isn’t to diminish the likelihood of you helping someone when you can, it is to maximize your likelihood of success while minimizing the risk you expose yourself to.

The decision of whether or not to act in defense of others is one that you should serious contemplate, especially if you go armed in the public space and have trained to use your gun defensively. In the heat of the moment, complicated decision making or even accurately processing the information your senses are collection can’t be counted on. But, if you have a simple checklist to go down, your odds of making a good decision can go up dramatically. Commit these three questions to memory, so that you might come up with answers quickly in the event that you think you see someone being victimized and are compelled to get involved:

1. Do you really know what is going on?
2. Are you confident your involvement will make things better?
3. What is the least you can do?

By answering these three questions, your chances of making things worse will go do down significantly. Let’s look at each item on the Good Samaritan Checklist:

1. Do you really know what is going on?

In this situation, a well meaning witness got himself killed in front of his family by interjecting AFTER the initial violence had ended.

Are you sure you are seeing a victim that needs help? Is the person you are wanting to intervene on behalf of really the original aggressor? Is the person you think is the attacker really a plain clothed police officer trying to perform their duties? Open your senses and look for clues beyond the actors. There may be other witness in the immediate vicinity that you can ask for information as well.

2. Are you confident your involvement will make things better?

This question needs to be answered in two ways: First, if someone is being verbally assaulted and you interject, what are you really hoping to do? If you escalate things, will you make them worse. Keep in mind that making yourself a victim, even if you do help the other person, may very well make things worse for you and your family in the long run. It is all well and good to be willing to sacrifice for the greater good, but will your family and those who depend on you agree with, much less be made better by, your decision? It is one thing to get injured or arrested fighting evil when that evil attacked you directly, it is a very different price to pay when you interject yourself into a situation.
The second way you need to answer this question is in terms of your actual capabilities to make things better. If you are attacked in a way that overwhelms your preparations, you still need to do something. But, if you are witnessing a situation that is beyond your ability to confidently intervene, you are simply being reckless to get involved. An example might be wading into a situation where a crowd is physically attacking one person. If you were attacked by a group of people, doing your best to protect yourself, possibly disable one or more of them and attempting to get away are of the necessity. If you wade impulsively into a crowd that you know you cannot take on entirely by yourself and simply hoping things work out, you would be judged reckless by most people who take self-defense seriously. Keep in mind that it is much harder to protect someone else and yourself at the same time.

3. What is the least you can do?

That line from Edmund Burke is often referenced during these discussions, so let’s make sure we get it in here:

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

I agree… but, I know that there are often many ways to get involved beyond doing “nothing”. It may take a second or two to process your options, but after you’ve determined that you do know what is going on and that you can make things better, it is worth taking a moment to figure out the best way to intervene. Unlike at attack directly on you, when you decide to intervene you have the initiative. You have the opportunity to expose yourself, and everyone else around you, to as little additional risk as possible. Perhaps maintaining distance, possibly even staying hidden, contacting the police and simply calling out to the attacker to stop and letting them know they have been seen are enough. Perhaps threatening to get more involved without actually making contact is enough. Perhaps you can find an improvised tool to use instead of getting involved with bare hands, if that is your only other options.
Sometimes, the old adage about “being a good witness” is vita, especially when you are witnessing a property crime, including something like someone stealing a car or engaged in other serious crime. Remember, there is a big difference between being a Good Samaritan and being a Vigilante… but, in the heat of the moment, the line can get blurred very quickly.

Commit the Good Samaritan Checklist to memory as part of your training. One great way to get started is to share these concepts with others and discuss them… perhaps they will have some interesting points of view that help you understand your own inclinations better, especially if you talk to people who care about you and would be affected by the ramifications of your interactions.

-RJP

The post Good Samaritan Checklist appeared first on Personal Defense Network.

Tune in on Thursday, December 22nd at 8 PM CST for another round of having any personal defense question you may have answered by our resident expert – Rob Pincus. This Ask Rob Anything free-for-all should be an exciting live broadcast, so don’t miss out!

The post PDN LIVE! December 2016 appeared first on Personal Defense Network.

Tune in on Thursday, December 22nd at 8 PM CST for another round of having any personal defense question you may have answered by our resident expert – Rob Pincus. This Ask Rob Anything free-for-all should be an exciting live broadcast, so don’t miss out!

The post PDN LIVE! December 2016 appeared first on Personal Defense Network.

If you really want to maximize your physical self defense skills there is some great information on this site that will help you do just that.  But you’ve probably missed it.  And if you have seen it, you probably didn’t realized how valuable it is.

For those of you that did realize how valuable it is, please take this opportunity to take another look at how well you’re integrating it into your training.

Of all the emails I get from readers and subscribers, almost none of them mention the most valuable and useful material I have: the Covered Blast, the Fundamental Five, and the 4 Step Matrix.

It doesn’t matter what martial art(s) you practice.  These are strategies that anyone can apply, and if you apply them correctly you will win every time.  I’ll write that again.  These are strategies that anyone can apply, and if you apply them correctly you will win every time.  Use them!!!

The Covered Blast

The Covered Blast is a strategy that maximizes your options while minimizing your opponent’s options.  It allows you to continuously attack your opponent without taking damage yourself.  It gives you a way to combine offense and defense, distance, position, and timing so that your opponent doesn’t have a chance.  I won’t go into the strategic and technical details here since I already have a page with information, pictures, and examples, but check out my page on it: http://www.functionalselfdefense.org/covered-blast

The reason why Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners were and generally still are able to slaughter Japanese Jiu Jitsu practitioners is because they use part of what exists in the Covered Blast – “position then submission”.  The BJJ founders and practitioners realized that if you are in a superior position you can have your way with your opponent, while he can do nothing to you.

When two people fight with only techniques and no meta strategy, the fight is won by whoever happens to score first, or whoever happens to get more techniques in against their opponent.  This is a recipe for disaster, especially if you are smaller and weaker than your opponent.

But if you understand how to start from a superior position and how to maintain that position throughout the fight, your opponent will always be playing catch up, at best.  That is what the Covered Blast is about.  It is the most important concept/strategy on my website.

You’re already here, so make sure you apply it to your practice!

The Fundamental Five

The Fundamental Five is only briefly covered on this website, but there are 35 pages on it in my first book, The Ultimate Guide to Unarmed Self Defense.  And there is enough material on this site to get the gist of it if you watch the video and click through the links on this page: http://www.functionalselfdefense.org/techniques/

The Fundamental Five is the application of the Covered Blast in 5 different scenarios.  It provides practitioners with 5 default responses that are geared to real world physical self defense situations.  If you are threatened and cannot escape you can hit and run or blast the opponent until he is no longer a threat.  If your opponent attacks first with strikes, crash to get to a superior position and take him out.  If he uses a grappling/take down/tackle attack, use the grappling defense to turn the tables.  And if you find yourself overwhelmed, use the clinch entry or low strike intercept.

These default responses provide you with solid solutions to a wide range of attacks.  They don’t require you to match specific defenses to specific attacks.  They work without thought.  And you don’t have to use exactly the techniques that I use.  I recommend that you do.  But if you train another system you can probably find techniques from your system that you can use in their place.  The key is to have default responses for each of the different scenarios, and to make sure that the default responses incorporate the principle of the Covered Blast.  Having solid default responses is the difference between taking out your opponent when threatened and freezing under pressure because you weren’t sure what to do.

The 4 Step Matrix

The 4 Step Matrix is the application of the Covered Blast for self defense with weapons.  In my second book, The Ultimate Guide to Weapon Use and Defense, there are 84 pages on it.  And here on my website there is a detailed page on it with pictures and video: http://www.functionalselfdefense.org/weapons/4-step-matrix

The 4 Step Matrix works with any weapon and against any weapon, and because it is the application of the Covered Blast it ensures that you are able to continuously attack your opponent from a superior position while he is unable to do anything but attempt to block your attacks – at best.

Why Are People Missing These?

The Covered Blast, Fundamental Five, and 4 Step Matrix are concepts/strategies.  When I teach people in person and demonstrate these concepts, students instantly see how valuable they are.  But on the web and in print, where I can’t demonstrate these concepts *on* readers, it’s too easy to forget about the concepts and only pay attention to the techniques I’m using.  The techniques are easier to see, so people miss the concepts that are being applied.

Don’t do that!

These concepts will be more beneficial to you than any techniques I demonstrate, if you actually think about them and work on applying them to your practice.  Once you have a solid technical base, they’ll allow you to beat opponents who are much bigger, stronger, and faster than you.  They’ll allow you to do more with less.

Please let me know in the comments below why you think people may not be seeing the value in these concepts.  Am I not explaining them well enough?  If you have any questions or comments regarding them, please ask in the comments below and I’ll be happy to answer them.

The post Don’t Miss This! appeared first on Functional Self Defense.

If you really want to maximize your physical self defense skills there is some great information on this site that will help you do just that.  But you’ve probably missed it.  And if you have seen it, you probably didn’t realized how valuable it is.

For those of you that did realize how valuable it is, please take this opportunity to take another look at how well you’re integrating it into your training.

Of all the emails I get from readers and subscribers, almost none of them mention the most valuable and useful material I have: the Covered Blast, the Fundamental Five, and the 4 Step Matrix.

It doesn’t matter what martial art(s) you practice.  These are strategies that anyone can apply, and if you apply them correctly you will win every time.  I’ll write that again.  These are strategies that anyone can apply, and if you apply them correctly you will win every time.  Use them!!!

The Covered Blast

The Covered Blast is a strategy that maximizes your options while minimizing your opponent’s options.  It allows you to continuously attack your opponent without taking damage yourself.  It gives you a way to combine offense and defense, distance, position, and timing so that your opponent doesn’t have a chance.  I won’t go into the strategic and technical details here since I already have a page with information, pictures, and examples, but check out my page on it: http://www.functionalselfdefense.org/covered-blast

The reason why Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners were and generally still are able to slaughter Japanese Jiu Jitsu practitioners is because they use part of what exists in the Covered Blast – “position then submission”.  The BJJ founders and practitioners realized that if you are in a superior position you can have your way with your opponent, while he can do nothing to you.

When two people fight with only techniques and no meta strategy, the fight is won by whoever happens to score first, or whoever happens to get more techniques in against their opponent.  This is a recipe for disaster, especially if you are smaller and weaker than your opponent.

But if you understand how to start from a superior position and how to maintain that position throughout the fight, your opponent will always be playing catch up, at best.  That is what the Covered Blast is about.  It is the most important concept/strategy on my website.

You’re already here, so make sure you apply it to your practice!

The Fundamental Five

The Fundamental Five is only briefly covered on this website, but there are 35 pages on it in my first book, The Ultimate Guide to Unarmed Self Defense.  And there is enough material on this site to get the gist of it if you watch the video and click through the links on this page: http://www.functionalselfdefense.org/techniques/

The Fundamental Five is the application of the Covered Blast in 5 different scenarios.  It provides practitioners with 5 default responses that are geared to real world physical self defense situations.  If you are threatened and cannot escape you can hit and run or blast the opponent until he is no longer a threat.  If your opponent attacks first with strikes, crash to get to a superior position and take him out.  If he uses a grappling/take down/tackle attack, use the grappling defense to turn the tables.  And if you find yourself overwhelmed, use the clinch entry or low strike intercept.

These default responses provide you with solid solutions to a wide range of attacks.  They don’t require you to match specific defenses to specific attacks.  They work without thought.  And you don’t have to use exactly the techniques that I use.  I recommend that you do.  But if you train another system you can probably find techniques from your system that you can use in their place.  The key is to have default responses for each of the different scenarios, and to make sure that the default responses incorporate the principle of the Covered Blast.  Having solid default responses is the difference between taking out your opponent when threatened and freezing under pressure because you weren’t sure what to do.

The 4 Step Matrix

The 4 Step Matrix is the application of the Covered Blast for self defense with weapons.  In my second book, The Ultimate Guide to Weapon Use and Defense, there are 84 pages on it.  And here on my website there is a detailed page on it with pictures and video: http://www.functionalselfdefense.org/weapons/4-step-matrix

The 4 Step Matrix works with any weapon and against any weapon, and because it is the application of the Covered Blast it ensures that you are able to continuously attack your opponent from a superior position while he is unable to do anything but attempt to block your attacks – at best.

Why Are People Missing These?

The Covered Blast, Fundamental Five, and 4 Step Matrix are concepts/strategies.  When I teach people in person and demonstrate these concepts, students instantly see how valuable they are.  But on the web and in print, where I can’t demonstrate these concepts *on* readers, it’s too easy to forget about the concepts and only pay attention to the techniques I’m using.  The techniques are easier to see, so people miss the concepts that are being applied.

Don’t do that!

These concepts will be more beneficial to you than any techniques I demonstrate, if you actually think about them and work on applying them to your practice.  Once you have a solid technical base, they’ll allow you to beat opponents who are much bigger, stronger, and faster than you.  They’ll allow you to do more with less.

Please let me know in the comments below why you think people may not be seeing the value in these concepts.  Am I not explaining them well enough?  If you have any questions or comments regarding them, please ask in the comments below and I’ll be happy to answer them.

The post Don’t Miss This! appeared first on Functional Self Defense.

Many individuals will opine that those that train to be combat accurate are just using it as an excuse to suck at shooting. They claim that individuals that espouse combat accuracy are merely too lazy to put in the required practice and apply the fundamentals needed to engage the target precisely. Rather than see it for what it is, the most efficient way to mitigate a threat, they let ego play into a scenario where it has no business. According to them combat accurate shooters spray bullets down range without accountability or skill. This is far from the truth. These members of the training community are using the term “combat accuracy” when they really mean precision. Precision by definition is a subset of combat accuracy.

First let’s set some left and right limits and define some terms. Combat Accuracy is defined as any shot which will significantly affects a target’s ability to present a lethal threat. All shooting, defensive or otherwise, can be defined as a balance of speed and precision. To be efficient in a defensive context, the context of life or death, we need to exert the minimum amount of deviation control or precision necessary to get the hit we need to get. The target itself will dictate the level of precision needed. Our confidence in our ability will affect the speed with which we shoot and our application of skill will determine if we get the hit we need to get. In a nutshell if the target is the high center chest of the threat we apply the needed skill to hit that size area. If it is a smaller target such as an ocular cavity we would need to apply the requisite skill to hit that area. Size of the target, distance from the target, the circumstances under which we shoot and the anticipation of the need to shoot will all effect our ability to hit the target.

In the preceding paragraph did I mention anywhere that we are not accountable for every bullet that exits our firearm? Have I discounted the need for skill or precision in hitting our intended target? Being combat accurate does not relieve the shooter of the responsibility to hit what they aim at. However in the context of self-defense shooting the majority of these incidents happen between nine to fifteen feet. At these most plausible distances, the need for precision is arguably less and the need for speed may be more. If our combat accurate area corresponds to the high center chest, applying more deviation control than is needed to hit this target area is inefficient and potentially life threatening.

If we accept the premise that there are only two ways to stop an attacker. Then we must train for those scenarios. We can get a psychological stop, meaning we convince the attacker that they have better things to be doing than attempting to assault us. In this context a miss can be defined as combat accurate if it affects the targets ability to present a lethal threat, by making them run away. No one would define a miss as precise. However we cannot count on that outcome. So we must train for the physiological stop. To stop a determined attacker physiologically we need to effect the body’s homeostasis. In layman’s terms we need to put a lot of bullet holes in the high center chest. We need to significantly affect the flow of oxygenated blood perfusing the brain. Once perfusion stops the attack will stop.

By training for combat accuracy instead of precision only we are actually building a good fundamental base of skill in the context of a plausible set of circumstances. We are training ourselves to process information prior to performing the complex motor skill of shooting. We are deciding what level of precision is necessary to achieve that physiological stop. We are training realistically. What we are not doing is creating artificial standards that mean nothing in that context. Your ability to put a 3 inch shot group together at 25 yards may or may not be relevant in a violent encounter. What will be relevant is your ability to apply the amount of skill necessary to achieve the goal. The goal being to stop the attack. By all means work on your precision shooting but do not confuse it with defensive firearms use in the most plausible set of circumstances.

The post Being Combat Accurate Does Not Mean You Suck appeared first on Personal Defense Network.

Many individuals will opine that those that train to be combat accurate are just using it as an excuse to suck at shooting. They claim that individuals that espouse combat accuracy are merely too lazy to put in the required practice and apply the fundamentals needed to engage the target precisely. Rather than see it for what it is, the most efficient way to mitigate a threat, they let ego play into a scenario where it has no business. According to them combat accurate shooters spray bullets down range without accountability or skill. This is far from the truth. These members of the training community are using the term “combat accuracy” when they really mean precision. Precision by definition is a subset of combat accuracy.

First let’s set some left and right limits and define some terms. Combat Accuracy is defined as any shot which will significantly affects a target’s ability to present a lethal threat. All shooting, defensive or otherwise, can be defined as a balance of speed and precision. To be efficient in a defensive context, the context of life or death, we need to exert the minimum amount of deviation control or precision necessary to get the hit we need to get. The target itself will dictate the level of precision needed. Our confidence in our ability will affect the speed with which we shoot and our application of skill will determine if we get the hit we need to get. In a nutshell if the target is the high center chest of the threat we apply the needed skill to hit that size area. If it is a smaller target such as an ocular cavity we would need to apply the requisite skill to hit that area. Size of the target, distance from the target, the circumstances under which we shoot and the anticipation of the need to shoot will all effect our ability to hit the target.

In the preceding paragraph did I mention anywhere that we are not accountable for every bullet that exits our firearm? Have I discounted the need for skill or precision in hitting our intended target? Being combat accurate does not relieve the shooter of the responsibility to hit what they aim at. However in the context of self-defense shooting the majority of these incidents happen between nine to fifteen feet. At these most plausible distances, the need for precision is arguably less and the need for speed may be more. If our combat accurate area corresponds to the high center chest, applying more deviation control than is needed to hit this target area is inefficient and potentially life threatening.

If we accept the premise that there are only two ways to stop an attacker. Then we must train for those scenarios. We can get a psychological stop, meaning we convince the attacker that they have better things to be doing than attempting to assault us. In this context a miss can be defined as combat accurate if it affects the targets ability to present a lethal threat, by making them run away. No one would define a miss as precise. However we cannot count on that outcome. So we must train for the physiological stop. To stop a determined attacker physiologically we need to effect the body’s homeostasis. In layman’s terms we need to put a lot of bullet holes in the high center chest. We need to significantly affect the flow of oxygenated blood perfusing the brain. Once perfusion stops the attack will stop.

By training for combat accuracy instead of precision only we are actually building a good fundamental base of skill in the context of a plausible set of circumstances. We are training ourselves to process information prior to performing the complex motor skill of shooting. We are deciding what level of precision is necessary to achieve that physiological stop. We are training realistically. What we are not doing is creating artificial standards that mean nothing in that context. Your ability to put a 3 inch shot group together at 25 yards may or may not be relevant in a violent encounter. What will be relevant is your ability to apply the amount of skill necessary to achieve the goal. The goal being to stop the attack. By all means work on your precision shooting but do not confuse it with defensive firearms use in the most plausible set of circumstances.

The post Being Combat Accurate Does Not Mean You Suck appeared first on Personal Defense Network.

Training Talk with Grant Cunningham is the show to watch to get reliable and responsible self defense information!



Training Talk is the webcast that talks about you: about your life and how to protect it. Grant and his guests cover defensive shooting, unarmed self defense, home defense, situational awareness, training tips, and much more.



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The post PDN Training Talk: December 15, 2016 appeared first on Personal Defense Network.

Training Talk with Grant Cunningham is the show to watch to get reliable and responsible self defense information!



Training Talk is the webcast that talks about you: about your life and how to protect it. Grant and his guests cover defensive shooting, unarmed self defense, home defense, situational awareness, training tips, and much more.



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The post PDN Training Talk: December 15, 2016 appeared first on Personal Defense Network.

Just before 10 am on November 28, 2016 the emergency management division of Ohio State University tweeted a warning about an active shooter on the OSU campus.

As is always the case with dynamic violent events, the details were muddied. This isn’t a surprise. Eye witness reports are sketchy and it is a difficult task for authorities to piece the details together to provide an accurate picture of a spontaneous event like this would be spree killer.
It makes sense to try to understand the facts about a situation before drawing conclusions, but at the same time, many of the facts don’t really matter. Especially if you find yourself in the middle of an attack perpetrated by a spree killer.

I understand the frustration that has arisen in the pro-Second Amendment community with media reports of this event as an “active shooter”. It seems to be an almost intentional attack on guns. Many are right to point out that guns aren’t the issue here. Instead it is the will to do harm to innocent people in order to evoke fear into a population and force change. Terrorism.

A logical error is keeping people afraid, unnecessarily.
The 18 year old Somali born immigrant and those like him want to hurt you. It really doesn’t matter why. It is just a fact. They want you to be afraid and to live a life of fear. They want you to worry about sending your child to school and off to college. They want you to worry about going shopping for the holidays, and about flying on 9/11 and every other day. In some ways, the battle they are waging has been working.
We can see the fear in social media sound bytes:

Odd, this terrorist didn’t have a gun.

Again, interesting conclusion. No victims died, the terrorist didn’t have a gun, and the hero police officer did stop the event.
These opinions and the thousands that are shared like them aren’t helping. In fact, they are perpetuating the belief that the only thing that can stop the attack of a madman is a good guy with a gun. In this case it happened to turn out that way, but if the Columbus PD hadn’t been able to respond with such speed, this problem would have been solved in some other creative fashion.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe the Second Amendment applies to college campuses and those that live, work and spend time on those campuses just like it applies every where else. What people seem to be forgetting is that just because their 2A rights have been restricted in some places, the right to self-defense, a human right granted by the very same creator, hasn’t been stripped away.
Remember that frustration with media reports of the “active shooter”?
GUNS AREN’T THE PROBLEM!

Guns aren’t the the problem and they don’t have to be the solution.
That is the reason I don’t agree with the fear and confusion that spawns these messages and spreads the wrong idea about defending ourselves from attackers like this Somali terrorist and even spree killers that find more success in their evil. In fact, if we apply some logic to the situation the actions of the terrorist give us the power to know that there is no reason to have additional fear in a “Gun Free Killing Zone” compared to any other location.

Guns aren’t the problem and I want everyone to understand that a gun doesn’t have to be the solution. A gun can be the solution and in this case it was, but the solution can be a fire extinguisher to the back of the skull, or a coordinated group rushing the attacker, controlling his weapon and stomping out the fight, or an astute driver crushing the attack and the attacker with their trendy hybrid. Maybe the solution that matters most to you and your family will be a medical response in the immediate aftermath of an attack.
Nope. This wasn’t an active shooter. Even if it was, the gun wouldn’t be the problem. Instead, this coward sowed his evil with an automobile and a kitchen knife. The seeds weren’t related to the tools. Instead, they were born in the commitment and intent of his evil soul.
In the same manner, the solution isn’t dependence on a specific tool. Instead, the solution is your commitment and intent to stop a violent attacker by whatever means you have available to you. If the right tool for the job is a gun and you have a gun, great, get to work. If however, you find yourself in the path of a spree killer with no gun because of laws, your own choice, or any reason in between, it is time to get to work regardless.

Willingness to act, regardless of the tools available, is the real solution.
I want the students, faculty and staff of The Ohio State University to have their Second Amendment Rights fully restored. In the mean time, if you find yourself on the OSU campus or anywhere else where concealed carry is restricted, take the advice of Rob Pincus and “Don’t confuse your politics with your tactics.” The fact that you don’t have a gun doesn’t make you HELPLESS any more than the terrorist on campus in Columbus was HARMLESS.

When it comes to politics, work for change that you believe needs to occur.
When it comes to tactics, train, develop the skills, willingness and commitment to act, and if the situation arises, get to work regardless of the tools at hand and encourage others to do the same.

-Paul Carlson

The post Lessons on Politics and Tactics from the OSU Terrorist Attack appeared first on Personal Defense Network.

Just before 10 am on November 28, 2016 the emergency management division of Ohio State University tweeted a warning about an active shooter on the OSU campus.

As is always the case with dynamic violent events, the details were muddied. This isn’t a surprise. Eye witness reports are sketchy and it is a difficult task for authorities to piece the details together to provide an accurate picture of a spontaneous event like this would be spree killer.
It makes sense to try to understand the facts about a situation before drawing conclusions, but at the same time, many of the facts don’t really matter. Especially if you find yourself in the middle of an attack perpetrated by a spree killer.

I understand the frustration that has arisen in the pro-Second Amendment community with media reports of this event as an “active shooter”. It seems to be an almost intentional attack on guns. Many are right to point out that guns aren’t the issue here. Instead it is the will to do harm to innocent people in order to evoke fear into a population and force change. Terrorism.

A logical error is keeping people afraid, unnecessarily.
The 18 year old Somali born immigrant and those like him want to hurt you. It really doesn’t matter why. It is just a fact. They want you to be afraid and to live a life of fear. They want you to worry about sending your child to school and off to college. They want you to worry about going shopping for the holidays, and about flying on 9/11 and every other day. In some ways, the battle they are waging has been working.
We can see the fear in social media sound bytes:

Odd, this terrorist didn’t have a gun.

Again, interesting conclusion. No victims died, the terrorist didn’t have a gun, and the hero police officer did stop the event.
These opinions and the thousands that are shared like them aren’t helping. In fact, they are perpetuating the belief that the only thing that can stop the attack of a madman is a good guy with a gun. In this case it happened to turn out that way, but if the Columbus PD hadn’t been able to respond with such speed, this problem would have been solved in some other creative fashion.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe the Second Amendment applies to college campuses and those that live, work and spend time on those campuses just like it applies every where else. What people seem to be forgetting is that just because their 2A rights have been restricted in some places, the right to self-defense, a human right granted by the very same creator, hasn’t been stripped away.
Remember that frustration with media reports of the “active shooter”?
GUNS AREN’T THE PROBLEM!

Guns aren’t the the problem and they don’t have to be the solution.
That is the reason I don’t agree with the fear and confusion that spawns these messages and spreads the wrong idea about defending ourselves from attackers like this Somali terrorist and even spree killers that find more success in their evil. In fact, if we apply some logic to the situation the actions of the terrorist give us the power to know that there is no reason to have additional fear in a “Gun Free Killing Zone” compared to any other location.

Guns aren’t the problem and I want everyone to understand that a gun doesn’t have to be the solution. A gun can be the solution and in this case it was, but the solution can be a fire extinguisher to the back of the skull, or a coordinated group rushing the attacker, controlling his weapon and stomping out the fight, or an astute driver crushing the attack and the attacker with their trendy hybrid. Maybe the solution that matters most to you and your family will be a medical response in the immediate aftermath of an attack.
Nope. This wasn’t an active shooter. Even if it was, the gun wouldn’t be the problem. Instead, this coward sowed his evil with an automobile and a kitchen knife. The seeds weren’t related to the tools. Instead, they were born in the commitment and intent of his evil soul.
In the same manner, the solution isn’t dependence on a specific tool. Instead, the solution is your commitment and intent to stop a violent attacker by whatever means you have available to you. If the right tool for the job is a gun and you have a gun, great, get to work. If however, you find yourself in the path of a spree killer with no gun because of laws, your own choice, or any reason in between, it is time to get to work regardless.

Willingness to act, regardless of the tools available, is the real solution.
I want the students, faculty and staff of The Ohio State University to have their Second Amendment Rights fully restored. In the mean time, if you find yourself on the OSU campus or anywhere else where concealed carry is restricted, take the advice of Rob Pincus and “Don’t confuse your politics with your tactics.” The fact that you don’t have a gun doesn’t make you HELPLESS any more than the terrorist on campus in Columbus was HARMLESS.

When it comes to politics, work for change that you believe needs to occur.
When it comes to tactics, train, develop the skills, willingness and commitment to act, and if the situation arises, get to work regardless of the tools at hand and encourage others to do the same.

-Paul Carlson

The post Lessons on Politics and Tactics from the OSU Terrorist Attack. appeared first on Personal Defense Network.

Just before 10 am on November 28, 2016 the emergency management division of Ohio State University tweeted a warning about an active shooter on the OSU campus.

As is always the case with dynamic violent events, the details were muddied. This isn’t a surprise. Eye witness reports are sketchy and it is a difficult task for authorities to piece the details together to provide an accurate picture of a spontaneous event like this would be spree killer.
It makes sense to try to understand the facts about a situation before drawing conclusions, but at the same time, many of the facts don’t really matter. Especially if you find yourself in the middle of an attack perpetrated by a spree killer.

I understand the frustration that has arisen in the pro-Second Amendment community with media reports of this event as an “active shooter”. It seems to be an almost intentional attack on guns. Many are right to point out that guns aren’t the issue here. Instead it is the will to do harm to innocent people in order to evoke fear into a population and force change. Terrorism.

A logical error is keeping people afraid, unnecessarily.
The 18 year old Somali born immigrant and those like him want to hurt you. It really doesn’t matter why. It is just a fact. They want you to be afraid and to live a life of fear. They want you to worry about sending your child to school and off to college. They want you to worry about going shopping for the holidays, and about flying on 9/11 and every other day. In some ways, the battle they are waging has been working.
We can see the fear in social media sound bytes:

Odd, this terrorist didn’t have a gun.

Again, interesting conclusion. No victims died, the terrorist didn’t have a gun, and the hero police officer did stop the event.
These opinions and the thousands that are shared like them aren’t helping. In fact, they are perpetuating the belief that the only thing that can stop the attack of a madman is a good guy with a gun. In this case it happened to turn out that way, but if the Columbus PD hadn’t been able to respond with such speed, this problem would have been solved in some other creative fashion.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe the Second Amendment applies to college campuses and those that live, work and spend time on those campuses just like it applies every where else. What people seem to be forgetting is that just because their 2A rights have been restricted in some places, the right to self-defense, a human right granted by the very same creator, hasn’t been stripped away.
Remember that frustration with media reports of the “active shooter”?
GUNS AREN’T THE PROBLEM!

Guns aren’t the the problem and they don’t have to be the solution.
That is the reason I don’t agree with the fear and confusion that spawns these messages and spreads the wrong idea about defending ourselves from attackers like this Somali terrorist and even spree killers that find more success in their evil. In fact, if we apply some logic to the situation the actions of the terrorist give us the power to know that there is no reason to have additional fear in a “Gun Free Killing Zone” compared to any other location.

Guns aren’t the problem and I want everyone to understand that a gun doesn’t have to be the solution. A gun can be the solution and in this case it was, but the solution can be a fire extinguisher to the back of the skull, or a coordinated group rushing the attacker, controlling his weapon and stomping out the fight, or an astute driver crushing the attack and the attacker with their trendy hybrid. Maybe the solution that matters most to you and your family will be a medical response in the immediate aftermath of an attack.
Nope. This wasn’t an active shooter. Even if it was, the gun wouldn’t be the problem. Instead, this coward sowed his evil with an automobile and a kitchen knife. The seeds weren’t related to the tools. Instead, they were born in the commitment and intent of his evil soul.
In the same manner, the solution isn’t dependence on a specific tool. Instead, the solution is your commitment and intent to stop a violent attacker by whatever means you have available to you. If the right tool for the job is a gun and you have a gun, great, get to work. If however, you find yourself in the path of a spree killer with no gun because of laws, your own choice, or any reason in between, it is time to get to work regardless.

Willingness to act, regardless of the tools available, is the real solution.
I want the students, faculty and staff of The Ohio State University to have their Second Amendment Rights fully restored. In the mean time, if you find yourself on the OSU campus or anywhere else where concealed carry is restricted, take the advice of Rob Pincus and “Don’t confuse your politics with your tactics.” The fact that you don’t have a gun doesn’t make you HELPLESS any more than the terrorist on campus in Columbus was HARMLESS.

When it comes to politics, work for change that you believe needs to occur.
When it comes to tactics, train, develop the skills, willingness and commitment to act, and if the situation arises, get to work regardless of the tools at hand and encourage others to do the same.

-Paul Carlson

The post Lessons on Politics and Tactics from the OSU Terrorist Attack. appeared first on Personal Defense Network.

When you invest in defensive firearm training you are typically making a significant investment. The most obvious cost is your tuition for class, but there are other costs of defensive firearms training that you may not have considered such as your ammunition, meals away from home, travel expenses, and maybe most important, your time. These expenses are significant so it only makes sense that with the total cost of your defensive training you should have an expectation to get something of significant value in return.
There are a lot of things that you can do to get the most out of your defensive shooting class, but one of the easiest things you can do to get the biggest return is to invest in electronic hearing protection.

The problem with learning on a live fire range:
A live fire shooting range can be a tough place to learn. The volume level of gunfire is unsafe for your hearing and without hearing protection your hearing will be damaged with each and every gun shot.
So, we wear hearing protection to protect our valuable sense of hearing.
Hearing protection complicates things because it can make verbal communication difficult. It’s a certainty that your instructor will want to communicate verbally with you during class and it is likely that while you are wearing your hearing protection you will have a more difficult time understanding the verbal communication of your instructor. The fact that your instructor will likely spend a good amount of time standing behind you (because you have a gun in your hand) makes the communication even more difficult to deal with. With your instructor to the rear, you won’t have the ability to supplement your poor hearing with lip reading.
Learning is all about effective and efficient communication and in the name of safety you intentionally make communication and learning more difficult.

Electronic hearing protection helps you learn.

This is where an investment in electronic hearing protection might makes sense. Standard hearing protection keeps your ears safe by insulating your ear drums from the loud sound of gunfire. Electronic hearing protection insulates your ears just the same, but microphones pick up and amplify the sounds around you, like your instructor’s voice, so that you can clearly hear what is happening around you. At the same time, the fancy electronic wizardry filters out any loud noises like gun fire.

Electronic hearing protection restores your ability to hear what is happening around you to a large degree. This means you are more likely to hear range commands, explanations of concepts and principles, and the feedback and cues that you need for efficient communication from your instructor. You will hear more while you are wearing sound deadening hearing protection, even when you are firing your gun.
Plain and simple, electronic ears help you to hear all of the things that you are paying to hear from your instructor. You will learn more, you will enjoy class more, and you will get a larger return for your investment in training by adding electronic hearing protection to your range gear.
You can read about even more advantages of electronic hearing protection and some specific recommendations on brands of electronic ears here.

Get the most from your electronic hearing protection:
I’m a firm believer in making sure that my hearing is safe when I’m on the range and you should feel the same. The problem with most electronic hearing (and most other muffs) is that they leave a bit to be desired when it comes to protection. The NRR (noise reduction rating) of most electronic muffs ranges between 19 and 29. Depending on which formula you buy into even a set of muffs with a NRR of 30 are only going to reduce the impact of a gunshot by about 15 dB. This means you are still exposed to between 125 dB and 175 dB of sound.

A set of ear plugs under your muffs will add another 5 dB of protection and that can be a big difference especially if you are training indoors or with louder rifles. The problem with adding another layer of protection is that you make communication even more difficult.
With electronic ears this isn’t an issue. Just turn them up. Remember, the hearing pro is actually amplifying the hearing safe sounds around you. You can turn the volume up so that voice commands are easily able to get past your plugs while the sound of gunshots are blocked out by both the muffs and the plugs. My favorite pair of electronic ears are the Pro Ears Pro-Tac Gold. They amplify hearing safe sounds 8x but I swear they go to 11!

Probably the biggest advantage of doubling up on hearing protection is that even when your over the ear muffs are compromised in some way your hearing is still protected. Simply shouldering a rifle can move muffs enough to break the seal of the ear cup and I’ve been involved in dynamic training where my hearing protection has become dislodged because of dynamic movement. When you double up one hearing pro, this isn’t an issue.

Final thoughts:
We know that every time our ears are exposed to gunfire without adequate hearing protection our hearing is damaged in a cumulative and permanent manner. At the same time wearing hearing protection can make communication and learning more difficult by muffling the sounds we need to hear to learn.
Although it seems like a difficult situation to resolve, the solutions is actually quite simple and the answer is electronic hearing protection. Electronic ear pro protects your hearing and amplifies the sounds you are paying to hear in a defensive firearms course. When combined with plugs, you create a comfortable and redundant system of hearing protection that minimizes interfering with your learning.

Before your next live fire training course invest in quality electronic hearing protection. It will be well worth your while when it comes to your safety and the important return on your investment in your training.

-Paul Carlson

[Editors’s Note: While I agree with the author that Electronic Protection can make hearing an instructor on the range easier under most conditions, I have found that many people have problems achieving the proper position in rifle (and sometimes pistol) courses with ear muffs of any kind. Muffs can also be knocked off while training in/around vehicles or in other close quarters. I much prefer my students where plugs… there are electronic plugs available, but they are relatively expensive. Your hearing safety is important, but so is training relatistically… chose your protective gear carefully. -RJP)

The post Is Electronic Hearing Protection Right for You? appeared first on Personal Defense Network.