Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
Principles of Personal Defense
You all know how much I like free books. The Jeff Cooper foundation recently made this excellent work from the Colonel a free download on their site (near the bottom of the page). Pick it up. You can read it in less than an hour. Thanks to Claude Werner (The Tactical Professor) for originally sharing the link.
The Final Category Problem
“It is further important to point out that when levels of stress increase—such as typically happens during real-world firearms use—the brain’s access to conscious memory becomes very limited. In fact, high levels of stress act as something of a “switch” to unconscious (procedural) memory.
While we may be able to consciously think about and control how we perform in relatively low stress range settings—where we almost always know what we are going to do before we do it—during a critical incident we are probably going to do whatever is in our unconscious memory system. Based on a variety of factors (most of which are related to how a person has trained and practiced) this may or may not be the same thing.”
In The Anxiety Bias Why officers shoot more under pressure, the author argues a similar point.
Things Manufacturers Need to Stop Doing with Shotguns
Learn about desirable and undesirable defensive shotgun characteristics.
If You Go to Guns You Failed
“If you go to guns you failed” means that you failed multiple opportunities to take preventive measures in ensuring your personal security and that of those who you are responsible to protect.
Depending upon the situation, you may need a lifeboat, and if so, then yes, you certainly need to know how to use it. How about being proactive and using your situational awareness to look for icebergs? And if you happen to see one then how about taking active measures by steering the ship clear of it? What a concept – not relying on the lifeboat as your only tool.”
5 Ways to Improve your Church Security in 2026
Some tips for your churches to consider. You may also enjoy How to Improve Church Emergency Planning.
Wants Valuables, Gets Lead
If your attacker was wearing a motorcycle helmet, would that alter your decision to make a head shot?
Simo Häyhä – The White Death
You should know about this sniper hero with 505 confirmed kills.
An Official Journal Of The NRA | Skills Check: The Rapid Transit Drill
Steve Tarani gives you a shooting drill to try on your next range day. Need more work? Try the Everyday Marksman Action Pistol Course of Fire.
What I’m reading…
AR-15 Maintenance Schedule: Complete Guide
Tips to keep your AR-15 running smoothly.
How Eyewitness Misidentification Can Send Innocent People to Prison
I lost a lot of faith in eye witness testimony after being the first officer on scene of a homicide a couple years before I retired. I developed a suspect and isolated the witnesses. Detectives constructed a random photo array including the suspect’s picture. All four eye witnesses identified the suspect from the random photo array.
We arrested the suspect. One of the witnesses saw a tv news clip showing the suspect’s initial court appearance. He called the police and said “that isn’t the right guy.” Our detectives confronted the woman who originally gave me the suspect’s name. She admitted she had lied to protect her boyfriend. She had given me a completely made up name. Four eye witnesses identified the same fake suspect.
Other than being black males approximately the same age (all photos were of black males within a five-year age span), the actual suspect and the suspect they identified looked nothing like each other.
The detectives generated a new photo array with the new suspect. All four eye witnesses identified the new suspect with 100% certainty. They were right the second time. We did a search warrant on the second suspect’s residence and found the clothes he wore during the stabbing with the victim’s blood on them. We released the first suspect from jail and arrested the second guy. I would have never thought such a situation could possibly happen in that manner.
Situational Awareness for Everyday Life
Self defense starts here.
Trainer or Therapist?
“Or to borrow another analogy, the firearms training world is full of advanced theologians who can debate for hours the tactual equivalent of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. How many of them are good at counseling a student on making the changes in their life needed to carry a pistol with them every day? We have plenty of tactical theologians, what we need are armed lifestyle guidance counselors.”
Backup Plan: When The Quickest Reload Is A Second Gun
The fastest reload is often a “New York Reload.”
What’s Wrong With My Grip?
Melody talks with several expert trainers about the methods they use to improve their students’ gripping ability.
Delta Force Legend Mike Pannone on Training, Red Dots Durability and Everything Tactical
My friend Rich Nance has been putting out some great podcast content lately. Check out this one with Mike Pannone and this one with Claude Werner.
The concealed carry advice that sounds smart — until stress hits – Wilderness Marksman
“Concealed carry culture is full of confident advice that sounds airtight in a calm classroom or on a sunny range. Under real stress, though, some of those “rules” fall apart, colliding with human physiology, legal reality, and the messy way violence actually unfolds. The gap between what feels smart and what works when your heart rate spikes is where armed citizens get hurt, or end up in handcuffs.”
Teen girls arrested in school murder plot connected to harmful online communities
Read about the murder plot these 14 and 15 -year old students were planning and their callous actions after their arrests. You should also be paying attention to the online “True Crime Community” mentioned in the article and how it’s been tied to the majority of recent school shooting attempts.
As my late friend Dr. William Aprill often stated “They are not like you.”
Why the AK?
Why you might choose an AK as your defensive rifle.
Canadian Man Fights Moose To Save His Mom
How many .22 rifle head shots does it take to stop a rampaging moose? The answer appears to be 15-16.
The Post-Shot Logistics
What you do after a defensive shooting may be just as important as what you do during the attack.
Beware the Helpful Fool
“‘Certified’ = I paid the fee and can read the slides”
“It is incumbent upon instructors to complete continuing education, and it is something they must do on their own time with almost no governing guidance from a professional body. That is the great variance among instructors, who else they have trained with. Instructors with basic certifications, maintained by fee, who do not seek continuing education are common and have comparatively little to offer beyond whatever PowerPoint they are ‘certified’ to teach.”
Make a natural wild plant field dressing for wounds or abrasions
Three of my favorite medicinal wild plants. But please don’t gather them in parks. Parks are “Crime Convergence Zones.”
Beyond the Gunfight: A Data Dive into Police Shooting Skill – Tier Three Tactical
How do cops perform in shooting competitions?
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