When I watch the news, I'm continually reminded about the reasons that I carry a handgun.  Two recent shootings were interesting:

1.  First, there was a shooting at a Knoxville, TN dentist office.  Based on the few details released, it looks like Harry Weaver showed-up at his wife's place of employment and shot her to death.  Before he could do further harm, a bystander, who was legally carrying a gun, shot the gunman several times and held him for police.  I commend this person for carrying a gun even to the dentist.  Many people don't bother carrying if they are going somewhere "safe".  Well done!  He or she likely saved other lives.

2.  Second, is the shooting in Aurora, Illinois at a manufacturing facility.  Gary Martin brought a gun to work and decided to start killing people when he found out he was being fired.  He killed five employees at the facility and wounded several others before he was shot and killed by police.  Like so many other mass shootings, the shooter had decided to kill as many people as possible without regard for his own life.  Martin had six prior arrests by Aurora police, including for domestic violence-related issues, and also had a felony conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi in 1995, authorities said.  He was not allowed to own a gun.  It turns out we don't need more gun laws - bad guys don't follow the law!!!  If Illinois had more freedom and less restrictions of firearm ownership, this might have turned-out like the shooting in TN, stopped by a bystander with a gun.

Guns Save Lives!

Did you hear about the recent shootout at an Alabama McDonald's?  An unidentified masked man came in to McDonald's and started shooting.  This guy was clearly planning to kill everyone in the store - the McDonald's employee shown in video reported hearing about 15 shots.  Thankfully one of the customers was carrying a gun and was able to return fire.  Though he and his son were injured, they both survived.   The only one killed in this gunfight was the bad guy!  This Dad saved many lives. 

This is the true story of gun ownership in America.  As I've written several times before, guns level the playing field and give would-be victims the ability to fight back against their attackers.   

If the unthinkable happens, are you ready?

#GunsSaveLives
#RVAtrain
#RVAready

I just heard about a really unfortunate event at Colonial Shooting Academy last week: a Capitol police officer accidentally shot himself in the leg while training.  If you read the linked article, the  CSA employee suggests that the design of the holster may have caused the accident.  I disagree with his opinion - I have several SERPA holsters and I like them very much.   If used properly, the holster release does not put your finger anywhere near the trigger!

The main thing we should learn from this event is that using a holster with a loaded gun, without proper training, is dangerous.  I think many people assume they can buy a holster and intuitively use it safely.  This is a myth.  You should start by learning the proper way to draw (and re-holster) with your chosen rig and then practicing SLOWLY with an unloaded gun.  As you go through the motions ensure you never break the first two rules for safe gun handling (Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction, Always keep your finger off the of the trigger until your sights are on target).  Speed with come with practice but should never sacrifice safety.  Drawing from a holster is one of the topics of our Intermediate Defensive Handgun course. 

This week I saw two polar opposites of what can happen if you choose to carry a gun:

• First, the BAD.  I was shocked to read about the Road Rage incident on MTV's Teen Mom 2.  On a recent episode of the show, Jenelle Evans was driving with her 8 year old son in the car and followed someone home after he cut her off!  As if that wasn't enough, she ran over his mailbox and then pulled out a gun when he confronted her about it.  Her actions are inexcusable and demonstrate that she's never had proper training.  Thankfully no one was hurt or killed during this interaction.  If Jenelle was forced to shoot the man after following him home, she would have likely have gone to jail.  He was not a threat to her life and she had every opportunity to get out of the situation before it escalated.   
• Now, the GOOD.  Over the weekend, a private citizen stopped an active shooter at a back-to-school festival in Titusville, FL.  The citizen was lawfully carrying a firearm and shot the gunman after he opened fire on a crowd of about 150 people - including lots of kids.  Ironically, the gathering was called the "Peace in the City" festival.  I wonder if the shooter thought he'd have a bunch of unarmed victims to slaughter at a event called "Peace in the City?".  Two thoughts:

1. I'm glad the citizen carried his gun, even if he thought he wouldn't need it.  This is a good reminder to all of us, do you carry your gun all the time?
2. The private citizen also had the skills needed to stop this situation without any collateral damage.  The article says the bad guy was shot in the head but it doesn't say how many times the good guy shot.  A single shot to the head, placed correctly can stop even a dedicated opponent dead in their tracks.  Would you be able to confidently make the same shot?

Guns save lives!

As research has shown time and again, gun ownership reduces violent crime and saves innocent lives.   

Here are three excellent examples of guns saving lives:
1.   In May, a man entered a restaurant in Oklahoma and shot a mother and her daughter.  The bad guy was then shot and killed by an armed citizen.  We don't know why the shooter attacked or what the circumstances were when he was stopped by the armed citizen.  However, the most important detail of this story is that the two victims were expected to survive but the criminal did not.   

2.  Then, in June, Jordan Corter attempted to rape his friend's Mom during a sleepover.  He woke up her in the middle of the night and pushed her onto the bed.  This young man realized she wasn't an easy victim though when she pointed her gun at his head!  Thankfully, this confrontation ended with no shots fired.

3.  The most unbelievable story to me was of the carjacker shot and killed at Walmart in June in Washington state.  Tim Day went on a rampage attempting to steal several cars at gunpoint and firing shots inside of a Walmart.  Two armed citizens responded to the gunfire and finally put an end to the rampage by killing him.  Similar to the Taco Bell attempted robbery, I blogged about a while ago, the bad guy found himself outnumbered by good guys with guns!  I think these guys handled the situation perfectly.  David George, a paramedic and a pastor, put himself between his family and the the bad guy.  When he saw Mr. Day shoot (and paralyze) Mr. Fievez while trying to steal his car, he realized it was time to act.  I'm thankful these armed citizen put themselves in harm's way to stop an evil man from inflicting more terror and to save innocent lives.

#GunsSaveLives 
#MoreGunsLessCrime
#RVAtrain
#RVAready

I was shocked to see the viral video of the FBI agent who accidentally shot someone while dancing in a Denver night club.  This guys has moves but loses his gun while doing a back flip.  Then, he accidentally fires a shot while quickly grabbing the pistol off of the floor.  Thankfully, no one was killed by his shot.

Observations:
1. When carrying a gun, you should always be aware its presence.  This should obviously prevent you from attempting back flips or doing a ninja warrior course.  If you need to do acrobatics while carrying, you should get a level 2 retention holster.
2. This would have been a non-event if the officer had exercised trigger finger discipline.  The second rule of safe gun handling is to "ALWAYS Keep Your Finger Off of the Trigger Until Ready to Shoot."  A gun will only shoot if the trigger is pressed.  This was a stressful situation and the agent wanted to quickly cover-up his mistake.  Unfortunately, he grabbed the gun by the trigger instead of correctly picking it up with his finger off of the trigger.  
​3. I notice that the agent picked up the gun with his left hand but then holsters his gun with his right.  He appears to be a right handed shooter but used his left hand to grab the gun since it was on his left side.  One good take-away for all of us is to practice safe gun handling with our non-dominant hand.   

In my last entry, I wrote about a Maryland high school shooting that was stopped thanks to the bravery of a School Resource Officer who confronted the shooter.    This occurred right after the Parkland shooting and hardly received any media coverage.  

The same scenario happened again last month.  We all heard about the horrific shooting in Santa Fe, TX  where a 17 year old young man killed ten people and injured ten others at a high school.  Did you hear there was also a school shooting in Illinois last month?   I'm not surprised if you didn't - I had to find coverage via the British network BBC!   

I'm so tired of mass shootings and attempted mass shootings.  The excerpt below is how they should all end:

"Neither the officer nor any students were hurt in Wednesday morning's confrontation at Dixon High School.  The suspect was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries."

I'm so thankful that Mark Dallas was at Dixon High School that day and was brave enough to protect the lives of all the innocent people there.  Guns save lives.  

Did you hear about the school shooting in Maryland last week?  I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't - it didn't make the same splash with the news media that the one in Parkland, FL on Valentine's Day did.  Why wasn't it as widely reported?

This shooting doesn't fit the narrative of the anti-gun crowd because an armed School Resource Officer (SRO) stopped the shooter in less than minute.   As I mentioned in my previous post about the Parkland shooting, gun control doesn't stop mass shootings.   The bullets stopped flying when the shooter was confronted by a gun pointing at him.  We aren't sure if he killed himself or if the SRO shot him.  Its clear though that he was looking for easy victims and wasn't expecting a trained and violent response.

Why didn't gun control stop this crime?  Maryland has some of the toughest gun laws in the country.  The shooter was only  17 - he was not legally allowed to purchase or own the handgun he used.  Bad guys will always have guns or other weapons to cause carnage.  ​