This page is devoted to the preparation and development of the proper mental mindset and the psychological aftermath of being involved in a shooting, should the rare event occur.
If you have a permit to carry or are considering getting one and planning on carrying a gun for self-defense it is of my opinion that this is the most important part of your training. If you have taken a class from me you are well aware of my strong devotion to the proper training and conditioning of this attitude. You are also aware of my strong opinion that the chances of you of ever having to draw and use your gun are remote.
I have interviewed several officers who have informed me that after 30 years of law enforcement employment they have never had to draw their weapons in the line of duty. This statistic increases dramatically when asked if they actually had to fire their weapon and again is substantially increased if they shot and killed an individual. It is their job to give chase and pursue the bad guys. Unlike us, who at all times should not only be trying to avoid a confrontation, but retreating from a confrontation.
I am a strong advocate of the right of civilians to carry a firearm and defend themselves. I also realize that there are some people who just shouldn’t be carrying or have access to a gun. My training involves how to use and defend one self with a gun. However, there are times when it is not appropriate to be carrying a handgun or necessary to use one. Just as important to learn how to use a gun to protect oneself, we should also learn the means without a gun. This starts with the prevention of confrontation to the use of other means including alternative weapons, etc. This information will be explored in articles and examples in other pages of this website.
For now we are going to concentrate on working on the proper mindset and the psychological willingness one must develop during an encounter in a self-defense situation. One is not going to reach this goal by just one article on the subject. In truth, one may never reach this goal until they actually experience a confrontation and only then will they truly know if they have the ability to use deadly force against another human or not. Because of magnitude of this decision, this page is meant to begin the thought process and to give the tools in the form of information. This information is derived from personal training, experience and knowledge. This knowledge and personal experiences was obtained by training under several professional trainers, lectures, movies and books.
Many great books have been written on this subject. It is my intent to offer an on going amount of information by adding info daily, weekly or monthly to this page, so the individual may be guided to understand the context of the material given to the development which is necessary to obtain the proper mindset. The information is obtained from experience, training, quotes, excerpts and information from personal individuals. They may be from authors to soldiers to athletes. Credit will be noted.
How often have you heard someone say; ‘someone threaten me and I’ll kill them on the spot, if someone came into my house and they’d be toast, I just hope that I’m home when they break into my garage and try to steal my tools’, or ‘I’ll be prepared’? Prepared for what? Talk is cheap. The truth is do you really want to take a life over a materialistic thing? First of all in Minnesota it is not legal. More important, why you would want to kill someone over something that can be replaced. That is why we have insurance. Through TV, media and video games, we have become desensitized. This in itself deserves an in depth topic. Therefore, we are not going to dwell on this at this time. What is very important is for people to realize this; the normal human being is not willing to take another human life. No matter how much a person proclaims that they are willing to and prepared to they are not. This is false. Unless you are physiologically trained and conditioned, we are not natural born killers. The exception of course is if you are a sociopath. It is not a normal, natural thing for humans to kill humans. This is something that must be learned. During WWII less than 15% of the soldiers were willing to fire upon the enemy. Their superiors had to literally get into the trenches and order them to fire. Even then they would sometimes fire above the enemies head, even during bonsai attacks. In Korea, 50% of the soldiers were willing to fire upon the enemy. In, Vietnam, 95% of the soldiers were willing to kill the enemy. Why? Training and conditioning.
