The 7 Things You Must Know Before You Draw Your Gun

By Patrick Kilchermann
United States Concealed Carry Association

Manasquan, NJ –-(Ammoland.com)- When I was asked to create the book called ‘The 7 Things You Must Know Before Drawing Your Gun’, about a thousand critical thoughts flooded my mind.

“First of all”, I remember saying, “There are far more than seven things that anybody needs to know before they draw their gun. In fact, there are probably seven hundred.”

My fellow USCCA Staff member replied, “I know that… you know that. Hell, most of our 56,000 members know that. But Pat, this report is going to be circulated into some pretty distant circles of people. Not all of them are going to have dedicated as much thought to carrying concealed as the average USCCA member.”

What could I say; my friend had a great point. So, I set out to form a collection of some of the best advice that I could find, and I swear to you, I tried to limit my findings to the seven things that you MUST know before carrying concealed- as advertised in the title to this book.

Try as I could, I missed the mark. I am giving you EIGHT things… or maybe more things that you absolutely must know before drawing your gun in a self-defense situation.

Okay, before we begin, let’s talk bluntly for a moment. The fact of the matter is that carrying a concealed handgun for self protection is NOT something you should take lightly, and here’s why: There are rights at stake, and there are lives at stake.

RIGHTS: We all believe in the fundamental human right of a law-abiding citizen to keep, and to bear arms. I happen to believe this is a universal human right, not limited to Americans, but very few other places in the world recognize it. Regardless, we have the right. Despite my beliefs, and despite what the founders of this constitutional republic determined long before my time to be correct, many jurisdictions in the USA have decided that they have the authority to override the constitution, eliminating our right to keep and bear arms.

As folks who carry concealed, we are on the front lines of the Second Amendment, and we owe it to the founding fathers, and to our great-grand-children’s generation to be constantly proving to our fellow Americans that gun owners are the most responsible group of people our country has.

If we do this… I am confident that we’ll never lose our constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms.

LIVES: Any time you venture into public with a self defense firearm at your side, you are putting lives in danger. They may be criminal lives, it may be your own life, or they may be innocent lives. Your sidearm and its ammunition place an incredible burden of responsibility on your shoulders. Every decision you make has to take that responsibility into consideration.

I am not trying to frighten anyone, and I’m sure that most of the people reading this will have heard the above message many times. This immense burden of responsibility is why carrying concealed works. That responsibility is why violent felons fear responsibly armed citizens more than they fear armed police officers.

It is a GOOD responsibility, and if it seems a bit daunting to you… well, that’s a good thing. In all my years of being part of the USCCA, having watched tens of thousands of people join our Association, I’ve never seen anybody take this responsibility lightly- at least not after the first time they holster their gun. As intimidating as it can be, holstering your pistol for the first time, being forced to draw it and defend yourself is at least a thousand times heavier of a choice. If you’re drawing, it’s because someone is about to do you great bodily harm. You’re backed into a corner, and you have to choose between succumbing to the wills of a killer, or to defend yourself.

This is the ultimate lose-lose situation, and as the responsible, innocent citizen– the victim- it is you who has the most to lose. At the moment when your life is threatened, you will have about a thousand decisions to make. The problem is, you’ll only have time to make two of them- three if you’re very well trained. The solution then, is to make the other 998 decisions before this moment of truth. And that, friends, is the purpose of this book, “The 7 Things You Must Know Before You Draw Your Gun” ( https://tiny.cc/mkfz7w ).

Before you begin reading, please make me one promise. Please make this promise to your friends, to your family, to your great-grand-children, to yourself, to the 56,000 members of the USCCA, to the founding fathers of this country, and the thousands of people you will encounter as you go about your days with your sidearm locked and loaded on your hip (or under your coat, or in your pocket, or on your ankle!): Promise me… Promise all of us that if this material is NEW to you, you will make this book the BEGINNING of your journey toward responsibly carrying a concealed weapon for self defense.

I now give you, the 7 things that you absolutely must know before you draw your weapon.

-Patrick Kilchermann, USCCA

Editors Note: You can order a copy of The 7 Things You Must Know Before You Draw Your Gun on Amazon in ebook or paperback: https://tiny.cc/mkfz7w