Opinion
Ft Collins, CO –-(Ammoland.com)- “War will find us, whether we are ready or not.” ~ Churchill
Successful Outcomes!
The American law-enforcement community, including the FBI, is now admitting that the recent history of terrorism clearly shows that the best deterrent, by far, is armed citizens.
Many, probably most, American citizens who own guns and go armed at least some of the time are neither adequately equipped, trained, nor practiced. When they attempt to access firearms during a personal emergency, they are typically indecisive, slow, clumsy, and inaccurate.
And yet, history has shown that even then they are usually effective in deterring/dissuading evil-doers.
This is because most VCAs (violent criminal actors), even Islamic terrorists (despite Hollywood’s false portrayal), are unintelligent, cowardly, incompetent amateurs, who characteristically break and run at the first indication of lethal resistance.
When dangerous criminals can thus be persuaded to precipitously abandon their villainous plans and subsequently run away, that usually represents a very good outcome.
Operators, well-equipped and well-trained, are an even better deterrent. We go armed all the time. Our equipment is superior. Our presentation is swift, smooth, and precise. Our verbal commands are clear and convincing. We don’t have UDs (unintentional discharges), and we don’t miss.
Operators practice the “stealth existence,” avoiding most toxic encounters. We live by the axiom:
“A superior Operator is best defined as one who uses his superior judgment to avoid circumstances that would require a display of his superior skills.”
Accordingly, most lethal encounters involve amateurs, not professionals.
However as noted above, even amateurs are usually successful, when they can get a gun in their hands within a reasonable amount of time.
They common denominator among “successful outcomes” is instant access to loaded guns.
The longer it takes for the good guy to get a gun, get it loaded, and put it into action, the likelihood of a “successful outcome” quickly deteriorates.
Many among the thousands of murdered farmers in South Africa died at the hands of vicious terrorists, while a safe, filled with guns that could have saved them, was nearby. Those guns never entered the equation, because they were, for all practical purposes, inaccessible.
The point lurking in the forgoing is this:
In this Age of Terrorism, all of us, both amateurs and professionals, have to become comfortable continuously living with, and carrying, loaded guns. Those who don’t have a seriously degraded the probability of living through their next lethal encounter.
“A young wolfhound will meet his first wolf some day, but when he acts the puppy, the wolf will surely kill him. The wolfhound must be a wolfhound in the wolf’s eyes, even more than in his own, if he is to survive.” ~ Robert Jordan
/John
About John Farnam & Defense Training International, Inc
As a defensive weapons and tactics instructor John Farnam will urge you, based on your own beliefs, to make up your mind in advance as to what you would do when faced with an imminent lethal threat. You should, of course, also decide what preparations you should make in advance if any. Defense Training International wants to make sure that their students fully understand the physical, legal, psychological, and societal consequences of their actions or in-actions.
It is our duty to make you aware of certain unpleasant physical realities intrinsic to the Planet Earth. Mr. Farnam is happy to be your counselor and advisor. Visit: www.defense-training.com
well.
as a combat Marine and shooter i am always carrying when out and about, and when home i am within reach of a firearm in whatever room i’m in, even when on the computer.
i have never understood why some people would lock up their firearm and not be able to retain it when needed.
and when out and about i am always checking my 6.
drives the wife crazy at times, but that’s the way it is and i will NEVER CHANGE THAT.
John I enjoy your articles, most of the time. As someone who hunts and shoots quite often you persistently insult me and many CCWs with your opinionated view that most carriers are pitiful at best. This not only insults many of us, it also is music to the ears of anti gunners. I’m sure you were qualified in your profession but as a writer you suffer from overthinking. I’m sure most of us when we need to be armed don’t have the time to wait for an experienced special operator so we must stumble along.
We rescue and rehab (if necessary) Irish Wolfhounds. The analogy presented here is probably closer than you think. While there is an innate hunting instinct and protectiveness in most IWHs, it usually remains repressed and hidden based on socialization. HOWEVER if a German Shepherd appears on the scene, both of our current hounds have some kind of switch turned on that causes them to focus and become aggressive. In other words they have the tools and abilities but choose to only rise to the occasion when called for. That is who some of us are as humans, quickly becoming aware… Read more »