The murder of a priest in Phoenix is the most recent example of violence happening in what many feel is a safe place: Churches, temples and other places of worship.

Unfortunately, this feeling is simply not factual.  Crime often occurs in places of worship due to many reasons, one of which is the very feeling that people believe they are safe places.  People tend to let their guard down, relax their vigilance and go unarmed when they go to worship.  Crime can range from simple purse-snatching to more violent crimes such as murder and assault.

I personally know a priest who was a victim of a burglary where he came home during the crime and tackled on of the criminals...not something I recommend doing.  I myself have experienced several incidents at church where things could have turned bad.  I have been a parishioner at a church which was repeatedly vandalized and even had a fire intentionally set which did hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.

Places of worship are no safer than any other public place and actually are often targets of violence such as the 2012 murders at the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin and many other less-reported incidents.

This past weekend as my family and I were sitting in church on Father’s Day, a man entered the sanctuary carrying a small metal box.  I had never seen him before.  He quickly went and sat in the first seat of the first pew in front of the altar.  He was a middle-aged man, thin and dressed in clothing I would deem as out-of-the-ordinary for church especially for a man his age.  He immediately grabbed my attention.  His demeanor was very agitated and as the Mass began I could tell he was disturbed either emotionally or mentally or both.

I began altering my previously planned-out response to a critical-incident at the church.  I checked with my wife to ensure she also had her gun with her so there would be at least one other firearm, in addition to the Glock 19 and Glock 26 I was carrying.  To my relief she responded in the affirmative and also followed-up with, “I would take the kids and exit through the door behind us.”  “That’s my girl,” I thought to myself with a relief, realizing that I would have to worry less about her and the kids, should I have to deal with a threat.  As I often tell her, "My job is to protect you, your job is to protect the kids."

Due to it being Father’s Day, there were slightly more people in the sanctuary than normal.  The man's position in the front pew meant that there were at least a dozen people behind him from my vantage point.  Meaning there would be a lot to many people beyond him should I need to take a shot at him...including a toddler who was perhaps 1-2 years old who was almost directly the right and behind the man.  His thin build and light clothing meant that over-penetration would be a concern.  I repositioned myself slightly to get a better vantage point and made sure I was keeping track of where his hands were and what he was doing with them...but I knew I didn’t have a clean shot with a good backstop.  I needed to think of something else and choose at least two courses of action that would quickly give me a good clean shot, should I need to take it.

Throughout the Mass, he would often cry silently and look upward.  People often cry due to things that have happened in the past…but they often cry about things that they will do in the future as well.  The latter is what concerned me, especially if it was the very near future and would result in putting my family in danger.  Realizing that I didn’t have a good, immediate shot, I pulled the canister of Mace pepper-spray out of my pocket and kept it concealed in my hands.  Although most, if not all, my fellow parishioners would be contaminated by the spray, it would be less risky than me taking a shot and would hopefully buy me time to take more direct action against him.

As the Mass proceeded it was obvious that he had mental issues.  Several times he spoke out during the service.  Although at many churches, speaking-out loudly is common…our church is not one of them.  And although the timing of his speech was not completely inappropriate, it was concerning to me...and to others, that his made the statements.

Halfway through the Mass, it appeared less-likely that he would be a threat.  He seemed to be following along with the service, saying the correct prayers and generally following along and not causing much of a ruckus.  Although I was more relaxed and confident that I would not be forced to take action, I still kept my eyes on him and was prepared to act.  When we got up to go to Communion, I passed where he was sitting.  The metal box was sitting next to him in the pew.  I looked at it and noticed it was brass-colored with a cross on it.  It appeared unlikely that it would contain anything of concern and I went back to my seat a little more relaxed.

At the end of Mass, the visiting priest called the man up to the altar with him.  As it turns out, the man had grown up in the parish and had recently lost his mother, which accounted for his agitated demeanor.  The metal box was an urn with his mother’s cremated remains in it which he brought to be blessed.  I put the pepper-spray back into my pocket, relieved that I didn’t have to use it.

You may think that I felt ridiculous that I had reacted this way to an innocent man with no intention on harming anyone in the church that day.  However, this would be in incorrect assumption.  I am actually grateful that it happened and allowed me to exercise and adjust the plan I had formulated for a critical-incident at church.  As we say in our Defensive series of classes, I used this “false alarm” as a way to evaluate my plan and to think of new alternatives and challenges to use in my self-debrief.

I encourage everyone to plan for an incident at your place of worship just as you do at your home, place of work, places of recreation and every other place you visit.

As Tom Givens of Rangemaster said in the Rangemaster Instructor’s training I recently took:

You don’t get to choose the time or place when you will need a gun to defend yourself.  The criminal who wants to kill, maim and rape you does and they will give you only a moment’s notice that you will need your gun.  You will have the opportunity to go back home and get it, or go across the room and get it or run to the bedroom and get it.  

 

If you don’t have it immediately at hand, YOU DON’T HAVE IT.  

 

Be prepared, have a plan and go armed!

Be A Bighorn

Training, Whether You Like It Or Not

The value of high-quality training cannot be overstated.  Whether it be in sports, music, business or just about anything else; training is one area where quality AND quantity are equally important.  Nowhere is this more important than in self-defense training.

Unfortunately, the majority of people do not seek quality, professional training.  However, this doesn’t mean they are not being trained.  In actuality, these people are being trained every second of every waking hour by two of the least quality trainers there have ever been: Denial and Complacency.

Webster defines Denial as, “a condition in which someone will not admit that something sad, painful, etc., is true or real.”  Some examples of being trained by Denial are:

• “I live in a safe neighborhood.”
• “We have a lot of police presence.”
• “If I don’t go to dangerous areas, I’ll be safe.”
• “If something bad happens, I’ll call 9-1-1.”
• "We have security personnel at my work."

All of these examples are easy for people to believe.  They don’t require any effort or expense and they are safe, comfortable and comforting.  However, they are also completely false and useless notions which can get you killed.  The fact is that crime and violence can infiltrate the most secure neighborhoods.  Crime and violence can start and end in a matter of seconds, long before anyone can come to your rescue.  Crime and violence can find you no matter where you are or where you go.  And they can happen no matter how much security is provided for you by someone else.

Webster defines complacency as, “a feeling of being satisfied with how things are and not wanting to try to make them better.”  Some examples of being trained by complacency are:

• “I bought a gun, that is enough.”
• “I took a class once, when I first bought my gun.”
• "I’ll just rack the slide of my shotgun, that is enough to scare someone away.”

If you speak with anyone who's job involves combat, they will tell you that the most important part of their professional lives are when they are training.  Whether the training is physical, emotional or intellectual, frequent training is required to keep your current skills sharp as well as learn new skills.

As a firearms and personal-protection instructor, I spend a considerable amount of time and expense on seeking out training for myself.  This is for my own benefit, so as to make me more proficient both mentally and physical at defending myself and those I care about.  It is also for the benefit of my students.  I take the best of what I learned from others and incorporate it into our own training offerings.

I cannot stress enough at how important it is to seek as much training as you can.  Often it takes a conscious and sacrificial choice to give up something you value such as one or two days of a weekend to take a class or to not buy tickets to a sporting event in order to save the funds to pay for a class.  However, it is well worth the sacrifice of a couple of weekends and a few hundred dollars a year in order to take the training, at the end of which you will have gained far more than you lost.

So, whether you like it or not; whether you consciously choose it or not; you are being trained in vast quantities.  The only question is: Will you be trained by Denial and Complacency or will you be trained by quality and professionalism?  It’s up to you.

Be A Bighorn.

Perception Is Reality

It’s interesting to note the change in perception of the gun over time.

During the early years of this country the gun was viewed as an absolute necessity by those who used it for their very survival.  Daniel Boone, The Minuteman and the Pioneer.  Whether it was to kill wild game to feed yourself and family, to defend against hostile two or four-legged threats, or to defend property and country.  The gun was there.

During the later years when the country was more “civilized”, our entertainment often featured the gun as a tool to defend the innocent and defeat those who would prey upon them.  The Lone Range, Captain America, the Rifleman and many other heroes from 50 years ago carried and used guns to fight crime and evil and to protect innocent people as well as the American way of life.  The gun was there.

During these golden years of the Greatest Generation, many high schools and colleges had rifle and pistol teams that competed locally, state-wide, nationally and even internationally.  Back then, a young teenager walking down the street with a shotgun or rifle over their shoulder was nothing to which anyone would feel threatened.  The gun was there.

Unfortunately today, mostly due to the unjust and undeserved vilification by the media and elitist politicians, the image of the gun and of gun owners has moved away from this positive role.  Now the image of guns and their owners have been flipped 180 degrees and become synonymous crime and evil, the very things just a few decades ago they were used to fight.

In his seminar entitled “Sheepdogs!  The Bulletproof Mind for the Armed Citizen”, Lt. Col. (Ret) Dave Grossman reminds us that the term “Shooter” has been used by the media, the elitists, the police and even us gun owners to be synonymous with the word “Murderer”.  IE: Active Shooter, School Shooter, Workplace Shooter, etc. 

An active shooter was once someone who is on the range actively shooting.  A school shooter was once a member of an academic shooting team.  A workplace shooter was once someone lucky enough to work someplace with its own range!  These terms have been hijacked by the anti-gun crowed, and we allowed it to happen.

In an article in NUVO (of all places) Indianapolis 2^nd Amendment attorney and gun instructor Guy Relford made a very good point that we must be aware of because it says a lot about the battle we are fighting and about ourselves.  Relford said, “…you've got several million law-abiding gun owners who've never committed a crime…are being treated like we're the cause of crazy people hurting others…and that we're now being punished for the crimes of other people when we've never committed a crime. ...law-abiding, sane, responsible gun owners get lumped in with criminals and psychopaths, and there's a very deep offense that's taken from that because we feel that we're the ones who'll stand up to defend our families and our country."

The words we use, the image we portray of the gun and gun owners needs to change back to what it was during the era of the Lone Range and of Captain America. 

I am not a murderer.  I am not a criminal.  I AM A SHOOTER.  This is not evil.  This is nothing to be ashamed of.  We MUST reclaim the image of the shooter and of the gun as fighters of evil and protectors of the innocent.

We must all do our part to educate our family and friends about the difference between a shooter and a murderer.  Invite a friend, a family member a co-worker or anyone else to come with you to the range and try your .22 handgun or rifle.

The only way we can do this is to educate those around us in a Grassroots way and it starts with each individual shooter.  Let's get to work so that the gun will always be there.

Doing Students A Disservice

During our recent Defensive Carbine 101 class, one of our students remarked that in a previous class he had taken with another provider, students were not permitted pick up anything off the ground while they had a firearm in there hand.  I too have taken training where this rule was in place.

While I can see the reasoning behind having this rule, I think it does a disservice to students.  Yes, muzzle-discipline can be a problem when squatting down or bending forward at the waist to pick something up (especially with a long-gun) and forbidding students from picking something up off the ground can reduce liability.  However, picking something up off the ground with a firearm in your hand is a real-world possibility and quite a likely one that students will encounter at some point.

At Train To Be Safe Academy, we believe properly educating and training students how to perform such an action is a much better service to them and makes them much safer after taking our classes than not addressing the matter at all.  Leaving students with a hole in their knowledge and training does not one any good including the student and those who encounter the student after taking the training.

Of course, having multiple students in close proximity necessitates taking extra steps to ensure the safety of all those around, so safety guidelines are established and enforced.  Violations of these guidelines are treated seriously and can result in actions up to and including removal from the firing range or expulsion from the course entirely.

This is just one example of what makes us different than many other training providers.  We don’t shy away from topics or techniques that other trainers may.  We believe that only in providing thorough and safe educating and training do we fulfill our obligation to our students to provide the best and complete training we can provide and they expect.

As a student, I expect the training company and its instructors to provide the best, most complete training possible.  Anything less is simply unacceptable.  While I understand that each provider will have their own way of addressing certain topics and each will have their own unique style of instruction, ALL training providers must put the needs of their students ahead of all other considerations except safety which trumps everything else.

At Train To Be Safe Academy, we will continue to provide innovative and thorough training to our students and will not shy away from topics that are useful and necessary for our students to be safe and informed.

That is my promise to you.

Springtime Is Here...Get Ready For Crimetime

The trees are budding, the grass is growing, the birds are chirping and the weather is warmer.  Spring is here!!

The end of Winter and the beginning of Spring brings increased temperatures, increased outside activities, increased daylight hours and unfortunately increased crime!  The warmer months are the time of year with higher occurrences of crime, especially personal crime such as assaults, robberies, rapes and murders.

Whenever you have more people interacting with each other you have increased occurrences of crime.  This is especially true when you have teenagers and young adults who are out of school with not much to do.  "Idle hands are the devil's tools".  Add heat to bored people in large groups and you have a prescription for crime.

If course, the reasons for the increase in crime are really not all that important to most people.  The resulting increase in crime is what we have to deal with.  Fortunately there are simple, inexpensive tactics and tools that you can use to decrease your chances of being a victim of crime.  Here are just a few:

1. Lights -
1. Leave your porch lights on.  Criminals are like cockroaches...they avoid the light and scurry when light is shined on them. 
2. You can use motion-sensing lights to conserve energy and timers so you don't have to remember to turn them on. 
3. Using a timer on at least one light so it turns on the same time all-year long is a great way to make a criminal who is "casing" your house think there is someone home all the time. 
4. Timers are also good for when you are on vacation.  They allow you to simulate activity in your residence.
2. Locks -
1. Having and using locks is one of the best ways to defeat crimes of opportunity and non-professional criminals. 
2. Lock your vehicle doors all the time.  When you get in your vehicle, lock your doors IMMEDIATELY.  Even before you put the key in the ignition or put your seatbelt on, LOCK YOUR DOORS and keep them locked until you are ready to immediately exit your vehicle.
3. ALL doors that lead out of your residence should have quality dead-bolt on them.  This includes on the front door, side doors and rear doors.  It also includes doors to any attached garage, sunroom or breezeways.
4. The locks MUST have adequate screws attaching them to the frame.  A minimum of 3" screws must be used on all locks, hinges and other contact points between the door and you door-frame.  The frame is the weakest part of the door and is usually what fails when there is a forced-entry.
3. TLC -
1. The condition of your house can actually be a deterrent to crime.  If you have a well-kept yard it tells criminals that there is someone who cares about their property and probably has taken steps to protect it.  It can also make them think there is an able-bodies person who lives there...even if there is not.
2. Keeping valuables out-of-sight discourages simple theft.  Lock up bicycles, lawn equipment and other items that can be stolen and then sold or pawned.
3. Keep ladders and other tools that can be used to break into your residence.  Criminals will use anything and everything they can to commit their crimes.  Don't have them use your own tools against you.
4. Dogs -
1. Dogs are one of the best crime deterrents there is.  The mere threat of being bitten by a dog can cause even the most toughened criminal to move on.
2. Studies have shown that criminals fear a dog more than an armed home-owner.  This is partly due to the fact that you cannot reason with a  dog they way you can reason with a human.  If a dog decides he/she is going to bite you...YOU WILL BE BITTEN.  You cannot say, "Never mind Fido, I'll leave."  If you violate a dogs territory, they are awfully unforgiving.
3. Dogs can give you an early-warning when someone is on your property.  They can attack someone who has broken into your home and the mere presence of a dog can cause a criminal to look elsewhere for their target.
4. Even if you don't have or want a dog, you can still use one.  Buy a "Beware of Dog" sign and put it in your front yard.  Get a large dog bowl and write "Killer" on it and put it on your porch.  Ask a neighbor with a dog if you can have some old chew toys and put them in your back yard or on your back porch.  All of these can trick a criminal into thinking you have a dog.
5. When you go for a walk, run or whenever you go out-and-about, having your dog with you is a great deterrent.  Of course the size and breed of the dog makes a difference in the amount of apprehension that a criminal will have.
5. Go Armed -
1. Having a personal protection tool  and knowing how to use it is a good idea. 
2. This is especially true if you encounter a criminal who is unimpressed by all the other tactics and tools your have employed to deter criminal attack.  If a criminal is cunning enough, crazy enough, desperate enough to defeat or ignore all of your preparation, then having a way to quickly and effectively stop their criminal attack will be needed. 
3. A firearm is one of the best ways to stop a criminal attack.  Whether it be a handgun on your person or a rifle or shot shotgun in your safe-room, using a firearm may be the only way to stop someone from hurting your or someone you love.  Training is VITAL to ensure you know how to safely and effectively own and use a firearm.
4. Pepper-spray is also an effective means of stopping someone.  In some instances it can be as effective or even more effective than a firearm.  Using a mist or fogger type of spray can create a barrier that is very difficult (but NOT IMPOSSIBLE) for someone to penetrate.  Stream or foam pepper-spray canisters can be used as direct use on the attackers eyes and mucus membranes.  Again, training is imperative so that you know when and how to deploy pepper-spray.  Knowing what is can and cannot or may not do is also important.

These are just some of the things you can do to deter and/or stop a criminal attack.  As with all things, nothing is guaranteed and you MUST be prepared for the failure of each and every one of the above.  You must have a plan as well as a backup plan.

Only by seeking knowledge and training and then taking action will you increase your safety and security.  As we often say: Your mind is your ultimate weapon.  It is up to you whether you will arm it and use it effectively or not.


Get Trained and BE SAFE!

Predicting Your Future

I am about to predict the future for you...
I can tell you the exact name of one of the people who is going to attack you during an assault, rape, robbery or home invaision.

Impossible you say?  Well, let me amaze you with my fortune-telling ability:

His name is Murphy S. Law.

Murphy is an assailant in every criminal confrontation that has ever...and will ever happen.

He is the guy who causes your "unstoppable" Glock to have a fail-to-feed, fail-to-eject or other stoppage.
He is the guy who causes the battery in your flashlight to run-dry as you search your house at 2:00AM.
He is the guy that causes your .45ACP "man stopper" round to have no effect on the psycho charging at you with a knife.
He is the guy that picks your house as the target for a violent home invasion and murder.
He is the guy that tells you it's OK to walk to your car alone at night after work or shopping.
He is the guy that tells you to ignore your intuition and that the stranger talking to you has no plans on raping and murdering you.

The good news is that it is easy to deal with Murphy: Just think of everything that can go wrong and then figure out multiple ways to quickly fix each of them.

OK, so it's not that easy.  But it is also not impossible.  Now that you know that Murphy will be one of your attackers, you can take steps to prevail against him and his accomplices.  Here are some important few:

1. Have a plan for as many situations as you can think of.  As you go through your day, stop and think of what you would do if you were attacked RIGHT NOW.  At your residence, in your car on your drive to work, at the school as you drop your kids off, at the convenience store you stop at for coffee, at your place of work, at your place of worship, at the park, etc.
2. Have a backup.  This is true at least for you plan, your gun and your flashlight.  Your backup doesn't have to be as big-and-bad as your primary, but it must be solid.  For example my everyday carry (EDC) gun is a Glock 19 compact handgun in 9x19 with an additional 15-round magazine.  I carry this 100% of the time whether I am at home or away.  When I go out of the house, I additionally carry a Glock 26 sub-compact handgun in 9x19.  They are both the same caliber and the G26 can even accept the same magazine as the G19.  I carry a pocket-sized canister of pepper-spray on me all the time but I also have a larger canister in my vehicle, home and other locations.  I carry a Surefire Z2X Combatlight most of the time when I am not at home and a Streamlight Microstream all of the time.
3. Get trained.  This means training the mind first and the body second.  There is a saying that goes, "Just because you own a piano, doesn't make you a concert pianist."  This also applies to owning a gun, pepper-spray or other defensive weapon.  If you don't get trained and don't practice, chances are you will not be very good at it during a violent confrontation.  There are currently more training opportunities available to the average citizen than ever before and for every budget.  There are local, national and international training organizations offering everything from introductory to advanced skill and topics.  Even if you have already taken training, there is always something new to learn or have reinforced.  And all of us can always use more training.
4. Never go unprepared in mindset and in gear.  When properly educated and trained, your defense-oriented mind is your ultimate weapon!  It is up to you whether you have it with you throughout your day.  Obtaining and then maintaining a proper defensive mindset and living in "Condition Yellow" is simply a matter of choice.  Just because you happen to live, work, vacation or visit someplace where you cannot carry a gun, doesn't mean you must go without a defensive weapon.  There are many other means of self-defense including empty-hand combatives, pepper-spray, innocuous impact weapons, etc.  Even normal, everyday items you find all around you can be used as a defensive weapon: kitchen knives, a pot of boiling water, a frying pan, car keys, a walking stick, etc.  You just need to take a look around your environment using your defensive mindset.

I guarantee Murphy will be at the criminal encounter you are a victim of and he will not be on your side.  Are you prepared to meet Murphy today?  If not, NOW is the best time to start being prepared.

BE A BIGHORN!