Do I Need A Gun? ... Well, Do You?
Playing peek-a-boo with yourself is good training.
Virtually the entire content of this website has something to do with guns. I would venture to say most of you reading own a firearm of some kind. This is a good thing, and is in fact one of the things making our country the most unique in the world. The right of personal firearm ownership still exists, even if it’s frayed at the edges by government intervention. Even though we are guaranteed these rights, they are constantly being tampered with and the guidelines of the personal world we live in often impinge on our ability to carry or have a gun with us as a constant companion. Either by choice of where we live, or regulation, we simply can’t always have a gun.
It’s imperative to remember personal safety doesn’t always mean having a gun in your hand. Many of life’s everyday issues, including life threatening ones, can be resolved by the simple act of avoidance. So just how do you avoid those problems?
Are you “blind” to what’s going on around you?
Personal Awareness
Simply put, many people are not aware of what is going on around them. Stuck in their own bubble, they wander around in what we jokingly refer to as the IOWA mode. “Idiots Out Wandering Around” mode is a condition causing people to run into each other with cars while rubbernecking. It causes people to be curious when we know from childhood curiosity killed the cat.
This lack of awareness causes us to walk to our car in a parking lot without having our keys at hand. If we thought we heard something sounding like gunfire why would we go to see what it was? Why not simply go the other way? If you were cut off in traffic by some knot-head, would you chase them to show them a thing or two? Even more importantly, would you chase them while your family was in the car?
Maybe the cell phones we see wonder-glued to everyone’s ears now days could come in handy then? A good description is always better than a confrontation. Simply put, are we aware of who, what, where, when and the why’s of life happening around us? Don’t be a sheep — be alert, be aware of your surroundings.
Personal Tactics
These are not tactics like you’d think of in a battlefield, although they are very similar in nature. Personal tactics are simple things. Where did you park your car at the mall and will it be a good place two hours from now after the sun goes down? Does my seat at the restaurant allow me to see the door in case an armed robber comes into the business? This is not so I can draw my gun and start shooting to protect someone else’s money, but I’d rather not be shot in the back of the head while looking in the wrong direction.
If I heard a noise just outside my home or my bedroom door at night should I turn on the bedroom light and then open the door to the darkened hallway? Should I take a gun and leave my house in the dark to confront — whom? Is my ego more important than the safety of my family and home? Responding officers, if any, will simply encounter an armed individual in the dark and no good will come of it.
Tactics are an acquired skill and like any skill, must be practiced. Buy a full length dressing mirror and have another family member hide in the house any place a human could stand. Search for the mirror. No gun is required, and when you find the mirror what you see in the mirror is what the threat could see. If you see lots of you the mirror, it’s probably a bad thing. People shoot you because they see you. Don’t let them see you.
In the end, your survivability will not be based solely on firearms. Mental conditioning, a review of possible actions and responses before the fact (practice), along with a good dose of personal awareness and personal tactics will go a long ways toward keeping you breathing for many years to come.
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