Home Defense v5

7/31/2019 Home Defense v5

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A Manrichment ActivityPresented by Scott Cannon

2010


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I AM NOT a licensed attorney and am notqualified to give legal advice.

I AM NOT currently a Law Enforcement

Officer and the information presented hereshould not be considered to be endorsed by norseen as originating from any Law EnforcementAgency.

What follows are my own opinions andrecommendations based on my own research,training, and experience.


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Grew up in a home completely devoid of guns. My parents bought my brother and me a BB gun which we used to maim a

Chickadee. It fell into some tall bushes and got stuck there, crying for us toput it out of its misery. We tried desperately and unsuccessfully to finish itoff with our underpowered weapon. We were both in tears by the end andour parents took away the gun and never gave us another.

Shot a shotgun once in Scouts. Shot a .22 handgun once on a group date incollege. That was the extent of my firearms experience until 2007.

Summer 2007 Graduated from Brigham Young University with aMasters Degree in Psychology.

Oct 2007 Mar 2008 Worked for Boise Police Department. I wanted to be a police officer for various reasons, but one of the most

significant was because I wanted to know how to defend my family from any

enemy, foreign or domestic. Completed BPD Advanced Academy including 30 hours of firearms training. Passed both Department and State shooting qualification tests for handgun

and shotgun.

Fall 2009 Completed Ada County Concealed Weapons Course. I am now the proud owner of 4 (four) firearms!


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What is Home Defense? Guidance from the Scriptures

What Does the Law Say About Home Defense? IC 18-9004 Justifiable Homicide In a Nutshell

Fleeing Felons and Liability So Youve Decided To Become a Gun Owner

Why Buy a Gun? Your Responsibilities * Dummy Rounds

Four Fundamental Rules of Gun Safety Rule #1: Keep your FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER until your sights

are on the target. Rule #2: Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing

to DESTROY. Rule #3: Every Gun is ALWAYS Loaded.

Rule #4: Always be Sure of Your Target AND Background.


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Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired bya better cause, for they were not fighting formonarchy nor power but they were fighting fortheir homes and their liberties, their wives andtheir children, and their all, yea, for their rites toworship and their church.

And they were doing that which they feltwas their duty which they owed to their God; forthe Lord had said unto them, and also unto

their fathers, that: Inasmuch as ye are not guiltyof the first offense, neither the second,ye shallnot suffer yourselves to be slain by your enemies.

And again, the Lord has said that:Ye shalldefend your families even unto bloodshed.(Alma 43:45-47)


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18-4009. Justifiable homicide by any person. Homicide is also justifiablewhen committed by any person in either of the following cases:

1. When resisting any attempt to murder any person, or to commit a felony,or to do some great bodily injury upon any person; or,

2. When committed in defense of habitation, property or person, againstone who manifestly intends or endeavors, by violence or surprise, to commit a

felony, or against one who manifestly intends and endeavors, in a violent,riotous or tumultuous manner, to enter the habitation of another for thepurpose of offering violence to any person therein; or,

3. When committed in the lawful defense of such person, or of a wife orhusband, parent, child, master, mistress or servant of such person, when thereis reasonable ground to apprehend a design to commit a felony or to do somegreat bodily injury, and imminent danger of such design being accomplished;

but such person, or the person in whose behalf the defense was made, if hewas the assailant or engaged in mortal combat, must really and in good faithhave endeavored to decline any further struggle before the homicide wascommitted; or,

4. When necessarily committed in attempting, by lawful ways and means,to apprehend any person for any felony committed, or in lawfullysuppressing any riot, or in lawfully keeping and preserving the peace.

[I.C., 18-4009, as added by 1972, ch. 336, 1, p. 844.]


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You MAY NOT EVER shoot someone to protectproperty alone!

You MUST have a reasonable, well-founded FEAROF DEATH OR GREAT BODILY INJURY (i.e. any

injury that would render you unable to defendyourself) in order to be legally justified in shootingsomeone in your home or on your property.

NEVER POINT YOUR GUN AT SOMEONE unlessyou can articulate a fear of death or great bodily

injury; otherwise you risk being charged withAGGRAVATED ASSAULT A man in Garden City was convicted of Aggravated

Assault for pointing his gun at vandals who were fleeingfrom his car dealership.


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If the person begins to flee and you can articulatewhy this person would be considered a VIOLENTFELON (i.e. he has already seriously hurt/killed/raped someone) you can use deadly force to

prevent his escape. (Tennessee vs. Garner) If you shoot someone and can establish in court

that it was IN FACT justifiable homicide under IC18-4009, you CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE for

damages by the victim or victims family in a civillawsuit (IC 19-201 through 19-205). However, that doesnt mean they wont try. The decision

to shoot someone will always have serious consequencesand should never be taken lightly.


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December 31, 2011Sarah McKinley, an 18-year old mother

whos husband had died of lung cancer aweek earlier on Christmas day, was homewith her 3-monthold baby when two men(aged 24 and 29), one armed with a 10

hunting knife, attempted to break into herhome. McKinley locked the doors and calledthe police. Unfortunately for her, she livedin sparsely populated Blanchard, OK andthere were only 3 sheriffs deputiespatrolling an area of 12,000 square miles.After 21 minutes on the phone with 911, nohelp had arrived and the men succeeded inbreaking in. Fortunately for her, she had ashotgun and when Justin Martin entered thehome, she shot an killed him, sending hisaccomplice fleeing. In Oklahoma, state lawprovides that any unlawful entry of apersons residence may be met with deadlyforce. Sarah and her baby survived, and she

was cleared by police of all wrongdoing.


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Castle Doctrine:American legal doctrine that designatesone's place of residence (or, in some states, any place legallyoccupied, such as one's car or place of work) as a place inwhich one enjoys protection from illegal trespassing andviolent attack.

Duty to Retreat Clause: The obligation imposed upon thehome's occupants to retreat as far as possible and verballyannounce their intent to use deadly force, before they can belegally justified in doing so to defend themselves.

Stand Your Ground Clause: The defender has no duty orother requirement to abandon a place in which he has a

right to be, or to give up ground to an assailant before usingdeadly force. These laws vary by state and it is crucial to know what laws

govern the use of deadly force in your state before you considerowning/carrying/using a firearm for self-defense.

Links to specific state laws can be found at the Wikipedia entry

entitled Castle Doctrine


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The greatest power of a gun is its power to DETER! Studies of firearms used in self defense situations have found that

simply brandishing a gun will deter a criminal between 70 and 90% ofthe time.

From The Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry (2008):

Any womens rape prevention class or self-defense class willteach to attack the assailants genitals, eyes, or throat, or to pickup some object to strike the attacker repeatedly in the head.We are talking about crushed testicles, eyes gouged out,suffocation, and skull-fractures or traumatic brain injuries. Allthese results fit in the category of a life-threatening injury

and/or grave bodily harm: a deadly force level of injury.Deadly force is deadly force, whether delivered with barehands, blunt objects, edged weapons, or a firearm. Thebiggest difference between these alternatives is the deterrenteffect. A martial arts stance will have little impact on a larger,more determined criminal, but a drawn firearm and a firm

shooting stance is the ultimate exclamation point


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The ironic reality of all this is that an unarmed victim willlikely have to kill or maim a determined attacker to defeat thethreat, probably sustaining injury him/herself in the process.By contrast, a person who is armed with a deadly weapon issignificantly more likely to be able to end the threat with no

physical injury to either side due to the tremendous deterrenteffect of a legally carried firearm.


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Teach everyone in your home about proper gun safety andhave them PRACTICE good safety habits. For children, take away their curiosity by familiarizing

them with your firearms and teaching them how to properlyand safely use them. (Do your kids see guns as mysteriousforbidden fruit or as clearly understood deadly fruit?)

Teach everyone in your home how to unload and make safeeach weapon you possess.

Keep all but your home defense weapon(s) unloaded,locked, and securely stored.

Store weapons and ammunition in different locations. Consider storing your home defense weapon with a dummy

round* in the chamber for an extra layer of safety. Practicegrabbing the weapon and immediately cycling the dummyround out so you will have the habit of doing this and willdo it automatically under stress.


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Great for practicingloading/reloading (esp.w/ shotguns) andperfecting your trigger

pull without damagingyour firing mechanisms. Also great for providing

an extra layer of safetywhen storing a loaded

home defense weapon. Unfortunately, theyre

not cheap: Two shotgundummy rounds willcost you over $10!


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1. Keep your FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER until yoursights are on the target. This is not the same thing as keep your finger off the trigger until

you are ready to shoot. Why? Because you may be ready toshoot when you hear a window break and footsteps comingtoward your bedroom in the middle of the night that doesntmean that you have a target to shoot at. Keep the finger off thetrigger until your sights are on the target!

This is arguably the MOST important gun safety habit to establish.


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2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing toDESTROY. You must develop muzzle awareness, especially with handguns. Think of the muzzle as a laser. As you handle any weapon, keep

in mind that anything you laser during that time is somethingyou just risked destroying. Be VERY CONSCIOUS of what youlaser while handling a firearm. You arent likely to shootanything you dont point a gun at.


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3. EVERY gun is ALWAYS loaded. You must personally perform a VISUAL AND TACTILE check on

EVERY firearm you handle. NEVER trust someones word or yourown memory to tell you whether or not a gun is loaded.

Once youve checked the status of the weapon, this rule then servesprimarily as a reminder of the critical first two rules.


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4. Always be sure of your target AND background. You will be held accountable for your decision to shoot at a target,

whatever that target happens to be. A loud crash in the nightcould be an intruder, OR it could be one of your children lookingfor a midnight snack. VERIFY YOUR TARGET before you shoot.

You also need to know what is beyond your target in case yourshot overpenetrates or YOU MISS. Any bullet that doesnt hit yourthreat may end up in a childs bedroom or a neighbors house.


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You may want to buy a fast-accesssafe for your home defense weaponso it is not easily accessible tochildren but is easily accessible incase of a home invasion or other

emergency. Gunvault (pictured) makes a greatoption with a programmable push-button access code as well assecondary keyed entry (about $100). NOTE: If you will be keeping your

concealed carry weapon in this safe,keep it out of reach of children as Ihave found more than once that Iforgot to close the safe after gettingout my carry weapon, leaving myhome defense weapon in the safewith the door open! I promptlyremoved it to a more secure location.


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Basic Civilian Firearms Types Shotgun Rifle Pistol Revolver

Ammunition Terminology Rifle and Handgun Terminology A Word on FMJ vs. JHP

Which Caliber should I Choose? Whats the Difference The Cost Factor

Selecting Defensive Ammunition Recommended Defense Loads Testing Your Defense Load

Shotgun Terminology *A Note About Shotgun Ammunition for Home Defense


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Shotgun: A smooth-bore firearm that shoots shellsfilled with multiple steel or lead pellets of varioussizes over short to medium distances or singleslugs over longer distances.

Rifle: A long-barreled weapon with spiraledgrooves cut into the bore to produce a spinningmotion on a single projectile that improvesaccuracy over great distances.

Pistol: A short weapon intended to be fired with

one hand that is loaded using a magazine. Revolver: A short weapon intended to be fired

with one hand that is loaded using its revolvingchambered cylinder.


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Rimfire: A type of ammunition in which the primer is integratedwith the shell casing making them a one-time-only casing.These are most typically small caliber rounds, the most commonof which is .22 Long Rifle.

Centerfire: A type of ammunition in which the primer is added tothe shell casing allowing the casing to be reused if a new primer is

added. The majority of ammunition types, both handgun andrifle, are centerfire.


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Caliber: The diameter of something of circular section, esp. that ofthe inside of a tube; with firearms, the caliber refers to thediameter of the inside of the barrel (usually measured in inches ormm).

Grain: The smallest unit of weight in most systems, originallydetermined by the weight of a plump grain of wheat; with

ammunition, the number of grains indicates the weight of theprojectile (i.e. a 115 grain 9mm bullet vs. a 147 grain 9mm bullet).


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Full Metal Jacket (FMJ): This is a type of bullet in which atypically soft core (usually of lead) is encased in a jacket ofharder metal to allow for greater muzzle velocities whiledepositing less metal residue in the bore. These are typically usedfor target shooting and practice because they cause less damage indefense situations than JHP bullets and have more tendency to

overpenetrate and ricochet. Jacketed Hollow Point (JHP): This is a type of bullet in which a

typically soft core is partially encased in a jacket of hardermetal. However, the nose of the bullet is left un-jacketed, causingthe bullet to expand on impact. These are typically used forpersonal defense as they cause greater damage and are less likely

to overpenetrate a target or to ricochet.


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A New York Times study of NYPD shootings of innocentbystanders and fellow officers between 1995-1996 foundthat for 15 wounded innocent bystanders, 53% were hitby shots that missed their intended target, while 46%were hit by rounds that passed through their intended

target and continued on with enough force to wound thebystander; for 44 wounded officers, 52% were hit bymisses, 2% by ricochets, and 42% by shoot-throughs ofthe intended target. In other words, 42% of the 44 NYPD cops shot by friendly-fire in

1995-1996 were hit by bullets that hit and passed all the waythrough the targeted offender. This was while the departmentwas using 115-grain 9mm FMJ. In 1999 the department switchedto 127-grain +P+ 9mm JHP and largely solved the problem.

Bottom Line: DO NOT USE FMJ in your defense gun.FMJ is only for target practice. Only load your defense

gun with high-quality JHP (recommendations to follow).


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All of these rounds are actually the same caliber (approx .357 inches or 9mm).In fact, .38 Special rounds can actually be fired in a .357 Magnum revolver (but

not the other way around due to the larger size of the .357 casing); the calibersare identical. However, there are important differences:

The amount of gunpowder in each cartridge is very different, with the .380having the least and the .357 Magnum having the most. This indicates adifference in potential projectile speeds. Tests have shown that amongsimilar calibers, projectile speed has the greatest effect on the damage

caused by a round a very important factor in defensive shooting.


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Lets face it: If you cant shoot your gun on the cheap, you arent going toshoot it enough to have the skills you may need some day to defend yourlife and loved ones. This chart shows most of the commonly purchasedhandgun calibers and what it will cost (approx.) to practice with them.

Ammo Type # of Rounds Price Price per Round Source Date Verified

9mm 50 $10.37 $0.21 ammoengine.com As of 2/24/2010

.40 S&W 50 $11.97 $0.24 ammoengine.com As of 2/24/2010

.38 Special 50 $13.90 $0.28 ammoengine.com As of 2/24/2010

.45 ACP 50 $15.95 $0.32 ammoengine.com As of 2/24/2010

.357 Sig 50 $19.68 $0.39 ammoengine.com As of 2/24/2010

.357 Magnum 50 $19.99 $0.40 ammoengine.com As of 2/24/2010

.380 ACP 50 $21.59 $0.43 ammoengine.com As of 2/24/2010

.44 Magnum 50 $22.50 $0.45 ammoengine.com As of 2/24/2010

10mm 50 $38.95 $0.78 ammoengine.com As of 2/24/2010

*All ammunition figures come from the lowest priced box of 50 rounds, regardless of manufacturer or specific bullet type.


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Is one brand of X-caliber JHP the same as another? NO! Different brands have different production specifications that

can have a HUGE impact on the effectiveness of the round as a manstopper. Some JHP rounds will clog with clothing on impact and failto expand, effectively turning them into FMJ-type projectiles with theassociated risks of overpenetration and much lower stoppingpower/damage to target.

Massad Ayoob, author of The Gun Digest Book of ConcealedCarry (2008) has the following recommendations based onstreet tests: Thoroughly investigated law enforcementshootings from across the country that involved completeautopsies, forensic ballistics tests, and intensive debriefings of

shooters and witnesses detailing the effect of the rounds. His general conclusion based on the evidence is that projectilespeed (fps) seems to have a greater effect on damage to thetarget than weight (grains). A lighter bullet of the same calibercan reach higher speeds and requires less resistance uponimpact to expand and produce the maximum man stopping

damage.


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Load: The specific brand, weight, pressure, and caliber of ammunitionused in a firearm (i.e. 115-grain 9mm FMJ vs. 124-grain 9mm +P JHP)

+P: This indicates Over Pressure, ammunition which has beenloaded to a higher internal pressure than standard ammunition for thesame caliber. This is typically done to produce ammunition withgreater muzzle velocity and stopping power. Because of this higher

pressure, using +P ammunition increases recoil, potentially leading tomalfunctions in some firearms, and will decrease the service life of anyfirearm if used extensively. You should verify whether or not your specific firearm is designed to handle

+P ammunition. While most newer models can handle +P ammunition, it willstill be a good idea to check. Otherwise, using it could damage your firearm.

+P+: Indicates Exceeding Over Pressure.


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.38 Special Speer Gold Dot 135-grain +P(New York

Load)

9mm Federal 9BPLE 115-grain JHP (1300 fps, used

by Illinois State Police)

Winchester Ranger 127-grain +P+ (1250 fps,currently used by NYPD)

Speer Gold Dot 124-grain +P (1250 fps,currently used by Orlando PD)

.357 Magnum Federal, Winchester, or Remington brand

125-grain semi-JHP (1400 fps) known asthe Magic Bullet for its stopping power

.357 Sig Winchester Ranger, Remington Golden

Saber, or Speer Gold Dot 125-grain (1400+fps, used by Texas State Troopers)


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.40 S&W Speer Gold Dot 180-grain JHP (good

reputation from PDs in Boston andMilwaukee)

Federal HST 180-grain JHP (impressiveone-shot stops in the Pacific Northwest)

Remington 155-grain JHP (1200 fps, usedby US Border Patrol) Federal Classic and Winchester Silvertip

155-grain JHP (affordable highperformance rounds)

.45 ACP

Winchester 230-grain JHP (low-price, streetproven choice) Hydra-Shok variety .45 auto ammo is the

gold standard Speer CCI Gold Dot Remington Golden Saber 230-grain Winchester SXT/Ranger 230-grain


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Different loads of ammunition will have differentmanufacturing specifications even within the same caliberand manufacturer. Here are a few potential differences: Shell casing material (Brass vs. Steel) Shell casing thickness

Shell casing length Internal Pressure (Normal vs. +P vs. +P+)

Even a slight difference in any one of these areas couldcause your gun to malfunction in combination with thatspecific load of ammunition. For example, your semi-autopistol may reliably fire every load of ammunition but one.

That load may have a slightly longer or shorter shell casingor projectile which causes the gun to jam when firing. Once youve selected your desired defense load, be sure to

test it by firing at least a box or two of the load in yourdefense weapon to make sure the combination of yourspecific gun with that specific load is a reliable one!


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Gauge: The diameter of theinside of a shotgun barrel,determined by the numberof spherical lead bullets of adiameter equal to that of thebore that are required to

make one pound (i.e. alower number, like 12,indicates a larger diameterbarrel than a highernumber, like 20).

Shot shell: A self-containedcartridge loaded with shot(multiple projectiles) orslugs (a single projectile)designed to be fired from ashotgun.


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Shot: The type and size ofthe projectiles loaded in ashot shell. The twoprimary types of shot arebuckshot and birdshot.Birdshot can be either lead

or steel. Birdshot shellscontain a high volume ofsmall metal pelletsdesigned to inflict damageon small animals,primarily birds. Buckshotshells contain fewer, larger

pellets designed to inflictdamage on larger animals,including humans.


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I have had a lot of questions, summed up as follows: Howeffective is birdshot (#4, #6, #8, etc.) as a defense load? We havedone tests with various birdshot loads. Birdshot penetrated throughtwo pieces of drywall (representing one wall) and was stopped inthe paper on the front of the second wall. The problem withbirdshot is that it does not penetrate enough to be effective as a

defense round. Birdshot is designed to bring down little birds. Apoliceman told of seeing a guy shot at close range with a load of 12gauge birdshot, and was not even knocked down. He was stillwalking around when the EMTs got there. It was an ugly, shallowwound, but did not STOP the guy. And that is what we want... toSTOP the bad guy from whatever he is doing. To do this, you musthave a load that will reach the vitals of the bad guy. Birdshot will

not do this. In fact, tests have shown that even #4 Buckshot lacksthe necessary penetration to reach the vital organs. Only 0 Buck, 00Buck, and 000 Buck penetrate enough to reach the vital organs.Unless you expect to be attacked by little birds, do not use birdshot.Use 00 Buck. It will do the job. From www.theboxotruth.com


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"I saw a gunshot victim, about 5' 10" and 200 lbs, taken to theoperating room with a shotgun wound to the chest. He was shot ata range of six feet at a distance of just over the pectoralis muscle.He was sitting on his front porch and walked to the ambulance.We explored the chest after x-rays were taken. The ER doc hadsaid 'buckshot' wound, but this was obviously not accurate. It was

# 6 shot. There was a crater in the skin over an inch in diameter.When the shot hit the level of the ribs, it spread out about fiveinches. There was ONE pellet that had passed between the ribsand entered the pericardium, but not damaged the heart at all. Asyou say, 'use birdshot for little birds.' Fromwww.theboxotruth.com

If you are planning on using a shotgun for homedefense purposes, you need to be sure that you havethe correct ammunition. As weve read here,ammunition designed to bring down a duck will notkill or incapacitate a dangerous intruder. Be sure touse No. 0, 00, or 000 buckshot for defense.


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Issues to Consider Stopping Power Ammunition Capacity Ease of Reload Collateral Risk

Box O Truths Ammunition Penetration Experiments Reliability Ease of Operation Recoil Cost

The Contenders Shotgun Rifle Pistol Revolver

Caring for your Home Defender


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Stopping Power You want to choose a gun andammunition type that will be powerful enough to stop thethreat posed by a dangerous intruder in your home.

Ammunition Capacity The last thing you want in agunfight is to run out of bullets because the first one to run

out of bullets loses. And remember, you cant miss fastenough to win a gunfight. Ease of Reload If you do run out of bullets before the fight

is over, a gun with a simple and fast reload procedure maybe a lifesaver.


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Collateral Risk You will be held responsible for everybullet that leaves your gun, and under stress, you willprobably miss the threat with at least one of them. Wherewill it go? Your childs bedroom? Your neighbors house?Some bullets pose a bigger threat of leaving your immediate

area than others.


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The website www.theboxotruth.com has a great deal ofinformation about the collateral risk posed by various types ofammunition in a home defense setting. Heres a summary ofsome of their most relevant findings:

Handgun/Rifle Penetration -12 sheets of 5/8 sheetrock, a

water jug, and a wood/brick backstop: 9mm JHP: 12 sheets, water jug; stopped by wood .45 ACP JHP: 12 sheets, water jug; stopped by wood .357 Magnum JHP: 9 sheets; stopped by 10th .223 from AR-15: 12 sheets, water jug, wood; stopped by brick 7.62 x 51 mm: 12 sheets, water jug, wood; stopped after breaking the

brick In a follow-up test involving four insulated interior walls (8 pieces

of 5/8 sheetrock and insulation) spaced room distance (i.e. 10feet) apart, the handgun rounds penetrated all four walls withoutdifficulty while the rifle rounds deviated wildly after the secondwall making the results inconclusive.


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12 Gauge Shotgun Penetration - 12 sheets of 5/8sheetrock, water jug, pine wood and brick backstop: 12 ga birdshot/target load @ 12 feet =

penetrated 2 sheets, bounced off 3rd 12 ga #4 buck @ 12 feet = penetrated 6

sheets, bounced off 7th 12 ga #1 buck @ 12 feet = penetrated 6

sheets, bounced off 7th 12 ga #00 buck @ 12 feet = all pellets

penetrated 7 sheets, some 8, and one 9 Entry wound spreads @ 12 feet were

between 2.5 and 3.5 (in other words, youstill have to aim)

12 ga slug @ 12 feet = penetrated all 12sheets and stopped by or in the waterjugs


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Maneuverability The ability to maneuver inside yourhome and make an accurate shot while at the same time notgiving away your position or jeopardizing your control overthe firearm will be essential in a home defense situation.


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Reliability You want your gun to function when you needit, whether you just shot it last week or it has been sitting ina safe untouched for the last 10 years.

Ease of Operation Under stress your ability to performcomplicated or precise operations will be severely inhibited;a complicated weapon will only aggravate the problem.

Recoil Almost all guns have some recoil. A greateramount of recoil will make it more difficult to make well-aimed shots in rapid succession if needed. If the recoil isuncomfortable it may also make you less likely to train withthe weapon.

Cost Any gun is better than no gun in a gunfight. A basichome defense shotgun can cost as little as $200. Also, payattention to how much the ammo costs; a weapon whoseammo is too expensive to train with regularly will be oneyou wont train with regularly.


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Stopping Power

Ammunition Capacity

Ease of Reload

Collateral Risk Maneuverability

Reliability

Ease of Operation Recoil

Cost


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Shotgun

Rifle

Pistol

Revolver


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Pros:

Stopping Power

Collateral Risk

Reliability

Ease of Operation

Cost

Cons:

Ammunition Capacity

Ease of Reload

Maneuverability

Recoil

The shotgun is a widely available,relatively inexpensive, and highlyeffective home defense weapon. Withthe right ammunition (buckshot) itcan have unrivaled stopping powerwithout the level of collateral risk thatcomes with centerfire rifles orhandguns. Shotguns are very reliableand fairly easy to operate. However,shotguns also have one of the lowestammunition capacities of the systemsevaluated here. They are also one of

the slowest and most difficultweapons to reload. They are lessmaneuverable than smaller guns,especially in close quarters. They alsohave the greatest amount of recoil.


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Pros

Stopping Power

Cons

Collateral Risk

Maneuverability

Recoil

Variable

Ammunition Capacity

Reliability

Ease of Operation

Ease of Reload

Cost

Because of the huge variety of rifleson the market, it is hard to makemeaningful generalizations about thewhole class of guns. However, mostrifles do have a few things incommon. First, most rifles are

designed to kill or incapacitate largeanimals (including humans) acrossgreat distances. However, with thispower comes a high collateral risk toneighbors and bystanders, even ifyou hit your target. Rifles are alsolarger and longer than handguns,

making them less maneuverable inclose quarters. They also havehigher amounts of recoil comparedto handguns.


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Pros

Ammunition Capacity

Ease of Reload

Maneuverability

Recoil

Cons

Stopping Power

Collateral Risk

Reliability

Ease of Operation

Cost

Pistols have one of the highestammunition capacities of any of thesystems under consideration. Theyalso can be one of the easiest andquickest to reload because theyemploy a magazine loading system.Their size also makes them highly

maneuverable and their lower powerrounds give them less recoil thanrifles or shotguns (though theirsmaller frames also do not contain therecoil as well). Unfortunately, pistolrounds do not have the stoppingpower of rifle or shotgun rounds, and

yet they still present a high level ofcollateral risk, especially in closequarters. They are less reliable andare more complicated than most ofthe other systems considered here.Their starting price is also usually

higher than that of other weapons.


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Pros

Maneuverability

Reliability

Ease of Operation

Cons

Stopping Power

Ammunition Capacity

Ease of Reload

Collateral Risk

Cost

Revolvers are typically small andhighly maneuverable. They arealso some of the most reliable anduser-friendly firearms available. Arevolver, unlike a pistol (which hassprings under tension whenloaded), can sitloaded and

readyuntouched for years andstill perform perfectly whenneeded. While revolvers typicallyhave greater stopping power thanpistols, they have less power than arifle or shotgun. Revolvers alsohave one of the lowest ammocapacities of the systems evaluatedhere, and are usually slow toreload. They also carry a high levelof collateral risk and usually ahigher price tag compared to otherweapons.


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Most experts (based on my research) wouldrecommend a shotgun, pistol, or revolver forhome defense. Why not a rifle? Simplybecause they are typically too unwieldy and

present too much collateral risk to be practicalin a home defense capacity. Rifles are great forshooting things dead at 100+ yards, but mosthome defense firefights will occur within the 5-

10 yard range. Ultimately, you should usewhat you feel most comfortable with afterunderstanding the pros and cons of each homedefense weapon option.


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Cleaning your weapon is important: Howimportant varies with the weapon. Some guns, like Glock pistols and AK-47 rifles, have

a reputation for being able to fire reliably with littleor no cleaning and maintenance. (I still wouldnt want to stake my life on a dirty gun, but

its nice to know it will probably work whether or not I

cleaned it as well as I should have.) Some guns (esp. centerfire rifles) will be more

significantly effected by dirt, fouling, and otherissues and will need greater care to work reliably,fire accurately, and avoid corrosion/rust.

A good rule of thumb is to clean your weaponafter every time you take it shooting or put

more than 10 or 15 rounds through it. Its also a good idea to clean your gun any time

you plan to store it for an extended period (i.e.one month or more).

Sample Gun Cleaning Kit


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In order to properly clean your gun youwill have to (at least partially)disassemble it. This is also know asfield stripping the weapon. Once you have disassembled, cleaned, and

reassembled the weapon, if you areplanning on using it for defense it is a goodidea to take it out and test fire it one or twotimes to make sure that you didntreassemble it incorrectly and that it is inworking order.

YouTube is a great resource for how tofield strip, clean, and reassemble almostany type of weapon.

You will also need to buy a cleaning kitfor your specific weapon, or auniversal kit that will work formultiple weapon systems (I got onefrom Wal-Mart and it works well forme).

Pictured: Glock 17 Field Strip


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There was research conducted a few years ago withindividuals convicted of violent crimes. The vast majority saidthat they specifically targeted their victims by body language:slumped walk, passive behavior, and lack of awareness. Theychose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they selectthe one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.However, when there were cues given by potential victimsthat indicated they would not go easily, the cons said that theywould walk away. If the cons sensed that the target was acounter-predator, that is, a sheepdog, they would leave himalone unless there was no other choice but to engage. OnCombat (2004)

You can apply this same principle to defending your homeagainst possible invasion: Make your home someplace that acriminal wont want to risk messing with. Follow theguidelines on the following page to make your home a lessappealing target.


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Initial Response: Take Control to Prevent a Shootout Your Stress Response

Heart Rate Perceptual Distortions

Preparing for Combat Stress Loss of Dexterity Visual Distortions Autopilot/Muscle Memory Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast Force-on-Force Training/Stress Inoculation

Dealing With Stress in Combat Tactical Breathing The Tunnel Vision Sidestep

Awareness Spectrum Conditions White, Yellow, Orange, Red, Black Living In Condition Yellow

What if They Dont Leave? Scenario 1: They Dont Threaten/Engage Scenario 2: They Threaten/Engage The Knife Threat


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Call the Police! You will need to have a cell phone on your person or

in your bedroom where you can dial 911 immediatelyin the event of a home invasion. They may not getthere in time to prevent a confrontation but gettingreinforcements en route immediately may be a life-

saving first move. Have your firearm at the low ready

Remember: Rule #4 - Always be sure of your targetand background. What if the loud sound you heardwas your teenager looking for a midnight snack.

Rule #2 Never let the muzzle cover anything youare not willing to DESTROY! VERIFY THE THREATbefore taking aim!

Give loud, verbal commands: Ive calledthe police! I have a gun! Get out of myhouse!

Low Ready


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Get your family to the most secure, defensiblearea available to wait for the police. You may not have any cover(i.e. anything that can stop a bullet,

like the engine of a car) but you can probably find someconcealment(i.e. anything that removes you from the intruders

line of sight or keeps them from getting a clear shot at you, likedoors, walls, furniture, etc.). You may want to have an additional defense firearm safely

stored in your holdout area where your wife or children canaccess it to return fire should the threat make it through you tothem or in case there are multiple intruders.

I think the best home defense system isa cell phone and a dead-bolt lock onyour bedroom door. Cpl. Greg Oster,BPD Defensive Tactics Instructor


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Your normal resting heart-rateis 60-80 beats per minute (bpm).When someone enters yourhome and violently threatensyour life, your heart rate isprobably going to shoot up in a

matter of seconds. If your heart rate rises above

175 bpm, your ability to defendyourself will be seriouslyimpaired due to the side-effectsof such high arousal. Theseinclude: Deterioration of cognitive

processing and freezing up Voiding of bladder/bowels Loss of peripheral vision, near

vision, and depth perception Selective hearing loss


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You may experience a true alteredstate of consciousness as a result of adeadly force encounter as your brainand body attempt to keep you alivein a deadly situation. Research onlaw enforcement officers involved indeadly force encounters has revealed

a wide array of perceptual distortionsthat can occur during deadly conflict. The most common of these

perceptual distortions are: 85% - Diminished Sound (Auditory

Exclusion) 80% - Loss of Peripheral Vision

(Tunnel Vision ) 74% - Unconscious Actions

(Autopilot) 72% - Heightened Visual Clarity 65% - Slow Motion Time 51% - Partial Memory Loss (Critical

Incident Amnesia)


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As your heart rate climbs over 115 bmp, changes willoccur in your body that you need to be prepared tominimize, overcome, or take advantage of.

Loss of Dexterity Your body will divert blood from small muscle groups to large,

fight or flight muscle groups through the process ofvasoconstriction. This will make intricate, complicatedmanipulations difficult or impossible. REMEMBER THIS whendeveloping your training program. If there is anything you can dowith your whole hand rather than one or two fingers (i.e. rackingthe slide of a pistol), practice using your whole hand so that whenyour fingers go numb/limp it wont slow you down.

In the case of survival actions that require fine motor skills (i.e.dialing 9-1-1 on a small cellular phone, reloading a shotgun),regular practice may allow you to perform these intricate actions inspite of reduced dexterity. However, you may additionally need tolower your heart rate through tactical breathing (discussed later) inorder to perform these actions successfully.


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Auditory Exclusion The most commonly experienced perceptual distortion in combat

is auditory exclusion. 85% of law enforcement officers reportedexperiencing some form of auditory exclusion. The brain and the inner ear shut out less important sounds under

stress with only milliseconds of warning. Sometimes a person will

not hear their own gunshots (which the brain can anticipate andblock) but will hear the shots of those around them (which cannot beanticipated) or the sound of brass hitting the ground between shots.

The saying You dont hear the one that gets you may come fromthe fact that when several survival-related stimuli occursimultaneously (i.e. sound of a bomb, sight of an explosion, feel ofthe concussion), the brain blocks those stimuli that it perceives asless importantin order to focus on the single stimulus most salientto your survival.

Some people have discarded their gun after pulling the triggerseveral times and not hearing BANG! like they expected. The gunhad indeed fired, but auditory exclusion had blocked the sound. Beaware of this and dont let it throw you off while in a firefight.


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Auditory Exclusion (Cont.) One officer told me that on one occasion he was at the bottom of a

stairwell with a suspect above shooting down at him. He said the soundof the gunshots was overwhelming. I had a shotgun in my hand, hesaid, I raised it, drew a bead on this guy, and all of a sudden the shotsgot quiet. When the officer got a visual lock-on with the suspect, his

eyes turned up and his ears turned downa phenomenon that happensfrequently when warriors are caught in an ambush. The sounds of theincoming shots are initially overwhelming: Boom! Boom! Boom! Sincehe is taken by surprise, he has limited [useful visual information], butafter he quickly scans the environment and gets a visual lock on theattacker, the shots become quiet. On Combat (2004), by Lt. Col. DaveGrossman

In low-light situations, auditory amplification can occur. Whenvisibility is limited, the brain will focus onand even amplifysound. Because the sound of a gunshot echoing in the darknessis of limited usefulness, you must train yourself to look for amuzzle flash. Then your brain will be able to switch its focusfrom less useful sound to the more useful vision.


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Visual Distortions Tunnel Vision - As your heart-rate increases

you may experience tunnel vision in whichyour peripheral vision is severely impairedand you feel as though you are lookingthrough a toilet paper tube. Counteract

this phenomenon by keeping your head ona swivelphysically turning your headfrom side to side to check your peripheryand break any tunnel vision trance.

Loss of Near Vision - This is especiallyproblematic for people using handguns for

defense. Near vision may become impairedto the point that you cannot see the sights onyour handgun to properly aim your shot. Ifyou plan to use a handgun you may need totrain yourself to point and shoot ratherthan use the sights in the event your nearvision fails you as a result of combat stress.


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Autopilot/Muscle Memory 74% of Police Officers involved in deadly force encounters reported

experiencing autopilotperforming actions without consciousthoughtduring the course of their encounter. One officer recounted the following: I came around the corner of

this guys vanI didnt know hed already killed [someone]All of

a sudden a gun appears in his hand. Then a hole appears in his chestand he drops. My first thought was, Whoa, somebody shot him forme! I actually looked over my shoulder to see who shot this guy.Then I realized that I had my gun in my hand and it was me who hadshot him.

Under stress, your mind and body will fall back on those actions

with which they are most familiar, whether they are effective or not.Consequently, IT IS ESSENTIAL to practice survival actionscorrectly and exactly as you will do them in a real survival situation. Example: An off-duty cop disarmed a bank robber and then handed

him back his guntwice! He was too used to handing back the gunto his fellow officers during disarm training.

You do not rise to the occasion in combat, you sink to the level of your training.


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Autopilot/Muscle Memory (Cont.) Simple is Better: Remember that stress will reduce your ability to

think about and perform complex or intricate actions. Whentraining your muscle memory, SIMPLICITY is KING. If yourmuscle memory is too complex or intricate, your brain will orderyour body to do it but your bodys ability to carry it out under

stress will be impaired. Hicks Law states that the amount of time it takes to react to a

stimulus is a function of the number of possible responsesavailable. Experiments have shown that going from one to twopossible responses to a stimulus increases reaction time by almost60%! With this in mind, limit the number of possible responsesyou practice to the one or two simplest and most effective. Asimple set of skills, combined with an emphasis on actions focusingon gross motor movement, extensively rehearsed, will allow forextraordinary performance levels under stress. On Combat (2004)by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman (paraphrased)

An amateur practices until he gets it right. A professional

practices until he cant get it wrong.


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Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast Practice SLOW, SMOOTH, fluid motions in all of your defense

training, especially when it comes to reloading. If you try to gofast, you will drop rounds/magazines, increase the risk of jamsor of magazines failing to feed, and will create other hazardsthat will greatly reduce your ability to get back in the fight.

Dont practice FAST Practice SMOOTH. If your musclememory is not set to smooth, under stress it will automaticallyget set to fast and that will lead to problems.

You will have to train yourself to RESIST THE URGE to go fastwhen the stress hits. Your muscle memory must be for smooth,so practice smooth until its all you know how to do!

Practice doesnt make perfect. Practice makes habits.Bad practice makes bad habits. Good practice makesgood habits. Perfect practice makes perfect habits.


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Force-on-Force Training/Stress Inoculation Studies of law enforcement agencies around the country found

that many of their officers were shooting 90% accuracy duringtraining, but only20% accuracy in lethal force encounters in thefield. That means 4 out of 5 shots missed when they counted!

Some departments, however, were shooting 90% in trainingand almost 90% in lethal force encounters as well, quickly andefficiently eliminating real world threats while under intensestress.

The difference? Force-on-force training. The high accuracydepartments were using paintballandpaint pellet trainingto

prepare their officers to take steady, well-aimed shots whileexperiencing high levels of stress and taking potentially painfulincoming fire. This stress inoculation training allowedofficers at those departments to fire fewer and better aimedrounds in real lethal force encounters.


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Tactical Breathing Just as a basketball player who gets

fouled on a drive to the basket mustcalm himself down before shootinghis free throws, we too must calmourselves down before taking the

shots that may save our lives. If we attempt to fire without

deliberately lowering our heart-rate,we will most likely miss our target.This will give the threat more timeto endanger us and our loved ones.

If you feel your heart racing andyour hands trembling, taking 2-3controlled breaths can createcalm, reducing your heart rate andgiving you the ability to make well-aimed, smoothly executed shots thatwill find their target.


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The Tunnel Vision Sidestep While you yourself may experience tunnel vision as a result of

stress, your attacker may also be experiencing the samephenomenon. To take advantage of his visual distortion,quickly sidestep to one side so that you, in effect, disappear orgo off his radar screen. In order to visually reacquire you he

has to blink, draw back, and move his head in your direction. Inthe critical second it takes for him to do that, you have a briefmoment of advantage. Practice sidestepping while shootingduring training to form this potentially life-saving habit.

Most people talk about tunnel

vision saying that it was likelooking through a toilet papertube. For me it was like [lookingthrough] a soda straw.- From On Combat (2004)


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Condition White:Environmental Unawareness. There is noreadiness for a threat confrontation in this mental state. Condition Yellow:Relaxed but Alert. You are not

anticipating any threats but you are aware that a threatcould appear and are attuned to any signal of threatpotential.

Condition Orange:Alarm. You know there is trouble andyou are concentrating on evaluating and analyzing itfurther. You begin following a tactical plan and preparing torespond with decisive and deadly force if necessary.

Condition Red: Threat. What looks wrong is wrong and

your mind and body swing into full fight-or-flight mode.Your dominant responses kick in to full gear. Condition Black:Panic.You are blacked out. You are

mentally or even physically paralyzed. You wereunprepared for a threat and are now unable to respond.

Street Survival: Tactics for Armed Encounters (1980)by Adams, McTernan, & Ramsberg


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Condition White and Condition Yellow are the only two mentalstates a person can maintain indefinitely without inducing mentaland physical exhaustion.

Because the great majority of people never take an active interest intheir physical self-preservation they will never experience ConditionYellow, only Conditions White, Orange,Red, and Black.

However, when a person decides to take an active interest in theirphysical self-preservation they prepare themselves to experienceCondition Yellow and, with practice, can develop the habit of livingin Condition Yellow - Relaxed but Alert.

While Condition Yellow is not a guarantee of protection, it gives youthe best odds for reading danger cues and moving in proper

sequence and in a controlled manner up to Orange or Red as needed.Anticipating dangerwill reduce your startle response if dangerdoes explode. If an immediate escalation to Red is required, thejump from Yellow is much easier to accommodate than from White,because the springboard of alertness is already there. Being forced togo directly from White to Red will usually land you in the Black.

Street Survival: Tactics for Armed Encounters (1980)by Adams, McTernan, & Ramsberg


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This scenario will most likely apply in situations where youare not in visual contact with the intruder. If, after you give your loud verbal commands, the intruder(s)

does not leave but does not engage or threaten you or yourfamily, the best course of action will usually be to keep yourweapon at the ready and remain in a defensible location whileyou wait for the police to arrive.

Most home invaders are probably looking for money, jewelry,prescription drugs, or other easily removable valuables andarent looking for a fight if they can avoid it. If they knowtheyve been detected and may be facing an armed, confident,

prepared homeowner if they press their luck, they willprobably leave. REMEMBER: You MAY NOT EVER shoot someone to defend

property alone (at least in Idaho). Even if you see them walking outyour front door with your 50 TV you MAY NOT shoot them unlessyou can articulate why they represent a threat of death or greatbodily injury to your or others. Now, if they have a weapon


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This is the worst possible scenario but the one we allneed to prepare for. If a dangerous intruder engages you, it is up to YOU to

KILL OR DISABLE him in order to protect your life,your familys life, and the lives of others he may pose a

threat to. A word of advice: On my first ride-a-long while preparing to

join BPD, I asked the officer if police are taught to aim for theleg or shoulder to wound. He soberly replied: Police dontshoot to wound. He then went on to explain that if thesituation has reach the point where an officer has to pull his

gun and take aim at a person, that person is presenting a lethalthreat to the officer or others. If the officer has to pull thetrigger, he will be aiming to kill because shooting to woundwould mean intentionally giving a deadly threat a chance tocontinue their threat, escape, or counterattack.


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Does a knife really pose the samedeadly threat that a gun does? Theres a concept known as the

21- foot rule. Knife defenseresearch has shown the following: The average officer requires between

1.31 and 2.25 seconds to draw theirweapon and fire one unsighted shot atcenter mass on an approaching target.

The average test subject with asimulated edged-weapon, starting froma dead rest, covered a distance of 21from rest on a smooth, level surface inbetween 1.5 and 1.7 seconds. Source: www.policeone.com/edged-

weapons


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In other words, if you have a gun and an intruderonly has a knife, that intruder can stab you dead inless than 2 seconds if they are within 21 of you. HOWEVER, just because someone has a knife within 21 of you

doesnt mean you are automatically justified in shooting them.They must initiate a reasonably hostile action (i.e. lunging,moving toward you, brandishing the weapon, or evenaggressive posturing) before you are justified in taking the shot.

Just remember that a knife can kill you just as dead as agun. Police Videos: Brazilian Police response vs. Nicaraguan Police

response Bottom Line: If an intruder in your home is armed

with a knife, you should shoot him dead the momenthe makes the first overtly aggressive move towardyou.


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Have a Prepared System Handgun system Shotgun system *Mounted flashlights Pros & Cons *Tactical shotgun reload

Protect Your Weapon The tactical tuck Slicing the pie

Protect Yourself Avoid Fatal Funnels

Go on the Offensive Offensive Mindset vs. Defensive Mindset

When the Time Comes to Shoot The Aftermath


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System here refers to the weapon system you will be stakingyour life on. If all you have is the gun itself and a few bullets,you dont have much of a system. Here are some suggestionsof what you might want or need for a life-saving system.

Handgun Extra Ammunition: This is trickier with revolvers, but with pistols,

having a few extra loaded magazines with your firearm (and possiblyhidden in strategic locations around the house) will greatly improveyour chances of not being the first one to run out of bullets in afirefight.

Light: This also goes for shotguns/rifles, but in the event that yourhome is invaded during the dark hours, you will want a flashlight toallow you to identify your potential target, fire well-aimed rounds,

and possibly blind/disorient the intruders for a temporary butsignificant advantage. Laser Sights: Effective laser sights can be very helpful in low light and

high stress situations. Crimson Trace Laser Grips, for example, utilizeyour natural gripping action on the weapon to activate the laser soyou have one less action to take in a high stress situation. A lasersighting capability can provide an immediate, decisive advantage.


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Pros: Frees up a hand that would otherwise be

dedicated to holding the flashlight. You only need to grab one thing in the

dark rather than two (gun w/ flashlightvs. gun & flashlight).

You can keep both hands more firmly onthe weapon for greater firing stability.

Cons: You will be pointing a deadly weapon at

anything you use your light to identify,possibly including family members,

neighbors, or police officers. Intruders will instinctively (in most cases)

shoot at your flashlight (because, whilethey cant see you, they know youre theresomewhere). This means that if you areaiming your gun, those bullets will becoming right for your face.


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Shotgun Strap: You need a strap on your shotgun! Why? Because you need a

way to free up the use of your hands while still keeping the weaponwith you. If you have to let go of the weapon for any reason (i.e. youare wounded), you DO NOT want to risk leaving the weapon behindbecause a) you wont have it should you need it, b) the bad guy could

get it and use it against you. Side-Saddle: A side-saddle is a gun-mounted carrier for extra shells.Two of the main disadvantages of a shotgun are its low ammocapacity and slow reload time. A side-saddle (or two) coupled withlots of practice reloading will greatly reduce these disadvantages.


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To reload a shotgun in atactical situation: DO NOT take the muzzle

off of the threat. Tilt or roll the shotgun to

the side so that you canaccess the side-saddlewithout obstructing yourview of the threat.

Remove the shells one ortwo at a time andsmoothly load them into

the magazine. When finished, tilt or roll

the shotgun back intoprimary firing position.

REMEMBER: Slow issmooth, smooth is fast!


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He who controls the barrel controls the bullets. You must keep your weapon in your control at all times. This

may sound simple, but especially if you are using a shotgun orrifle, your weapon may be rendered useless if the intruder getsa hold of the barrel as you come around a corner.

You will tell a bad guy youre coming if he sees the barrel of

your gun coming around the corner several seconds before youfollow.


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The Tactical Tuck As you approach a corner, tuck your

weapon close to your body to preventan intruder from easily wresting controlof the weapon from you.

For Handguns: The off-hand is raised in

a guard position in order to defendagainst any ambush attack as well as tokeep the attacker at a distance wherethey will be less able to seize yourweapon. Muzzle is toward threat area.

For Shotguns/Rifles: Keep the weapon

as near to you as possible and keep thebarrel from giving away your position.You will want to distance yourself fromthe wall as you turn the corner. Thiswill allow you to aim the weaponwithout jeopardizing control over it bydangling the barrel out in the unknown.


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Slice the Pie As you approach a corner, step back, away from the wall, so that

you cannot be easily ambushed by any intruder hiding just out-of-sight around the corner. Then, start slicing the pie by takingsmall sideways steps that will allow you to see inside the roomone piece at a time without exposing yourself all at once.

You must be especially careful about the dangers lurking aroundcorners when in a pursuit. If you EVER lose visual contact with athreat, SLOW DOWN and prepare for an ambush around everycorner.


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Avoid Fatal Funnels Fatal Funnel refers to the dangerous area where a person is silhouetted

against their background, making them an easily visible target. It alsorefers to the area where a person is vulnerable not only from the front,but also from the sides as they pass through an entryway and becomeexposed on three sides.

Avoid stepping into the fatal funnel by slicing the pie and sweeping

(visually) as much of the unknown area as possible before you exposeyourself to move forward. Once you have swept as much of the targetarea as possible, move quickly into the funnel and then (if entering ahallway) hug a wall to hide your outline or (if entering a room)commit to and button hook one corner to eliminate it as a threat zonebefore visually sweeping the others.


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Go on the OFFENSIVE! Mindset will be one of the most important variables

in determining the outcome of any life-and-deathsituation.

Offensive Mindset: Im going to KILL this guy.

The attacker already has this mindset, giving them asignificant advantage in a confrontation.

Defensive Mindset: How am I going to survivethis? If you have this mindset, you will probably lose (i.e.

die). However, if you go on the offensive, you notonly change your mindset but that of your attacker.Suddenly his thinking changes to, Holy cow, this guyis going to kill me!

A predator feels no stress. A predator is the stress.


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The best gun fight is the one you never have. Thesecond-best gun fight is the one you quickly anddecisively win.

Changing your mindset from victim to predator givesyou a significant advantage. It focuses and clears your

mind as you assume control over the situation and takemeaningful action. Your aggressive action willsimultaneously take away the intruders biggestadvantage by changing his mindset from predator topotential victim.

In making this change, you have to assume the worst inorder to be prepared for anything. Assume that there atleast two armed, experienced, cold-blooded killers inyour home who will murder you and your familywithout hesitation. How do you survive this scenario?By quickly and decisivelyKILLING THEM FIRST!


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Examples of going onthe offensive Trolley Square Shooting

February 12, 2007

United Flight 93 September 11, 2001

Examples of failing togo on the offensive

Mumbai, India November 26, 2008

Virginia Tech Shooting April 16, 2007

Park Boxer vs. Two Bullies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJe3XpWmuVY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJe3XpWmuVYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJe3XpWmuVY


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Shoot the intruder until he stops moving (be it 1 shot or 25). By moving, I mean moving in any way that implies he still has the

ability to pose a reasonable threat.

If he keeps moving, shoot him some more (be it 1 shot or 25). When he stops moving, stop shooting. Scan for additional

threats without taking the muzzle off of the downed threat.

Keep the gun pointed at him. Issue loud, verbal commands: Do not move or I will shoot you again!

The police are on their way! Perform a tactical reload if necessary AND prudent.

If he moves again, shoot him some more. DO NOT approach him, even to remove a weapon if he goes

for it, shoot him some more. Wait for the police to arrive.

Have someone else (if possible) call the police to update them on thesituation. Tell them you have shot the intruder and have him atgunpoint. The officers who arrive will be in Lethal Force Mode.Follow their instructions EXACTLY or you risk being shot yourself.


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My exterior lights were all on, but he kept coming. All of my windows and doors were locked, but he kept

coming. I told him I had called the police, but he kept coming. I told him I had a gun, but he kept coming.

I told him to drop his weapon. He didnt, and he keptcoming. I told him to not to move or I would shoot, but he kept

coming. He left me no other option but to shoot.

The more of these statements you can truthfully make during anypost-shooting investigation or legal proceeding, the better you canmake the case that he left you no option but to shoot.

This doesnt mean that you should wait to check off each of thesestatements before defending yourself if threatened. If the intruderhas a weapon and makes a move to use it against you, let him have it!He just jumped all the way to the bottom: He left me no option.


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It is not the thing itself, but the view we take of it whichupsets us. Epictetus, Roman Philosopher People will have varying responses to killing based on how

prepared mentally they are for that event beforehand. Often, people who have to kill someone early on in their law

enforcement or military careers feel euphoria and even joy, followed

soon by remorse and nausea, and ultimately by a lifelong process ofrationalization and sometimes PTSD. Others who have already hadyears of preparation for the possibility of killing may share thefeelings expressed by one veteran police officer who had to shoot andkill a violent criminal: All I felt was the recoil. By having resolvedthe issue in their minds ahead of time, their responses were healthierand they were able to return to their lives without the residual

problems experienced by those who were unprepared mentally forwhat it would be like to kill another human beingI am convinced,based on interviews with hundreds of men and women who havehad to kill, that if you tell yourself that killing will be an earth-shattering, traumatic event, then it probably will be. On Combat(2004), by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman (paraphrased, emphasis mine)


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Killing another human beingeven if they were posing a realand deadly threat to you or your loved onesmay be a hardthing to live with depending on how prepared you werementally and emotionally beforehand.

You may experience some degree or form of Post-TraumaticStress Disorder (PTSD) in the aftermath of a lethal-force

encounter. This disorder can have a potentially devastatingeffect on close, personal relationships and should be dealt withpromptly and thoroughly by an experienced, trainedprofessional. It would be truly tragic to successfully defendyour family from a deadly attack only to have yourrelationships with them fall apart as a result.

Even if you dont experience PTSD, there will be aninvestigation, paperwork, questions, and possibly legalproceedings, reporters, accusations, and what may turn into anongoing parade of stressors disrupting your life for months oreven years after the event. Prepare yourself and your family tohelp and support one another through these challenges.


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The entire criminal justice system is geared on theassumption that whoever calls in the first complaint is thevictim. In a self-defense situation you automatically becomea contestant in The Race for the Telephone. The winnergets to be the good guy, and the loser automaticallybecomes the bad guy.

While a home defense situation provides significant contextsupporting your claim as defender rather than aggressor, it willstill be essential to call the police as soon as you safely can do so.

If you are put on trial as a result of your shooting, you willneed to request that your attorney secure an expert witnessto testify about the appropriateness of your actions

(assuming they were) and to educate the jury regarding thefollowing: Why you used JHP ammunition and not FMJ (assuming you did) Why you fired multiple shots (assuming you did) Why you used the type of gun that you did Why you shot to kill, not to wound (assuming you did)


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The Hair-Trigger Trap: Studies have shown that evenhighly-trained people, in defense situations, mayunconsciously place their finger on the trigger withoutintending to. This can potentially lead to an unintentionalor negligent discharge. The lighter the trigger pull onyour defense weapon, the higher the risk of an unintentional

discharge. THIS IS A TRAP often used by attorneys inshooting trials to make an intentional, defensive shot appearunintentional or negligent. Single-action firearmsthose which require the manual cocking

of the hammer in order to fire, thereby creating a hair-triggerare more vulnerable to this attack than double-action firearms

those which use the trigger for both the cocking and firing actionand consequently have longer trigger pulls than a cocked andready single-action trigger.

For this reason, most police departments have adopted double-action-only (DAO) handguns and usually require at least a 4-5 lbtrigger pull.


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Mental Preparation Your Most Dangerous Weapon Survival Triangle & Killers Mindset A Person Prepared to Kill Is Less Likely to Have To WhenThen Mental Rehearsal When You Get Shot

Incredible Survivors

Practice No Fire Trigger Pull Drills Reloading Drills Room Clearing Drills Drawing/Accessing Drills

Practice Live Fire RunnGun Course Target Options

Idaho CCW Reciprocity Map


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Mental Conditioning is the foundation of the survivaltriangle. It will be your single biggest advantage ORwill prove your single biggest vulnerability in asurvival situation.

You may be a tactical expert or an incomparablemarksman, but if you panic under stress or your mindgoes blank when forced to confront a real, dangerousthreat to your life, neither of those will do you anygood.

According to an FBI study, cop-killers have a mindsetwhere they have been exposed to killing after killing,they fully expect to get killed and they dont hesitate toshoot anybody, including a police officer. They can go

from riding down the street saying what a beautifulday it is to killing in the next instant[They survive]by developing a shoot-first mentality. That kind of mental preparation gives a dangerous intruder a

serious advantage over the average home-owner. The onlyway to regain the advantage is to be even better preparedthen they are to win a firefight in our home. (See Alma 43:45)


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Personal Story: One night at dinner when I was a teenager we were

discussing dreams and I mentioned that I kill and getkilled regularly in my dreams. My mother washorrified, as was most of the rest of my family. I wasvery surprised as I thought this was normal, but I havefound that only a small percentage of people either kill

or get killed in dreams with any regularity (i.e. morethan once that they remember). I, on the other hand,had had such dreams for years, the earliest one (that Iremember) occurring when I was about 10 years old andwas knifed to death at a Christmas party by Jack thePumpkin Head from Return to Oz (1985).

My mom immediately blamed all of those violent

video games that I was so fond of as the explanation inspite of the fact that my first exposure to violent videogames didnt come until I was at least 12 when Doomreleased in 1993. Ironically, a recent study of soldiers incombat, as well as my own experience, show aninteresting side-effect of playing violent video games onmental preparation for violence

He was actually avery nice fellow in

the movie.


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The Study (Posted March 11, 2011 at GamePolitics.com): The results of a new survey reveal that video games help keep

nightmares away. According to an online survey of 98 militarypersonnel, regularly playing games that involve war and combat likeCall of Duty help to decrease the level of harm and aggressiondreamers feel when they are dreaming about war. Of thosesurveyed, soldiers who did not play games reported having more

violent dreams combined with feelings of helplessness. The surveywas conducted by Jayne Gackenbach of Grant MacEwan Universityin Edmonton, Canada. She presented some of her findings at theGame Developers Conference earlier this month.

The report goes on to explain: Those in the high gaming groupreported that their nightmares about combat were less intense and

many in the group reported that they often felt able to fight backagainst whatever forces were threatening them in their dreams.Low gamers reported more incidents of feeling helpless against anaggressive, violent enemy. Gackenbach's theory based on thispreliminary data is that playing violent games may serve as a sort of"threat simulator," a way of conditioning the mind to cope withintense and dangerous situations in nightmares.


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My Experience: My periodic kill/be killed dreams continue with varying intensity, even

after 20 or so years of video gaming. However, nothing really changedabout them until I started carrying a concealed weapon and preparingmyself mentally to use it. The last three times that I have had a violentdream where Ive been in danger, several things have been different:1) I have a gun. I almost never had a gun in any of my previous dreams

with the only exceptions being war-themed dreams. 2) I am calm andconfident in using that gun to defend myself. I was usually alwaysterrified in my dreams even as I was actively defending myself and feltvery weak and helpless. But recently when I was threatened in twodifferent dreams by a group of gang bangers and Jaws from the JamesBond movies, I pulled out my gun and took care of business without anyof those feelings of powerlessness.

It would appear that, at least for me, the mental conditioning during thewaking hours, be that through video games or maintaining the state ofmental readiness required to carry concealed, spills over into ournightmares. If we feel like we would be helpless against a dangerousaggressor in life, we will probably feel so in our dreams. But if we feelempowered in life we may also feel so in our dreams.

You are the weapon, everything else is just a tool. - Anonymous


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No man fears to do that which he knows he does well. By

rehearsing defense scenarios you take the surprise out of combat. Thisraises your sense of confidence, and that confidence is an essentialstress reducer. The more surprises you prepare yourself for mentally,the more confidence and control you will feel in a real defense situation.

Get in the habit of rehearsing tactical whenthen scenarios all thetime (Ifthen thinking is for sheep):

When someone breaks in my front/back door then I am going to ___________. When an armed intruder is between me and my childs room then I will

___________. When someone is in my home when I arrive then I am going to ____________. When Im searching/sweeping the house and the intruder ambushes me and

seizes my weapon then I will ______________. When I get shot during a gunfight then I am going to ______________.

If you have already REHEARSED at least one sound, tactical responsefor a given situation, if you find yourself in that situation your mindwill have a good chance of defaulting to that prepared response whenthe stress kicks in. You will thereby bypass any potentially fatal Whatdo I do? delays that could decide who gains the initial advantage inthe confrontation.


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If you are in a gunfight, plan on getting shot. There is nothing youcan do about a bullet already in you. If you arent dead, yourestill in the fight. All you can do is keep any more bullets fromhitting you by killing your attacker. Its one thing to get shot; youcan survive getting shot. You cant survive being executed by acriminal who comes to finish you off because youve decided tostop fighting.

You need to understand deep down that even though you areshoteven in the chest, neck, or faceyou can still function andwin this fight. Remember that with todays incredible medicaltechnology you have a better chance of surviving a gunshot (orseveral) than ever before in history. The key is to stop yourattacker before he can finish you off.

You can lose as much as gallon of blood (30% of the bodys totalcapacity) before your body is physiologically incapable of sustainingmotor function. Thats a lot of blood! To prove it, fill a gallon jug half-waywith strawberry milk and pour it on the ground. If you give up beforeyou see this much blood on the ground, its you that quit, not your body.

Consider the following individuals


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Officer Lim was returning to her home from a softball gamewhen she began to suspect someone was following her.When she pulled in her driveway and got out of the car, shecarried her 9mm with her. She was approached by a darkfigure holding a weapon and, rather than firing immediately,selflessly identified herself as a police officer. Withoutwarning, the would-be carjacker fired a .357 Magnum round

into her chest. The bullet destroyed her spleen, anddamaged her liver and heart before exiting out her back withenough force to penetrate her car door. Critically wounded,she immediately returned fire, wounding her attacker. As hefled, Officer Lim pursued him, firing three more shots,killing her attacker and frightening off his three associates

(all of whom were later arrested). Before she could summonaid she collapsed, but her roommates had called 911.Medical personnel declared the wound fatal and gave her anhour to live. However, Officer Lim refused to die. Afterfighting through three episodes of full cardiac arrest, a 90-minute heart massage, and receiving over 100 pints of blood,she survived and returned to duty 8 months later.


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PFC Atkins was defending a position with two fellow soldiers

on the island of Luzon in the Philippines against a possibleJapanese assault. At about 3:00 AM, two companies ofJapanese attacked their position with rifles, machine guns,grenades, and TNT charges. PFC Atkins was shot three timesand his two companions were killed. However, PFC Atkinsremained in his position and returned heavy fire against

continuing Japanese assaults. For four hours a seriouslywounded PFC Atkins held off Japanese attacks alone until hisand his two dead companions weapons had jammed beyondrepair. Only then did PFC Atkins withdraw to find moreammunition and a new weapon, leaving 13 dead Japanesesoldiers behind. A medic at the command post persuaded himnot to return to his position in order to receive medical

attention. While being examined at the aid station, an alertPFC Atkins noticed a Japanese soldier infiltrating theirposition. He grabbed a nearby rifle and killed him. Later,while being transported on a litter to a field hospital, henoticed a group of enemy soldiers behind their lines. Hegrabbed a rifle, sat up and forced them to withdraw withheavy fire. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions.


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On May 12-13, 1945 at Taungdaw in Burma, RiflemanLachhiman Gurung was manning the most forward postof his platoon which bore the brunt of an attack by at least200 Japanese soldiers. On approach, the Japanese hurlednumerous grenades onto Gurungs position. Twice hesuccessfully hurled back grenades at the enemy, but athird exploded in his right hand, blowing off his fingers,

shattering his arm and severely wounding him in the face,body and right leg. His two comrades were also badlywounded and unable to fight. Rifleman Gurung, nowalone and disregarding his wounds, loaded and fired hisrifle with only his left hand for four hours, calmly waitingfor each attack which he met with fire at point blank

range. Afterwards, when the casualties were counted, it isreported that of the 87 Japanese killed by Gurungscompany, 31 lay dead in front of his position. He hadrepulsed wave after wave of enemy charges alone,severely wounded, and with only one arm. He receivedthe Victoria Cross for his actions.


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Alexis Goggins and her mother were kidnapped underthreat of death by the mothers boyfriend, Calvin Tillie.After driving for some time and stopping for gas, Tillieturned and shot Alexiss mother twice: once in the side ofthe head and once in the arm. Before he could fire a thirdshot, 7-year old Alexis jumped between Tillie and hermother, begging him to stop. Tillie, apparently without

hesitation, proceeded to shoot the young girl six times asshe shielded her mother. Alexis and her mother were takento the hospital and Tillie was arrested at the scene. In spiteof receiving wounds to the eye, left temple, chin, cheek,chest and right arm, Alexis survived and likely saved hermothers life.

People are capable of surviving horrendous injuries if they make up their minds to.You must realize that you will likely be wounded in a gun or knife fight with anintruder, but that you can survive even critical injuries if youve made up your mindbeforehand that no low-life murderer is going to take you away from your familybefore your time. If you are wounded, just think of one of these people and realizethat they survived a lot worse than what may have happened to you.


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Trigger Pull Drills:Make sure your gun is unloaded and thenre-load it with DUMMY rounds to practice a smooth trigger

pull. You should be surprised every time the firing pinengages. If you anticipate the firing pin engaging, you willtighten-up your grip or otherwise subtly throw-off your shot.

Reloading Drills: Again, remove all live ammo from the area

and practice reloading with DUMMY rounds. Practice doingthis without taking your eyes off of your imaginary targetwhen you are comfortable enough using touch alone. Shotgun: Practice tactical reloading and then charging the chamber. Pistol: Practice loading and unloading magazines into the weapon

over and over. Practice picking up the magazine, properly orienting

it for insertion, loading it and then pulling down to make sure itseated securely. Tactical or Half-Empty/Full Reload: With a magazine already in

hand, release the seated magazine, grab it between two fingers andusing the other two fingers, load the new magazine and charge theslide while still holding the extracted magazine. Do this over andover, slowly and smoothly.


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Room Clearing: Practice clearing your home for intrudersusing your tactical tuck, slicing the pie, and fatal funneltechniques. If you can use a plastic training gun or gun substitute, you can

then realistically practice aiming around corners, etc. withoutpointing a real firearm in any unsafe directions.

If you have children, give them a pellet gun and tell them to hidesomewhere in the house. Tell them that if they shoot you withoutbeing spotted youll take them for ice cream. Then begin clearingyour house in a mock home invasion scenario.

Drawing/Accessing Drills: Practice accessing your homedefense firearm from your gun safe, holster, or other

location. Try setting an alarm for an odd hour of the night.When it goes off, pretend its the sound of a loud crash inyour basement respond accordingly. Your wife may not be thrilled with this idea, but try to go along or

even to get into it as well. Maybe shell hear the alarm and do atactical roll out of bed while you go for the gun.


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The law states that you cannot discharge a firearm in the

city limits except in designated locations like firing ranges.However, in the county its a different story. Theresnothing to stop you from driving out to the desert to dosome shooting practice, as long as you are not trespassingon private land (usually there will be gates and signs) andare not close to any highways or trafficked areas. There are a few places east of Black Creek Road off of I-84, as well

as a few places near the Owyhee mountains south of Nampa thatarent too long of a drive.

RunnGun Course: Set up several targets at varyingdistances and practice shooting and then running to a newposition to take aim on a new target. You can incorporateany number of variables, including reloads, weaponswitches, hand switches, different shooting platforms (i.e.prone, kneeling, standing, moving), etc. For Home Defense training, 90% of your practice should be from

3-7 yards! Video - Scotts RunnGun course by Utah Lake - 2009


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Home Made Silhouettes: The Box O Truth has a nice articleon how to make your own silhouettes for shooting: As you can see, it consists of 7 pieces of 1 1/2 inch, schedule 40

PVC pipe. Each piece is 16 inches long, and they can all be madefrom one 10 foot section of 1 1/2 inch, schedule 40 PVC pipe.Also needed are: two tees, two 90 degree elbow

Home Defense v5

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