I had two interesting conversations this past week, one with the head of our church security team, the other with an instructor at a local gun shoppe. Two things came out of these discussions:
There are too many CCW holders who’ve gone out, bought a gun, took a class for a few hours, rarely practice, don’t get trained, and are apparently just itching to find an excuse to point their gun at someone. (I’m not one of those. I dry fire 50-100 rounds daily, visit the range weekly, take every single handgun and defensive shooting class at the range, and do everything I can do avoid ever having to make the decision to point a gun at another human-being.)
Actually pulling the trigger is a hard decision.
The instructor dude put the second topic into an interesting perspective. Would I be willing to let a bad guy deprive my wife, my daughters and my grandchildren of a relationship with me? Or with my wife? Or with anyone else I could protect?
I guess it’s the circumstance,
Deprive like injure/kill me or one of them? I’m not willing to let the bad guy do that.
Deprive like I injure/kill him and it’s not justifiable self defense? No I don’t want be deprived because of something like that.
To me that’s an easy one. Threaten ( define threaten) me or any of my family with deadly force, you better be right with Jesus or whatever idol you worship. I won’t let a thug hurt me or my family. They are too important to me. When I first started carrying, I realized just exactly what I had committed myself to do. I know I would still agonize over what needed to be done but at least I would have my family to talk with and work it out with them, god and myself.
Carrying the firearm is not just keeping it on you. I’m hoping every single morning to not use my firearm against other human being. That is also part of mental training for responsible gun owner.
But if there is a threat that requires to be put down, I won’t hesitate to do whatever has to be done. Exactly the way I was trained for last few years.
Protecting life, mine and my Family Member’s is the priority. All other things become secondary.
You had me pegged right up to the last part of the statement. I never want to have to be in that situation, let alone have to make that quick decision, let alone put someone down.
I will train so that
My awareness is sharpened,
I am mentally prepared should I have to use the firearm in self defense.
I will be proficient enough to do the deed if needed.
God, protect us all from the need to use our SD firearms for anything other than proficiency training…
I pray I never need the tool that I have with me. I train as much as I can find time to do so. This includes dry fire training at home, and as much live fire I can at the range. With that, if Johnny Gangbanger decides to make a lethal force action towards me or my loved ones(this includes friends and members of the church congregation), he better talk to God fast, and tell him he’s on the way.
I try to go to the range once a week. Working on dry fire practice, and getting ready for more classes.
When my wife and I first started it was with the commitment that should the time ever come, we will pull that trigger. We hope to not have to, but if someone is going to put either one of our lives in danger, we will respond in kind.
I pray to God that I never have to pull the trigger. My life and the life of my family and love ones are important. I will not let any thug interfere with my way of life. If I have to pull the trigger it will be with probable cause, I would have to feel threatened and feel threatened that someone in my family is at risk of losing their lives. Just remember that once you do pull the trigger your life changes. The question you have to ask yourself is, are you willing to go to prison if that’s the case to protect your love ones? It is a possibility that that could be the case. Pray that all the training videos that the USCCA offers come into play and that when you pull the trigger you are justified in doing so. I also agree that there are some people who will take a class or two and think that they are prepared for any situation when it arises but they are not. You also have to consider that there are people around that are watching you pull the trigger they could be witnesses in your favor or against you. Remember that pulling the trigger is a split second decision which can change your life.
And probably even more who just buy a firearm, put a few rounds down range, or not even that, and think they are good to go.
I have actually only been able to afford, from a time and money perspective, two in person classes. But I have tried my best to supplement that training with online and DVD courses who’s lessons I take out onto the range and in dryfire practice as regularly as I can.
I know it is not enough to prepare me for every situation but I pray it is enough to get the job done should I ever need to defend myself or my family from a violent attack. I very much hope to die a peaceful death many decades from now never having tested these skills in a real life situation. But I am prepared to pull the trigger if someone is imminently threatening to take away the peaceful death option from myself or anyone else I care about.
Even with all the training classes you take there are some situations you can never prepare for, but I still rely on my training and situational awareness.
Agree. The best part of the in person and remote training that I have received is the enhancement of and the boost in my ability to quickly act on the natural situational awareness skills I was fortunate enough to be born with. I have already used those skills on several occasions to avoid confrontations and dangerous situations. Though I need to keep working on them because I still encounter situations where I should have seen them coming even sooner.
Pulling the trigger should be hard, because it will change your life forever and the life of your target. It should be a deliberate decision, and not something done in a hurry. That’s why I favor double action firearms; that long heavy trigger pull adds time for contemplation.
Mark697. Appreciate the lesson brother. I soak it all in. Never too old to learn.
Over the years, chose a “semi” model which has a double action (DA) pull on the first. My secondary or back up is revolver partly due to all DA. Mainly to prevent accidents.
Wishing you all good health and love this U.S. Independence Day.
