“Who needs martial arts and self defense training when I have a gun!”  If you’re agreeing with this statement or have ever uttered these words, know that I am doing everything in my power to reach through this screen and slap you across the back of the head as hard as I can!  And if my hand is unable to reach through, then keep reading so I can at least slap your brain with some facts and a dose of reality.

First and foremost, this article is about gun safety as it relates to self defense, and I have no interest in discussing gun laws or gun control as it is completely irrelevant to this article and a pointless debate in my opinion.  Most people have general knowledge of gun safety, such as keeping it out of reach or hidden from children, understanding how the gun works and competency in shooting the gun and possibly with some good accuracy.  However, there are elements about self defense and use of a gun for self defense that seem to elude the general public.  That is what this article is about.  If you own a gun, I hope you take this article to heart and put to use the suggestions that follow at the end.

Let’s start with an exercise.  I want you to think to yourself, “When would I successfully use a gun to defend myself or others?”  Take a moment and think it through.  Make sure it’s a scenario where using a gun to defend yourself (or others) is the fastest, easiest, most efficient way of dealing with an actual life threatening situation.  Be as realistic as possible and recognize any mistakes or problems that may arise from pulling out that gun and shooting another human being.  Ask yourself, “Will I accidentally shoot someone I love?”  “Will I accidentally shoot an innocent bystander?”  “Will I have time to un-holster the gun, aim and shoot accurately?”  “Is the death of another human being warranted?”  Take your time, this can be a long thought process.

What scenario is going through your head right now?  Did you find a perfect scenario?  If you’re being truthful to yourself and have looked at all the possible issues, such as shooting the wrong person or killing someone that wasn’t in the act of attempting to kill you (or someone else), or even having the time and ability to un-holster the gun and accurately shoot, then I think you’ll find you came up with very few scenarios…if any at all.

We have to understand the meaning of self defense.  It involves doing just enough to halt a threat towards yourself.  That’s it.  It’s not about winning.  It’s not about getting revenge.  And it’s not about feeling like a hero.  This means that if someone runs up to you and steals your wallet and runs off, you can’t pull out your gun and kill them.  Nor can you even chase them down and “make them regret it”.  This is murder and assault.  You go to jail.  Not to mention you just killed another human being.  Maybe that person was pure evil and on his way to kill someone, but chances are, he was just looking to get money that he (in his mind) desperately needs.  Chances are, many of the scenarios that went through your head involved the use of a gun when it was not only unnecessary but illegal.  Hopefully, you recognized that and moved on to another scenario.

We have to understand, for us regular civilian citizens, we are not law enforcement, military or security guards that are trained properly to use a gun, when to use the gun, and how to use the gun.  As a civilian, our physical skills, as well as our mental skills of recognizing a true threat, and even properly dealing with the psychological issues that come up from killing another human being (even if they deserve it) are simply not good enough.

With that said, there are times where a gun is not only useful, but your best option, even for someone who is a 9th degree black belt.  As I’ve stated above, self defense is about the most efficient way of defending yourself, not the funnest way or the way your ego will let you.  Violence and threats on your life are nothing to take lightly.  If you’re life depends on it, you have to be ready to do what it takes to survive and keep your family safe.  I’m not talking about bar room fights, or arguments between friends/former friends/strangers.  Those scenarios are easily avoidable and are not threats on your life.

I want to make something perfectly clear.  If someone truly wants to kill you, you will have no choice in the matter.  You will simply be killed.  If you’re lucky, they will make a mistake and you will have a brief moment to defend yourself or escape.  Despite what you see in movies, no one jumps out of the bushes and shows you their weapon and says they are going to kill you.  They will not give you the option of defending yourself, you will be attacked quickly and efficiently when you least expect it and are least prepared.  If someone shows you their weapon in front of you, it is meant as intimidation and they do not want to use it, they simply want something from you.  Mind you, that doesn’t mean they won’t use that weapon if you don’t give them what they want, they just prefer not to as it’s in their best interest, as well as yours, not to use it.

A few more things to think about when it comes to using a gun in self defense.  I’ve mentioned in past articles, “Let Odin take the Wheel”, and “We can be Heroes…but NOT for one day” how the body reacts to threats and survival.  I don’t want to go into great detail here as it’s listed in those previous articles so I will just remind you of some of the effects the body goes through when in survival mode.  When faced with a serious threat the body goes in to the Fight, Flight, or Freeze response.  When this happens, the cognitive thought ceases (you can’t think straight or rationalize, it’s simply reaction, even possibly forgetting you have a gun), the blood pulls away from your limbs which leads to the loss of fine and complex motor skills (reaching for your gun and pulling the trigger fall under fine and complex motor skills!), you suffer from tunnel vision (better hope that target isn’t moving, or he’ll quickly leave your tiny line of sight).  These are just some of the negative effects the body goes through instantly when a threat suddenly arises.  You can see how this can cause a nightmare scenario when it comes to recognizing a true threat, un-holstering, aiming, understanding consequences, recognizing if there are innocent people standing by that could get shot on accident, and then pulling the trigger.  It’s quite simple, if you haven’t trained the same way law enforcement/military/security guards have been trained, which is placing the body into those stressful situations and still performing, then you have an extremely difficult uphill battle when it comes to defending yourself with a gun in random and sudden situations.

So how about the scenarios in which a gun is the best option?  While there are random times and random scenarios, the most common would be home invasions.  Especially when all family members are accounted for.  When someone has broken into your home there is generally time to take cover, get your gun, breath to calm the nerves and remove negative effects that may have induced, think things through and prepare for what needs to be done.  When someone enters your home without your permission, this is someone breaking into the one place that is supposed to be your safe zone, where no one can hurt you or your family and it is not through your actions that this person has become a threat.  There is a lot to deal with and think through and prepare for when it comes to a home invasion, far too much for me to explain in this article.  However, if someone has broken into your home, knows your home, and yet remains there, there is simply no “innocent” or “accidental” intent anymore, your life is in danger.

So for those who own a gun or plan on owning one in the future, I want to finish this article with some safety advice and notes that will help give you the best chances at using the gun correctly and not firing the weapon at the wrong person or on accident.  Please understand, this information is just a small amount needed to be a responsible gun owner, these are just the things that generally get little or no attention and aren’t always taught.

  1. Keep any and all guns in a lockbox that only you or another competent adult knows the combination to.  I know, you want to keep a loaded gun under your pillow for when you are suddenly woken up by a killer and have only just enough time to grab the gun and shoot to kill….stop watching movies, seriously, and if you don’t, know that EVERYTHING about it is fake.  They are not instructional videos!  Keeping your loaded gun under your pillow, or anywhere close by to where you can shoot without thought is a disaster waiting to happen.  If someone breaks into your home, you will most likely hear them before they get anywhere near you.  If not, you will already be dead before you wake up if that is there intent, so in either situation, that gun under your pillow isn’t going to help.  If it is in a lock box with a combination, it doesn’t take long to open, but long enough to give you time to breath and assess the situation rationally (hopefully).  It keeps the gun out of the hands of a child as well as anyone who may break in.  Just make sure your child is not anywhere nearby when you use the combination, you’d be amazed how much information kids retain when you think they aren’t paying attention!  Do understand though, like anything else, you have to practice entering the combination and opening the box.  It has to be instinctive.  As mentioned above, your cognitive thought could be out the window as can be your fine motor skills needed to enter the combination.  Constant practice can dramatically help this and make it instinctive so there is little to no issue.  Side note, calling 9-1-1 should also be practiced to instinctive motion for the same reasons.  There are many cases of people not only forgetting the number, but unable to dial the numbers due to the lack of fine motor skills while in the Fight, Flight or Freeze response.
  2. Get proper training.  This does not mean going to the firing range on a regular basis.  You have to train in a stressful environment to be able to properly use a gun in a stressful situation.  Many training systems make use of airsoft guns that don’t fire real bullets but have a realistic firing experience backed by realistic scenarios.  Again, we’re talking about law enforcement/military/security training, it’s not easily available to civilians.  Therefore, join a good martial arts school.  While we may not use guns on a regular basis (though I feel it should be a part of any martial arts curriculum), we constantly train in stressful scenarios and teach how to calm yourself and not let fear take over which is what leads to the negative effects by entering Fight, Flight or Freeze.  Do understand though, the only perfect training tool for these scenarios is to actually have been in these life threatening scenarios.  It doesn’t matter how well prepared you are, you will make mistakes if you’ve never actually been in a real fight or life threatening situation on numerous occasions.
  3. This next one is very controversial and I can’t say that I’m fully on board with it, but it’s something to think about and discuss with professionals.  An unloaded gun.  A gun pulled on the average person can and will cause instant fear and halt all behavior.  It removes the chances of accidentally firing the weapon as well as having the weapon used against you.  The problem however is that if pulled out to the wrong person at the wrong time, it may escalate a situation from a simple theft, to them pulling their LOADED gun and firing.  Mind you though, if you are not comfortable having a loaded gun with you, then it’s probably best not to have one at all.  Again, this is one you’ll have to think through heavily.  Please do not do this just because you read it here.
  4. Understand the physical and psychological ramifications of killing another human being.  If you shoot and kill someone that was not a threat to your life, or were an innocent bystander, you may spend the rest of your life in jail.  Know that the act of killing another human being is against human nature.  The psychological damage that comes afterwards can be debilitating.  There is a reason why PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) runs ramped through military and law enforcement.  At least they have been prepared for it and have a system set up to minimize it, such as debriefings, available counseling and coworkers that have gone through the same thing to help them through it.  The average civilian does not have most of these, and what they do have available, they may not know to make use of.
  5. Lastly, understand what you think will happen when you shoot someone is probably not realistic.  If you successfully shoot someone in self defense, they will not go flying back 10 feet and die instantly.  Again, you need to stop watching and believing movies!  A gun shot, even through the heart or through the head, will not necessarily kill or even stop someone instantly.  That person may continue attacking you for numerous seconds if not minutes before dying.  This is especially true if the person doesn’t know they’ve been shot.  This is useful information on two accounts.  One, you must assume that you cannot instantly kill someone just because you shot them, it has to be a dead on shot and even then, it’s not likely to be instant.  Two, if you yourself are shot, don’t allow yourself to believe you are going to die, continue to fight, what have you got to lose?  There are numerous accounts of people being shot through the heart and head that have gone on to both fight off a threat and even survive.

We seem to live in a gun crazy society, and worse yet, a paranoid and misinformed society.  This is a deadly combination.  From movies that glamorize violence and over dramatize killing, to media and politicians that either tout guns as our savior from violence or blames guns as if the gun had a consciousness of its own, we live in a world full of misinformation about guns, violence and self defense that is nothing short of appalling.  Understand that our greatest weapon is knowledge.  Knowledge of yourself, others, your weapons, violence, self defense, and human nature in general.  If you refuse this knowledge, I ask that you please stay away from me, my friends and family as far as possible, thank you.  Oh, and if you suggest that you don’t need self defense training because you have a gun around me, be prepared for a vicious slap to the back of the head followed by long drawn out ramblings of the information in this article.