He said he was determined not to allow himself to be killed, for the sake of his children. He didn’t want to leave them without a father.
He was prepared and even though he was attacked and wounded, he had the mindset to respond and survive. Outstanding for John Lee, may he recover soon and enjoy life at its fullest.
The few unlucky people that have been instructed by me, receive several mantras and the first one is: The first casualty of carrying concealed is the Ego. When you decide to have a gun with you and to travel outside your home, you will learn to endure the verbal “slings and arrows” and that they are not there to right wrongs, defend maidens’ honors soiled by a mouthy sailor or to stop any petty (or major) crime in progress that offends your sense of order in society. In most localities you are not allowed to defend property and I do not recall one state where you are allowed to pursue and use deadly force against anybody once the crime has ceased.
We have this case in Detroit where a home owner, Tigh Croff, arrived home to find it being broken into and now he is facing hard time for chasing down and killing one of the perps. It was the third time that his house had been broken in during the same week and I am guessing he was incensed like anybody else would be. But he had a gun and an unchecked ego:
“He turned around and looked dumb. He had that ‘mercy’ look,” Croff told police after the shooting, per Detroit Police Sgt. Gary Diaz. “I told him he was gonna die, and I shot him.”
Ego, just like alcohol, does not combine well with firearms. Words don’t hurt, gang rape in the local house of detention does.
If Top Shots is too “Reality TV looks at Big Brother significant Other Survivor married to Real Housewife of East LA who thinks She Can Dance”, you have an alternative on Spike TV. It is called Conceal + Carry = Survive.
According to what I read, it takes several people with little or no experience in firearms and trains them in their defensive use. Some are just people who want to avoid trouble and some were victimized and want to be ready if crap ever happens again.
The show is to air on July 17 on Spike TV. Set your DVRs.
And now back to my self imposed rest… I know, I keep breaking it but I think this is worth watching.
Non-Gunners gasp at some Gun Sayings. And let’s face it, they are intended to shock and drive home a point. The use of deadly force in a Self Defense situation is not a pretty one and I guess neither is the way we try to teach and learn. We cannot afford to be “sensitive” or politically correct and run the risk of not learning the intended lesson. If at the end of the day, you have acquired a set of instructions that will save your life, then it is worth it. The point is not how pretty is the package but the worth of the content.
“Be polite, be professional and have a plan to kill everyone you meet.”
You do not know what your attacker looks like. If you did, you would avoid him/her like the plague. Stop for one second and think at the mental picture you have developed whenever you mentally prepare yourself for an scenario. What does your attacker look like? Obviously we will create an image and unfortunately stick to it even though this person does not exist. So we must suspect of anybody and be ready for anything. Paranoid you say? Well, you heard about shooting is the workplace where a somebody goes crazy and kills coworkers? Have you heard of the date that turned out to be a rapist? (there is even a commercial on TV about it for an alarm company) and our all time favorite: “He was always a great neighbor. Quiet and liked the children.” Let’s not set ourselves for a deadly fall.
“Some people just need killing.”
I think this one is a quote from the late Col. Jeff Cooper but I might be wrong. It speaks about those dumb criminals that even when warned and faced by someone with the capability to issue them harm, they keep advancing and unfortunately they must be put down. Imagine the Meth Freak or Angel Dust Head coming at you unable to process the fact that they might die if they do not cease their aggressive behavior. Or the really stupid goon that thinks that he can sweet talk you out of your gun with threats or that like in the movies, you will be able to snatch the gun out of the hand of that weak woman. Again, non-gunners will shriek in horror, but there is a big lesson behind it: You might be forced to use deadly force in the face of a doped, dumb & dangerous criminal.
“Always cheat; always win.”
If memory serves right, this one is from Clint Smith. Again, I have seen the disgust in some non-gunners’ faces at the utterance of this wise words. The sad fact is that defending our life is not an sporting event. To think that one should be subjected to rules to make the “competitors” have a level playing field when our life is on the line, is stupid. Criminals Cheat! We heard the victims complain after the fact that “It was not fair” the way they were attacked or the injuries they sustained. Even the Marquess of Queensberry packed a gun (OK. I am making this one up.)
“Anyone worth shooting once is worth shooting twice.”
This one is a corollary to Some People Just Need Killing. Against Hollywood Blockbuster’s conventional wisdom, one single round from your pea shooter will not propel the Bad Guy 30 feet backwards killing him instantly. Handgun calibers are actually very inefficient as people stoppers and that is why any instructor worth his salt will teach double taps, controlled pairs and any multiple shot combination to a student. Bad guys either stimulated by adrenalin or their drug of choice, might be unable to stop their bad behavior from a single shot unless you happen to hit the medulla oblongata with your first at-bat (cranio-ocular cavity shot which is placing a well aimed bullet in the triangle formed by the nose and both eyes, a most difficult shot.) Remember, you will shoot until there is no more threat.
These are just four, if you know more, you are welcome to go ahead and add them in the comments section.
Amazingly at work they offered CPR/Heimlich and AED (automated external defibrillator) training not only for free but you got paid overtime for it. Upon completion, you will get not only a nice card saying you are now a standing member of those who may be able to save a life, but also a card valid for 2 years displaying such info. A life-saving set of techniques taught under the best of incentives and several individuals rejected the idea. Some even verbally degraded it with various colorful idioms.
Some of the dissidents were old farts, set in their ways and so soured with life they plainly didn’t give a squat. I am guessing that the fact that they had to come to work at odd hours interrupting their mac & cheese and that day’s episode of Oprah was too much to sacrifice. A couple of youngins assumed their gansta stances and replied with the standard “Hey man. That just bullshit. I don’t need that shit.” Other not so young excused themselves by using a myriad of reasons, but I could read out of their bodies and verbal patterns was that they were too embarrassed to be embarrassed in front of others.
I asked one of the youngins what would he do if his Mom ( a woman with a history of vascular problems) would suddenly need CPR. His answer was “I’ll call Call 911.” When asked what would it happen if 911 or rescue wasn’t immediately available, his response was “Why it wouldn’t be?”
It saddens the hell out of me that people are willing to be mentally castrated this way. In order to save face, they rather depend on the kindness of the Government to help them get out of trouble. Then when their dreams dead stop as they hit the shoals of reality, they moan and complain and demand more government control. It is sort of trying to treat a rattlesnake bite by injecting more poison into your veins. It must hurt to think logically while pride is in the way.
You are young, ballsy and without morals. You see an elderly woman and think to yourself: “Hmmm! Easy pickings!” You do your thing and you go home sore and humbled. According to Miami’s Channel 7 News, it seems that’s what happened to a young punk in Hialeah who had a wee bit interaction with an tough old broad
The beating happened near West 35th Street and 12th Avenue. Police explained that the man knocked on the victim’s door while her husband was home and asked for directions. He left after she told him where to go.
He returned later and asked her to write down the directions and entered the home. By this time, the husband had left the house.
The subject then knocked the 77-year-old woman to the ground. Antonio Garcia, the victim’s husband, spoke through a translator, as he explained what happened next: “He pointed the gun at my wife and threatened to shoot her. She was able to knock the gun right out of his hand. Then, she swung her arm up, hitting him right in between his legs, and he ran off.”
Mindset is the ultimate weapon.
A trial ended yesterday. The case involved a shooting on a female by a male resulting in the grievous injury of the female. She sustained damage to her arm both muscular and neural. Her arm will never again be 100% functional and she has, no joke, developed a mongo aversion to guns. The male was a childhood friend of hers and one silly night and because one silly stupid argument, two lives have been changed forever.
The fight was about a truly irrelevant object but it escalated to the point where the male produced his firearm and a shot rang out. Was there intention to kill? I don’t think so and he was not charged with that but a much lesser count. Still the jury found him guilty and he will probably be sentenced to 8 years in prison. The male had a Concealed Weapons permit and there is no other way to put it: he fucked up. According to what I was told, during trial he initially tried to say that it was an accidental shooting, that the gun went off, but with modern firearms (read: basically anything built in the last 50 years) that is near impossible and he got shredded by the expert witness. His lawyer tried to pull a mid trial switch for Self Defense but a male facing a 5’4″ female armed with a car key and a cellphone does not rise to the necessary standard for self defense. Basically BOTH sides suffered from runaway mouths with almost deadly consequences. The cause of the incident was plain old ego on both sides. She caught the bullet, he caught the prison time.
I tell my students and anybody considering having a gun for self protection that they are about to embark in a life-changing trip. This trip will have “casualties” and the first one must be ego. No longer will you feel the need to right perceived wrongs by verbally or physically counter an insult, wave off or even a direct taunt. You have with you the power of creating immense harm and that is something that you cannot take lightly. I don’t care if they call your Mom names, accuse your wife of being a $10 whore or dirty comments about naked pictures of your favorite aunt in the Internet, your first duty is to disengage and step away from the person trying to incite you. Allow your manhood or womanhood to be dragged in the mud, let them call you coward, faggot, chickeshit, whatever: Words don’t hurt, prison time does.
So remember the this phrase:
Your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.
A bit of disclosure is in order. The female is a dear friend of mine, almost like an adopted crazy niece. We worked together and I still remember the night I was told she was shot and the Gordian knot that my stomach became. She was out for six months recovering from her wound and with a new dose of maturity. It was radical but instructive for the both of us. Although she is still the same vibrant spirit, the innocence is gone and there will be a dark cloud following her for a long time. I don’t know the guy and I really don’t hold any particular personal grudge against him (I know, I should but I think I matured after all) but as a Gun Owner and CWP holder I will cut him no mercy: He misused a gun, hurt an innocent person and rightly he should serve his punishment. Most Gun Owners agree with me on this. We don’t give freebies to our fellow members that break the faith and eschew responsibility. We are not forgiving just because you are a fdellow gun owner, say you are sorry sorry and fly to the nearest detox clinic. We come down on you hard and you better get used to it. We hold ourselves to a higher standard.
I will try to get a transcript of the trial and I plan to use it in future classes and in this blog. I think there is much to be learned by everybody.
Again people: Words don’t hurt, prison time does. Dump the Ego.