Many people keep a gun to protect themselves and their family at home. If you're in this group, you should read about Kevin Monahan who shot and killed a woman who was a passenger in a car that mistakenly drove up his driveway.
According to the article, Mr. Monahan and his wife were awakened by the sound of vehicles in his driveway. He told his wife to hide inside and went outside with a pump action 20 gauge shotgun. First, he fires a warning shot into the air. Then, after losing his balance, shoots a shot into the car that killed Kaylin Gillis. There are many indicators to me that Mr. Monahan was not trained in self-defense because he did a lot of things wrong:
I want to encourage everyone who keeps a gun for self-protection to spend time learning about scenarios you might be put in and thinking about how you would handle them. Getting some hands-on live fire training is also important.
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Several people who reached-out to me recently to schedule basic handgun training mentioned that they'd been wanting to schedule gun training for several years but just didn't get around to it. Are you a gun owner who's never had formal training? Have you always wanted to get a gun for Concealed Carry, Home Defense or just to start shooting as a hobby? If so, start off the correct way with training.
Safe handling is a foundational skill. When you do it correctly from the start, gun safety will become automatic. Unfortunately, if don't you start out handling guns safely, being unsafe will be become automatic. I've got about ten training slots open for this year - contact me now to secure one for you or your group. I recently wrote about the horrific Hamas attack on civilians in Israel and the lack of private gun ownership. Thankfully, not everyone in Israel was unarmed or the death toll would have been much higher. For those of you who would say that private citizens cannot stand against terrorists or military-grade weapons, please watch this incredible account of a man who protected his family against more than 10 terrorists on October 7th armed only with a handgun.
This is a case study in home defense. Miki kept his cool during the battle and ambushed the attackers as they entered his house. He also never surrendered, even though Hamas used unimaginable psychologic techniques to try to get him to. The 2nd Amendment guarantees the right of Americans to own guns for self-defense and to help ensure an attack like that never happens here. Let's be ready. Here's a great article on Winsome Sears' appearance on the Bill Mahr show. She is a strong pro-gun advocate and I love her comments in this article about women and guns.
What makes no sense, of course, is Mahr's comments: "I mean, I do not like guns. I have guns. I do not like them. I always compare them to antibiotics. I never want to take one, but I’m glad they exist because I’m as small as some women," Maher joked. Hopefully he's joking. A gun is not very likely to do him any good if he doesn't like them and doesn't want to use them. It sounds like he's hoping he can somehow rise to the occasion when his life is on the line. Mahr isn't the only one though, I know several people who own guns for self-protection but have never been trained how to safely use them and never practice with them. If you own guns, please don't be like them. Get trained on safe gun handling, marksmanship and self-defense and then practice regularly. A great way to ring in the New Year is to see the FBI recently announced background check statistics for 2021. There were 39 million background checks for firearm purchases in 2021, which is the second highest total of ever, surpassed only by 2020. 655,000 of those guns were sold were in Virginia. Just like 2020, many of these purchases were made by first-time gun buyers. As always, I recommend that new gun owners get training - especially in safe gun handling and basic marksmanship. Shooting guns is way more fun when you can hit what you are aiming at!
More good news for Virginia gun owners in the New Year, Glenn Youngkin was sworn-in as governor today. While Mr. Youngkin has not been an outspoken advocate for the 2nd Amendment, his Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General are. I was impressed by Mr. Youngkin's message of unity and his desire to honor God. I'm excited what the next four years will bring for gun rights in Virginia. In recent days, I read two stories of abusive boyfriends who killed their girlfriends:
Stories like these make me sick. I cannot understand any "man" who would physically hurt a woman. These kind of crimes happen all too often. According to the National Coalition to Prevent Domestic Violence:
If you are in an abusive relationship, please get help. I would also consider your options for self-defense. I'm not saying that carrying a gun is for everyone but, with proper training, it might give you a chance of surviving a deadly encounter like these. Today I got 3 different emails offering cases of 9mm ammo for sale. This was great news. After the huge gun demand in 2020, ammo became really hard to find and prices went through the roof. Ammunition manufacturers didn't expect the rush of new gun owners and the corresponding ammo sales, but it seems that production is starting to catch-up.
Now that ammo is available again, all gun owners should celebrate Independence Day and our freedom by doing some shooting! When you go out, take a new shooter with you! I'm partnering with a group called "Powhatan Home Defense" to offer 3 introductory handgun clinics over the summer months. These sessions will give beginners the steps needed to get started to owning a handgun for self-defense. More details are available on the flyer below.
Officer Christopher Royer, a police officer in Nashville, shot and killed a man who attacked him with two butcher knives during a traffic stop on Saturday night. If you are a private citizen who owns a gun for self-protection, do yourself a favor and read this article (and watch the video). Officer Christopher Royer
In my opinion, this was an excellent example of using a handgun for self-defense. Some observations: 1. Officer Royer didn't use his gun to protect property - the bad guy got into the police car without any resistance. 2. He gave the bad guy every chance to stop the attack. Officer Royer retreated 25 yards from the man with the knives. In the video, you can see the bad guy to run at the cop. At that point, it is clear the bad guy is an imminent threat - this is life or death. 3. He shot the bad guy in the chest to stop the threat. When the adrenaline dump of the life or death situation occurs, you will fall back on your training and practice. Officer Royer had likely practiced making shots to the torso to stop the threat. Once the threat stopped, he stopped shooting. In my defensive shooting courses, I recommend that my students start following news on shootings and other circumstances where they might need a gun for self-protection, this is training for your mind. An excellent way to do this is to sign-up for VCDL's VA-ALERT e-mail list. Another way is to read good books on self-defense.
I just finished reading "Surviving a Mass Killer Rampage" by Chris Bird and I highly recommend it. The author describes in-detail many mass shootings, some that were stopped by citizens or law enforcement and some that were not. Reading about these killings gave me a glimpse into what a situation like this might look like and some of the options when fighting back. A majority of these shootings are over before law enforcement arrives and is able to confront the shooter. His overall point is that allowing private citizens to carry guns and eliminating gun-free zones will significantly reduce the carnage that these killers can cause. In addition, the author attended several multi-day courses meant to train private citizens to stop mass shootings. The book describes the content of these courses in detail. This section includes lots of basic tactical information and some things concealed carriers could use to practice on the range. For instance, one of the courses talked about the importance of scoring your first hit and had the students take their first shots each day at 50 feet. That is well beyond the average distance of a gunfight but I see the wisdom of regular practice at longer distances and I plan to work that into my future sessions. |
AuthorJon Woodard - NRA certified instructor. Handgun Distinguished Expert. Passionate about responsible gun ownership. Archives
April 2024
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