My son Grant and I just returned from an incredible weekend of rifle training.  This was the first time either of us had have any formal training on properly shooting a rifle.  We took a Project Appleseed course from the Revolutionary War Veterans Association (RWVA).  This was an amazing clinic and we both saw huge improvements in our abilities.  Just like with pistols, there were a lot of technical details that I didn't know about shooting a rifle.    We brought home a few targets for practice and both look forward to going back and earning our "Rifleman" patch.

Not only did we learn to shoot, the course also taught the real history of the two days that started the Revolutionary War and how colonial American marksmanship had an impact.  This was a good reminder of what our founding fathers had in mind for America and that we all need to stay involved in politics to ensure we don't lose the freedoms that they fought for.

I highly recommend this course.  For more information or to get signed-up for your Rifleman training, visit the Project Appleseed site.

Anyone who owns a gun for self defense needs to think about what situations they are willing to use it.  Did you hear about the recent tragedy when a CrossFit gym owner was killed in Texas? 

Mr. Antell, a CrossFit gym owner, apparently witnessed Mr. Bradden, a soldier, having an argument with his wife and then shooting at her feet!  Mr. Bradden's wife then went into her place of work for help and Mr. Antell decided to step-in.  When he got his handgun and asked Mr. Bradden to drop his, Mr. Bradden killed the gym owner.  It is commendable that Mr. Antell wanted to prevent an additional crime from taking place - maybe even prevent this man from murdering his wife. However, the decision to get involved cost him his life.

Observations:
1.  Protect yourself, not others.
I understand the desire for the victim to protect the woman that he saw getting shot at.  When carrying a gun, it is easy to imagine yourself protecting others and stopping the bad guys.  However, it is important to remember your primary responsibility is to protect yourself and your loved ones.  The police are paid to protect everyone else.  Mr. Antell should have taken his wife a safe distance away and then called 911.  

2. Don't escalate.
He retrieved his pistol from his vehicle - this was opportunity to escape.  Based on the facts we know, it appears Mr. Bradden's wife was safely inside the store.  At this point, the crime may have been over.   If this situation had turned out differently and instead of having his gun slapped away, Mr. Antell instead had to shoot and kill Mr. Bradden, he may have been charged with a crime by basically picking a fight.

3.  Keep your distance.
The article says Mr. Bradden knocked the handgun away from Mr. Antell.  Once he decided to get involved, Mr. Antell should have kept his distance from the bad guy and used his truck for cover.  As a trained shooter, distance is your friend.  
This incident is a good

Something we teach in all of our courses is practice the way you want to perform under duress.  If you get into a situation where you need to use your handgun, your adrenaline will be pumping and you won't be thinking.  What will you be doing?  Your body will automatically be performing what you've trained it to do - a common term for this is "muscle memory."  

For example, when you train, how many shots do you fire in a single string?  If you step to the line and shoot until the slide locks open on an empty magazine - that is likely what you will do in a self-defense situation.  

For example, see the Dashcam video of Chicago police shooting Laquan McDonald in late 2014.  Mr. McDonald was shot 16 times by one police officer.  
I am not discussing whether or not the shooting was justified.  Mr. McDonald had a knife and was clearly disregarding the commands from the police.  Since we weren't there it is hard to judge what made the officer decide to shoot.

If you watch carefully you can see small puffs of smoke coming from Mr. McDonald's body after he falls to the ground.  I would guess he was shot at least 8 times after he was on the ground.  No one would argue that Mr. McDonald was still a threat to the officers on the ground.  Shooting him on the ground was likely not intentional by the police officer.  I believe that he probably trained by doing a magazine dump when shooting his pistol.  Thus, when he needed his gun against a real target he shot until the gun locked open and hit his target 16 times.  We train to shoot twice at the target and then evaluate if the bad guy is still  

You've heard the saying "practice makes perfect."  For handgun training, think "perfect practice makes perfect."

Saw this news story a while back about a 19 year man in Arizona who accidentally shot and killed an acquaintance while (apparently) trying to wake him up.  

The first and most obvious observation that I have here is that Mr. Thomas was breaking all three of the NRA rules for safe gun handling.  The rules are:

1. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
2. Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
3. Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.

These rules work together to ensure safety while handling and using guns.  It is my privilege to teach and enforce these rules with every class.  I want every gun owner to apply them every time they handle a gun.   

Some additional thoughts:

• Mr. Thomas thought the gun was unloaded.  Notice that each rule starts with "always."  Clearly, he should still not have pointed the gun at his friend, even if the gun was unloaded.  When he unloaded his gun, he should have checked the chamber to ensure it was in the condition he expected.  We teach our shooters to complete a chamber check whenever loading or unloading their gun.  
  
• The story says that Mr. Thomas is a competitive shooter.  It is hard to believe that a competitive shooter wouldn't learn and apply the basic rules of safe gun handling.
• Ultimately, this shooting was "negligent", not "accidental".  It is every gun owner's responsibility to learn and apply the rules.  Not applying the rules is negligence.

 Have you ever thought about what you would do if you were in a public setting when a mass shooting starts?  If you haven't, you need to start thinking about it right now!

The first and most important thing for you to do is to be mentally prepared that something unthinkable could happen to you.  If you can't imagine this happening to you, it will be hard to take any action when it does.  

Your plan should be the following (notice none of these involve doing nothing):
1. Get out - your first response should be to get safely away from the situation.  Even if you are carrying a concealed handgun or other weapon - that weapon is for the protection of yourself and your loved ones. 
2. Hide out - if you are unable to escape, look for ways to hide or develop barricades against the attacker.  
​3. Take out - if you have no other options, you should act as violently as possible to stop the shooter.  If you have a handgun, this is the time to use it.  If not, improvise a weapon or just counter-attack with your fists.  

Check out the excellent active shooter video from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Concealed carry on campus?!? That is a school I want my kids to attend!