Does your church or place of worship have a plan for the physical security of its members?   We just added a new course for Church Security Teams that involves case study of high profile church shootings and some discussion of what can be learned from them.  Then, the course moves to the shooting range, covers the basic topics of self-defense with a handgun and finishes with a timed competency exam.  Learn more about this course here.

In the wake of the Las Vegas shooting, several people have asked me what I think about bump stocks.  Even though I don't own any bump stocks, I oppose ALL gun control legislation because it doesn't prevent bad people from doing bad things. Gun control only prevents good people from protecting themselves.  Virginia Citizens Defense League wrote an excellent summary on this topic that I've included below.  Short and sweet!

VCDL OPPOSES ANY LAWS BANNING, CONTROLLING, OR RESTRICTING BUMP-FIRE ACCESSORIES.

One of the key principles that VCDL has always maintained is that gun control is worthless for stopping, or even lowering, crime.  Gun control only infringes on the rights, safety, and security of good people, while handing a major tactical advantage to criminals or empowering political tyrants who wish to dominate a society. 

As Chicago shows every day, gun control actually makes life more dangerous for the person being controlled.  In Chicago they have as many murders each and every month as there were in that highly unusual event in Las Vegas.  Yet, the gun controllers are as quiet as church mice about that, as it is proof positive that gun control fails to make anyone, except criminals, safer.

Gun control was established in the United States with the primary purpose of keeping one minority or another from having access to guns, thus allowing those populations to be controlled more easily by another group, be it whites controlling blacks or Irish controlling Italians.

Way too many people start their thinking with a false premise:  "No one needs a machine gun, so no one needs an accessory that will make a semi-automatic shoot almost as fast as a machine gun."

In a free society, that is an odd statement.  Being free is not about what someone NEEDS (especially something that some legislator or nameless bureaucrat determines you NEED), but about what someone WANTS. 

None of us NEED an automobile that can go faster than 30 miles an hour.  Heck, none of us NEED an automobile.  None of us NEED a television set, much less 2 or 3 of them.  None of us NEED indoor plumbing.  But we WANT all of those things and much, much more!

If I want a machine gun because it is fun to shoot or I believe it would be useful for self-defense or for any other lawful reason, then I should be able to own one without seeking government permission.  (People whose lives are deemed more valuable than ours are surrounded by men with machine guns - the government clearly sees the benefit of machine guns for defense.) 

There are plenty of laws to take care of ANY misuse of that machine gun that I might commit.

Banning, or further controlling or restricting, bump-fire accessories is just more useless, feel good, gun control.  No, thanks.


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VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization
dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org [http://www.vcdl.org/]



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I was saddened to hear the news about the church shooting in Tennessee.  I'm very glad that Mr. Engle was there to stop the shooter and had a gun in the car.  I'm pretty sure that he will be carrying his gun in church from now on.

Have you ever thought of carrying a gun in church?  Some Christians may not think this would seem very Christian.  I read an awesome book on this very subject several years ago called "Shooting Back" by Charl Van Wyk.  Mr. Wyk single-handedly stopped terrorists from attacking his church.  This book tells the story of the attack and investigates why he believes Christians should defend themselves. I highly recommend this book!

I'm not looking to be a hero.  But if I end-up in a mass shooting situation, I want the ability to defend myself and my family. ​

Cleveland Taco Bell employees shot and killed a man attempting to rob the store last week.  The story says two men came into the store in ski masks and armed with handguns at 3 AM and ordered everyone on the ground.  Three employees drew guns and shot one of the would-be robbers dead.  The other robber escaped.  

Observations:
1.  The Taco Bell employees showed excellent marksmanship as the bad guy was hit SIX times and no good guys were injured.  The bad guy that got away may have been hit too.  
2.  I appreciate that there's no mention here that Taco Bell is firing these employees.  It says they will offer counseling.  Way to go Taco Bell!
3.  THREE employees were concealed carrying!  Wow!  That has got to be the safest place in Cleveland at 3 AM.

This is just one of the hundreds of times a day that guns saved lives.  Most of these events are never reported because no shots are fired.  More guns = less crime.  

I heard an amazing quote from Thomas Jefferson during the third episode of the Gun Owners of America "Firing Back" podcast.  This new podcast has been very informative in discussing the history of gun control around the world and some of the basic myths including - background checks, gun registration, "No Fly, No Buy," and others. 

His quote is :"I prefer dangerous freedom to safe slavery."  This is very inspiring to me and a great reminder of why the founding fathers gave us the right to keep and bear arms -  to ensure our freedom.  Gun control isn't about guns, it is about CONTROL.   Any gun control law is an imposition on our freedom and means law abiding citizens will suffer.

I've subscribed to this podcast and recommend that you do too.​  Also, consider joining the GOA to help ensure our freedoms are protected and expanded.  

I saw an article last week about an elderly Florida homeowner defending himself against an intruder and was reminded of the Old West adage "God made man, Samuel Colt made them equal."  The article doesn't say the age of the homeowner but I assume he was physically no match for the intruder.  A firearm leveled the playing field.  Race, gender, physical fitness, age, height, weight - none of those mattered.  

Contact me if you'd like the opportunity to build confidence with your home defense weapon.

As a firearms instructor, I hate reading stories of accidental shootings like this one about a graduation gift that went wrong.  Brennan Fields received a gun as a high school graduation gift.  Then he shot and killed his girlfriend while he was showing it to her.  It is time for gun owners to start making safety our #1 priority!  A gun makes an excellent present but should not be given to someone who has not been taught to handle a it safely.  I've posted before about the rules for safe gun handling.  Clearly, Mr. Fields broke all of these.

Gun accidents are caused by:

1. Ignorance. Ignorance is not knowing the correct way to handle a gun safely.  Many people have grown up around guns and shooting with their family but have never been taught how to safely handle a gun.  They've been lucky.  When an accident finally happens to these people, ignorance is the cause because they didn't really know better.  
2. Negligence.  Negligence is knowing the right way to handle a gun but not applying it.  Negligence is worse than ignorance because if an accident happens you'll have no one to blame but yourself.  I've been around many gun owners who know the right way to handle their guns but sometimes are a bit lax on the direction they point their gun or in keeping their finger off of the trigger.  

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I'm not sure which of these was to blame in the case of Mr. Fields, but the lesson is crystal clear.  If you've learned the rules of safe gun handling, ensure you apply them 100% of the time and that those around you do too!  If you don't know the rules of safe gun handling - learn them now!