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.

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!

I recently happened across the YouTube video below.  This video was taken in a classroom and shows a DEA agent who shoots himself in the foot while trying to teach the kids not to play with guns.  Ironic?  Yes.  There are some valuable lessons to learn here though and I recommend you take a minute to watch it.

My first observation is this guy should never be carrying a gun.  His gun handling is so careless it really demonstrates a lack of training.  Just before he shoots himself, he tells the kids "I'm the only one in this room professional enough to handle a gun."  Meanwhile, he breaks all of the rules of safe gun handling!  Rule #1 is to always keep your finger off of the trigger until ready to shoot.  Guns don't shoot by themselves, they only shoot when the trigger is pulled.  If your finger is not on the trigger, you can't accidentally shoot.  Rule #2 is always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction (his foot is not safe).   A safe direction is one in which you could shoot a bullet and no one and nothing is going to get hurt.  There is no safe direction anywhere in that classroom.  Because of that, he never should have unholstered his gun (even if he thought it was unloaded).  When they get out the rifle at the end, notice it is being pointed right at the guy standing against the wall!  This DEA agent is incredibly lucky that he didn't shoot a kid when he shot himself. 

Rule #3 for safe gun handling is to always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.  This rule leads to my second observation, he does not know how to correctly check if the gun is loaded or not.  He pulls back the slide to demonstrate that he has an empty chamber but never removes the magazine (which is loaded).  Once he releases the slide, the gun is loaded.  A proper chamber check for an unloaded gun is executed without a magazine in the gun.  

My third observation and probably most upsetting to me is his poor attitude towards guns.  After he shoots himself and he calms the crowd down a bit, the agent tells the kids:

• "I made a mistake"  
• "See how that accident happened?  It could happen to you and you'll be blown away."
• "Never play with guns.  See how accidents happen - they happen!"

In essence, he's saying that you can't protect yourself against guns.  His opinion is that they are inherently dangerous and if you have one long enough you are going to have an accident and hurt someone.  All of his statements are 100% wrong.  What this video showed was negligence, not an accident.  He handled a gun carelessly and incorrectly and got caught. 

Accidents don't just happen, they are caused by ignorance (not knowing) or negligence (not applying).  I know many people (myself included) that have owned and shot guns their whole lives and never had an accident - not even a close call.  If you haven't been taught how to safely handle guns, please take the time to learn the rules today.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure to train a family of seven how to safely operate a handgun. Normally I only allow a maximum of four students to ensure everyone gets plenty of time to shoot, but I do make exceptions for groups.  

This family had almost no experience with guns but decided it was time to learn.  First, they purchased several brand-new M&P Shield 9mms as presents for Christmas and then they scheduled a course with me.  By the time the course was over, they all learned to load, unload and shoot their new guns safely.  I always enjoy teaching new gun owners and helping them build a good foundation of safety and marksmanship.   

Contact me if you are interested in starting your own journey to gun ownership.

Earlier this month (November 2016) a new section of the Powhatan State Park opened for overnight camping.  This gorgeous park sits right on the James River and offers many trails for walking, biking or horseback riding.  

Richmond Firearm Training is less than 0.5 miles from the entrance to the park.  Our courses are all held outside so they are a nice extension of the camping experience.  So, if you'd like something else exciting to do while you visit the park, contact me and schedule some high quality, personalized basic handgun or self-defense handgun training.  

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.

We completely redesigned our website.  We hope the change makes it easier to navigate and easier for me to keep it updated. It is still hosted by ipower but was built via Weebly.  I'd love to hear your feedback on the look and features of the new site as well as any suggestions you have for new content.  

Here's what the old site looked like: