​As I've discussed before, the second amendment is about freedom - the basic freedom to to protect yourself.  Check out the liberal agenda pushed by CNN in their article to discuss the latest homicide statistics compiled by the CDC.  This article quotes Daniel Webster, a professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins, several times.  None of his quotes have any scientific basis - just standard anti-gun rhetoric.

Here's one example: "The available data suggests that as we make it easier and easier for more and more civilians to carry guns wherever they want, we end up with more homicides and other firearm-related crimes," Webster said.  The statistics compiled by the CDC are for murders and are not for law abiding citizens.   He's drawing a completely incorrect conclusion from data.  

Halfway through the article, the writer finally provides a more reasonable perspective from Erich Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America:  "Guns are deadly. But that also makes them effective for self-defense."'Breakdowns in society', a CDC-sponsored study from 2013 found that "guns are used in self-defense anywhere from 500,000 to 3 million times a year," Pratt said. "That means that compared to the CDC figures for 'firearm homicides' in 2016, guns are being used 35 to 208 times more often to save [lives]."

The newly elected state representatives and senate are in a rush to pass all sorts of crazy gun control schemes:  red flag gun laws, universal background checks, one handgun a month, 10 round magazine limit and even semi-auto gun bans have all been pre-filed for the 2020 session. 

It isn't about crime, Virginia has the fourth lowest violent crime rate!  Ultimately, gun control is about control of law abiding citizens.  Criminals, by definition, do not obey the law.

Gun owners - we need to get more active politically than ever to stop the loss of our freedoms.  Please join Virginia Citizens Defense League's Virginia Alert mailing list so you can be alerted of action items (you can do that for free!).  After that, send a generous donation to VCDL, Gun Owners of America and the National Rifle Association.  

In August, Michael Drejka was convicted of manslaughter for the 2018 shooting of Markeis McGlockton.  Mr. Drejka was a concealed carry permit holder in Florida.  He shot and killed Mr. McGlockton after getting into a fight over a parking space.
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This is such a tragic situation for all involved.  Apparently, Mr. Drejka had words with Mr. McGlockton's girlfriend who was sitting in a car with her kids waiting for Mr. McGlockton inside a store.  Drejka was upset that she was parked in a handicapped parking space.

It appears that Mr. McGlockton showed-up when Mr. Drejka was arguing with his girlfriend and shoved him to the ground.  Drejka then drew his gun and shot McGlockton.

From the article:
"When I just say something to a person about being parked there, I don’t expect it to go where it went," Drejka told the detectives.  Moffett pressed him, asking if he was concerned about prompting a violent confrontation when he previously complained about people parking in handicap spaces.  Drejka answered, "That's why I take precautions. I'm a very careful person. I have a [concealed weapon] permit."

I definitely understand why Drejka was convicted.  In essence he picked a fight.  When it escalated, he shot the guy.  When we carry, we need to have the mindset that we want to do everything we can to avoid using our gun.  Yes, we should be confident in our ability to defend ourselves but we should not be walking around looking for a fight.   

A family in Chesterfield County, VA survived a violent encounter with a naked home intruder last week.  The Lewis family describes the intruder as looking "possessed" and "having the strength of four men." 

Apparently, the man of the house encountered the home intruder first (a naked woman) and felt threatened enough to retrieve his pistol.  When she wouldn't leave he fired warning shots in her direction until he ran out of ammo - 39 warning shots!  At this point, it looks like the whole family was involved in fighting her off.  The family is covered in bites and bruises shown in the video of this article and you can see a significant amount of blood in the house.   This was a fight for life and death.  I'm glad the good guys survived.  

It would seem that this woman was high on some sort of substance that made her extremely strong and resistant to pain.  I disagree with the Mr. Lewis' decision not to shoot the woman.  I wonder if part of his decision not to shoot her was because the "bad guy" here was a girl?  By shooting warning shots, he endangered the lives of his family and neighbors and destroyed his own house in the process.   Each of those holes in the walls of his house could have hit an innocent bystander.   Additionally, if she was as strong as four men, couldn't the home invader have taken the gun away from the home owner and used it to kill his family?  Each of us gun owners needs to look at this situation and think through what we would do and what measures we are willing to take to protect ourselves and our loved ones.  

I would have retrieved my pistol, pointed it at her chest and told her to leave.   If she made any move toward me, I would have shot her twice in the upper chest.  Hopefully, that would have ended the confrontation.  If not, Plan B is a single shot to the cranial ocular cavity (head shot).   Hopped up on drugs or not, that shot would have stopped her.

Many people own guns for self defense and think they will rise to the occasion when they need it.   In an encounter such as this one, you don't have time to think.  Your body will default to your level of training and practice.  Contact me if you'd like to build your skills and confidence with a gun.  

#RVAReady #RVATrain #HandgunTraining #SelfDefense

Last month, a man in Houston, Texas successfully fought off FIVE armed intruders with an AK-47.  He shot all five of the attackers, killing three of them and emerged uninjured.  He won the gunfight big-time!  

How many times have we heard from the anti-gun crowd that "no one needs more than ten rounds to defend themselves" or "no one should have a military style rifle"?   This is a great example of a time when a high capacity magazine and semi-automatic rifle were needed.  You are never going to wish you had less ammo in a gunfight.  I realize, this situation is not the norm but I'm pretty sure this man was glad he was prepared!  ​

This got me thinking about training for multiple opponents, which is not something I normally do.  After a little web research, I decided to try the El Presidente drill to test my skills.  This drill requires the shooter to stand hands raised with his back to three bad guy targets.  At the start signal, the shooter will then turn around, draw his gun, shoot each bad guy twice, reload and then shoot each target two more times.  The par time for this drill is ten seconds!  

I tried it three times and only once was under ten seconds.  Each time, I hit 10 or 11 of the shots into the bad guys' thoracic cavity (heart and lungs).   I look forward to improving my times and accuracy as I add this drill to my practice.  A couple of my initial runs are shown in the video below.  

A convenience store clerk in Richmond was charged with manslaughter after defending himself during a robbery at a convenience store where he worked.   How did self-defense become manslaughter?

Obviously, I don't know the details of this case.  My theory here is that the Mr. Simmons was charged with manslaughter because he fired several shots at Mr. Harris outside of the store while he was running away.  Your claim of self-defense ends the moment the threat on your life stops.  In this situation, Mr. Simmons should not have followed the bad guy outside of the store and he certainly should not have kept shooting.  If Mr. Simmons had stayed inside the store and called the cops, I do not think he would have been charged at all - even if Mr Harris had died from the injuries.

When I watch the news, I'm continually reminded about the reasons that I carry a handgun.  Two recent shootings were interesting:

1.  First, there was a shooting at a Knoxville, TN dentist office.  Based on the few details released, it looks like Harry Weaver showed-up at his wife's place of employment and shot her to death.  Before he could do further harm, a bystander, who was legally carrying a gun, shot the gunman several times and held him for police.  I commend this person for carrying a gun even to the dentist.  Many people don't bother carrying if they are going somewhere "safe".  Well done!  He or she likely saved other lives.

2.  Second, is the shooting in Aurora, Illinois at a manufacturing facility.  Gary Martin brought a gun to work and decided to start killing people when he found out he was being fired.  He killed five employees at the facility and wounded several others before he was shot and killed by police.  Like so many other mass shootings, the shooter had decided to kill as many people as possible without regard for his own life.  Martin had six prior arrests by Aurora police, including for domestic violence-related issues, and also had a felony conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi in 1995, authorities said.  He was not allowed to own a gun.  It turns out we don't need more gun laws - bad guys don't follow the law!!!  If Illinois had more freedom and less restrictions of firearm ownership, this might have turned-out like the shooting in TN, stopped by a bystander with a gun.

Guns Save Lives!

Did you hear about the recent shootout at an Alabama McDonald's?  An unidentified masked man came in to McDonald's and started shooting.  This guy was clearly planning to kill everyone in the store - the McDonald's employee shown in video reported hearing about 15 shots.  Thankfully one of the customers was carrying a gun and was able to return fire.  Though he and his son were injured, they both survived.   The only one killed in this gunfight was the bad guy!  This Dad saved many lives. 

This is the true story of gun ownership in America.  As I've written several times before, guns level the playing field and give would-be victims the ability to fight back against their attackers.   

If the unthinkable happens, are you ready?

#GunsSaveLives
#RVAtrain
#RVAready