The topic of self-defense with firearms is an extremely broad one. You could seriously write a few books on the different subjects it encompasses. You have to deal with legal issues, training, weapon accessories, and of course, the firearms themselves. Therefore the entire topic shall be broken up into a few posts regarding those issues. This one is just an introduction, for the most part. However, let's go over basic legality right now. Note, of course, that State laws vary intensely. What's legal in one state can very much get you imprisoned in another. I live in California, which just might be one of the most restricted gun-law states in the country. So everything I say regarding legal issues comes from my own state, it can be different in yours. Make sure you research them and know them, and if at all possible, talk with a local sheriff on some issues.
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The Most Important Rule:
Do not pull the trigger.
Yeah, it's kind of counter-intuitive in this case. But it's an extremely important one if you do not yet know the full problem regarding self-defense.
To sum it up: You will either kill something you do not want to kill, or you will go to prison.
So before we get onto anything else, make sure you research the area thoroughly, and in all modesty, you can start that by reading on the information below.
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Legal Issues of Self-Defense
The most important thing to know is of course, when you can and cannot shoot. In California, there is a law that specifically states when it is legal to use lethal force for self-defense. The requirements are as follows:
There must be a grave and immediate threat of death or great bodily injury to you or another.
What this means, is that the only and only time when you can shoot someone in self-defense, is when they are attacking you. Not when they already have attacked you, not if they threaten to attack you.
A criminal on the street can gravely injure you, kill your entire family, and walk away, and under California state law, you can not shoot him in the back. Because he is no longer attacking you, there is no longer a 'grave and immediate threat'.
It's ridiculous, I know. As far as I'm aware of, this shouldn't be a law in most other states, but again, you must look it up. Because if someone on the street is holding a knife and screaming at you, you cannot shoot them. Not until they actually start advancing toward you with it.
This brings us to the 'reasonable person' issue. California state law defines these kinds of situations by the 'reasonable person' example. What that refers to is the method in which we know whether or not the situation really is a grave and immediate threat. All it means is that if an 'average and reasonable' person in your shoes would have considered it to be grave and immediate, you're in the clear. The Court decides this by the opinion of the Jury.
Summed up, if your friend pulls out a pocket knife to peel an apple and you shoot him, you might have been truly afraid for your life, but an average and reasonable person in your place (The Jury) most probably wouldn't. So you of course, just did something illegal.
A better example is if a kid pulls out a water-pistol and squirts it at you, and you shoot them thinking they're trying to kill you...well, same principal.
However, California actually did one good thing, and they made Home-Defense much easier on us. If somebody breaks into your home, California State Law automatically provides you with the presumed threat of grave and immediate danger.
What this means is that if someone breaks into your house, you can shoot them. See, if a gangster was on the street outside, raving on cocaine and waving a gun, you could not shoot him. Not until he started shooting or turned the gun on you. But if someone breaks into your house, it doesn't matter. If they're holding a knife in their hand, you can shoot them. If they're even empty handed but advancing toward you, and you warn them and they refuse to stop, you can shoot them.
Note however, that once again, do not do the stupid thing and become trigger-happy. Do you really want to shoot a 14 year old teenager that just wanted to steal some stuff? A 14 year old that's standing at the foot of your stairs, unarmed, and pissing himself at the sight of a 12 gauge?
Remember, the 4 rules. Always, always, always be sure of your target. Do you really want to kill them? You have the power of judgment in that case, use it wisely.
----------------
Safety:
The Four Rules of gun safety apply to home-defense and self-defense in general more than in any other case. Why? Because you are actively, deliberately, and skillfully killing somebody. And it is all too easy to kill someone you don't want to. In a life-or-death scenario, you will be under intense stress. If you've never had the experience, do not make the mistake of assuming you can keep your cool or that you can deal with it. I have been in life-or-death situations, involving people trying to kill me. No, you will not be thinking straight. No, you will not remember things you should. No, you will not be performing at your usual level of skill.
What this adds up to is that is is insanely easy to accidentally pull the trigger, or panic and shoot anything that moves.
When people are under stress, their bodies release epinephrine (adrenaline) into their blood-stream. On one hand, this provides a better chance of survival; it increases your blood-pressure, breathing, heart-rate, reflexes, and vision acuity. But in terms of self-defense with firearms, your bodies natural reactions become an enemy.
This is because humans have a very nasty tendency to do all the wrong things when under adrenaline, because they're no longer thinking straight. We have a natural impulse to death-grip our weapon, and if your finger is on the trigger, you could very easily end up discharging your firearm without even realizing it, even more so if it's Single-Action.
When under adrenaline, we don't think straight, and forget our safety knowledge of muzzle control. It becomes all too easy to sweep the gun around without thinking. Furthermore, and also extremely important, Rule 4. Know your Target. Know what is behind your target.
There have been too many incidents of people killing others on accident because they were panicked, thought they were under attack, and had no idea what they were shooting. People have woken up at night-time, sleepy, groggy, and scared out of their minds, and shot at the first thing they saw moving in their hall-way, which more often than not turns out to be a family member.
Bullets travel through walls, and insanely well. Bullets will go through car doors. Rifle-rounds will go through one side and out the other. A 9mm will go through over six interior house walls. Buckshot will go through over three. Rifle rounds just don't stop at all. If you miss your target, your round can easily go through a wall an injure a family member, or if you're outside, hit an innocent bystander.
So how do we negate these mistakes? Training. Train often, train hard, and train consistently. It is important to note that under stress, the only things that go through our heads is base-instinct. This base-instinct is often very simple, and also the reason we can very easily screw up. Therefore, it is necessary to condition that base-instinct to what we want it to be, and the way we do that is by sheer repetition. By training proper procedure and skills to the point of doing them in our sleep, that training will remain in your head when you're under stress, and allow you to perform in a skillful and safe manner.
Find a realistic training course, one that involves moving targets, simulated stress, and so forth. If this cannot be found, than train as best you can on a still-range anyway.
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Conclusions:
1. Maintain judgment before shooting, and know whether or not you should.
2. Train hard to maintain mental capacity under stress.
3. Train particularly strongly in maintaining safe handling.
4. Above all, know your target. Do not, under any circumstances, fire at an unidentified target.
Further posts will be made on the varying areas of firearms, techniques, and so forth.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
The Four Rules
1. Know the condition of your firearm, and treat it as if it were always loaded
2. Do not point the firearm at anything you are not willing to kill or destroy
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are about to fire
4. Know what you're shooting, and what's behind it
The above rules are the fundamental principals of any and all gun-handling. They should be followed in any and all situations, and over-encompass any situation whatsoever in which you are working with firearms.
Unfortunately, history has shown time and time again that violation of these rules inevitably leads to tragedies. So naturally, the first thing to go over and fully understand are these rules.
The mindset that must always be remembered when handling firearms is that they are not toys. This may sound blatantly obvious, but there is a frighteningly large number of people that you will meet and talk to who consider guns in the same manner they do cell-phones, MP3 players, video game players, and other such toys. These are the people that play around with them, joke around with them, and inevitably end up killing someone.
Firearms are tools. Just like a kitchen knife, and just like a chain-saw. They are tools, with their own predetermined purpose. Tools all have a certain purpose, and firearms have one purpose and one purpose only: To Kill.
A firearm is designed, right from the outset, to kill. Today we use them for many other purposes. We shoot them for fun, we hold sporting competitions with them, but just like an explosive can be used on fish, the original core purpose of any firearm was to kill, and to this day, they excel at doing that.
People do not play with chain-saws. They do not screw around with chain-saws. They do not consider chain-saws to be anything but the tools that they are. Why then, are firearms so unique in that most people consider them so casually and foolishly? There are two reasons: Many people that screw around with guns don't understand guns in the first place, and second, they are 'cool'.
In order to stay safe and healthy, there is a very precise method of handling firearms at any given moment. There is no such thing as an accidental discharge. Firearms do not go off on their own. There are no accidents when this happens, there is only negligence. A firearms accident is always the direct result of reckless negligence, because the owner did not maintain firearms safety discipline. This discipline is composed of rules, starting with...
--
1. Know the condition of your firearm, and treat it as if were always loaded
You should always be aware of the condition of any firearm you are handling. This does not mean the quality or cleaning condition, but directly applies to whether or not it is loaded, is a round chambered, and is the safety on or off. This is the fundamental rule of all firearm handling. The very first thing one must learn is to always, always check the condition of the firearm when you take into your hands.
When picking up a firearm, whether from another person, in your house, a store, or anywhere, the absolute first thing to do is:
-Remove the magazine and check to see if it is loaded or not
-Pull back the slide and visually inspect the chamber to see if it loaded or not
-Ensure that your finger is not on the trigger during the entire process
The exact same principals apply to revolvers, shotguns, and rifles. If dealing with a revolver, open the cylinder and inspect the cylinder and chamber. If it is a rifle, remove the magazine and open the action. If there is no detachable magazine, open the action and inspect the chamber and integrated magazine. If handed a shotgun, open the action and inspect the chamber. Be certain to inspect the magazines on semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns as well.
After checking, leave the magazine removed from the firearm, and the action locked in the open position.
The above courses of action are the absolute, unavoidable, first things to do when holding a firearm. Even if someone hands it to you telling you that the firearm is unloaded, check it anyway. When handing a firearm to someone, open and lock the action first. Do not ever assume a firearm is unloaded. If you put away your firearm at night and retrieve it in the morning, repeat this procedure. If you're handling your firearm and leave it unattended, check it again upon your return.
You simply must be aware of the condition of your firearm at all times. Ignoring this rule is the quickest and surest way to end up shooting something that you don't want to shoot.
Once you know the condition of your firearm, you must treat it as if it were loaded, no matter whether it is or not. If you know for an absolute fact, after checking several times that the gun is unloaded, this does not make it anything other than what it is; a tool meant to kill. Just because a chain-saw is unplugged doesn't make it anything other than a chain-saw, and the same goes with firearms. They should never be treated in a fashion that you wouldn't treat them as when loaded. This leads to the next rules....
--
2. Do not point the firearm at anything you are not willing to kill or destroy
This rule must, again, be practiced to the point of instinct. The muzzle of any firearm must always be pointed in a safe direction. There is no room for dicking around; the gun must never be pointed at another person unless you are willing to kill them then and there. Do not ever make the cardinal sin of thinking your firearm is a water-pistol, and start pretending to shoot people with it. Because when you pretend to shoot your best buddy, sooner or later you'll end up doing it for real. When hunting, or shooting on the range, or even in a self-defensive situation, you must always be aware of what your firearm is aimed at, and never allow it to cover anything that you're not willing to kill or ruin.
There are really only two positions that a gun should be aimed at when not in direct use:
-The ground
-The sky
This is why you will always see people holding their firearms with the muzzle pointing down, or up. Because it's the only way to ensure they're not covering something else. The only time the muzzle should be aimed somewhere else is when you're deliberately shooting, which means your target, and nothing else.
If the firearm must be ready for rapid use, in a self-defensive situation for example, it should be aimed down or up until you have sighted your target, at which point you should aim it directly and only at your target. Do not sweep the muzzle around when moving, keep it pointed directly at the target. The moment you have finished shooting or decided against it, the muzzle should be returned to the safe position of down or up.
--
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are about to fire
For some reason, many inexperienced people have this natural, almost instinctual desire to immediately place their finger on the trigger of a gun and wave it around at something they shouldn't. This obviously stems from the 'cool' factor ingrained in many people's heads as a result of hollywood and video games.
While the other rules are also fundamental, this is arguably the most important safety rule ever made regarding firearms. Because guns don't shoot themselves. Only people can fire a gun, and the way they do this is by pulling the trigger. Consider this: when your finger is on a trigger, it will be about two centimeters away from firing that gun.
So if you're aiming a gun at something you shouldn't be, and holding your finger on the trigger, you are literally one bump away, one twitch away, from putting a bullet through it. Your most natural finger position should be off the trigger. Keep it outside the trigger guard, either running next to it or behind it.
Even when aiming at your target, your finger must remain off the trigger. Only, and only when you are about to shoot should you place your finger on the trigger and fire. After firing, your finger should once again be removed from the trigger and placed alongside the trigger guard. Just like firing the gun is the exception to it's natural state of being unfired, your finger being placed on the trigger should be the exception to its natural state of being off it.
This rule is the most important, because it is the surest and most direct prevention of shooting something you don't want to. For a finishing note, consider that during training, a U.S Navy SEAL followed his partner into a building with his finger on the trigger. His partner slipped and fell backward, hitting the gun, and he accidentally fired it into his partners back, resulting in his death.
There are no exceptions to this rule. It doesn't matter who you are or who you think you are. The mark of a true professional is finger and muzzle control, no exceptions.
--
4. Know what you're shooting, and what's behind it
There have been far too many incidents where people have shot loved ones, or people they never even saw. A bullet is a small, relatively heavy, very fast moving chunk of metal. This chunk of metal is governed by the laws of physics, and by the laws of physics, it will continue to fly forever until it falls to the ground or hits something.
Your average bullet can fly for over 1.5 kilometers before falling to the ground. A 9mm bullet will punch through over seven interior walls. A rifle bullet will go through over twelve, and too many more to count.
Bullets have a very common tendency to go through things. A bullet can easily go through your house, across the street, and into another house. There have been too many incidents to ocunt of exactly such a thing occurring, where a bullet punched through two houses and killed someone. This is why shooting ranges always have high dirt hills behind the targets, to stop the bullets from going through and flying off somewhere else.
Furthermore, you must always be sure of your target. It is a bloody crime to shoot at anything if you do not know what the hell it is you're shooting. This is why it is absolutely insane to get up in the night, scared out of your mind, and shoot the first thing that you see moving in your dark hallway. Because chances are, you'll have shot someone you didn't want to.
Never fire into bushes or off into the distance for the hell of it. If you're hunting and your game disappeared into a bush, do not fire after it. If you're hunting and you see something moving in the bush, do not shoot it until you have absolutely confirmed that it is indeed, an animal.
-------
What's it all sum up to?
-Firearms are tools
-Firearms primary purpose is to kill
-When handling firearms, aim only at things you are willing to kill and destroy
-Your finger should only be on the trigger when you are ready to fire
-Be absolutely certain that you know what it is you're shooting. There is no room for doubt whatsoever, either you know your target or you don't.
-Know what's behind your target. Bullets travel long-distances, and go through things.
It has often been stated that the best safety device is the mind. This is true. You will find that avoiding negligent discharges pretty much boils down to: Don't dick around.
Stay safe, and stay smart. Professionals don't screw around, and neither should you. Because anyone that thinks they look cool by screwing up the firearm rules, are really just displaying their bottomless ignorance, stupidity, and lack of respect for human life.
2. Do not point the firearm at anything you are not willing to kill or destroy
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are about to fire
4. Know what you're shooting, and what's behind it
The above rules are the fundamental principals of any and all gun-handling. They should be followed in any and all situations, and over-encompass any situation whatsoever in which you are working with firearms.
Unfortunately, history has shown time and time again that violation of these rules inevitably leads to tragedies. So naturally, the first thing to go over and fully understand are these rules.
The mindset that must always be remembered when handling firearms is that they are not toys. This may sound blatantly obvious, but there is a frighteningly large number of people that you will meet and talk to who consider guns in the same manner they do cell-phones, MP3 players, video game players, and other such toys. These are the people that play around with them, joke around with them, and inevitably end up killing someone.
Firearms are tools. Just like a kitchen knife, and just like a chain-saw. They are tools, with their own predetermined purpose. Tools all have a certain purpose, and firearms have one purpose and one purpose only: To Kill.
A firearm is designed, right from the outset, to kill. Today we use them for many other purposes. We shoot them for fun, we hold sporting competitions with them, but just like an explosive can be used on fish, the original core purpose of any firearm was to kill, and to this day, they excel at doing that.
People do not play with chain-saws. They do not screw around with chain-saws. They do not consider chain-saws to be anything but the tools that they are. Why then, are firearms so unique in that most people consider them so casually and foolishly? There are two reasons: Many people that screw around with guns don't understand guns in the first place, and second, they are 'cool'.
In order to stay safe and healthy, there is a very precise method of handling firearms at any given moment. There is no such thing as an accidental discharge. Firearms do not go off on their own. There are no accidents when this happens, there is only negligence. A firearms accident is always the direct result of reckless negligence, because the owner did not maintain firearms safety discipline. This discipline is composed of rules, starting with...
--
1. Know the condition of your firearm, and treat it as if were always loaded
You should always be aware of the condition of any firearm you are handling. This does not mean the quality or cleaning condition, but directly applies to whether or not it is loaded, is a round chambered, and is the safety on or off. This is the fundamental rule of all firearm handling. The very first thing one must learn is to always, always check the condition of the firearm when you take into your hands.
When picking up a firearm, whether from another person, in your house, a store, or anywhere, the absolute first thing to do is:
-Remove the magazine and check to see if it is loaded or not
-Pull back the slide and visually inspect the chamber to see if it loaded or not
-Ensure that your finger is not on the trigger during the entire process
The exact same principals apply to revolvers, shotguns, and rifles. If dealing with a revolver, open the cylinder and inspect the cylinder and chamber. If it is a rifle, remove the magazine and open the action. If there is no detachable magazine, open the action and inspect the chamber and integrated magazine. If handed a shotgun, open the action and inspect the chamber. Be certain to inspect the magazines on semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns as well.
After checking, leave the magazine removed from the firearm, and the action locked in the open position.
The above courses of action are the absolute, unavoidable, first things to do when holding a firearm. Even if someone hands it to you telling you that the firearm is unloaded, check it anyway. When handing a firearm to someone, open and lock the action first. Do not ever assume a firearm is unloaded. If you put away your firearm at night and retrieve it in the morning, repeat this procedure. If you're handling your firearm and leave it unattended, check it again upon your return.
You simply must be aware of the condition of your firearm at all times. Ignoring this rule is the quickest and surest way to end up shooting something that you don't want to shoot.
Once you know the condition of your firearm, you must treat it as if it were loaded, no matter whether it is or not. If you know for an absolute fact, after checking several times that the gun is unloaded, this does not make it anything other than what it is; a tool meant to kill. Just because a chain-saw is unplugged doesn't make it anything other than a chain-saw, and the same goes with firearms. They should never be treated in a fashion that you wouldn't treat them as when loaded. This leads to the next rules....
--
2. Do not point the firearm at anything you are not willing to kill or destroy
This rule must, again, be practiced to the point of instinct. The muzzle of any firearm must always be pointed in a safe direction. There is no room for dicking around; the gun must never be pointed at another person unless you are willing to kill them then and there. Do not ever make the cardinal sin of thinking your firearm is a water-pistol, and start pretending to shoot people with it. Because when you pretend to shoot your best buddy, sooner or later you'll end up doing it for real. When hunting, or shooting on the range, or even in a self-defensive situation, you must always be aware of what your firearm is aimed at, and never allow it to cover anything that you're not willing to kill or ruin.
There are really only two positions that a gun should be aimed at when not in direct use:
-The ground
-The sky
This is why you will always see people holding their firearms with the muzzle pointing down, or up. Because it's the only way to ensure they're not covering something else. The only time the muzzle should be aimed somewhere else is when you're deliberately shooting, which means your target, and nothing else.
If the firearm must be ready for rapid use, in a self-defensive situation for example, it should be aimed down or up until you have sighted your target, at which point you should aim it directly and only at your target. Do not sweep the muzzle around when moving, keep it pointed directly at the target. The moment you have finished shooting or decided against it, the muzzle should be returned to the safe position of down or up.
--
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are about to fire
For some reason, many inexperienced people have this natural, almost instinctual desire to immediately place their finger on the trigger of a gun and wave it around at something they shouldn't. This obviously stems from the 'cool' factor ingrained in many people's heads as a result of hollywood and video games.
While the other rules are also fundamental, this is arguably the most important safety rule ever made regarding firearms. Because guns don't shoot themselves. Only people can fire a gun, and the way they do this is by pulling the trigger. Consider this: when your finger is on a trigger, it will be about two centimeters away from firing that gun.
So if you're aiming a gun at something you shouldn't be, and holding your finger on the trigger, you are literally one bump away, one twitch away, from putting a bullet through it. Your most natural finger position should be off the trigger. Keep it outside the trigger guard, either running next to it or behind it.
Even when aiming at your target, your finger must remain off the trigger. Only, and only when you are about to shoot should you place your finger on the trigger and fire. After firing, your finger should once again be removed from the trigger and placed alongside the trigger guard. Just like firing the gun is the exception to it's natural state of being unfired, your finger being placed on the trigger should be the exception to its natural state of being off it.
This rule is the most important, because it is the surest and most direct prevention of shooting something you don't want to. For a finishing note, consider that during training, a U.S Navy SEAL followed his partner into a building with his finger on the trigger. His partner slipped and fell backward, hitting the gun, and he accidentally fired it into his partners back, resulting in his death.
There are no exceptions to this rule. It doesn't matter who you are or who you think you are. The mark of a true professional is finger and muzzle control, no exceptions.
--
4. Know what you're shooting, and what's behind it
There have been far too many incidents where people have shot loved ones, or people they never even saw. A bullet is a small, relatively heavy, very fast moving chunk of metal. This chunk of metal is governed by the laws of physics, and by the laws of physics, it will continue to fly forever until it falls to the ground or hits something.
Your average bullet can fly for over 1.5 kilometers before falling to the ground. A 9mm bullet will punch through over seven interior walls. A rifle bullet will go through over twelve, and too many more to count.
Bullets have a very common tendency to go through things. A bullet can easily go through your house, across the street, and into another house. There have been too many incidents to ocunt of exactly such a thing occurring, where a bullet punched through two houses and killed someone. This is why shooting ranges always have high dirt hills behind the targets, to stop the bullets from going through and flying off somewhere else.
Furthermore, you must always be sure of your target. It is a bloody crime to shoot at anything if you do not know what the hell it is you're shooting. This is why it is absolutely insane to get up in the night, scared out of your mind, and shoot the first thing that you see moving in your dark hallway. Because chances are, you'll have shot someone you didn't want to.
Never fire into bushes or off into the distance for the hell of it. If you're hunting and your game disappeared into a bush, do not fire after it. If you're hunting and you see something moving in the bush, do not shoot it until you have absolutely confirmed that it is indeed, an animal.
-------
What's it all sum up to?
-Firearms are tools
-Firearms primary purpose is to kill
-When handling firearms, aim only at things you are willing to kill and destroy
-Your finger should only be on the trigger when you are ready to fire
-Be absolutely certain that you know what it is you're shooting. There is no room for doubt whatsoever, either you know your target or you don't.
-Know what's behind your target. Bullets travel long-distances, and go through things.
It has often been stated that the best safety device is the mind. This is true. You will find that avoiding negligent discharges pretty much boils down to: Don't dick around.
Stay safe, and stay smart. Professionals don't screw around, and neither should you. Because anyone that thinks they look cool by screwing up the firearm rules, are really just displaying their bottomless ignorance, stupidity, and lack of respect for human life.
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