Category: Self Defense

Not so strangely, because the Israeli government is scared that their Arab citizens would arm themselves and go off on their own murder sprees, there is no RKBA, and possession of guns by the general population has always been severely restricted, the Israeli government apparently having decided that a few dead Jewish citizens are better than possibly more dead from an internal Arab uprising.

Israel Bus Attack: Armed Civilians Helped ‘Neutralize’ Terrorist Killers

By Dave Workman

An unknown number of “armed civilians” is being credited with helping “neutralize” two terrorists who opened fire at a Jerusalem bus stop Monday morning, perhaps underscoring the benefit of armed citizens who can fight back.

Various news agencies are reporting the tragedy, which so far has claimed six lives and left at least a dozen wounded. The Times of Israel is reporting that the Palestinian terrorists were residents of the Wet Bank. They opened fire on people waiting at a bus stop. An off-duty soldier immediately returned fire, and so did “a number of civilians.”

Fox News’ report only indicated one armed citizen was involved, but the Associated Press is also indicating more than one armed civilian was involved.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms says the incident “underscores the importance of an armed citizenry.” Continue reading “”

You will fight how you have been trained, so train like you will fight.
(Even if you haven’t trained, and in that event you will likely fight like a clown act in a 3 ring circus)
HINT
Church security teams attend BFA training in Middletown

On Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, church security team members from as far away as Texas attended a training class in Middletown, Ohio, sponsored by Buckeye Firearms Association (BFA).

Protecting Houses of Worship is an all-new training class designed to introduce participants to the unique security needs of churches. Training includes the history of active killing events, including current tragedies, plus “stop the bleed” medical training, active killer response tactics, and realistic threat scenarios.

“It’s a sad reality that we have to have something like this in our churches, but we want to make sure that we are ready, prepared, and we’re in the right mindset for any situation that comes toward us,” said Kyle Eaton, the safety and security team leader at Quest Church in Middletown.

Unfortunately, churches are soft targets. They’re highly vulnerable because during services, they host large groups of people in an open room, sitting close together, and unable to quickly move away from a threat.

And to make matters worse, many churches will not acknowledge their vulnerability. They probably install smoke detectors and sprinklers to suppress a fire or install AEDs and first aid kits to deal with medical emergencies, but refuse to consider active killer threats or take steps to protect church members.

But for congregations with a more realistic mindset, Protecting Houses of Worship can provide a solid starting point to form or train a security team.

If your church is interested in hosting a class, contact BFA. There is no live fire or loaded firearms in this class. SIRT laser pistols (provided) allow all participants to safely practice effective response tactics in a realistic church setting.

 

 

The False Choice of Protecting Kids or Our Second Amendment Rights

There is no widespread support for repealing the Second Amendment, but every time there’s a high-profile shooting some anti-gunners inevitably use the tragedy to push for getting rid of our right to keep and bear arms.

I’ve seen numerous posts on social media demanding that we give up those rights in order to protect innocent schoolchildren, as well as several letters to the editor in various newspapers, like this one that recently appeared in the Louisville Courier Journal. ….

It is now way past time for each of us to ask ourselves a question: Which is more important for me — the right of a child to live or my right to keep and bear arms given to me by the sacred Second Amendment to our Constitution?

I’ve been hearing variations of this question for as long as I’ve been reporting on Second Amendment issues, but its very premise is nonsensical. The Second Amendment has existed since 1791, and there has never been any widespread effort to amend or repeal it. Does that mean that every generation that’s come before us, including the one that enshrined the right to keep and bear arms in the Constitution, believed those rights were more important than the lives of children?

The Second Amendment largely exists to defend lives, and most of us understand that even if the Second Amendment were repealed tomorrow, evil individuals would still be targeting innocent victims.
Continue reading “”

What We Didn’t Learn About Mass Murder

For every problem there is a quick, cheap, and simple solution.. that doesn’t work. A mentally ill person attacked a church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We’ve been there before. Why are we attracted to solutions that fail time after time?

We love our children. Let’s put up a plastic sign that tells honest people to keep their guns outside our schools. It turns out that murderers are attracted by plastic signs that advertise disarmed victims. We would rather put up another sign than admit that criminals ignore our regulations.

We love to concentrate on our spiritual life at church. It is a rare moment to escape from the pressing cares of the world. Let’s pass a regulation so that honest citizens won’t bring their guns to church. It turns out that our honest neighbors were never a violent problem. Narcissistic mass-murderers look for disarmed victims. These murderers almost always attack “gun-free” zones. Why do we want to make it easier for violent murderers to find their victims?

We hate the idea that our laws don’t work. That is why we require mandatory background checks before someone may buy or own a firearm. Background checks don’t work on criminals because criminals don’t buy their guns at gun shops any more than they buy their drugs at the drug store. Background checks look backwards, and mass-murder is a one-and-done carrier choice.

In hindsight, mass murderers look crazy. Unfortunately, we seldom see mental health professionals diagnose and report a violent patient. We have seen several mass-murderers who were receiving mental health counselling. Experience taught us that mental health treatment isn’t aways a cure. We shouldn’t count on talk-therapy to protect the people we love.

Maybe you once wanted to hurt your neighbors. I’ll bet that feeling left as quickly as it came. Since sober reflection works to stops most of us, we passed mandatory waiting periods in the hope that gun-control regulations would stop violent murderers. It turns out that violent murderers are not like us. They are persistent. They spend years pleasantly planning their violent revenge. Waiting periods don’t stop mass-murderers, but they do disarm honest people who have an urgent need for armed defense. I don’t want our laws to disarm people who flee domestic abuse.

Politicians sold us ammunition capacity restrictions in the hope that less capable murderers would lead to fewer victims. That doesn’t really work in practice. Our honest neighbors defend themselves with a firearm about 2.8-million times a year. The victims are usually the first responders who stop violence. Making the victim less capable doesn’t make us safer when a crazy man attacks a church. We’ve seen what honest defenders can do time after time.

We are wiser as we grow older. That was why we passed age restrictions on firearms purchases and ownership. It also turns out that young people are frequent victims of crime. Disarming the co-ed as she walks home from her job at the convenience store doesn’t make us safer. It does make her an easier victim, and that is what criminals look for.

We know what works. The mass-murderers told us what they wanted. Also, we conducted the experiment with armed defenders a few million times. We’ve never had a mass murderer attack a school that publicly posted a policy of armed school staff. If we want to stop the attack before it happens, then we take down the no-guns signs that attract mass murderers. In public spaces where our neighbors are allowed to defend themselves, we see them save the next dozen victims who would die if we waited for the police to defend us. Unfortunately, defending your school, your church, or your home is harder than passing a law and putting up a plastic sign.

We know how to save lives. Our doctor tells us to eat moderately and exercise regularly. Armed defense isn’t hard, and it works. Like following our doctor’s advice, the difficult news is that we have to do it every day.

Is Europe Still Safe? Migrant Sex Crimes Surge While Children Face Arrest For Self-Defence

14-year-old girl in Dundee ©Screenshot via Right Angle News Network/Unsplash

From the streets of Dundee to the courtrooms of Düsseldorf, Europe is grappling with a troubling wave of migrant-linked sex crime cases. In a shocking twist, it is often the victims, not the perpetrators, who find themselves punished.

The arrest of a 14-year-old Scottish girl for brandishing a knife in self-defence has sparked outrage and raised an unsettling question across the continent: is Europe still safe, or has justice turned against those it is meant to protect?

Teen Arrested After Standing Up to Alleged Attacker
In Dundee, police arrested a 14-year-old girl who pulled out a knife when confronted by a man near St Ann’s Lane. Officers charged her with carrying a ‘bladed weapon’.

The teenager insists she acted only to protect herself and a friend from a migrant man who was allegedly recording them. Campaigners online said she had been punished for survival, not for committing a crime.

One social media user wrote: ‘She chose not to be raped by an invader, therefore, she was arrested by her own police.’

Her arrest has ignited a fierce debate in Britain. Critics ask whether the justice system is protecting young girls or leaving them exposed.

Continue reading “”

Alleged attempted robber shot during online sale meetup in Dunwoody

DUNWOODY, Ga. – Dunwoody police are investigating after an alleged attempted robber was shot, according to police.

Officers said the shooting happened at the Columns at Lake Ridge Apartments in the 3900 block of Lake Ridge Lane around 3:30 p.m. Saturday. A man who lived in the complex made arrangements to meet two other men there to sell something he’d listed online.

When the three men met, an attempted robbery took place. Then, gunfire was exchanged, according to police. One of the alleged robbers was shot. That person was arrested when officers arrived.

The other man left the scene and police are searching for him.

Nobody else was injured, according to police.

Sheriff Jim’s latest

Remember The Combat Triad.

Owning a gun is only the beginning.

When Jeff Cooper was working on the lesson plans that have become the curriculum at Gunsite Academy, he developed the Combat Triad. These were three equal elements that combine to make us a harder target against criminal attack. They are Marksmanship, Gun Handling and Mindset. These are the three areas that give us the life-saving skills to overcome violent encounters.

Marksmanship begins with a person obtaining a defensive firearm that is compatible to his particular needs. We have to realize that accurate shooting is not a skill that we are born with. Rather, it comes from getting training to develop the necessary skills and then continual practice to keep those skills fresh. In short, we have to learn to hit targets at various distances and to do so as accurately as possible. A friend of mine said that we have to remember that there is a lawyer attached to every bullet that we fire. In other words there are a lot of reasons that it is important to develop the skill level that allows you to hit your target and not endanger non-combatants.

Gun handling first requires us to learn to handle our defensive handgun safely at all times; see the above comment about a lawyer attached to every bullet that we fire. Beyond that, we must learn to make a fast draw stroke, find our sights and get on target quickly. But gun handling also involves learning quick reloading and effectively dealing with any malfunction that is characteristic of the chosen firearm. Different guns may be run differently and maintained differently; it is up to the user to know these things about his chosen defensive tool.

Mindset has to do with spotting trouble and knowing effective ways to deal with it. The best pistol shot that you know of is in trouble if he doesn’t understand how to recognize a serious problem and have a plan for dealing with that problem. If I see the potential criminals while they are still a ways down the street, I am keeping an eye on them and have already spotted close cover options and several exits, I am way ahead of the game. Mindset consists of alertness, ways to avoid trouble and ways to deal with it effectively if it is forced upon us. Through mindset we learn to use the skills developed in marksmanship and gun handling to their greatest advantage.

We need to continually remind ourselves that this whole process is not a “one and done” kind of deal. Instead, it is an ongoing education and ongoing practice deal. What we were taught or what we could do 20 years ago is really of little value if we haven’t kept up with our training and practice.  So it is important to continually think of our defensive skills in terms of the combat triad. Marksmanship, Gun Handling and Mindset – the recipe for survival.

92 Ohio school districts now allow staff to carry blasters

Ohio has been doing this since 2022, a year that saw 22 school districts arm their staffs after the passage of a new law allowing the practice. Fast-forward to 2025 and that number is 92.

The main argument for arming these teachers is that in rural areas like Eastern Ohio where Benjamin Logan Local School District is located, it takes too long (about 10-15 minutes) for police to arrive during an active shooter situation. With armed staff, this isn’t as much of a problem.

These armed staff members are required to take basic firearms training before they can carry in school.

Believe it or not, 30 states allow school staff to carry firearms.

From Newsweek:

 

 

 

Here’s what the comments look like on Twitter when it comes to the above report on Benjamin Logan:

 

Mother with baby fatally shoots suspected home invader in Joliet

JOLIET, Ill. (WLS) — A mother with a baby fatally shot a suspected home invader in the south suburbs on Friday night, police said.

Joliet police said officers responded to a report of a home invasion in the 7000-block of Hadrian Drive around 10:30 p.m.

Police said the woman, armed with a gun, heard someone break into her home. That’s when she took her child and hid in a bedroom closet on the second floor.

Police believe that when the suspect entered that bedroom, the woman opened fire, striking him in the head. The suspect was pronounced dead on the scene.

Responding officers found the woman and her child in the adjacent bedroom, police said.

The suspect was wearing gloves and had a screwdriver at the time. The woman did not know who he was, and his identity has not yet been released.

Found, from two weekends ago…

Kentucky Attorney Defends Himself Against Masked Intruders

An attorney living in an upscale suburb of Louisville, Kentucky is speaking out after his home was invaded over the weekend, forcing him to fire a shot in self-defense.

The armed citizen spoke to Louisville television station WDRB about his encounter with the intruders last Saturday evening, though he understandably wanted to remain anonymous while recounting his run-in with the masked men.

“I was in bed at 6:30, believe it or not, and the dog started barking. … They were barking in an unusual manner,” he said. “So I reached into the drawer of the table next to my bed and pulled out my .44 Magnum pistol and I went out the entrance to the bedroom.”

That’s when he came face-to-face with two masked intruders in the middle of his home.

“And I said, ‘What’s going on?’ And they turned around and took off, and I tried to shoot ’em,” he said. “I missed but I tried.”

The suspects escaped through a back door, jumped over a rear railing and disappeared into a wooded area near a nearby park. A man walking his dogs told the homeowner he was nearly run over by the men, who were speaking Spanish and fled the scene in a waiting SUV.

The homeowner believes the suspects were part of an organized group — possibly a transnational burglary ring — that carefully scoped out the home in advance.

“Until I talked to the police and then I got a better idea of their M.O., I knew they watched for houses they thought were vacant,” he said. “There’s no doubt they had my house under surveillance for a period of time … to establish there was nothing going on inside.”

He said the suspects were dressed in dark sweat suits and wore masks. They didn’t steal anything, but he believes they were targeting high-end valuables that can’t easily be traced.

“They go to the master bedroom and steal property — money, jewelry, clothes, shoes, things that are of value but are not readily identifiable,” he said. “They don’t take guns, because guns have serial numbers and can be traced.”

The armed citizen says that after speaking with others in the neighborhood, he believes that this crew has been operating in the area for at least two years and is responsible for the theft of at least $100,000 in belongings.

He’s also using his own experience to encourage others to “have a plan” if their home is invaded, including having “some kind of protection” as well as keeping doors locked and equipping their home with an alarm system.

Those are all smart suggestions, but I would also add that in some states, the armed attorney might not have been able to access his pistol before the masked intruders walked in to his bedroom. Gun control activists love to impose one-size-fits-all storage requirements on firearm owners that require them to keep their guns locked up at all times unless they’re actively being carried or are “under the control” of an authorized user, even if there are no kids in the home.

Kentucky, thankfully, doesn’t have a mandate like that in place, but if he lived in a state like Massachusetts or New York he would have been required to keep his pistol locked up while he slept or else face fines or even time behind bars. I’m all in favor of gun owners storing their firearms in a way that they’re off limits to young children or any other household member who doesn’t need access, but this incident is a chilling reminder that mandating how firearms must be stored can put residents at risk if intruders decide to pay them a visit.

Police: Man fatally stabbed Elkton teen in self-defense; no charges warranted

ELKTON [Maryland] — Police and prosecutors have elected not to file criminal charges against a one-armed man who fatally stabbed a 14-year-old boy on the street of an Elkton neighborhood last month — concluding that he acted in self-defense while attacked by the teen and several companions — including one who struck the victim multiple times with a shovel.    [Ya think?]

Cecil County State’s Attorney James Dellymer provided that update Thursday afternoon during a press conference at the Railroad Avenue headquarters of the Elkton Police Department, which has been conducting the ongoing investigation.

On Tuesday, two days before the press conference, police privately told the mother of Jordin Collins — the teen who was fatally stabbed — they had concluded self-defense and that they would not be filing charges against the stabber, a man in his 30s with an amputated left arm. Authorities are identifying him only as “Ty.”

Read the whole thing. The deadhead’s friends and family treat him like some sort of hero, and complain about intended victims being armed.

Dad of 20 was shot and killed when he tried to rob someone getting off the bus, cops say
D’Anthony Reaves, 44, had 12 biological children and eight stepchildren

An Atlanta father of 20 was fatally shot last month while allegedly attempting an armed robbery, police say.

On July 19, D’Anthony Reaves, 44, was killed outside the Greyhound bus station on Forsyth Street around 5:30 a.m. He was shot twice in the face and once in the arm, according to police.

In a Wednesday update, Atlanta homicide detectives said their investigation determined the case should be classified as a felon killed by a private citizen. Police said Reaves was in the middle of an armed robbery when he was shot.

Reaves was shot by someone getting off a bus, his family told WSB-TV. The Independent has contacted Atlanta police for comment.

Reaves was a father to 12 biological children and eight stepchildren, ranging from ages 10 to 31. Ten of them attended his funeral at North Avenue Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta on August 2, which boasted a line of mourners stretching to the parking lot.

“Seeing everybody come out as one big community was really nice, and we really appreciate all the extra support because we’re gonna need it,” Sha’Miracle Brown, one of Reaves’ daughters, told Fox 5 Atlanta, adding that their father was well known across Atlanta communities.

“My dad was like a crazy dancer, but I will always remember the music standpoint. Because some of us make music, all of us are musically inclined, and some of us play instruments. So my dad passed that musical gene down to all of us,” Brown said.

“He loved his kids. You could ask anyone, any single person, and they would say we were his pride and joy. I don’t think there’s a room we could walk into that he did not mention us or our accomplishments or our accolades.”

Reaves’ family plans to start a foundation to support his children and help fathers leave the streets and rebuild their lives.

“We’re fixing to open up the D’Anthony Reaves foundation so we’ll be able to serve his kids so they’ll be taken care of,” Deoinetea Hightower Reaves’ brother told the outlet. “We got the Power for the Fathers represented for him as well, where we help the fathers get off the street and get their lives back together.”

Hightower added that he is pushing Greyhound to end its policy allowing guns across state lines and urging Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to tighten gun laws to keep firearms away from young people.

Further details about the shooting were not available.

Second Amendment rights must apply to our military service members | PHIL WILLIAMS

Gun control laws continue to fail.

And where gun control laws make the least amount of sense are on U.S. military installations ― policy that must change.

The world turned its attention recently to an active shooter incident in Manhattan. A depraved individual drove to the heart of New York City, walked calmly into a downtown high rise, killed five people and took his own life. No one knows why a bad guy took up arms and committed heinous acts of terror.

Just weeks before the New York shooting, we saw the heroism of a former Marine named Derrick Perry in Michigan, who pulled his concealed-carry firearm and saved innocent bystanders from a knife-wielding madman who had just stabbed multiple people at random. A good guy who took up arms and stopped heinous acts of terror.

In reality, it is not guns that are bad. It is bad people with guns who are bad. Let’s keep in mind that both New York and Michigan have stringent gun control laws. Gun control did not stop the loss of life in Manhattan. Gun control laws did not stop the violence in Michigan.

More recently, another episode of gun violence erupted at the U.S. Army’s Fort Stewart, Georgia. Army Sgt. Quornelius Radford, using a personal weapon, opened fire on fellow soldiers, wounding five. He was stopped by other servicemembers who have since been decorated for their bravery.

But none of the responding soldiers could be called “good guys with guns.” Why? Because the U.S. military has the most draconian gun control laws in the nation.

Let that sink in.

Fort Stewart is home to the legendary 3rd Infantry Division, whose exploits include those of Audie Murphy. It’s the same Fort Stewart with two Armored Brigade Combat Teams, and its nearby sister installation Hunter Army Airfield, which houses the 1st Ranger Battalion. Soldiers who are trained as experts in the use of firearms, yet they cannot have their own firearms on post. Unless of course they are a bad guy who snuck it in with intent to do harm.

What about red state Alabama whose state motto resounds “We Dare Defend Our Rights?” All personal firearms on Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal must be registered or be subject to confiscation. Outside the gate, Alabama citizens may freely open carry a firearm, and concealed carry no longer requires a permit. But on Redstone Arsenal, where soldiers have far more firearms training than the average citizen, that freedom is curtailed. The same is true for Alabama’s Fort Rucker.

Consider the disparity in treatment here. Outside the gate, civilians freely exercise their Second Amendment right to bear arms. They do so with no prerequisite training or conditioning. There are no mandatory gun safety course. There are no annual weapons qualification requirements for civilians.

But on an Army installation, soldiers have all of the above: Basic training with firearms, advanced training, reflexive fire training, annual qualification and awards for marksmanship. And yet, they must face the complete curtailing of their Second Amendment rights.

In 2016, President Donald Trump called for the military gun control policies to be rescinded. Retired Army Gen. Mark Milley opposed the idea. Go figure.

Firearms are not scary. People are scary. Period.

Aside from noise and a general lack of familiarity, most people are more concerned about the manner in which firearms are used, maintained or handled, which are issues of purely HUMAN fault. Those are issues for which the U.S. military is more than qualified to address.

I bear the surgical scars from someone being lax with firearm safety. Despite getting shot by one of those evil firearms I was able to separate the causation from the instrument. It was not the shotgun that shot me in and of itself. Rather, it was the knuckleheaded laxity of the guy who shot me and who should have known better.

And soldiers? They know better than most.

Soldiers know how to handle firearms. Breach load, bolt action, magazine fed and pump. Holographic sights, iron sights, and no sights. Holstered, unholstered and slung. Long guns, sidearms and scatter shots. They are trained to carry them in combat. Trusted in every respect. Except when they are in garrison on the Army installations to which they are assigned.

“You don’t forfeit all of your rights when you enter the military,” Carpenter said. “Outside of a military situation, the service member has just as much Second Amendment right as anyone else.” Referencing the recent shooting at Fort Stewart, Carpenter also said, “All those rules aren’t going to prevent someone from doing what the guy did today,”

Guns are not scary. People are scary. GOOD people with guns are what often stands between potential victims and bad people with guns. And our U.S. servicemembers are among the best. We trust them with our lives and swear them to an oath before taking up arms. It is time that we looked them in the eye and told them that we trust them with their rights.

Let’s restore the Second Amendment for our military. They’ve earned it.

Phil Williams is a former state senator from District 10 (which includes Etowah County), retired Army colonel and combat veteran, and a practicing attorney. He previously served with the leadership of the Alabama Policy Institute in Birmingham. He currently hosts the conservative news/talk show Rightside Radio on multiple channels throughout north Alabama. The opinions expressed are his own.

Concealment merely hides you. Cover stops bullets.

Discover Cover: Having something between you and the bad guy that can stop incoming rounds is vital in a gunfight.

When folks begin to develop their personal-defense plans, I think one important subject that is often overlooked is the use of cover. For our purposes, cover is anything that will stop a bullet. In addition to the obvious safety value, moving yourself to cover can also disrupt the criminal’s attack plan and cause them to lose some of the advantage they might have had.

And, the good news is that cover is all around us, wherever we might be: Trees, cars, brick walls, that large neighborhood mailbox; the list is huge. Then there are all of the available cover opportunities waiting to be found in the average home: bookcases, large appliances, heavy furniture, even that mattress and heavy box-spring on the bed. It is an excellent exercise to identify all of the good cover nearby during one’s regular daily routine, whatever that might be.

A good dry-practice exercise (with an assuredly unloaded gun) would be to move through your home and actually make use of that cover as if dealing with an actual attack. In the home, on the outside property and at work, there is really no excuse for not taking the time to identify available cover as merely just a defensive exercise.

In Col. Jeff Cooper’s awareness color code, we talk about Condition Orange: the potential threat. For whatever reason this situation is not currently a threat, but it certainly could become one. Our first thought should be to just get away from this potentially bad situation. But, that might not be possible or practical. While keeping an eye on the situation, this is an excellent time to identify the closest cover or areas of cover and decide which one to use if things go bad.

The biggest mistake is to wait until an attack occurs to try to decide what to do. At that point, there are too many other things that require our immediate attention. We might overlook the best cover or exit.

Another thing to keep in mind is that all cover is not equal. Actually, it is your attacker’s choice of firearms that is the problem. Some things that will stop pistol bullets won’t stop bullets from a rifle. And even among handguns, we know that a .44 Mag. will get through things that will stop a 9 mm hollowpoint. That is one of the reasons we look for several cover options instead of just one.

Interior sheetrock walls may offer concealment, but they provide poor cover. The same can be said of most modern automobile bodies, with the exception of the car’s engine. If you have to take cover behind a vehicle, it is very advisable to do so at the front end. And, for goodness sake, don’t then peek up over the hood; crooks will be expecting that move. Instead, get low, on your knees if you have to, and peer around the front of the vehicle, eyes level with the headlights or even the bumper.

I know a highway patrolman who engaged an armed felon as they chased each other around a vehicle. The patrolman went prone and, looking under a car, could see the crook’s feet. His .357 Mag. round went through both of the outlaw’s ankles, effectively stopping the fight.

It is often a good idea for the armed citizen to disengage and get away from the fight if possible. The use of cover allows them to consider and identify an exit while dealing with the attack. However, we never want to turn our back on the attacker while making an exit. Besides the potential for injury, we might also lose track of their location.

We can practice using cover during dry-practice sessions in our home or around it. On the live-fire shooting range, we might set up objects that simulate cover. A barricade post, a wooden cabinet or some such object can give us the opportunity in order to practice our pistol presentation and then quick movement to this simulated cover if your range allows. And we can also practice our live fire from kneeling or prone while using that cover.

Another excellent practice situation would be to find a facility that has an outdoor range with vehicles to use as cover to practice (Gunsite Academy, for instance).  We can practice quickly exiting and taking cover (where the RSOs will permit it). And, again, get live-fire practice on targets from prone or kneeling from behind the vehicle’s engine compartment. Just keep in mind that all safety rules apply, all the time. We are not out there to look cool, but rather to be safe and learn something.

Identifying and using cover should be an integral part of any personal-defense plan. Such a practice is an great idea to keep an eye out for whatever cover is available wherever you happen to be. In a lot of our defensive-shooting classes, we teach students to incorporate movement into the pistol presentation—some call it getting off the “X”—and going to the closest cover is the best use of that movement.

Homeowner fatally shoots armed intruder in Kanawha County; investigation underway

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va (WCHS) — Law enforcement were on Lick Branch Road in Kanawha County for most of Friday after they said a man fatally shot an armed intruder on his property.

“It is very scary,” said Mindy Nichols who near where the shooting happened. “You’re out here in the country. People are kind and then this happens. I don’t know. It just kind of startles you.”

It was just after 12:30 p.m. when police said the homeowner arrived to his property where he was met with the armed suspect who did not live there inside of his home.

“That individual came to the door and met the homeowner at the doorway and the individual had several weapons on him,” said Sgt. Joshua Lester with the Kanawha County Sheriffs Department. “A fight ensued between the two and the homeowner pulled a firearm and fatally shot the intruder that was in his home.”

Police said the homeowner was working on his property, which is not his primary residence when he was met with an intruder on the porch who was armed with a baseball bat and a knife. Police said the struggle moved from the porch down into the yard, where the homeowner pulled a gun and shot the other man.

“We’ll have to kind of retrace all the steps. They’ll have to find where the firearm was fired,” Lester said. “They’ll have to find all of the discharge from that and any evidence that pertains to that, the weapons that were involved. They’ll look at that. They’ll look at the placements of where that evidence fell versus injuries to the victim as well as the suspect.”

More good advice from fellow shootist Sheriff Wilson

Taking Care Of Your Guns
Your life may depend on it, so take good care of it.

As a young man I spent a lot of time around older shooters and old lawmen trying to learn as much as I could. One of the things that most of them had in common was how well they took care of their guns. Many of them were shooting guns from the pre-WWII era, but those guns were still in very good shape. When they shot them, they cleaned them and generally wiped them off at night with an oily rag. They generally understood how their guns worked and could replace worn parts when that became necessary.

The armed citizen doesn’t need to be a firearm expert, but they do need to know how their choice of a defensive firearm works. It is also important to know what type of failures are common to a specific type of firearm, how to spot them and what to do about it.

Many semi-automatic pistols should have their mainspring replaced on a regular basis; some gunsmiths advise that every 1,000 rounds would be a good interval. One should also learn how to check the extractor and ejector for excessive wear. Semi-automatic pistol shooters quickly learn to spot the malfunctions that are caused by a faulty or worn magazine. And for goodness sakes, a bad magazine belongs in the trashcan, not among your practice gear.

Revolver shooters need to make sure that each chamber in the cylinder lines up properly with the barrel; spitting lead is a good indication that this is not the case. In some revolvers the ejector rod can come loose and tie up the gun; preventing that is an easy fix if one knows what to look for. Some revolvers have an external screw on the front of the grip frame that puts tension on the mainspring and keeps it in place; this should be snug and tight to prevent misfires.

I think that we often fail to realize the wear and tear that guns can receive from the mini-explosions that we call shooting. Gun parts wear just a little bit every time we pull the trigger. If an armed citizen will take the time to visit with a good gunsmith, they can quickly learn wear-related and other problems that might occur in their particular firearm. Then regular cleaning sessions and just taking the time of give the gun a good once over can often catch the problem before a misfire or failure to fire occurs. Simply put, you may have to bet your life on it, so it is a good idea to make sure that gun is in good working order.

 

Gun-Free Zones Like Fort Stewart Invite Mass Shootings

On Wednesday, another mass shooting unfolded — this time at Fort Stewart military base in Georgia. A male Army sergeant, who illegally carried a gun on the base, wounded five soldiers before others tackled and disarmed him.

Typically, only authorized designated security forces such as MPs are armed on duty. Any other soldier caught carrying a firearm faces severe consequences, ranging from a rank reduction, court-martial, potential criminal convictions, dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay, and even imprisonment.

So why would a soldier risk such harsh penalties? Because if you’re the attacker, planning to murder fellow soldiers, gun control laws won’t stop you. If you expect to die in the assault, as most mass public shooters do, extra years added to your sentence mean nothing. Even if you survive, you already anticipate multiple life sentences or the death penalty.

But for law-abiding soldiers, those same rules carry enormous weight. Carrying a gun for self-defense could turn them into felons and destroy their futures. These gun control policies disarm the innocent while encouraging a determined killer to attack there as they will know that they are the only ones who will be armed.

Yes, military police guard entrances, but like civilian police, they can’t be everywhere. Military bases function like cities, and MPs face the same limitations as police responding to off-base mass shootings.

Consider the attacks at the Navy Yard, both Fort Hood shootings, and the Chattanooga recruiting station. In each case, unarmed JAG officers, Marines, and soldiers had no choice but to hide while the attacker fired shot after shot.

Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley, then commander of Third Corps stationed at Fort Hood, testified to Congress about the second attack there: “We have adequate law enforcement on those bases to respond … those police responded within eight minutes and that guy was dead.” But eight minutes was simply too long for the three soldiers who were murdered and the 12 others who were wounded.

Time after time, murderers exploit regulations that guarantee they’ll face no armed resistance. Diaries and manifestos of mass public shooters show a chilling trend: They deliberately choose gun-free zones, knowing their victims can’t fight back. While we don’t yet know if the Fort Stewart shooter made that same calculation, his actions fit a pattern seen in dozens of other cases. It’s no coincidence that 94 percent of mass public shootings happen in places where guns are banned.

Ironically, soldiers with a concealed handgun permit can carry a concealed handgun whenever they are off base so that they can protect themselves and others. But on the base, they and their fellow soldiers are defenseless.

These are soldiers trained to handle firearms. We trust them with weapons in combat, yet we deny them that same trust on their own bases.

In 1992, the George H.W. Bush administration started reshaping the military into a more “professional, business-like environment.” That shift led to tighter restrictions on firearms. In 1993, President Clinton rewrote and implemented those restrictions, effectively banning soldiers from carrying personal firearms on base.

After the 2015 Chattanooga recruiting station attack, the military slightly loosened the rules. Commanders gained the authority to approve individual service members to carry privately owned firearms. But in practice, commanders rarely grant that permission.

Importantly, U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan were required to keep their weapons on them at all times — even on base. These soldiers needed to protect themselves against threats, and there are no known cases of them turning those weapons on each other. The policy worked.

So why do we make it easy for killers to target our own troops at home? Why do we force soldiers, like those at Fort Stewart, to tackle armed attackers with bare hands?

Let’s stop pretending that gun-free zones protect anyone. They only protect killers.

Jankovich: Walmart stabbings show flaw in gun control logic

Last weekend, a man walked into a Walmart in Traverse City and stabbed 11 innocent people in a random, brutal act of violence. The scene was horrifying—but thankfully, everyone survived.

The media covered the initial shock. The politicians issued generic statements. But something’s missing — something that always seems to go missing when the narrative doesn’t fit: no one is talking about “knife control.” Why is that?

A knife was used to commit mass violence — just as we’ve seen before with hammers, axes and even cars. These are real tragedies, carried out without a single bullet fired. And yet, no one is proposing sweeping legislation to regulate or ban knives or to require background checks before buying a truck.

Because deep down, we all know the glaring truth: it’s not the object that commits the violence; it’s the person. But the moment a firearm is involved, the story changes. The headlines explode. Politicians scramble to propose more restrictions. And the blame shifts from the criminal to the tool they used.

Police respond to multiple people being stabbed inside a Walmart Supercenter store near Traverse City, Mich. on Saturday, July 26, 2025.
This double standard isn’t just frustrating, it’s dangerous. It distracts from real solutions, and it deliberately ignores the fact that, in Traverse City, a law-abiding citizen with a firearm stopped the attack before more people were stabbed.

When police arrived at the scene, the alleged attacker had already been restrained, held at gunpoint by a shopper.

That’s right: a proverbial “good guy” with a gun stopped a “bad guy” with a knife. It’s textbook self-defense and the outcome we hope for in moments of crisis.

This is the very reason Women for Gun Rights exists. We believe the Second Amendment protects not just the right to “bear arms” — but the right to defend yourself and others when no one else can. At the end of the day, despite the best efforts of law enforcement, you are your own first responder. Your life, and the lives of others, is your responsibility.

This incident also highlights another uncomfortable pattern that truly undermines the efficacy of gun control. Authorities said the suspect had a history of “assaultive incidents.” In other words, they knew he was dangerous and capable of violence. While shocking to hear, this isn’t an isolated occurrence. Over and over, we’ve seen mass casualty events carried out by individuals who were already on law enforcement’s radar. The signs were there. The threats had been made. Reports were filed. But the system didn’t act.

And yet, every time a tragedy occurs, the focus shifts — not to the failures of intervention, but to restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens. Groups like Moms Demand Action and anti-gun politicians push for Red Flag laws, assault weapon bans and magazine limits, as if taking tools away from the responsible will somehow stop the reckless and violent.

But Traverse City shows the flaw in that logic.

The attacker didn’t use a gun. He used a knife. Would a Red Flag law have prevented it? Would a gun ban have saved those people? Of course not. The answer isn’t to criminalize gun ownership — it’s to crack down on actual criminals, take real threats seriously and enforce the laws we already have against people who have proven themselves violent and dangerous.

This is an important moment in Michigan and across the United States. It’s time to stop pretending the tool is the problem and start focusing on the truth: dangerous people are the threat. And guns, in the hands of the right people, save lives.

Marcy Jankovich is the Michigan State Director for Women for Gun Rights.