Being Mentally Prepared for Defense...*

Being prepared mentally is an often overlooked part of weapons preparation for newbies. I believe it starts with the simple question if you could actually defend yourself and your family.
As many of you know, both my husband and I served in the military. He was in the Navy & retired from our local county sheriffs department. He has taught weapons safety/familiarization courses for over 30 years and Utah concealed carry for 12 plus years.

I was in the Army, was Military Police & on the combat rifle team. We met at a weapons training course. Awwww....

Could you shoot to protect you and yours if needed? Before I joined the military; I knew I needed to work through the process of actually shooting someone. That was going to be my “job”. I had never even seen a weapon before I joined the military.

I know people vary on their belief systems & I respect that. But, I am going to challenge you to at the very least, think through various scenarios to figure out what you think you are able to do & not do and with what defense item.

I am not going into a lot of details, this is to help you decide where you are at and think through those scenarios. If you need practice scenarios, I recommend even something simple like watching real life situations/videos. Effective Tactics (12007) often shares various helpful videos with commentary. 

The reality is I am 5' 3¾” short. I weigh more than is recommended for my height, but I am not very imposing. I am currently 58 years old and have physical limitations. But, I am VERY comfortable in defending myself and my family.

If you are uncomfortable with any weapon, please take some sort of defense class to be prepared. Give yourself a fighting chance.

Learn: If you are considering owning a weapon for the first time; I want you to take a familiarization course, practice with the weapon, loading, unloading & shooting. In my personal opinion; owning a weapon and not knowing how to use it is a recipe for disaster. In fact it is down right stupid.
I will ask you here in this public forum to be legal in your state. Register, take your concealed carry licensing class. If you plan on carrying in other states, take a “Utah Concealed Carry Class”, which enables the holder to legally carry in more than 30 reciprocal states.

If you live in the Commonwealth of Virginia and want to take the above classes, PM (private message) me on FaceBook and I will get you the information for a class in Northern Virginia.

Practice is key! Go to a range and practice shooting under various conditions.

An often over looked key practice is reloading. If you are caught in a situation, that is not the time to be fumbling. If you are sitting watching t.v. in the evening, that is an excellent time to practice reloading. We have dummie ammo for me to practice with. Remember, you need to practice with all the various types of ammo & weapons. 

Take the time right now and look around your house. See what is readily available to you for defense. Know where your “weapons” are located. Do the same for your car. Is it a knife in the kitchen or in your glove box? Is it cleaning chemical on the counter? Is it a sap next to your chair? A .38 in a drawer?

Just take the time today to think this through. Practice, practice, practice...

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