Myths of Self-Protection

Myth Number 1: You have to be THIS GUY to defend yourself.  I have tremendous respect and admiration for the elite members of our military, and if you want to spend thousands of dollars learning how to snipe people at a thousand meters, or enter-and-clear a room with an MP-5, more power to you.  But, that's not self-defense shooting.  Most justified self-defense shootings happen under twenty feet with compact handguns.  You do NOT need to train for eighteen months to get good enough to protect yourself with a handgun.  You can LEARN everything you NEED to know in about four to six hours on a pistol range.  It won't make you the guy above, but it will put you on the path to becoming THIS GUY:

Myth Number 2: A basic firearms safety class teaches you everything you need to know to protect yourself with a firearm.  But, wait, Soule, didn't you just contradict yourself?  A basic firearms safety class is not four to six hours on the range learning out to fight with a pistol.  It is teaching you how to be safe with a firearm, which is an important first step, but IT IS NOT GUNFIGHTING!

Myth Number 3: So all I need to do is take your four to six hour Armed Self-Protection Class one time and then I can put a gun on my hip and be Doc Holliday.  This is the most dangerous myth I try to debunk, and I write about it all the time.  People who take a CCW class (usually just a firearms safety class), and then strap on a holster and carry a gun for the next five years without shooting it ever again, are suicidal.  PRACTICE is what makes you good with any tool.  If you want to be a musician, you can't just take one class on guitar and expect to be a rock star.  The same is true with a handgun.  Now, do you need to practice as much as a Navy SEAL?  Well, are you going to be inserting behind the lines of an enemy country to kill terrorist leaders?  Probably not.  But, you have to shoot on a regular basis.  So, you can LEARN all you need to know to effectively use a pistol to protect yourself in one day; but then it has to become a life-long commitment to maintain those skills.  Shooting is a sport, and you have to practice it to be good at it.  The guy that takes one class and never practices with his concealed carry pistol ever again is, in my opinion, the most dangerous person on the planet.  A bad-guy will take that gun away from him and use it on the people he loves.

Myth Number 4: I have to spend thousands of dollars to get a tricked-out race gun so I can shoot all fifteen guys attacking me.  Violent criminals tend to work in small groups to maximize profits.  The most common type of concealed carry handguns in America are the various .38 snub-nosed revolvers.  The "pros" mostly recommend Glocks.  Old school guys love their Model 1911 .45 ACP's with seven round magazines and one in the chamber.  A lot of cops like the Springfield XD series.  None of them need to be "tricked-out" to be effective self-protection pistols, and versions of all of them can be bought for around $500.  Competition is not self-protection.  You don't drive the Ferrari everyday, and you shouldn't carry a race gun for self-protection.

Myth Number 5:  You are safe.  Even if you are a Navy SEAL or a Ninja, there are no GUARANTEES of safety in a violent world.  Carrying a pistol ALL THE TIME that you have LEARNED to shoot fast and well, and PRACTICED with every month, is still no GUARANTEE that you will win in a violent encounter.  This is the hardest thing for civilians to accept; they believe that if they prepare enough, they will always come out on top.  That's the most frustrating myth I try to debunk; that you are GUARANTEED to win.  The enemy always gets a vote on the outcome.  The only guarantee in any sort of combat is this: if you do NOTHING, you are guaranteed to LOSE!  Anybody in the self-protection industry that guarantees you that their magic tricks will allow you to "win every fight," is a liar.  What we do is try to increase your odds by giving you skills and equipment to make you a harder target, because I believe a 1% chance of victory if you take action and fight back, is still better than the 100% guarantee of losing if you do nothing.

Truth: The world is a violent place not because of race, religion, nationality, socioeconomic statuses or ideologies.  The world is a dangerous place because human beings are mortal creatures, and as long as that is true, bad people will exploit that mortality by force, or the threat of force, for their own benefit.  All violence is based on that simple truth; we are mortal.  No revolution in art, religion or politics has ever been successful at changing our violent human nature because only EVOLUTION beyond our mortality can change it.  The second most frustrating myth I try to debunk is that somehow human beings are capable of overcoming this violent nature without overcoming our mortality; pacifism always fails in the face of evil men willing to do evil things to innocent people for their own benefit.  If you don't accept this truth first, no amount of training, education, practice or advice from those of us who have faced violence, will ever make you more ready to protect yourself.

That's The Real Philosophy of Violence,

Soule

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