Nomercy448

It doesn't matter how big your house is, don't take for granted that you'd know that someone was in your house. Breaking glass is much quieter than hollywood movies or the ADT commercials would let you believe, and to be honest, most windows aren't THAT hard to pry open (remember, lock or no lock, it's still just aluminum framing). People rely on dogs and/or alarm systems way too much. If someone wants in, they'll get in, and if they don't want you to know about it, then you won't.

My point is, never count on knowing your "about to be in danger". If there's an attacker in my living room, I'm not in danger. But if I forget to lock the front door while I'm in the shower and someone surprises me in my bedroom, things will get hairy. If someone hollers at me from across a parking lot, I'm not in danger, but what happens when the sliding door of the van parked next to my car opens suddenly behind me as I'm loading groceries in the back seat? I'm in no danger if I'm walking down the sidewalk across the street from some thugs at night, but what happens when an attacker steps out right in front of me as I walk past an alleyway? What happens when an attacker comes out of a stall in the men's room behind me while I'm standing at a urinal?

I started actively practicing different scenarios about 10yrs ago to help my own peace of mind. If I'm going to carry a gun, or even just keep one on the nightstand, I want to know I'll be able to use it. Having your own gun turned on you leaves you worse off than if you had been unarmed.

Following a CCW range day, I challenged the instructor (a state patrolman of over 20yrs, a firearms and CQB trainer for several years, and a close personal friend) that within 10ft, he couldn't clip me with an airsoft pistol before I disarmed him. He's 6'3" and 255-265, and I'm 5'9" and 185lbs, but from 10ft with a shot timer to signal the start, even with his training and experience and DRAWING FROM HIS DUTY HOLSTER, he couldn't land the shot before I made contact and deflected his muzzle.

One of the drills that my fiancee and I regularly practice is the "waking up to a figure over the bed". When we first started running this drill, we learned a LOT about what would likely REALLY transpire in that situation.

Consider everything that has to happen in that situation: I need to wake up, recognize and process the danger, move to reach for my weapon, draw the weapon, ready the weapon, move back to engage the target, re-aquire the target, and fire. If "ready the weapon", includes insert magazine and rack the slide, this might be a 2-3sec sequence.

The intruder only has to close the gap and gain physical control of my arm to deflect the muzzle to prevet me from landing a shot. This is a 1-2 sec sequence.

After the first few drills, by trial and error, we found out the best solution is to dive for the floor. Staying on the bed makes it too easy to pin you down. Diving for the floor and drawing the weapon makes it a unidirectional move, instead of roll left, draw, roll right. It also makes the intruder have to work harder to close the gap.

In other situations, not surprisingly, sometimes it is MUCH more effective to spend time moving your body to escape and generate distance before drawing your weapon. Drawing your weapon within arms reach of an attacker leaves too much risk. In the second it takes you to draw your weapon, you could create enough distance to make the draw MUCH more safe, which increases your odds to successfully defend yourself.

For my carry preference, I want a double action or striker fired weapon without a manual safety, with one in the tube, and a friction lock holster that covers the trigger guard properly, with the pistol stuck either in the back or front of my jeans.

Compare the sequence of actions that have to happen between "oh $hit" and "bang" if you carried a 1911 with the hammer down on an empty chamber and a snapped hammer thong over the top of the pistol, in a shoulder holster under a partially zipped coat to carrying a glock with one in the pipe tucked in the front of your jeans.

Once I recognize danger, I have to move my arms together, one opening my jacket and holding the holster, the other reach into my jacket to unsnap the holster and draw the weapon, then move both arms together to rack the slide, then engage the target.

For the glock in the front of my jeans, I move ONE ARM, draw the pistol, and move ONE ARM to engage the target.

The "21ft" rule has been widely used for decades. The principle being that inside of 21ft, an attacker with a slicing weapon (knife, sword, hatchet, shiv, etc) has BETTER odds than a defender with a gun. The idea being that inside of 21ft, it is more likely that the attacker can close the gap and make a lethal attack FASTER than the gun-toting defender can land the shots required to debilitate the attacker.

Moral of the story...

Simple rules for concealed carry...

Rule number 1: LESS IS MORE
Rule number 2: Easy functioning, reliable pistol
Rule number 3: Easily accessible holster
Rule number 4: Practice, Practice, Practice.