Greetings fellow SurvivalBloggers. Any of you who read my piece “How I Woke Up” may recall that I started my awareness and prepping in August of 2009.
Today I wanted to touch on my limited knowledge of firearms, and what I’ve done to start firming up that area.
Up until six years ago, I had never owned or fired any kind of weapon other than slingshots and pellet rifles as a child. I dabbled in archery as a young adult, but wasn’t the guy splitting arrows on the bulls-eye.
But then something happened six years ago that changed that. I live in arguably one of the safest semi-rural neighborhoods in the country. I also own and operate a preschool on two acres. So every time I even casually brought up the idea that it might be prudent to own a firearm, my wife flipped out and that was the end of the discussion. (We both grew up in families that never owned guns.)
Anyway, back to six years ago. Aside from the preschool, I also did a lot of side work in real estate, consulting for restaurants, bars and hotels, and property management. I had an office suite in the building where I was manager on the weekends. It was in a somewhat seedy part of my town (the south side, where our city leaders put all the low-income housing). I was often in the office late at night, always trying to get caught up on paperwork. Usually I had the door open, as our climate is very comfortable most of the time.
One night at about 11 p.m., I was just wrapping up and getting ready to leave. I looked up from my desk to see a very nefarious-looking character standing in my doorway. He was looking around, sizing up me and the office. Being a bit of a hooligan in my youth, I put on my best “game face” and stared intently back at him, nodding my head in a “what’s up?” move. Fortunately I had taken off my dress shirt, and just had a tee-shirt on. This exposed the tattoos on my forearms, helping with my tough-guy bluff. For whatever reason, he decided I wasn’t what he was looking for, nodded back and moved on. Very scary.
Well, the next day I was at the local gun store. Knowing absolutely nothing about guns, the semi-autos with their slides and magazines scared me. So I got something I understood – a Charter Arms Snub-Nose .38 Special. I liked the concept of revolvers. Very easy to operate, and know without a doubt if they are loaded or not. And I liked the compact size of the weapon. That was less intimidating to me.
I went over to the local range and popped off about 10 or 15 rounds at a target about 10-15 feet away. I hit that target, and was satisfied that I was “good to go.” That gun and few cartridges went in my office desk, not seeing the light of day for a long time. (I’d be lying if I didn’t say I secretly hoped my previous visitor might make a repeat appearance. Fortunately for all involved, he didn’t.)
Right around this time, my wife and I purchased a cabin in the mountains. Our plan was to retire there in 10-15 years, but in the meantime enjoy it on weekends and holidays. After a year or so up there, I realized if there was ever trouble, we were virtually on our own. The nearest Sheriff sub-station was 20 minutes away. And its crew consisted of four people: a daytime dispatcher and a daytime patrolling deputy, and a nighttime dispatcher and a patrolling deputy.
So I picked up another snub-nosed .38 Special, and put it and a few cartridges in my bed-stand table.
Fast forward to August of 2009, when my wife and I began prepping. Soon, we were basically set: Retreat, check. Tribe with former Special Forces guy, Carpenter, Electrician, and Registered Nurse, check. One year worth of dried and canned food for tribe, check. Heirloom seeds for four acres, check. Neighbor’s well who will need my photovoltaic power system to get water out of the ground (thus we’ll share the water), check. Armament, check.
The last one got me to thinking. I really hardly know how to use any of that stuff. Recently I did shoot at hand tossed clay pigeons with a shotgun. Proud to say that I hit 13 out of 16. But still, not very experienced.
So when an offer was in my e-mail box to take a four-day mid-week defensive handgun course at Front Sight for only $99, I jumped on it.
The course was very similar to a recent writer’s shotgun course, so I won’t get into all of that. But I will say that I learned so much. There were a lot of tactical things that had never occurred to me. Also, one of the two-hour lectures talked about the moral, ethical and legal ramifications of firing upon someone. That is something that we might not think much about, but should. Oh sure, when the Golden Hordes come it will not be an issue. But until then, it is.
I also learned what my wimpy little snub-nose .38 Specials can (and can’t) do. At seven meters or less, I was dead on. At 10 meters and it was about 70%. Beyond that, those weapons are basically worthless for me. That was good to know.
Everyone else on the range had Glocks, M1911s, and Springfield Armory XDs. They were putting out much more accurate firepower at greater distances.
So if you have firearms but little to no experience and think that you’ll handle whatever comes along when the time comes, then you may be sadly mistaken. And that mistake may cost you or your loved ones dearly.
JWR Adds: I also strongly encourage my readers to get fully and properly trained. When it is YOYO time, you will need effective firearms with power and range kept close at hand. That means battle rifles and riot shotguns, not handguns. As many firearms trainers have observed, a handgun is just a handy defensive tool that might give the opportunity to fight your way back to your rifle, in the right circumstances. Showing up at a gun fight armed with a just a handgun is arriving seriously under-gunned.
Proper firearms training means getting plenty of regular practice. Firearms training is not just one-time event that you can check off a list. You need to regularly work at it, to maintain a perishable skill. This means dry practice every week, and live fire at least several times per year.
Take full advantage of local firearms training, mobile trainers (such as the inexpensive Appleseed shoots), and the big schools like Gunsite, Xe, Front Sight, and Thunder Ranch. A defensive handgun course is just the beginning. Get training with rifles and shotguns, too. Train like your life depends on it, because someday soon, it very likely will.
It is also important to think of each firearm as a weapon system. This means buying all the accessories you need to make it fully capable–such as an ACOG scope, plenty of spare top quality magazines, magazine pouches, cleaning equipment, lubricants, slings, holsters, web gear, spare parts, and ammo. Practice using all of these items extensively, to work the kinks out. You should practice until you are confident, competent, comfortable, and quiet, using all of these items as a system. I’d rather have just one truly fully-equipped rifle than a dozen guns that are minus crucial spares and accessories.