Uscca crashcourse

Concealed Carry BeginnEr’s Crash Course
Table of Contents
Carrying A Gun Is An Absolute Right
Robert Boatman
Armed Citizens Of The 21st Century
What It Means To Carry A Gun
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Common Sense Pointers for Carrying Concealed
Paul Benjamin
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Choosing the Right Concealed Carry Handgun for You
George Harris
Carrying a Gun Is Not a Hobby
Oleg Volk
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After the Shooting Stops: Dealing With the Aftermath
of a Lethal Encounter
Steve Krystek & Michael Potter
Presence of Mind After the Shooting
First Responders on Scene
Keep Your Wits About You
The Emotional and Legal Aftermath
Conclusion
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Concealed Carry
Beginner’s Crash Course
2
he framers of the Constitution were under no pressure from
the NRA when they wrote “the right of the people to keep
and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
In the same spare sentence, they reaffirmed their historical pref-erence
for a “militia” over a standing army, and indicated that
this militia should be composed of armed citizens -- citizens of
a “free state” whose right to keep and bear arms must never be
infringed. Anti-freedom zealots, including academic invalids and
the hypocrites of the mis-named American Civil Liberties Union,
have stood on their pointy heads in tortured attempts to misinter-pret
this sentence ever since. Those of us who know how to read
the English language have no trouble at all.
The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be in-fringed.
THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE to keep and bear arms
shall NOT be infringed. The right of the people TO KEEP AND
BEAR ARMS shall NOT be infringed. The right of the people to
keep and bear arms SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. What part of
NOT do the illiterates out to subvert the Constitution NOT understand?
The Constitution of the state of Pennsylvania (adopted September
28, 1776) allocated more words to make the point even more un-mistakable:
“XIII. That the people have a right to bear arms for
the defense of themselves and the state; and as standing armies
in the time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be
kept up; and that the military should be kept under strict subordi-nation
to, and governed by, the civil power.”
Indeed, the individual right to keep and bear arms for personal
defense is based on exactly the same principle as civilian control
of the military. One wonders if the ACLU would argue with that.
The Second Amendment, like most other articles in the Bill of
Rights, was adopted from the English Bill of Rights of 1689
which, in turn, was based on centuries of English Common Law.
English jurist Sir William Blackstone observed that the English
Bill of Rights clearly meant that Englishmen possessed “the right
of having and using arms for self-preservation and defense” and
that “having arms suitable for their defense” was one of the five
auxiliary rights people possessed “to protect and maintain invio-late
the three great and primary rights,” the first of which is “per-sonal
security.”
Unfortunately for the English people, they have been persuaded
by their own far-left government and insidious anti-gun activists
to allow the English Bill of Rights to be, as they might say, shat
upon. Today, the English do not have the right to keep and bear
arms for self-preservation and defense. As a direct result, they live
in a crime-ridden society that grows worse with each passing day.
The recent 2000 International Crime Victims Survey published
by the Dutch Ministry of Justice, a highly respected and accurate
measurement of the percentage of people by nation who are vic-tims
of violent crimes, ranked England far ahead of the United
States (which ranked 8th), and second only to Australia (where
English-style anti-gun laws are also in effect) as the most violent
nation. A recently disarmed England now has twice as much vio-lent
crime as the United States.
The English Home Office, which cooperated in the survey, has
refused to publish these findings in England. It’s better not to re-mind
the gullible subjects how empty were the promises of safety
and security for which they so eagerly traded away their very real
and priceless freedoms and responsibilities. The great Roman phi-losopher
and senator, Cicero, immortalized armed self-defense as
an “inalienable right” more than 2,000 years before the U.S. Con-stitution
did so. Cicero said: There exists a law, not written down
anywhere but inborn in our hearts; a law which comes to us not
by training or custom or reading but by derivation and absorption
and adoption from nature itself; a law which has come to us not
from theory but from practice, not by instruction but by natural
intuition. I refer to the law which lays it down that, if our lives are
endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any
and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right.
Even people to whom armed self-defense is but a remote abstrac-tion
often endorse, without even realizing it, the unquestionable
principles underlying the right to carry a gun. Jaron Lanier, writ-ing
in Discover Magazine (Feb. 2001) said in reference to new
copyright-protection technology -- “In a democracy, citizens are
supposed to act as partners in enforcing laws. Those forced to follow
rules without being trusted even for a moment are, in fact, slaves.”
Carrying A Gun Is An Absolute
Right Robert Boatman
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It is perfectly obvious that we have a natural right to arm our-selves
and to kill any criminal or other force that threatens us just
as surely as an elephant has a right to kill an attacking lion and a
mother bear has a right to kill a wolf grinning suspiciously at her
cubs. Animal-rights extremists extend the animals’ right to the
killing of humans under such circumstances.
Even the Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Prize and all, said in May of
2001 during a speech about “nonviolent resolutions to conflict”
to 7,600 Oregon and Washington high-school students -- “But if
someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reason-able
to shoot back with your own gun.” So said the Dalai Lama.
There are criminals among us who are both homicidal and incor-rigible.
Their parents took a shot at civilizing them and failed.
Their school teachers took a shot at them and failed. The odds
are overwhelming that government welfare programs and penal
institutions took a shot at them and failed. If it ever becomes your
turn to take a shot at them, don’t fail. Carrying a Gun Has Always
Been Both a Right And a Duty.
There have been many societies in which not carrying a weapon
was a serious and severely punishable crime. This was true in
Greece, Rome, Europe, Britain and, though seldom enforced, is
still true in certain places in America today. This is as it should
be. A citizen who shirks his duty to contribute to the security of
his community is little better than the criminal who threatens it,
and is better off living in a society that places lesser demands on
his capacity to accept responsibility.
like napalm when every stranger totes a piece.” “Every mental
snap in traffic could lead to the crack of gunfire.”
Such dire and colorful predictions, of course, proved totally false.
Nevertheless, that same hysterical fear-mongering and bald-faced
lying are used even today every time a new state gets ready to
pass an enlightened right-to-carry law. In actual fact, the only
notable thing that happened for the first five years after Florida
passed its right-to-carry law was that, as homicide rates in the
U.S. soared, Florida’s homicide rate fell a dramatic 23 percent. A
few of the opponents of concealed carry actually had the courage
to admit they were wrong.
Thanks to the intensive lobbying efforts of the NRA, along with
the tireless grassroots work of politically aware gun owners, 33
states now have Florida-style laws which require the prompt issu-ance
to their citizens of legal permits to carry concealed weapons.
Well over half of the U.S. population, more than 60 percent of all
handgun owners, live in these free states, yet no more than one to
five percent ever apply for such licenses.
Notwithstanding the fact that most people do not carry guns, the
mere possibility that an intended victim could be armed with a
handgun eliminates millions of crimes every year.
According to the FBI, states with “shall-issue” right-to-carry laws
have a 26 percent lower total violent crime rate, a 20 percent low-er
homicide rate, a 39 percent lower robbery rate and a 22 percent
lower aggravated assault rate than those states that do not allow
their citizens to legally carry guns.
Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State
University, Gary Kleck, in Point Blank: Guns and Violence in
America (Aldine de Gruyter Publishers, 1991) found that “rob-bery
and assault victims who used a gun to resist were less likely
to be attacked or to suffer an injury than those who used any other
methods of self-protection or those who did not resist at all.”
Convicted felons reveal in surveys that they are more afraid of
armed citizens than they are of the police. And well they should
be. Armed citizens kill 2,000 to 3,000 criminals each year, three
times the number killed by the police. And only two percent of ci-vilian
shootings involve an innocent person mistakenly identified
as a criminal, whereas the error rate for the police is more than
five times that high.
Kleck’s research shows that private citizens use firearms to pro-tect
themselves and thwart crime about 2.5 million times a year.
Citizens use firearms to prevent mass killings, bank robberies,
gang attacks, carjackings, rapes, kidnappings and hostage-takings.
They use them to help capture prison escapees and murderers, to
come to the aid of outnumbered or ambushed law enforcement
officers. Yet only a handful of these 2.5 million life-saving uses of
firearms are ever reported in the mainstream press.
If a lot more people carried guns, what kind of a society would we
have? Certainly not the kind predicted by anti-gun fanatics. Those
hysterical doomsayers have been proven absolutely wrong one
Armed Citizens Of The 21st Century
In 1987, a year after Glocks were introduced to the U.S., Flori-da
enacted a pioneering “shall-issue” right-to-carry law that has
served as the model for the rest of the country. The Florida law
affirmed the right of a private citizen to carry a concealed gun
and eliminated the abuses so typical of “discretionary” right-to-carry
laws that resulted in gun permits being awarded arbitrarily
to the political cronies of petty officials, limousine liberals, movie
actors, athletes and various other celebrity representatives of the
rich and famous crowd, but denied to so-called “ordinary” citi-zens.
The Florida law made it crystal clear that any citizen with
basic firearms training and a felony-free record would be issued a
concealed-carry permit upon request, period.
Florida’s landmark right-to-carry law was supported by the Flor-ida
Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Sheriffs Associa-tion,
Florida Police Chiefs Association and other law enforcement
groups. And it was supported by Florida voters.
The media, however, was predictably vociferous in its opposition
to the exercise of Constitutionally guaranteed rights, and in its to-tal
submission to the party line of radical anti-freedom, anti-self-defense
and anti-gun forces. Headlines predicted vigilante justice
and wild-west shootouts on every corner. “Florida will become
the “Gunshine State.” “A pistol-packing citizenry will mean itchi-er
trigger fingers.” “Florida’s climate of smoldering fear will flash

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hundred percent of the time. Would we have a crime-free society?
Certainly not. Criminals are as natural and immune to total eradi-cation
as fruit flies. But a better-armed society would severely
limit the violent damage criminals wreak before they are stopped.
Criminals are naturally self-destructive. The reasons they are so
doesn’t matter. To assist them in their self-destructiveness is the
polite and civilized thing to do. Thus another ageless axiom: An
Armed Society Is A Polite Society.
In 1998, John R. Lott, Jr., senior research scholar in the School
of Law at Yale University, authored the most comprehensive and
exhaustive study of crime and gun control laws ever conceived,
based on the largest data set on crime ever assembled. His land-mark
book, More Guns, Less Crime (The University of Chicago
Press, 1998, 2000), now available in an updated second edition,
includes thorough analyses of more than 54,000 observations and
hundreds of variable factors across more than 3,000 counties in
all 50 states for 18 years.
“The Right of the People
to Keep and Bear Arms
Shall Not Be Infringed”
The assiduously researched conclusions reached by Lott imme-diately
set off a wave of panic among anti-gun fanatics and drew
organized, systematic personal attacks of the most vicious and
dishonest nature, including death threats leveled at Lott and his
wife and children. Yet not a single serious academic challenge
of Lott’s research, his methodology or his incontrovertible con-clusions
has ever been successfully mounted. In fact, Lott’s con-clusions
have reluctantly been called “bulletproof” even by the
liberal mainstream press.
Bottom line, in keeping with the title of his work, the more guns
there are in society and the more these guns are carried by private
citizens, the less crime there is.
These are some of the reasons why police, who fight crime for a
living and are well aware of the realities of street criminals, sup-port
right-to-carry laws for private citizens by an overwhelming
three-to-one margin. This is an even higher margin of support
for right-to-carry than the strong support voiced by the civilian
population.
Policemen are nobody’s personal bodyguards. Their jobs are to
find and arrest people who have committed crimes, not to prevent
such potential crimes from happening in the first place. Clearly,
the responsibility for victim-prevention lies with the victim-to-be.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (Bowers v. DeVito, 1982)
did not mince words when it ruled, “There is no Constitutional
right to be protected by the state against being murdered by crimi-nals
or madmen.”
What It Means To Carry A Gun
That loaded pistol in your holster is a powerful expression of your Con-stitutionally
guaranteed liberty as an American citizen, your recogni-tion
of the solemn duty you have to your fellow man, and your willing-ness
to accept the full weight of a life-and-death responsibility.
When you are prepared to defend yourself, you are equally pre-pared
to defend all of society and all of its guiding principles. Your
responsibilities are therefore many -- moral, legal and tactical.
That is why most people, including lifelong gun owners, experi-enced
hunters and competitive shooters, even in states that freely
issue concealed carry permits, do not choose to carry a gun.
Your moral responsibilities are to fire your gun into another human
being only when the line of necessity has clearly been reached,
and then to fire without hesitation and to full effect. Remember
the words of Cicero.
Your legal responsibilities are to justify your actions to those who
would call you a criminal at the drop of a hat, and quite possibly to
a jury of your peers, most of whom have neither the competence
nor the courage to carry a gun in their own defense. Read the find-ings
of the Citizens’ Self-Defense Act of 2001.
Your tactical responsibilities are to carry your gun with confi-dence,
to be well trained in your ability to operate it effectively,
and to have instilled in yourself an iron will to use deadly force
to prevent or end violence committed against yourself or others.
Most of this book is dedicated to your tactical responsibilities,
because that’s what will save your life.
Violence happens either at random, or directed toward the obvi-ously
vulnerable, or toward someone in particular for a reason.
You can rest assured it will not happen at the shooting range when
you are all suited up in your speed rig with a plan of action worked
out for the coming run-and-gun stage. It will happen when you are
home sleeping in your bed, shopping at the grocery store, walking out
to get the mail, mowing the grass, at dinner, at church, at the theater.
The most dangerous places in the world are those called “gun-free
safety zones” by their ignorant political creators and known by
criminals and psychopaths as “safe-to-kill zones.” Even an ado-lescent
school kid can figure out that an advertised killing field
where no one is allowed to shoot back is the safest location in the
world to carry out a mass shooting. Don’t even consider going to
a place like that unarmed, whether it’s your kid’s school or a na-tional
park. If you can’t handle breaking the law, don’t go.
The assistant principal of a high school in Pearl, Mississippi, broke
the law. He kept a .45 in his car parked on the school grounds.
When a deranged student opened fire, Joel Myrick ran for his gun.
Two students were killed because Myrick had to retrieve his gun
from his car instead of his holster. But the .45 eventually pre-vailed,
and Myrick stopped the massacre long before police ar-rived
on the scene. God only knows how many lives he saved.
But assistant principal Joel Myrick wasn’t awarded any medals.
Of the several hundred newspaper and television stories about the

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incident, only a few even mentioned his name. Almost none re-vealed
the fact that he used a gun to stop the killings.
When you bodyguard someone for a while, or when you just live
a normal life with your eyes wide open, you realize how vulner-able
we all are to becoming another tidbit-of-opportunity in the
relentless food chain that sustains the life of this unpredictable
world. It’s a realization not of paranoia but of reality. That’s the
way it is, always has been, always will be. You can ignore it out
of faint-heartedness, deny it out of lunacy, submit to it out of a fa-talistic
contempt for your own life and the lives of others, or you
can face it with courage and intelligence and prepare yourself to
deal with capricious reality’s predisposition toward danger.
Most of those dangers can be met with nothing more than a strong
I’m-not-a-victim mindset and body language. Many others may
shrivel with the demonstration of superior verbal skills. Still
others may require a fundamental knowledge of martial arts, a
container of pepper spray, a makeshift club, the presence of a
well-wielded knife or the sight of a firearm. A few, perhaps one
in a lifetime, will not be affected by any kind of less-than-lethal
response and will not end until you churn your attacker’s dreams
and determination into a chunky red stew and spew it all over the
street with a couple of big-bore hollow points. The trouble is, you
never know when or where that last one is coming.
If you ever find yourself under attack by an armed criminal, you
will be on the defensive and he will be on the offensive. In other
words, he will have a strong advantage going in. And, though he
will not have trained himself to shoot nearly as well as you have
trained, he will be far more experienced in the art of killing. The
odds are, any criminal who is intent on killing you has probably
killed men before, knows how to do it, knows how it feels and
likes it. You’re not going to talk him out of it, scare him out of it,
or wound him out of it. You’re going to have to kill him.
Studies show that simply brandishing a weapon saves many lives,
but I am personally against the idea of waving a gun around while
your adversary thinks. The way to overcome his offensive ad-vantage
is to strike without warning. Once you make the deci-sion
to free your Glock from its holster the entire situation should
be over and done with in a second or two. The most important
component in practicing your draw is firing the instant you have
a sight picture on your target, and continuing to fire until your
assailant no longer exists.
More than a century of military and police research tells us that most
people, including up to 85 percent of trained soldiers and cops, are
psychologically unable to use deadly force in a life-or-death situ-ation
no matter how compelling the circumstances may be. If you
can’t kill, there is no reason for you to carry a lethal weapon.
Carrying a loaded gun with the ability and will to use it is not a
casual fling meant to bring some excitement into your boring life.
It is an all-embracing lifestyle and must take precedence over
your respect for law, your fear of social criticism, your love of
humanity, your wardrobe and your drinking habits. You can never
be unaware of the weight you carry on your hip or under your
arm. You can never forget your responsibilities. You must wear
your Glock with the same allegiance as your wedding ring. If
you’re not married, your Glock is your wedding ring. Wear it for
life. Don’t even think about leaving home without it. Be prepared
to use it at a moment’s notice. Carry it all the time. And shoot to kill.
“Liberty or death,” the meaning of which is clear and absolute, is
but a trivial phrase if you do not carry a gun. For freedom-loving
Americans, the five most important words in the English language
are, and always have been -- from my cold dead hands.
This article was reprinted with permission and condensed from
a chapter in Robert Boatman’s Book Living with GLOCKS. Mr.
Boatman can be reached at: interboat@aol.com.
This book is available from www.boatmanbooks.com.
View more of Robert Boatman’s 2nd Amendment writing at:
www.ironwordranch.com.
Also, view www.customizeyourglock.com for their Glock manual.

6
Common Sense Pointers for
Carrying Concealed Paul Benjamin
I plan to write a second article that addresses some more common
sense tips in detail. For now, here are a few more quick-tip gems:
• If necessary, women should consider modifying their ward-robes
to enable themselves to carry their firearms on their
persons, rather than in their purses. The first thing a lot of bad
guys go after is purses. If they get your purse and your gun is
in it, they have everything.
• Wherever you carry your gun concealed, practice getting to
it, drawing it, taking the safety off, etc. Do this with an un-loaded
firearm. It is much safer to discover a flaw in your
draw when bullets can’t come out. Remove all of the am-munition
from the area. Check and double-check the firearm
to be sure that it is unloaded. Don’t ever get shot with an
“unloaded gun.”
• Choose a concealed carry method that truly conceals your
firearm. If you carry in a front pocket and the pants are tight
enough for the outline of a gun to show, you are not carrying
concealed; you are merely carrying covered.
• When you make it obvious that you are armed, you put your-self
at a disadvantage. You simply become marked as the first
target. On the other hand, when you truly conceal your fire-arm,
you have an “ace in the hole.”
Paul Benjamin is an NRA Certified Instructor, PA State certi-fied
Act 235 Lethal Weapons agent and instructor, Police Pistol
Combat Competitor, and named to the PA Governor’s Twenty
for the past four years.
B
ecause our lives are so busy, we may overlook some impor-tant
details:
• How many of us carry concealed firearms for personal pro-tection,
but can’t remember the last time that we practiced
with them?
•
• How many of us carry our firearms under business suits all
week, but practice at the range in jeans and T-shirts?
•
• How many of us carry our firearms loaded with expensive,
self defense ammunition, but only practice with cheaper, tar-get
loads?
We have to practice regularly with the firearms that we carry. We
are counting on these firearms to protect our lives. How often
do we have to practice? This varies with our individual, personal
performance and budget. When practicing correctly and regularly,
a minimum of thirty to fifty rounds a few times a month is good.
Remember, we are not practicing because we can’t wait to shoot
the bad guys.
By practicing, our minds and bodies maintain familiarity with our
firearms. We thereby increase our probability of neutralizing the
bad guys and reduce the risks of hitting innocent bystanders.
If you carry your firearm under a suit jacket, you must practice
drawing from concealment while wearing a suit jacket. If your
firearm has an external safety that must be taken off before firing,
practice taking the safety off before shooting each string of fire.
Practice so that clearing the clothing, gripping the firearm, draw-ing
the firearm, taking the safety off, pointing the firearm down-range,
and placing your finger on the trigger all become one natu-ral,
fluid motion. For example, if you carry in your front pocket,
can you draw without the firearm or holster getting snagged on
the pocket lining? This type of practice will expose defects in
your carry or draw, and thereby allow you to correct the problem
before you need to defend yourself.
Remember, if you have to draw your firearm to defend yourself,
you are reacting to someone’s aggressive moves. They are al-ready
in motion, while you are catching up. Your drawing and
firing have to be as natural as breathing. You will not have time to
think about each step.
Inexpensive target ammunition can be used while developing and
maintaining sight alignment, trigger and grip control, and most of
the other basics. However, different ammunition will vary in its
performance and feel. Periodically, shoot about six rounds of the
exact type of ammunition that you carry. This will maintain your
familiarity with the differences and will prevent some unwanted
surprises, such as increased recoil.

7
Choosing the Right Concealed
Carry Handgun for You
George Harris
adversary and possibly take place in a spontaneous time frame
with less than ideal light conditions. This suggests that the gun
needs to be carried in a location where it can be quickly drawn
and driven to the target with a single handed grip that is con-ducive
to delivering effective fire utilizing the methods of point
shooting taught in our classes.
The recommendation for this application would be to carry a prop-erly
fitted gun, in a concealed holster on the dominant side, with
the grip frame positioned so that a firing grip could be accom-plished
with a natural placement of the hand. The holster should
be constructed so that a single hand recovery to the original carry
location could be effected in case both hands were needed for
control of the adversary or escape.
An individual’s body size and type will determine whether the
carry location should be in front of, at, or behind the point of the
dominant side hip, inside or outside of the trousers, or at another
location meeting the criterion. Waist size and individual range of
motion of the dominant arm factor in as does the variety of body
positions that the person may find themselves in when the gun is
needed. Keep in mind that you may be standing, seated, flat on
your back, or anywhere in between when the need for your gun
is imminent.
Hand size is of particular interest when selecting a concealed car-ry
handgun. If the gun is fitted properly to the shooter so that the
muzzle is naturally positioned on the target as the hand is extended
toward the target, the size and type of handgun can be validated
for optimum performance. The size of the palm impacts signifi-cantly
on the grip size that a shooter can accommodate and the
length of the trigger finger is the final reference to determine the
ideal sized pistol or revolver. That being said, there is such thing
as a handgun being too small for practical use. If the grip of the
gun is so small that at least two fingers can’t be wrapped around
it, stabilizing the gun for multiple shots is going to be challeng-ing.
The trigger must be pulled to fire the gun. Some hand sizes in
proportion to gun sizes will not allow for sufficient range of mo-tion
to fully pull the trigger to fire the gun. The point is that if the
concealed carry handgun can’t be drawn and driven to the target
to deliver the full complement of ammunition (if needed) with a
high hit probability, another option should be exercised. You just
can’t miss fast enough to achieve success. It is bullet placement
that is essential to realizing a positive outcome with a handgun.
Sights for the concealed carry handgun are a matter of personal
preference. In a close range street encounter there is a good likeli-hood
that they won’t factor in as essential items. However, the
fact that they are there, and are what you are comfortable with,
gives a psychological advantage for success.
Ammunition selection is a highly debated issue and one of the
things that keep us in the unending quest for the “magic bullet”.
If you want to get the best information available as to bullet per-formance
on living tissue, contact several trauma room surgeons
and see what they have to say about terminal ballistics in actual
cases. You will find it interesting what the medical folks say as
compared to accepted beliefs in the firearms community. Again!
here are a plethora of options and decisions to be made when
it comes to selecting a concealed carry handgun. Most peo-ple
want the most powerful, smallest in size, night sight and
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laser equipped, high capacity, recoilless handgun that weighs lit-tle
more than the ammunition it carries for a bargain price. Unfor-tunately,
in a world of compromise, this is a classic example. The
concealed carry handgun for the serious carrier is a well thought out
tool that speaks to the specifics of the individual’s need and utility.
In keeping with the applied methodology of Objective Based
Training, from which all classes at the SIGARMS Academy are
based on, selection of a concealed carry handgun can be simpli-fied
significantly. There will be compromises for sure, but most
likely they are compromises that we can live with once the con-cept
is understood.
Let me say that what you are about to read is not all encompass-ing
but it will give you food for thought and a starting point in the
selection for the optimum concealed carry handgun for you.
Why you are carrying a concealed handgun in the first place needs
an honest answer. Is it because you are an armed professional or
are you a responsible citizen carrying concealed because you are
exercising your right to legally do so?
As an armed professional the equipment selection is often limited
to the issue duty gun or an optional piece that meets a specific
criterion like brand or caliber parameters. Usually a qualifica-tion
course must be satisfactorily completed as well to verify a
maintained proficiency with the handgun of choice. Some orga-nizations
are more permissive than others but nevertheless, some
of our decisions regarding weapon and ammunition are already
made for us.
This leaves us with decisions on carry location, holster type, and
how much spare ammunition to carry and where to carry it among
the other items necessary for the job.
As a responsible citizen, the selection for concealed carry equip-ment
is wide open. With so many choices to make, it is hard to
narrow the field down to one gun and its support equipment. At
the SIGARMS Academy we feel that the simpler you keep things
the better. This means rather than having a variety of different
types of guns and support equipment for the same job, make the
best selection you can at the time and train hard with that equip-ment
so that when the “time to perform” comes, your likelihood
of success is great.
Using Objective Based Analysis to study the subject further, we’ll
first look at what the anticipated use of the handgun might be. As
a responsible citizen it is reasonable to expect that an encounter
requiring the use of a handgun would be in close proximity to the

8
It is bullet placement on the target that is essential to realizing a
positive outcome with a hand gun.
Have enough ammunition with you for a reload. The recent event
of the Trolley Square shooting in Utah was a lesson learned in
having extra ammunition available when the shooting starts.
The preceding information should help significantly in either val-idating
your present choice of a concealed carry handgun or the
selection of the best one to fit your needs. Above all, have a gun
and be able to use it when the need arises.
About the Author:
George Harris has spent over 30 years in the field of Adult Ed-ucation
with more than 17 years at the SIGARMS Academy.
George completed his undergraduate studies at the University
of Virginia and earned his degree in Communications from the
DeVry Institute of Technology. He has focused his efforts in the
arenas of small arms, small arms training and combat skill de-velopment.
George has evolved from an Infantry Soldier, Small
Arms Repair Technician, and Drill Instructor to become the
Coach and Firing Member of the Internationally recognized
United States Army Reserve Combat Marksmanship Team. As a
competitive shooter, George has the coveted distinction of being
Distinguished with both the Service Pistol and the Service Rifle.
Rated as a Class “C” Coach by the National Rifle Association,
George has a long list of Instructor certifications from Federal
and State Agencies as well as private training organizations. He
holds Armorer Certifications from the major firearms manufac-turers
currently producing small arms for law enforcement and
the military.
George is active in a number of professional organizations which
include among others,International Association of Law Enforce-ment
Firearms Instructors, American Society for Training and
Development and American Society for Industrial Security.
As Director of the SIGARMS Academy, George is committed to
the safe and successful use of firearms by armed professionals
and responsible citizens alike through using the SIG Principle
of Training: Simple Is Good!

9
Carrying a Gun Is Not a Hobby
Oleg Volk
within the various handguns can lead to confusion during oper-ation.
An M1911 requires a downward swipe to disengage the
safety. Consequently, a person accustomed to that design is likely
to re-engage the safety on a Beretta 92 or a S&W autoloader,
which require an upward sweep to make ready. A user habituated
to using a Glock would find a Sig decocker lever where the slide
stop was expected. In general, it is best to use different versions
of the same line of handguns, such as compact, medium and large
frame double action revolvers. Similarly, it is a good idea to stick
to a consistent holster type and carry location. Forgetting which
pocket contains the weapon, or neglecting to disengage a thumb-break
on a holster could have fatal consequences.
Firearm enthusiasts like us sometimes carry a particular weapon
just because they enjoy variety. I have observed a person who
could have concealed a full-size handgun carry a Beretta Minx
in .22 Short on a whim. While doing so made use of his right to
carry, it provided only a tentative defense from any real threat.
On another occasion, he picked a .45 Colt derringer for a week
before learning that the gun was extremely inaccurate, shot well
away from the point of aim, and that the trigger was so heavy that
both hands were required to press it. Unusual or classic designs
may be fun to use, but most of them are much inferior to the more
conventional options.
The phrase “It will never happen to me” is an obvious example of
comforting self-delusion. A slightly less obvious example is “This
gun is meant for close range.” That statement presumes that the
defender will get to pick the range of the encounter, an obviously
optimistic statement. Moreover, if the user can barely hit a pas-sive,
stationary silhouette target at just a few feet, how would he
do against a moving, ducking opponent who is shooting back?
At the other extreme, selecting a target .22 pistol would help with scor-ing
hits...but human foes are far more resilient than paper silhouettes.
Fans of small calibers like .22 Magnum like quoting paper ballis-tics
to support their choices. They overlook the much-reduced ve-locity
due to short barrel, and the unimpressive terminal effects of
the diminutive projectiles. Although no handgun offers truly im-pressive
stopping power, most common chamberings work well
enough. The benefits of choosing exotic guns or calibers are slim
compared to the high cost and certain hassle of procuring enough
ammunition for regular practice. Despite the advertising claims,
magic bullets simply do not exist. At two dollars per round, few
people can afford even a day’s training with unconventional am-munition.
Carrying untested cartridges is an invitation to mal-functions
at the worst possible times.
Realistic and extensive training is essential for safe and effective
deployment of the sidearms. In seeking training, it is wise to avoid
“miracle workers”, trainers who promise quick and overwhelming-ly
effective results through mastery on a single technique. Proper
training mixes multiple methods of presenting and firing the weap-on,
and includes instruction in tactics as well as marksmanship.
arrying a handgun has a lot in common with riding a bicycle.
Both are skills which require practice, good hardware and
are typically done for enjoyment and health benefits. Both
C
practices require common sense for safety. For example, don-ning
black clothes and riding a bike in the middle of a busy high-way
after dark would negate any benefits from improved cardiac
health. Many smart people who are new to carrying a sidearm do
things which are at least as counterproductive. Let’s consider the
case of a certain Joe Above-average.
Joe’s first handgun was a full-size model. For the first days, he
relished the feeling of heavy metal riding on his hip. By the sec-ond
week, that weight became a bit of a nuisance. After a month,
just as the weather got hot and concealing that gun became dif-ficult,
he left his pistol at home when running errands. After all,
making a run to the local grocery store wasn’t a high-risk mission.
One day, he read about a hold-up at his local convenience store,
thought about the large handgun left in the safe and decided that
a small gun in his pocket would be far more useful than a big gun
behind. He got the smallest weapon available and carried it with
him at all times.
We all rationalize going with the most comfortable solutions. Joe
reasoned that bringing any gun to a fight would be enough scare
any potential adversary. If that failed, surely a few shots would be
enough to get him out of trouble. Fortunately, he got to test that
theory and survive.
Joe’s kids were playing in the yard when a clearly rabid raccoon
wandered in. Joe had his tiny pistol in a pocket holster. As a good
father should, he shot to stop the immediate threat to his children.
He hit the animal with all six rounds and watched it limp off into
the nearest bushes. Although the danger was averted, Joe got to
thinking about the incident. If a full magazine from his gun did
not stop a twenty-pound critter, what good would it do against a
motivated two-hundred-pound human adversary?
Why not get the best of both worlds, a gun which is powerful yet
light and small? Joe did that and found that solution to have draw-backs
of its own. Painful recoil discouraged regular practice.
Joe did the manly thing and ignored the pain until he could no
longer feel his right hand. At that point, he decided to talk to other
gun owners and find out which other bright ideas did not work so
well in real life. Learning their experience would save him time
and money.
Too many gun owners treat the serious business of going armed
as an extension of their shooting sports hobby. Some carry a re-volver
one day, a double-action autoloader the next, and a single-action
collectible on the weekend. Alternating between dissimilar
designs invites trouble should one of the weapons be actually
needed for defense. Why? Drastically different manuals of arms

10
Competitive events, such as IDPA shoots, are useful for learning
to function under stress. They aren’t as good for developing tacti-cal
savvy.
The lessons of competitive shooting tend to be of the “what not
to do” variety. Learning that a gun cannot be drawn from under
a zipped up full-length coat, or that glove material can get under
the trigger of a revolver, disabling it, is best done at a safe range.
Uncover the weak links before the weapon has to be used in a real
fight. If an enthusiastic draw breaks the holster in half, or causes
the front sight to come off the gun, then the choice of gear may
have to be adjusted. Same goes for trying new loads, testing new
magazines and any other variables introduced to the personal
protection equation.
Even simple techniques are best tested under controlled conditions,
with hearing and eye protection. For example, most people instinc-tively
get close to their cover. Not only does that expose them to
hostile fire, it also reflects revolver cylinder gap flash off the near-est
surface back into the shooter’s face. Training with a partner
and an Airsoft pistol also discourages other common but dangerous
ways, like carrying an autoloader with an empty chamber.
Few people can make both hands available to rack the slide while
fending off an attack. Point shooting, sometimes advocated to the
exclusion of other techniques, should be similarly tested with tar-gets
placed above, below or to the side of the shooter. Learn your
personal limitations as well as new skills.
Carrying a handgun is not a hobby. First and foremost, your
sidearm is a tool for stopping aggression against you and yours.
Just as a surgeon would not use antique tools on a patient, you
shouldn’t carry a weapon just because it is neat or unusual. Con-siderations
other than effectiveness and efficiency should take
precedence over all others.

11
After the Shooting Stops:
Dealing With the Aftermath of a
Lethal Encounter Steve Krystek and
Michael Potter
• Number of “suspects” and number of “victims.”
• Who has been injured and what are the injuries?
• Where are those injured located?
• Who is armed and what are they armed with?
• Where are the weapons now (yours and the suspect’s)?
• What is your exact location/position, and what are you doing
right now?
• If you’re in a house, is there anyone else there?
• How long ago did the assault/shooting occur, and was it at
the same location?
hen he turned off the light and laid back on his pillow
that night, 71-year-old retiree, John Madison, had no
idea that 27-year--old, armed predator, Jonas Scott,
was lurking outside of his home. But within an hour, Scott in-vaded
the Madison residence and lay dead on the floor, felled by
two shots that were launched by the homeowner. As the sound of
wailing sirens came closer, Jonathan turned to his wife and asked
simply, “What happens now?”
Let’s face it. Much time is devoted to the “how to” of self-defense.
But just as important is its timing. The decision to fire is not one
to be taken lightly. Because of the consequences, it’s worthy of
close examination by everyone who carries a firearm, whether for
law enforcement or for personal protection. Here, we’ll examine
the aftermath of a lethal encounter. The key is keeping your wits
about you after the shooting stops.
Presence of Mind After the Shooting
After a defensive shooting, you may have successfully saved your
own life or that of others. But make no mistake. You are at legal
risk until the shooting has been officially characterized as “justifi-able.”
What you say and do in the minutes and hours after a lethal
encounter will have a direct effect on how others perceive the
shooting and how your actions will be legally treated later.
Even before calling 911, collect your thoughts. Replay in your
mind the exact sequence of events. Recall precisely what you per-ceived
on the part of your assailant before you drew your sidearm.
Remember what it was that made you perceive an imminent dan-ger,
and then call 911 to get help on the way.
First Responders on Scene
It’s always best for you to call 911 and report what happened,
rather than a third party who may distort or confuse the facts
while trying to help. When the 911 operator answers, calmly and
clearly state that an armed “suspect” assaulted you, give them
your location, and request an ambulance for the suspect who has
suffered a gun shot wound.
Remember that your 911 tape will probably be played back in
court later. Stating your situation in these terms will get the com-munication
process with law enforcement off to a good start.
Once you’ve addressed those three main points, let the 911 dis-patcher
take over. Dispatchers care most about officer safety and
necessary medical aid, so you should be prepared to provide the
following vital information when asked:
Once the exigent circumstances have been relayed, the call taker
may request more specifics about you and the incident, and may
advise you to do a few things:
• What is your physical description? (So the officers know who
the “victim” is.)
• If you’re in a house, is it safe for you to go outside (and away
from the crime scene)?
• What exactly happened? (The short version. Do not volunteer
too much information.)
• Do you know the suspect? If so, what is the relationship?
• Was there anyone else with the suspect?
• Are there any vehicles involved, and what are the vehicle de-scriptions?
• If you haven’t already done so, secure your weapon before
police arrive. Keep in mind, everything you say during this
911 call is being recorded, even the sound of your breathing.
The tone of your voice and the words you choose will be
listened to many times in the coming weeks or months by
people who weren’t there. Be careful about giving too much
information. Keep your statements and answers simple and
factual.
Most likely, the call taker will ask you to stay on the line until
police arrive, which can be to everybody’s benefit, especially if
the situation changes and officers en-route need a critical update.
Even though most law enforcement communication systems are
very good, arriving officers will not know for sure if you are alone,
whether you are still armed or if you were in fact the assailant.
Upon initial contact, the police will present an overwhelming
show of force to quickly dominate and control a (still) dynamic
situation. This will likely consist of multiple officers tactically
positioned with firearms at the ready, firmly issuing verbal com-
W

12
mands. Expect to be treated like a “suspect” and do not take it
personally if you are forced into a prone position, handcuffed,
disarmed and placed in the back seat of a patrol car. Specific cir-cumstances
will dictate the initial treatment you receive by law
enforcement. In general, pay attention, cooperate, and be pre-pared
for anything, as response protocols for these types of calls
may vary from agency to agency.
Your post-conflict positioning and physical behavior are key to
a safe and tactical after-action sequence. You may be required
to multi-task like never before, depending on your environment,
who is around you, the status of your assailant and how quickly
law enforcement or EMS personnel may arrive. Do not let your
guard down, but do not stand over your downed adversary with
the smoking gun either. Do your best to balance readiness and
the appearance of not posing an overt threat to anyone. If the
incident occurred in your home, move your family to safety, in-side
or outside the residence, where this potentially horrific crime
scene cannot be observed or disturbed. If the incident has oc-curred
on the street, gain distance, get behind cover if possible,
and stay aware of everyone and everything in your environment.
Maintain control of your firearm, which may be holstered or at
the ready, depending on the danger still perceived (until police ar-rive).
Operate your cell phone with your support hand if possible,
and verbally communicate with bystanders and/or the assailant
if necessary.
Do not make the mistake of having a Clint Eastwood moment
after you’ve won your gunfight. Blurting out macho, feel-good
statements such as, “He had it coming.” or, “One less scumbag
to crowd our prisons, right guys?” will not be well received by
responding officers or witnesses. Instead, try to make friends
with those who witnessed what occurred and encourage them to
stick around so they can give their statement to the police and/or
further assist you in other ways. Clear thought and communica-tion
immediately following a shooting will be difficult for most.
Good, deep breathing will help immensely. Taking in oxygen will
help to lower the heart rate and achieve a better state of physical
and mental relaxation. When you are calm, you are in control.
And after surviving a lethal confrontation, you must have abso-lute
control of yourself, your adversary and your environment.
When initially questioned by the police, think very carefully
about what you will say. You should expect to be read your
Miranda Rights if you are asked any questions about the incident
by police while in custody. It is your right to request an attorney
before giving any written or verbal statements. However, decline
to answer questions in a respectful manner. Tell them that you
fully intend to cooperate with the investigation, but you’d rather
wait to answer questions due to the traumatic event that you’ve
just experienced. If you choose to answer questions on the scene,
stick to the facts, do not embellish, and make sure that what you
say then will be consistent with what you will say later.
Keep Your Wits About You
This is a critical time. What you say and how you behave will
make an impression on both the police and any witnesses. The
comments you make now can make or break you.
Remember: You did not fire a “warning shot.” You did not shoot
to kill. You fired your weapon at another human being for only
one purpose, and that was to “stop” the deadly attack initiated
by the perpetrator. You took the action that you did because you
were in fear for your life or the life of another, period. End of
story. If you say more than that, you may dig yourself a legal hole.
Whatever you say will be written down or recorded, so don’t hang
yourself now by saying something macho or dumb that you’ll
regret later.
As you sit safely reading this article, remember that after a shoot-ing
incident, even the smallest aspects of each pertinent fact as-sociated
with the shooting will be looked at in excruciating detail
by people who weren’t there when it happened.
You will probably be asked the same questions, in different ways,
several times over, to see if your answers are consistent or if you
‘change your story’ from interview to interview. And remember
that people standing nearby as witnesses may have been thinking
about something else when you perceived a danger. They sim-ply
may not have been aware of the same things that you were,
and this may be the reason that they have a different “version.”
If the witnesses were completely unaware of the danger when
you drew your sidearm, then from their perspective, they simply
heard gunfire and turned to see someone (you) standing there with
a gun over someone bleeding on the ground. For all they know,
you may be the assailant. The witnesses may not have perceived
exactly what you did, even though they may have been in close
physical proximity to the event.
You will be questioned about details. The first police officers on
the scene, as well as the investigators assigned to the homicide
will take turns interviewing you. They will ask you questions
such as: What happened? Why did you shoot your gun? What did
the (dead) assailant do or say exactly? How far away from you
(or the innocent intended victim) was the assailant at the time that
you perceived a threat? Why did you think that this person was a
threat? What did you do to avoid the incident, if anything? When
did you act? Did you say anything before the shooting? What did
he say? Repeat this phrase several times: “I was in fear for my life
and I had no other choice, in order to stop him.” When that con-sistently
shows up in the incident report of several officers, the
lead investigator will take it into account when deciding whether
to press charges or let you go home.
The Emotional and Legal Aftermath
Mental and emotional suffering is common amongst survivors of
lethal conflicts.
Depending on the circumstances of your encounter and whether
or not you’ve experienced a situation like it before, your thoughts
and feelings about the incident may consume you for a short to

13
a long period of time. Some may experience the affects of Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), guilt, self-doubt or paranoia.
These emotions resulting from a defensive shooting are normal;
that is one of the reasons why police officers are routinely given
time off after a shooting. During the following weeks, profes-sional
counseling may be beneficial, and discussing what hap-pened
with trusted friends can help us decompress emotionally
from the seriousness of the experience. To be successful in the
legal aftermath, this is what you should keep in mind:
No Other Choice: When the decision was made to use deadly
force, your perception must have been that you or the person you
were defending were about to die at the hands of the perpetrator
or suffer unavoidable, serious physical injury if you did not act
immediately. Threat Specific Response: Remember, lethal force
must be later determined to have been “reasonable” and “nec-essary,”
based on the surrounding circumstances at the moment
force was used. What were “reasonable” and “necessary” will always
be a deciding and critical factor in every single self-defense shooting.1
Conclusion
You have a duty to know how and when to use the weapon. Don’t
rely on friends at the range or the gun shop to give you the word.
Get yourself properly trained, take part in the IDPA or USPSA to
improve your skills, and by all means, take the time to learn your
state’s guidelines for the use of lethal force. If you have under-taken
the effort to gain multi-state carry rights through reciproc-ity,
then you have more than one state to deal with. Plus, there’s
one more perspective.
The old saying goes, “When the only tool you have is a hammer, ev-ery
problem starts looking like a nail.” So don’t tie your own hands.
Expand your range of defensive options.2 Non-lethal force may be
what’s called for. If your only option is that of lethal force, and you’re
faced with a serious self-defense situation that calls for “something
less,” you are at a distinct tactical and legal disadvantage.
A prosecutor could then try to make you into a poster child for
gun control, by saying that you had trained and armed yourself
with only one option in mind -- that of killing -- and that you were
just waiting for an “excuse” to use it. The argument would be that
you were a “gun nut” with a predisposition to killing, by virtue of
your exclusive training with only one single tool -- your firearm.
However, having defensive skills in both firearms and non-lethal
force may well be central to both your tactical and your legal
defense. That way, you have been trained in more than one option
and can be shown to recognize the difference when it is called
for. Let’s face it. Self-defense is serious business, no matter what
tools are in your toolbox. But sitting months later in a courtroom,
facing the jury in a civil or criminal trial, you will want to know in
your “heart of hearts” that your actions were not only timely, but
appropriate for the threat that you were facing at the time.
• ‘Reasonable’ under the law refers to what the “reasonable
and prudent person” would have done under similar circum-
stances with the same knowledge that you had at the moment
the incident occurred.
•
• Training in intermediate force options is prudent and street-wise
for any CCW permit holder. Take it upon yourself to
learn empty-hand tactics, takedowns, techniques, as well as
the use of defense sprays and the proper use of the folding
knife and kubaton. See www.pfctraining.com for more.
About the Authors:
STEVE KRYSTEK served as the senior team leader and trainer
of a USAF Special Weapons and Tactics Team and later in U.S.
Department of Energy Nuclear Protective Force Operations. He
has trained thousands in tactical shooting, combatives and spe-cial
operations, both in the U.S. and overseas. Steve is currently
a full-time police officer for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police
Department, a use of force consultant for the U.S. Government
and Director of the Las Vegas based Progressive F.O.R.C.E.
Concepts (www.PFCtraining.com).
MICHAEL L. POTTER is an attorney, author, martial arts en-thusiast
and multi-state CCW permit holder. With both active
duty and reserve military experience, he is a Captain in the Na-val
Reserve, where he’s a senior member of the Navy Marks-manship
Team. He is also an NRA certified range officer, in-structor
and an IDPA and USPSA tactical shooter.

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