I have heard, “Anti gun people who believe if there is a robbery by an armed criminal, a good guy with a gun will more likely hurt innocent people while trying to stop the bad guy.” I will accept that while that scenario is possible, BUT, in fact it rarely ever happens. I am totally convinced that a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun. Many Sheriffs and police chiefs are coming on news broadcasts and telling citizens to get armed and get trained.
For this article, I did some research. Now I am very pro NRA, but I wanted to seek out a fair and balanced set of statistics. So I “googled” the question: “How many innocent victims are killed by armed citizens while defending themselves?” I could not find any such cases documented. One report by the “Gun Owners of America” states: “Guns are used 2.5 million times a year in self defense by law abiding citizens.” That is 6,800 times per day! Guns are used 80 times more often to defend lives of innocent citizens rather than criminals taking lives (www.gunowners.org). The lame stream media will never report such facts because the facts do NOT support their anti-gun agenda. The United States is third in murders throughout the world. But if you take out just four cities (Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC and New Orleans), the United States is fourth from the bottom in the entire world for murders! Yet, these four cities also have the toughest gun control laws in the U.S. All four of these cities are controlled by anti-gun politicians. It would be absurd to draw any conclusions from this data – correct?
I spent a total of 23 years in Law Enforcement. Today’s officers get much better training than I did back in the 70’s. Today, I am a student of self defense. I am an NRA certified instructor. I read, study and practice self defense with a firearm every chance I get. I am a huge advocate of staying out of and away from trouble. As a Deputy Sheriff in Lee County Florida, I would often be dispatched to various locations which were known to be trouble spots. For instance, a small public beach was a nice place during the day. But, at night, it was known for heavy drinking and the resulting fights. For a guy to take his girl there, it just was just plain dumb, stupid, ignorant or all of the above. The point here is stay away from trouble!
There is the rare, but possible, case where you have done everything right, stayed away from trouble and evil presents itself anyway. Last issue we talked about the fact that you cannot be the aggressor. If you start the fight and then find yourself losing the fight, you cannot pull a gun and legally defend yourself with it when you started the trouble. You cannot go back an hour later and get even with a guy who insulted your wife or girlfriend. So, before evil presents itself, do what eighteen other good citizens in North Alabama have done recently and get trained to use your firearm, safely and properly.
Give your PIECE a chance! It will not do you any good sitting in a box hidden somewhere in your home. When I give a class, I keep the class size small (2-3) so I can give individual attention. Sixteen of my students have been as novice as can be. Almost ZERO experience. Two of my students were former career military, but wanted a refresher. My desire is for my students to be cautious, but familiar and safe when picking up their gun. If an armed citizen picks up a gun in self defense, but has to stop and think, “Is the safety on or off? Is this gun loaded? If not loaded, where did I put the ammo?” If you need to do all that, in a self defense situation, it’s probably too late. Get trained so whether you pick up a gun for target practice or self defense, you are totally familiar with it. It is a tool and should be NO different than picking up a hammer in your workshop or a skillet and spatula in the kitchen. I can teach you to use your gun safely and properly.
By: Paul Foreman
Retired Deputy Sheriff, Lee County Florida.
Paul can be reached through e-mail at Captureman@PaulForeman.com or his web site, www.PaulForeman.com
