Plan to get some training this year. Be it advanced firearms training, medical, cooking, sewing, gardening wood working computers, welding….

Learn something new this year. I plan to do so myself.

It is with a sad heart that I post this.

One of my former students was involved in an accident and has died.  He was in his 50′s.  There was a firearm involved and a vehicle. Not much more is known at this time.  He was a friend of mine from the Post Office.  He had taken my Handgun permit class several years ago.  From reports it seems that he either accidentally shot himself while driving and then wrecked his vehicle.  Or he was shot from  out side the vehicle.  They are investigating it as a homicide as of now.

Guys,
We all feel like we should know all there is to know about these subjects even if there is no way we could know all there is to know about these subjects. We are born with precious few true instincts. All of our other knowledge must come from experience, either direct or indirect.

There is only so much direct knowledge we can gain for our selves. We would need to be an especially bright person just to know what questions to ask. We, as humans have the advantage of language.
The written and spoken word are our foundation.

Guys, we must allow our selves to take advantage of them. When we approach a subject we must approach it with a teachable mindset. I frequently see guys in class who already “know” how to shoot and be safe with a gun. They just need you to give them the gun so they can show you.

Also frequently by the end of the class, if they have had that teachable mindset, they will tell me they didn’t know there was so much to know about guns and shooting. And that is the basic beginners class…

Take a deep breath….
Always good advice. Before doing something stressful stop for a second and collect yourself. Take a deep breath and focus your mind on doing what you are about to do.
For some time now it has been our habit to stop while on the firing line with students just before giving the load command for a deep breath. I fails to do that today.
I had a lady who was so nervous she only hit 30 out of 48 shots on the state qual. 3 short of passing. When she shot the course again we took the time to relax. She scored 100.

Easily the most frequent question I get and not nearly the worst. It is logical that people ask me this. I am “the gun guy” as far as they are concerned. Unfortunately the question is not as easy a one to answer as they are thinking.
I know most people figure I will be able to just tell them which particular gun out there is best for them. My pat answer now is it is best to just come to class. I do about an hour in class going over the in’s and out’s of the major types of guns and what to think about with each one.
Some people will come to me saying “I just got this new gun so I figured I should take your class”. My class will be helpful to them. Unfortunately many times they decide after weighing everything out that the gun they just bought doesn’t fit the role they had in mind. Sometimes they just find out that perhaps something else would fit the role better.
So here are some things to think about when buying a gun. What is to be the intended use of this gun? What is my budget? The answer to each of those questions will lead to other questions and to culling out many guns that don’t fit your need.

One of the adage’s from Sun Tzu is “Know yourself”
To know your self you must make an accurate assessment of your abilities. This includes all aspects of yourself, physical, mental, moral/spiritual etc.
To learn your abilities you have two possibilities, through self examination or through trial.
For the mental aspects self examination yields good results. You can mentally “game” out your responses to many situations. By playing these mental “games” you are in effect exercising your mind. You are making it more likely you will be able to solve the chalange at hand.
Moral and physical limits can often only be known by trial. You will not know for sure how much weight you can lift or how far you can run or walk until you try.
The moral, though, is another animal. It is difficult to truly test our selves to any great extent. We can test ourselves daily on many small things. It is the major moral issues that we may never know our reactions to intellect we try.
Mental self examination and “gaming” can help us gain a better understanding of what we would do. Is also helps us mold what we would have happen.