Home Defense

Training with your Home Defense Firearm

~ grant.gallagher ~ 1 Comment

Author Glenn McDermott is the owner of the Firearms Education Center, and runs First Level Training, where he focuses on providing new shooters with the skills they need to confidently take their first shots on the live-fire range. He is an NRA Certified Pistol and rifle Instructor, and Chief Range Safety Officer. Glenn is also certified in defensive firearm instruction by the USCCA. This is the second of two blog posts.

Training with your firearm is important. As the saying goes, owning a piano doesn’t automatically make you a musician. There are several ways of training with your firearm, but the most important thing IS to train.

I like to train my students with a S.I.R.T. pistol. S.I.R.T. stands for ‘Shot Indicating Resetting Trigger’, and these pistols use a laser to indicate where your ‘shots’ are hitting. The resetting trigger simulates the feel of the trigger on your gun. These features help you developthe critical skills of sight alignment, sight picture and trigger control. Other tools are very useful when it comes to training. For example, the “iTarget Pro” uses an app on your smart phone to simulate target-shooting or air-soft guns. You could even set up a small laser ‘shooting’ range in your garage, basement, man-cave or she-shed.

It’s important to train with your surroundings. Not only do you have to train with your firearm, you must train in the place you may have to defend. What do I mean by this? Well, several considerations must be taken into account. What is ‘cover’? What is ‘concealment’? In what direction is it safe to fire?

A typical 9mm round can penetrate 6 layers of drywall easily, so you must pick directions in your house that it’s safe to fire from, and not dangerous to fire towards. For instance, in my home, looking out the front of my house, I can only shoot safely at a 10-2:00 o’clock position. The other areas in my home have houses in the line of fire, so they are not an option. Pick a safe spot inside or outside the home for family members to congregate out of harm’s way if an intruder has breached your security measures.

Make sure your home does not invite an intruder; home security starts with a secure home. Do a perimeter check, take a walk around your house and look for ways to get into your home. Think like an intruder. Do you have lawn furniture by a window that can be used as a step to enter by a window? This is just one way your home can be broken into.

Keep your house well-lit; burglars do not like to be seen. Use 3” screws on your door hinges and striker plates to make it more difficult to break in through a door, and have a code word to communicate a potentially bad situation to others in your home.

Taking all these factors into consideration, now you must ask yourself a tough question. Do you have the temperament to shoot someone? Are you able to shoot someone, knowing that your action may take another’s life? Do you know when to shoot and when not to shoot? These are hard questions that you and only you can answer. Ponder the consequences morally, ethically and mentally. If you do shoot someone, are you prepared to watch them die? If you have any problem with the outcome of a personal defense shooting, or the legal ramifications, then maybe a firearm in your home is not for you.

So then, let’s talk about some non-lethal forms of personal defense. There are some effective non-lethal defense tools on the market, one being pepper-spray guns. Kimber makes a very effective product called the “Pepper Blaster II”. It’s a compact gun that shoots an irritant-like pepper spray, at a speed of 112 MPH , with a range of 13 feet, powered by a CO2 cartridge. It’s a thick sticky substance that sticks on your attacker, and causes extreme eye and breathing discomfort, incapacitating him so that you can get away.

Another product is the “Byrna SD”. This gun shoots small paintball-like projectiles that break open on impact and expel a pepper “dust-like” substance that causes your attacker much discomfort and pain by affecting vision and breathing. If you have never seen these in action, search them on You Tube and see for yourself.

Finally, be a responsible gun owner. The gun owning community receives a lot of bad press, so be an advocate of the second amendment and your Constitutional rights. Know how to use your firearm safely, know how to fieldstrip, clean and maintain your firearm, and remember the three NRA safety rules:

  • ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
  • ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
  • ALWAYS keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.

And treat all guns as though they are always loaded, know your target and what’s beyond, be sure your gun is safe to operate and know how to use your gun safely.

“The Firearms Education Center” – Be Safe, Be Smart, Be Educated.

Editor Note: check your local laws regarding the ownership and use of products mentioned in this post. Some States such as New Jersey are very restrictive.

You’re not Alone !

~ grant.gallagher ~ 2 Comments

Author Heidi Bergmann-Schoch is a United States Concealed Carry Association multi-discipline instructor and Training Counselor (instructor-trainer), as well as a multi-discipline instructor for the NRA and a Chief Range Safety Officer. Public Safety orientated, she has served working nights as a Nationally Registered Paramedic and a Police Officer working patrol, training and handling a Patrol/Narcotics K-9 and an adjunct Tactical Officer. She does some of her best work in the dark. Spending a good part of her life breaking, training, and showing horses, she understands the art of compromise and the benefits of Advil. She can usually be found on her farm with her husband and a plethora of animals, as well as plenty of bees.

You’ve bought your first firearm! You’re excited and a little nervous that something you would never have considered owning 3 years ago has come home with you to help keep you and your loved ones safe. Every once in awhile, you get together and go shoot for an hour then head home, satisfied you’ve shot “well enough” and fairly confident of your abilities.

A few lessons and classes later you realize you really like to shoot! It’s fun while you’re there! Perhaps your spouse, friend or a relative has a gun too, so you may already have a companion to go to the range with. However with busy lives, one thing leads to another and next thing you know, it’s been a month since you visited your favorite noisy place! So why don’t you go more often? Seems your shooting buddy has been busy with no time to spare. If you were bowling or playing bocci chances are you’d be out there once a week, having set aside a particular time to get together with a group.

If you didn’t have a group but wanted to interact in one, or form one, you could put a notice up on the community bulletin board or even make an announcement on Facebook that you were looking for participants. But what about with firearms? It’s hard. Many of us keep this pass-time quiet, either going alone or with that one trusted friend, so when they’re busy, we become frustrated and our enthusiasm wanes.

I’m pretty open about my involvement with guns, explaining to anyone who will listen how they can be a very safe and effective part of a home defense plan.  I’ll go on to mention they are a fun hobby, an investment (I use this one on my husband!) or a means to harvest dinner. I have many friends who have firearms and many who do not but don’t object to the idea (..they know who they’re running to when the zombie apocalypse happens!). But that’s my life and I’m lucky to have it. I don’t have neighbors who get suspicious when they see a laser beam briefly shine out a window because I’m using a laser target in the living room. My neighbors don’t care if they see me loading the car with heavy rectangular bags or long oddly shaped ones.

Finding friends with similar interest in gardening is one thing, but how do you find like-minded people who like guns? Mention it to the wrong person and suddenly you’re the latest, juiciest topic of conversation in your HOA! The looks, the whispers….just the kind of attention you don’t need!

So how DO you make firearms friends? Start with your local range. Become a member and ask when the best time is to arrive and have some practice time that’s not terribly busy so it’s not too noisy. Weekdays in the morning or early afternoon are usually the best. People who are there aren’t rushing to send a few rounds downrange on their lunch hour. It’s a more leisurely atmosphere and the members there usually have some time on their hands. Maybe it’s a retirement hobby for them. But how do you break the ice and start up a conversation, particularly if you’re new and uncertain? Ask them about their gun! Firearms owners LOVE to talk about their favorite gun, target, latest gadget and how long they’ve been shooting. You can make a friend and learn something new as a bonus!

What about trying to find someone in your neighborhood to go shooting with? That’s a bit trickier. If you have a community center, find a class at the local range you may be interested in and post details on the bulletin board. You don’t have to leave your name, just attend the class and see if a neighbor shows up. Try starting your own group. Post a notice of a meet up at the range.  If you’re nervous about what people may think about the topic, make sure no one is around when you put it on the board. Go ahead, look over your shoulder! It may sound a bit “cloak and dagger” and it IS our 2nd Amendment right, but sadly we know not everyone we meet believes this. Don’t put your name on the notice, but do show up at the range on time. Don’t be surprised when your neighbor from two doors down walks in!

It may take a little bit, but you’re sure to find some friends on the range! Gun owners tend to be friendly, practical people who appreciate others who share their interests. Take that first step, head out to your favorite noisy place and make friends!