The Concealed Carry advice that sounds smart — until stress hits Concealed carry culture is full of confident advice that sounds airtight in a calm classroom or on a sunny range. Under real stress, though, some of those “rules” fall apart, colliding with human physiology, legal reality, and the messy way violence actually unfolds….
Category: Combative Mentality
Stress Under Fire
Stress Under Fire Mental Preparation for Emergencies I’ve spent over three decades as a prepper and nearly as long as a therapist, most recently working with first responders. Most of us believe we will not be mentally impacted by emergencies, stress, and survival situations, but stress has a way of surprising you. It’s not…
The Armed Citizen Corner: Criminal Mindset – Make Yourself Harder to Kill
Criminal Mindset – Make Yourself Harder to Kill It might be cheesy to open an article up with a quote from Sun Tzu’s Art of War, but it applies so well; if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. Today we are going to talk about…
Lessons Learned from the Battlefield: Close with the Enemy
Lessons Learned from the Battlefield: Close with the Enemy Most hand-to-hand fighting is over who controls the weapons. The Irrigation Ditch The Rangers had been on the ground for less than a minute when small-arms fire cracked from close range. After evacuating two wounded—one with a life-threatening gunshot wound—they began clearing a large grassy…
Bullets Follow Walls – Explained
I remember when I started MOUT training, I heard the phrase “bullets follow walls, so stay away from walls.” I heard it and did it, but I had to eventually ask what it meant. Why do bullets follow walls? At 18, I had no idea what bullets did. I was told to shut up…
No Clips on Pockets
No Clips on Pockets Concealed weapons offer a two-fold advantage: they provide force multiplying capability, and they provide the element of surprise. I make no bones about the fact that I think open carry of a pistol is ill advised, most of the time. If there is a choice to conceal the handgun, that is…
Jeff Cooper vs. Terrorism
Colonel Jeff Cooper, USMC (Ret.) Originally published in the Guns & Ammo 1975 Annual Issue. So here we are in the “Age of Extortion!” Our local friendly felons have finally discovered what has long been taken for granted in what we used to call “more backward countries” — that crime does pay, in millions….
Armed Citizen Corner: Lethal Dangers in ECQ Defense
Via: The Armory Life Lethal Dangers in Extreme Close Quarters Defense Outside of military conflict, it is an indisputable fact that most violent encounters unfold inside of conversational distance. This is true of fights with the schoolyard bully back in the 6th grade, an attempted mugging on the street, or gun play in an…
Armed Citizen Corner: Reasons for Concealed Carry – My Interview with a Psychopath
Reasons for Concealed Carry: My Interview with a Psychopath In this article, Dr. Will Dabbs discusses why he carries a firearm for self-defense. The article includes discussing a real person with a serious mental illness. Real names have not been used. Nothing in this narrative is intended to disparage or stigmatize those who might…
Training Stressors
From the Archives, 2018 (Hermit Note: In keeping with my recent announcement of re-centering priorities of “Just Shut-Up and Train!” I will be posting articles from the archives that I feel are of vital import to the Armed Citizen. Let’s all make a point to get out there and train in whatever capacity we are…