Category Archives: home defense

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – March 2024

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is an iconic movie in American cinema and arguably the best of the ‘Spaghetti Westerns.’ Rather than my usual boring rants about Serious Mistakes, Negative Outcomes,  http://seriousgunownermistakes.net  and excruciatingly detailed analyses of Armed Citizen incidents, I’m creating a short collection of a Good, Bad, and Ugly incident each month. Here’s the March 2024 issue.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/good-bad-and-101430615

My Patrons get first look at it on the last day of each month. The following month I unlock the Patreon post on the last Monday and link it here for my blog Followers. Today’s the day to unlock the March 2024 edition.

My hope is that it will be both educational and entertaining. The movie soundtrack is outstanding so a snippet from the soundtrack is part of each month’s post also.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – March 2024

The Good

Woman shoots 2 alleged intruders, killing 1, inside West Philadelphia apartment, police say

The Bad

The Bad section this month was difficult to decide which incident to use but the most tragic won out.

Mother accidentally shoots, kills daughter when searching for keys in purse, police say

The Ugly

Kentucky man accused of shooting roommate for eating last Hot Pocket, police say

Enjoy!

The GBU isn’t drawn from The Armed Citizen column of the official NRA Journals but the March edition of The Armed Citizen is attached. Rather than an obsessive interest in ‘the worst case scenario,’ it shows what the vast majority of Defensive Gun Uses really look like. Naturally, my hometown of Chicargo is prominently featured.

Home Defense Pistol Skills

My latest Shooting Illustrated article is up.

“In the process of defending one’s home with a pistol, several additional skills beyond marksmanship are useful and necessary. In particular, the ability to move through the home while holding a handgun and techniques to inform the all-important DON’T SHOOT/SHOOT decision are critical.”

https://www.shootingillustrated.com/content/home-defense-pistol-skills

Flashlight skills at home are important enough that the flashlight chapter of Indoor Range Practice Sessions is a free download on my ebook store.

https://store.payloadz.com/go/?id=2505573

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – February 2024

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is an iconic movie in American cinema and arguably the best of the ‘Spaghetti Westerns.’ Rather than my usual boring rants about Serious Mistakes, Negative Outcomes,  http://seriousgunownermistakes.net  and excruciatingly detailed analyses of Armed Citizen incidents, I’m creating a short collection of a Good, Bad, and Ugly incident each month. Here’s the February 2024 issue.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/good-bad-and-99377217

My Patrons get first look at it on the last day of each month. The following month I unlock the Patreon post on the last Monday and link it here for my blog Followers. Today’s the day to unlock the February 2024 edition.

My hope is that it will be both educational and entertaining. The movie soundtrack is outstanding so a snippet from the soundtrack is part of each month’s post also.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – February 2024

The Good

RCSD: Fatal Columbia shooting determined to be self-defense

The Bad

Man arrested by police after TSA stops him with loaded gun at Pittsburgh International Airport

The Ugly

Two Men Charged with Murder in Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Parade Shooting

Enjoy!

The GBU isn’t drawn from The Armed Citizen column of the official NRA Journals but the February edition of The Armed Citizen is attached. Rather than an obsessive interest in ‘the worst case scenario,’ it shows what the vast majority of Defensive Gun Uses really look like.

Negative Outcome from Opening the Door

Bottom Line Up Front

Do not open (nor even unlock) your [exterior] door[s] until you’re confident this person does not represent a threat.

John Farnam

Excellent advice on many items in John’s post.

Also read this post about ‘Castle Defense.’

http://modernserviceweapons.com/?p=18502

Forewarned is forearmed.

Downrange Incident During Home Invasion

From the Armed Citizen http://graphics.nra.org/ac/ac-138.html this month.

Authorities say a man opened fire on a suspected burglar who attacked his wife at their home

https://www.wfla.com/news/pinellas-county/man-found-shot-after-home-burglary-in-north-redington-beach-deputies-say/

Deputies said [the intruder] encountered a 74-year-old woman inside the residence and ‘began to struggle with her physically.’ Her husband heard her screams and saw her struggling with Jackson. The man then retrieved his firearm and shot Jackson in the right shoulder.

This is what I call a ‘downrange incident.’ I.e., there’s an innocent party downrange and in close proximity to the attacker. Incidents where close range precision is required are more common than is realized.

A downrange drill is part of all my private sessions above the beginner level. The shooter has only one round in the pistol. Two IDPA targets downrange with one placed directly to the side of the -0 zone. The shooter can advance to any distance they feel they can make a -0 hit, either head or body, on the first shot without hitting the hostage. Even experienced shooters tend to get somewhere within Social Space (4-12 feet).

It doesn’t have to be an IDPA match scenario

but practicing the ‘downrange shot’ occasionally is worthwhile.

Los Angeles Citizen’s CCW Taken Away

L.A. homeowner who fired on armed robbers has concealed carry permit suspended

https://news.yahoo.com/l-homeowner-fired-armed-robbers-055345708.html

It’s as plain as the nose on your face that this is retaliation. For what, you may ask?

Embarrassing the authorities on public media. Just that simple. His incident demonstrated that he was capable of protecting himself and his family at the moment of crisis and the authorities were not. By talking to the media, i.e., the local news and Colion Noir, he rubbed that fact in the faces of the Law Enforcement Agencies responsible for his and his family’s protection.

One of the benefits of belonging to a self-defense legal organization such as the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network https://armedcitizensnetwork.org/ is getting to talk to someone about the incident in a confidential manner. Regardless of what organization or attorney you contact, they will undoubtedly advise against giving statements to the media. They are going to tell you to not make public statements.

After any such incident, it’s a natural desire to want to talk about it to decompress. Doing so is probably emotionally healthy. What we want to do is accomplish our decompression in a format that won’t hurt us. Talking to a lawyer is a non-harmful format. Talking to the media, even if they are neutral or well-intentioned, is fraught with hazard.

Couching your criticism with comments like “the LAPD is understaffed” or the like is equivalent to “Bless their hearts.” Then saying you’ve hired a private detective to investigate, which is tantamount to saying the authorities are incompetent, is only throwing more fuel on the fire of their future discontent. And please don’t publicly say that the investigation was sloppy, even if that’s true. NO BENEFIT. That’s just venting. Vent to your attorney not the local news.

As we can see in this incident, the authorities are not going to take kindly to a gunowner publicly proclaiming that it was the Second Amendment and not the authorities that protected them. In States that only issue Licenses To Carry because of Bruen, they’re going to look for some way to get even. Law Enforcement administrators in those States are not your friends. Don’t poke them in the eye by publicly exposing their inability to protect you.

Having to interact with the authorities after an incident is a Negative Outcome.

In its statement to KTLA, the sheriff’s department did say that Ricci’s CCW may immediately be reinstated as long as he has followed all the required policies, such as “proper notifications” and “use of [a] properly documented weapon.”

The Sheriff’s Office’s definition of “immediately” may be somewhat different than ours. Having to jump through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops to reinstate your Right to protect yourself is an undesirable interaction. Don’t put yourself in that situation, regardless of how righteous your incident was. In this case, his attackers are still out there and I wish he could carry his piece.

Attempted Home Invasion in LA

https://abc7.com/los-angeles-homeowner-fights-back-armed-robbery-home-invasion-ccw/14016199/

As reported in The Armed Citizen blog http://graphics.nra.org/armed_citizen/ac_136.html from the NRA, which is well worth subscribing to.

The surveillance video is instructive. Note the ‘chase instinct’ in play. After the homeowner gains the upper hand by pulling his gun and firing, he chases after the intruders instead of going inside, locking the door, establishing a blocking position, and then calling the POlice.

This incident demonstrates a worthy addition to Don’t Go Outside http://modernserviceweapons.com/?p=18502 to our Personal Protection pre-planning. Get Inside As Soon As Possible is the flip side tactic.

Home Invasion – Part II

and that’s the first time I realized how difficult it was to try and remove somebody’s testicles by hand.

The gentleman was very angry that his wife and homestead had been attacked and he had been shot at.

He used a 6 inch revolver to shoot back. No results, unfortunately.

Not necessarily his but one like it.

And with that I went back to retrieve my own firearm. So I went to the vehicle. I had a handgun, a 38 special with a 6 inch barrel.

Quite an amazing and educational story.

Part I https://thetacticalprofessor.net/2023/06/17/home-invasion-part-i/

Home Invasion – Part I

It’s not often that we are able to listen to such a detailed narrative of how a home invasion went down. Having the victim tell the story makes it even more remarkable. This is a very brave woman and family. The overhead view of the property and accompanying explanation of the movements are invaluable.

My thanks to the creator of the video. More about the story in the next post.

CCW Safe Podcast – Encountering Home Intruders

CCW Safe interviewed me about my Five Year Analysis of the Armed Citizen for a podcast recently. The emphasis of this interview was incidents in the home. It is now available to read and listen to.

In Self Defense – Episode 97: Claude Werner on Encountering Home Intruders – CCW Safe National … https://ccwsafe.com/blog/in-self-defense–episode-97-claude-werner-on-encountering-home-intruders

Significant points for me in the interview were:

  • Timing of the incidents
  • Misapplication of the Tueller Principle
  • Distinction between self-defense and personal protection
  • Accessibility of weapons

Here are some Home Defense examples that have occurred more recently. As always, there are Positives and Negatives.

It is was an interesting interview and worth listening to.