Sorry guys, been fairly busy with several projects between the full time gig and various side gigs to jump in with a good topic for June, and decided that I would rather keep the good discussions we have been having instead of giving you just normal BS to chat on here about.

This month I would like to talk about thinking defensively, and common sense.

In the IHTF this past month we have had some pretty decent discussions about edged weapons and automatic edged weapons as well as some other topics from what sidearm to carry and (in past months when to FO and when not to FO).

I will start with edged weapons, with ARFCOM focusing more on firearms as a weapon of choice for recreation and protection I think that more people are starting to have what I like to call a "light bulb moment" when it comes to secondary weapons. Please don't take that wrong. I really enjoy teaching and IMHO that moment when I can see the "light bulb" come on over a students head, or that moment that they get it (a combination of understanding and putting the lesson into practical application)....as someone who teaches, this is the moment when teacher and student both understand. The student "gets the lesson", and the teacher enjoys seeing the student succeed....as well as learning to think about the techniques from the student's perspective again.

Secondary weapons, CCW, and thinking defensively. This can be overwhelming. I touched on this in one of the knife topics earlier this month, saying that people who truly think defensively plan for the worst case scenario and hope for the best. This can be kind of a daunting task, and has been drilled into my head since becoming a tactical officer.
This is one of the things that I try to subtly pass on in classes. I try not to push this to hard because it can turn people off talking in the worst case scenario. Which in unfortunate because it is a really good mental excersice for learning to take care of yourself. Kind of along the lines of having a disaster plan or a bug out bag.
Carrying knives as secondary weapons or supplemental weapons to your sidearm. I said earlier that I have been a knife guy probably longer than a gun guy. Probably my biggest attraction to knives is the simple practicality of the edged weapon as both a tool and weapon. It makes sense to carry a good knife in addition to your sidearm to prevent someone from attempting to take your sidearm away and use it on you. or in the event you can not get to your sidearm in a defensive situation.
I am also a firm believer in the economy of motion, meaning that things do not have to be complicated to be effective. I like the simplicity of the four step draw because it covers everything needed to get to your sidearm into action from the holster through presentation with nothing that you don't need. I practice and teach the same basic methodology with edged weapons and their deployment.
As far as selection of edged weapon, be it fixed blade, folder, or blade style is a completely different topic and like I said in another thread, the great 9mm vs 45 ACP debate among knife folk.

I was chatting with some friends from a local PD the other day and was told a story that made me shake my head......being people who enjoy exercising their 2nd amendment rights you may want to take note of this. They told me that two officers were called to a fight in progress, when they arrived on scene and were dealing with the combatants a CCW licensed individual also observed the fight and came running over with their pistol in one hand and their permit to carry in the other. Mind you that there was a fight in progress, and that marked police cars were on scene, with uniformed officers dealing with the situation and an armed civilian, who was not in anyway involved jumped into the mix. He was unknown to either officer on scene, just running up to it and getting himself involved and a visible sidearm was being displayed to the officers.
Well, how do you think they responded?
You guessed it, the CCW holder who was not in anyway threatened by the altercation was proned out at gunpoint by the officers who did not know him or what his involvement in the situation was at that point.
I bring this up because why would anyone in their right mind leave their family, draw a pistol and run at two uniformed officers who are dealing with a situation? What danger is the CCW holder in? Why did he feel the need to get involved in a situation that was already being taken care of?
The permit to carry weapons is for your protection.....and that of your family. If you are in danger, or someone is attacking your family then go forth and protect yourself and your loved ones. Do so judiciously, and honorably. But why would you go running at a situation that is already in hand, being dealt with by uniformed officers? Why would you leave your loved ones to get into the mix on something that does not directly involve you?
Before anyone asks, no the officers were not in danger.
Now, I have been assisted by armed citizens, and with back up several miles away I was proud to hear someone yell from across the street that "officer can I help you, I am armed". Things like this restore my faith in the citizens I serve, especially when I am doing a felony stop (by myself) on two people in a stolen car who I do have covered but they are very obviously trying to decide to run or fight because they are looking at some time in the pokey.
I bring these situations up because I think people really need to examine what it really means to think defensively.
"Am I helping the situation, or making it worse?" And another question that one must think about before getting involved in a situation is, "what do I have to gain/loose by getting involved"?
Several years ago my wife and I were returning from our honeymoon. We were in the Denver airport when someone ran by us with another person chasing them. Bags were flying and people were parting ways to clear a path. At the time my wife was pregnant (before anyone asks, we were married several months earlier and wanted to hit Australia during their summer months) and I grabbed her to pull her out of their path. My only thought at that moment was to protect my wife and our unborn daughter....which was my primary responsibility. Being a LEO came second. I was a good witness when the on duty and in jurisdiction coppers arrived.
My point of this months topic is that truly thinking defensively means understanding many things other than weapon choice, holster choice, or even the ablilty to use your tool of choice....it means using your brain, remember all other weapons are supplemental.

R

Yup. before you touch your gun, you have to ask, "Is this important enough to me to go to jail over it?" and if the answer is no, don't touch it.

It is never a good thing to be known by the local PD as "That guy".

Guess I won't be wearing my "That Guy" morale patch around this group anymore. Swapping it for "F#$( it We'll do it Live!" patch.

Here,

http://www.shadez-of-gray.com/clothing-apparel/morale-patches/haterade-patch/

Ok, got my patch ordered and this has kind of been a dead topic for long enough.....hopefully this will add some things to bring the discussion back.

I have been talking to a bunch of people lately about learning to think defensively. What exactly is thinking defensively anyway? I am not sure there is a textbook definition but my own personal definition goes a bit beyond skill at arms, how or where I carry my weapons of choice, or how many guns I own.

I keep trying to get people to get a bit deeper, remember a few months ago when we were talking about OODA loop, Schuerts Cycle, and Force Science? All great things to understand, from keeping situational awareness to having a plan "just in case", to understanding how your body will react under the stress of an physical altercation, and how understanding what is going on with your body during these events makes things less scary. Also understanding human nature, and how to not stand out as either an aggressor or a victim.....becoming the "Grey Man", or instead of a wolf in sheep's clothing.....but rather a not a sheep or a sheepdog but just fading into the background.
These things in addition to what else I have mentioned all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle to form what in my opinion is thinking defensively.

I am not advocating walking around paranoid, ready to snap on anyone at any time mind you, but understanding how the things you have put together to defend yourself and your loved ones all fit together rather nicely if you will let them.

I had another conversation recently that I thought I would mention as well.

A friend who is just getting into the CCW lifestyle and I were talking and he wanted to bounce some "what it's" off of me. My friend is a pretty level headed person, hard working, and has a family. Some of the things my friend was asking made me think a bit. During the course of our conversation we kept going back to drawing your weapon and then the situation would end, I tried to redirect things a bit telling them that this is the best possible outcome and leaving this as the only outcome is setting yourself up for failure.....even when only thinking your way through problems before they happen.
My friend, like more people than I think will truly admit do not believe that someone would really want to harm them....that they only want money, vehicle, or material possessions. I told my friend that if this were true that we would never see homicides in the news, my friend countered with that a lot of these people are involved in lifestyles that may possibly lead to their demise. I told them that was one way to look at it, and brought up crimes of passion, or workplace violence, or emotionally disturbed people or even people in drug induced psychosis...let alone the fact that there are some people out there (although rare) that have no problems taking you out if you get between them what they want. I could go on and on and have not even mentioned fanatics.
The bottom line here is that I will not teach or practice psychological effects in defensive pistol craft/rifle craft or edged weapons as they are not a constant. Yes, some attackers will turn and run if they see you refuse to be a victim but this is something that if you count on happening and it does not that you may end up biting off more than you were willing to and freeze up.
In my opinion, thinking defensively means understanding this. It also means that if you prepare for the worst possible outcome of a confrontation and it does not come than you are still a winner.
The reality is that you may indeed be forced to fire that shot, or multiple shots. You may actually have to use that edged weapon in a defensive situation. Understanding these things, and the skill to put them into practice as well as the ability to hit the intended target, be it with a firearm or edged weapon may be the only thing that saves your skin.
I would rather deal in reality as it is a constant.

R

Interesting post, bhouse.

If you're up for some discussion, I have some questions about what you've posted.

First, what are the "rules of close quarters tactics" that you're referencing?

Second, with whom did you study Tae Kwon Do (instructor's name and school)? Was it full contact, light contact, or no contact? What was the extent of the weapons training, and what was the instructor's background in weapons training? My experience in Tae Kwon Do has been what I would define as limited (10 years, but all from the same cadre of instructors), but I have long been under the impression that Tae Kwon Do is not a weapons-based system, and thus even those instructors who did give knife/staff/ect. instruction were doing it in a very stylized and theory-based manner. I would certainly not share your confidence in my ability to use an edged weapon more effectively than firearms.

Let's bring this full-circle and steer it back towards Romper's original post and recent addendum. The topic under consideration was defensive thinking and common sense, so what does that look like if we apply it to the setting you have described? First off, it is difficult to call "taking a KaBar and a flashlight to the intruder" a defensive tactic. I'm glad that you have confidence in your melee abilities, but I think you're picturing a "best case" scenario rather than the worst, which was also one of Romper's points. In your view, you have one attacker who is either unarmed or who you have been able to catch off guard enough to close 30 ft of distance and attack with a blade or a kick; also, you are describing a fantasy fight which you easily dominate with only three strikes. What if this intruder has 80 lbs. on you and is in good physical condition? What if he's on drugs and laughs off your strikes? What if there are two attackers and you only initially saw one? What if there are three, or five? As Romper said, you have officially "bitten off more than you were willing" and you are in serious trouble, all because you are choosing a less defensive mindset and have not applied common sense. There are simply to many variables which you are ignoring.

Inversely, how would that worse-case scenario play out if you employed truly defensive tactics? My friend, firearms have been successful world-wide because they are extremely effective at equalizing the playing field for all combatants. Set yourself up to have the highest chance of success, starting with taking the shotgun out of the safe when you come home and putting it back in the safe when you leave or when somebody is going to be in the house, such as the party scenario in your other thread. That gives you rapid access to the most effective weapon in your arsenal. Secondly, instead of taking the fight to the intruder, consider locking the door of your bedroom and calling the police. If whoever is in your house is so anxious to get to you, they now have to go through another locked door, on the other side of which is you with a loaded shotgun. You stand a much higher chance of survival and now hopefully have inbound law enforcement with that tactic instead of rushing out to take the fight to an unknown number of intruders and no one coming to help. "Quick access to your shotgun" is a choice, and is much more a matter of common sense than getting suggestions on the internet.

This is the last time I will post on this topic. I have this nagging feeling that you are just trolling the heck out of me.

Lane, you sir are correct and grasping exactly what I was saying. And this would be exactly what I am talking about.

For the record, I practiced and taught Tae Kwon Do for many years, and stepped away when I began my career in law enforcement looking for more practical means to continue my "martial education".
Some of the more positive things I took from the martial arts, were discipline,the belief that my training was a journey, and learning the joys of passing these things on to others.
I practiced TKD from the time I was 7 into my early 20s, I owned/operated two clubs, one in Story City, and one in Boone.....I still keep in contact with many of my students from this time.
It was a positive way to learn to express myself and taught me the discipline that kept me on the correct side of the jail bars (most probably).

Getting back to the topic at hand, believing in ones skills is a good thing.....but understanding your limitations is sometimes a better thing. Your weapons of choice in your own home.....a Kabar and a mag light.
For starters on this limiting yourself to the exact tools for a job, without completely understanding the job can and most probably will bite you in the butt.
I think a better thought would be to know your entries and exits, understand how to get to the tools you may need in the worst case scenario, learn how to use them, and what else is available to you at your own home.
Please keep in mind that I do not advocate walking around in your own home with your AR locked and loaded in your hands.....but I do believe in things like keeping my CCW weapon on my hip, while inside my home. This my my little one can not gain access to it, I always have control of it, and if someone or a group of someone's attempts to gain entry into my home without my permission to cause harm to my family then my pistol is on me....ready to go, and I will be able to react in "realistic time" in relation to a home invasion scenario.
Basically meaning that most home invasions take place in seconds, not at unrealistic time frames. And my time from a covered holster fits into this.....and will at least allow me a realistic fighting chance to a surprise attack.....in my own home. And if anything longer than it will allow my time to fight to bigger weapons.

R

Ok, there is no "ideal" place to put a shotgun. Generally when people ask me where do I put a firearm in the home for quick access I tell them on their hip/person. In my case I have a little one running around and when at home my sidearm is on my person......it is under my control at ALL times and my little one can not get ahold of it. I have access to it, and can use it quickly if needed (remember, home invasions happen quickly and by the time someone or group kicks you door in you are probably not going to have time to get to the safe and dial a combo anyway).
With that said, I can not/will not make a home defense plan for you....that is one of those things about growing up that we all need to be able to do for ourselves.....you know, pay our bills, be responsible, take care of our families, and protect them.
Next question you are probably going to ask Bhouse is, well I don't have kids......ok, then plan accordingly....but you do seem to have a roommate that likes to show and tell with YOUR firearms so in a sence you DO have kids in the house.

R