Why Defensive Firearms Training is Important

(Blogger’s Note:  The following post was written for a POMA writing contest and was chosen as a finalist in that competition.   The short essay will appear in an upcoming issue of Personal Defense Network’s magazine)

“Did you hear that?!!”

“Honey, …wake up…did you hear that noise in the kitchen!!!”

“I think someone’s in our house….”

This is not the conversation a person expects to have in the middle of the night once they lay their head down on a pillow for the day.   But it happens.   Happens when a person least expects it.   Happens far too often in this drug-crazed, take-what-you-want world we all live in.

As a sportsman, it’s easy to take a certain solace in the fact your trusty bird gun sits 10 feet away in the closet.   Hell, you know you’re the best quail shooter at the club.   But how’s your skills at shooting felonious intruders these days?   Chances are most sportsmen who own a cache of various guns and knives live under a false sense of security.

When you go on an upland bird hunt you carefully plan your strategy.   Spend months in the trap league honing those smooth swings on a passing bird.   Choose just the right ammunition for best patterning performance.   You leave nothing to chance to perform at your peak.

Yet, protecting your home abode is a different game.   If you’re lucky you might have a plan on how to escape the threat of fire…but what about the human threat?   Can you quickly fortify your bedroom making it off-limits to an intruder in a matter of seconds?   Is your cell phone always by the night stand?   Do you have the training necessary to make life and death decisions during split seconds?

Nobody wants to encounter crime in their own home.   Yet, we can’t just wish it away.   It takes preparation.   It requires hands-on training.

Now is the time to make a pledge to your family they will be survivors.

©2013 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.