For the chapter of my book which will cover the guns and gear of Gun Culture 2.0, I am doing some background work on the history of firearms. What’s been constant and what has changed over time, especially with the evolution from Gun Culture 1.0 to Gun Culture 2.0? While thinking about how best to … Continue reading
The recent announcement of a collaboration between the United States Concealed Carry Association, the Personal Defense Network, and Rob Pincus of I.C.E. Training, reminded me of a blog post I began drafting two years ago(!!!) while listening to Paul Carlson’s Safety Solutions Academy podcast (March 20, 2015). The following statement by Pincus to Carlson caught … Continue reading
5 years ago this week, I began this blog. My first post reflected on how I got into guns and came to realize that my experience was not unique, but was part of a larger cultural movement that Michael Bane and others have called Gun Culture 2.0. Since then, I have learned alot about guns … Continue reading
It’s sad when you only find out what your colleagues across campus are doing when you get a pingback on your blog. Yesterday I was alerted to the fact that my colleague in Wake Forest University’s philosophy department, Patrick Toner, has been writing regularly about guns on the Crisis Magazine website. (N.B.: In the Catholic … Continue reading
In my recent post on “Becoming a Civilian Defender,” I highlighted Massad Ayoob’s position that “mental awareness and preparedness” and “proper use of tactics” are higher priorities in surviving violent encounters than “skill in combatives” and “optimum selection of equipment.” Which is reassuring to me because I do spend more time on the former than the … Continue reading
Although it was published earlier this year, I recently came across an interesting post on Dr. Sherman House’s “Revolver Science” blog called Becoming the Civilian Defender. “Civilian defender” is House’s term for the regular people who take responsibility for their self-defense along the lines of tactical trainer Patrick McNamara’s “Sentinel” or sociologist Jennifer Carlson’s “citizen-protector.” … Continue reading
I have written a number of posts about the conditions under which a person can and cannot legally use deadly force in self-defense. Much of my understanding of this comes from Massad Ayoob’s course “Armed Citizen’s Rules of Engagement” (a.k.a. MAG-40), as well as Andrew Branca’s “Law of Self-Defense” course and book. A key to … Continue reading
