Listen to Six

Six, a reader, and a wise man, left this as a comment. But I think it deserves to be a post...so that nobody will miss his good advice:

I've been a cop for 24 years now and this kind of stuff never ceases to amaze and disgust me. Hey folks, even in the small city where I work our average response time is between 2 and 3 minutes (which is actually very very good). That's average. Your mileage may vary. One can get to feeling mighty lonely in those 3 minutes. A fight will most probably be over in a few seconds. Minutes may as well be forever. I've been in a physical fight for my life (not a gunfight though it should have been) and I'm here to tell you it's not fun. Time both expands and contracts. It's very wierd. The point is that if you have actual minutes you can probably talk or run your way out of it. If you are in a life or death situation you're almost certainly going to have seconds only. There is nothing wrong with running or talking (I highly recommend both) but only YOU can make that call and to hell with the monday morning quarterbacks.

Decide beforehand. Waiting until the excrement hits the rotary impeller is a bad time to decide whether or not you can and are equipped to kill or maim. Play what if games and be prepared to kill or incapacitate everyone you see.

I like Louis Awerbuck's feelings that (I'm paraphrasing here) it's best to live a life devoted to avoidance and de-escalation. Off duty, I try very hard to live by that. Even on duty to a certain extent (I'd much rather talk someone into handcuffs as opposed to fighting him into them. Eh, call me a wuss but I'm 50 and still serving). I haven't been in even a fistfight since basic training way back in 1977. A fight I lost by the way.

But. Sometimes the fight finds you and that fight may be for more than your possessions.
I always tell people to do whatever they deem necessary and reasonable to safeguard their safety and the safety of their loved ones. That may well be doing as told but it may also be to fight as if your life depended on it. Because it just might.

My wife and I decided a long time ago that hiring a defense attorney to fight a case where she was forced to defend herself to a thugs demise was cheap at the cost. Tried by 12 or carried by 6 aren't just words, they're a choice and a mindset. Just be certain you understand and are prepared for the consequences. A death inquiry can be a devastating experience. Not as devastating as the funeral of a loved one though. Or your own.

Mental preparation is at least as important as physical. If you can't pull the trigger or make the cut your weapon is less than useless, it's further arming a bad person. Don't be that guy. Get trained and be prepared to use what you've got.

Don't talk to me other than to say some version of "I feared for my life. I'm very upset right now so I better not answer any questions until I talk to my attorney. Thank you." A good cop doesn't want you to say anymore and you shouldn't be talking to a bad one anyway.

My wife goes nowhere without a weapon of some kind. One she is trained with and prepared to use and I kinda think that says it all. If you don't have a weapon be prepared to do whatever you have to. I've taught my wife to hit, kick, bite, tear, scratch, scream and even stick a finger in an assailants eye and not to stop until she hits the back of his skull and you better believe she's ready to do it. She'll sell her life very dearly. How can anyone (I'm talking to you here FBI, local PD and prosecutors)expect less for someone else?

Be prepared to defend your life cause the chances that I or one of my brothers or sisters will just happen to be there to do it for you are depressingly small. We will if we can but you cannot bet your life on it.

And that's the bottom line
Cause The Six says so!

As I told him, every good copy I know says the same thing. Your life is your responsibility.

If you haven't thought about it, do. And get prepared. Bad things can happen in the blink of an eye, anywhere, anytime. Unfortunately, there are no "safe" places. It's dangerous out there.

But remember, buying a gun is just the first step. It's a grave responsibility. Learn how to use it, how to respect it, and keep it out of the hands of those who can't or don't.

Oh...and it's a WHOLE lot of fun!

The Gunslinger
Enemy of the State (EOTIS)
Ûlfhednar