Everyday Gun Carry with Instructor Zero: Introduction
We are happy to announce that we teamed up with our long-term partner and dear friend, Instructor Zero, to present you with helpful series of educational videos on Everyday Gun Carry.
Whether you got a firearm to protect you and your family, to honor your freedom, or any other reason, you are part of a team now. A member of the Guns Community.
All of us encounter the same questions along the way:
Should I CCW? Or go with Open Carry?
What firearm should I choose?
Which holster would work best for me?
Apart from helping you to find answers to these questions, the key objective of the series is to show you how to carry safely and responsibly. We will discuss different methods of gun carry and we will discuss common mistakes made by new gun owners but also professionals.
Most of all, we are going to discover and analyze the meaning of carrying a firearm and discuss the mindset that you should have if you want to carry a firearm every day. That's it. Get your pen and paper ready and let's dive into the first episode.
Instructor Zero presents CARRYING A FIREARM: EPISODE 1
The first point we will discuss today is a common fault on Instructors’ side. Many times, they are focusing solely on teaching us how to use the firearm, starting from the transition between the carry position and the use of the firearm - The Draw. This means we pass from the condition when our life is safe, and our stress level is low into a condition when we are involved in an LTS (life-threatening situation) or Critical Event. It's clear that the day when we need to use our guns is not the luckiest one. That's why we should put more focus on how to avoid a gunfight, than how to manage the gunfight. Remember that the only gunfights we are 100% sure to win are the ones we avoid.
Point N°1: Do not create a condition that can lead to a Critical Event. AVOID a gunfight.
In many countries, just the fact that you are carrying a firearm does not make you safer. Why? Because if you do not conceal a firearm in a proper way, and the printing is visible, this fact alone creates a condition that generates a critical event, making the potential aggressor interested in your firearm wondering if you are a police officer or other criminal. The fact that your firearm is visible to the other people is enough to put your life in a high level of danger in some countries. Not all places are the same on this planet. There are places where they can kill you just to steal your handgun from you. This is something we need to understand.
Just the way we carry a firearm can be a booster of a critical event. Many times, we have seen, and we continue to see, numerous mistakes in the term of carrying a firearm. These mistakes are made by everybody, from civilians to law enforcement and military all around the world. People carry the firearm in the wrong way, wrong holster, wrong place, dressed not properly.
For example, adjusting the holster in public, showing every potential observer that you carry a gun and where it is located on your body is the most common mistake. This fact gives everyone around you a huge advantage, being a critical point, you have just added on the side of someone who can attack or track you.
POINT N°2: If you carry a firearm in public, you do not have to touch your holster to adjust anything.
By touching your holster, you are communicating with the rest of the environment that you carry a firearm. While this is always a negative, in some environments it might be extremely dangerous. Part of the fault of this happening is on the side of the instructors, because they naturally focus on the range training- teaching you how to shoot. But they should take some time to also explain to their students how to carry a firearm properly. Which are the options for the different body characteristics? Sure, there is no “best” option, but there are more appropriate ways for everyone depending on whether they are big, lean, tall, or compact.
Another problem we need to deal with in terms of gun carry is the fact that as civilians, we can choose our firearms. While the size of the platform can make a difference too (we will speak about it later), you should not stick to just one preferred gun model, because you never know when you'll need to work a different type.
POINT N°3: Do not be too focused on a specific handgun you're using during your training.
You should train to work with all kinds of handguns without a problem, your grip must be good on whatever firearm frame. Remain focused on general principles rather than on the platform. The platform represents only 5% in this game, the remaining 95% is the training.
Carrying a firearm is a lifestyle. It is not a hobby, not something you can do 2-3 times per week. It is an important right that every democratic country should provide to their citizen. We are big fans and supporters of the 2nd amendment. The policy in the world at this moment is so critical, that most of the countries apply a restrictive approach to firearms, with Europe being the number one player doing so. 2A is a huge gift of freedom that only The USA is blessed to have, and it rightly is perceived as a lifestyle that needs to be protected. The best way you can do this is by using, holding, and carrying your firearm in a proper way. Because having a right to carry and use a firearm means we need to be prepared to do it. The best Ace we can provide for the people trying to ban firearms is a legal owner of a firearm that uses it in the wrong way.
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Katarína Zacharová
10.9.2020