Are You Willing to Seriously Injure or Kill Someone to Protect Yourself?

This is the fundamental question that anyone considering purchasing a firearm or other weapon for the purpose of self defense of themselves or others needs to ask themselves first and before making any other decisions. It makes no sense to invest any time or money in buying a firearm or firearms for self defense or investing in any training if the answer to that question isn't an unqualified "Yes". "Maybe" doesn't cut it any more than a "No"does.

Many readers may think Yes but have doubts. That is O.K. because it is a starting point. It is probably a better, and more honest, answer than some positive answer not carefully considered. The truth is most people who have never faced a "Condition Red" situation as Jeff Cooper used to express it, don't really know for sure how they will react.

I've been there twice when burly macho law enforcement officers with all the proper training encounter their first deadly encounter and freeze, maybe only living through the encounter because someone else there didn't hesitate. In many ways this is different only in intensity and threat from the first time hunter who can't actually shoot the game he/she was after. Of course a deer can't shoot back, so the consequences are mostly embarrassment and maybe hunger if the game was important to the next meal. The statistics that came out of Vietnam regarding infantry failures to engage their weapons with the intent to kill or maim the enemy are startling.  (It is estimated that 20-25% of all infantrymen failed to deliberately aim and fire on the enemy even as their comrades were doing so.)

The desire not to seriously injure or kill another human being is natural and socially desirable and the truth is almost no one can predict with 100% accuracy how they will react the first time it is necessary to do so. Gender and age influence the decision as does any feelings about the aggressor that needs to be dealt with.

Before anyone makes gender assumptions that are erroneous, women are more likely to shoot to protect themselves or others than men when considered as a statistical group.  The men that think:

• Most women are too frightened to even shoot a gun;
• If a woman is going to have a handgun it should be a snub nose .38 J frame revolver with pink grips;
• If a woman is going to have her own shotgun a 28 gauge is the right choice;
• Women will never hunt or shoot sporting clays or competitive events let alone shoot another human being other than their husband.

are just plain over generalizing. No two women are alike on anything and there are many women who break all of those stereotypes, including the 5'2", 105 pound woman I am most familiar with. She shoots trap with a 12 gauge Syren shotgun and carries both a baby Beretta .25 ACP as a backup in a home designed and sewed groin holster and a Boberg XR9 - 9MM in a Hobo or other brand purse designed for quick retrieval.  Yes she can sew, but she can and will shoot when the situation dictates. So too, will a number of her female friends.

With all of that said, there are some women, just as there are men who will have trouble with acquire and fire even when their own life is on the line. Most sane humans, if given the choice, will not kill their fellow man and are extremely reluctant to do so, despite what movies and television depict.

It is worth trying to understand what makes the difference. Not everyone who fails to follow through is a coward, and not everyone who follows through without pause is a sociopath as Charles Askins was often erroneously accused of being. He was just well prepared both mentally and physically to win the hundreds of real life gunfights he engaged in.

The way we feel about our adversaries makes a difference. Those who view a criminal adversary as a victim of their upbringing, or as a mother or father, or husband or wife are going to have a problem. Those who only see a dangerous being trying to hurt or kill them will have far less trouble doing what should be done. It is important to understand that one can train themselves in changing how they view others who are threatening their life and or well being. To be ready to use a firearm in a life threatening situation requires creating a series of distances between you and the adversary.

• Create an emotional distance which means viewing the adversary as lesser in value than oneself.
• Create a moral distance by recognizing that your adversary was morally wrong in creating a situation in which one of you is going to win, and the other one is going to lose.
• Create a social distance between yourself and your adversary by understanding that you have a greater value to society than they do. Not only can you lose, but so to can your family and society as a whole.

Some reading this may decide it is easier to try to flee. Remember that every predator instinct human beings have is to aggressively attack anything that flees. Normally fleeing evokes even stronger responses than originally held. This has been proven over and over in military combat with the statistics of soldiers who held fire when the enemy was advancing, but fired in frenzy when the enemy turned tail and ran.

If a prospective or current gun owner cannot convince themselves they would fire on another human being, they should abandon the idea of owning firearms for self protection. If they own firearms intended for self defense they should sell them, because the most dangerous firearms are the ones the legitimate gun owner has that can be turned against them by others who lack the same reluctance.