The Process of Becoming a First Time Gun Owner

The two crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and riots in cities across the USA have been the catalysts for nearly 5 million (a record number in one year) Americans purchasing a firearm for the first time in the first 7 months of 2020—up more than 70% over the same time span in 2019—according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, The 4 Basic Rules of Gun Safety ]

The following video is a lunch talk given by Dr. David Yamane, professor of sociology at Wake Forest University, to the National Firearms Law Seminar in Indianapolis, IN, on April 26, 2019. In this video, professor Yamane talks about his journey from being a card carrying liberal college professor to being a card carrying liberal gun owner, and the lessons he’s learned about gun culture along the way, such as

  • guns are normal and normal people use guns
  • shooting is fun and challenging
  • Gun Culture 2.0 is inclusive
  • self-defense is a universal concern

Read Dr. Yamane’s blogs, gunculture2point0.wordpress.com, guncurious.wordpress.com, and davidyamane.wordpress.com. And follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @gunculture2pt0.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Checklist: Matters to Consider When Deciding on a Handgun ]

Articles have appeared on the internet by people surprised by their own newfound interest in exercising their Second Amendment right:

In The Atlantic, David French describes why he concealed carries a defensive weapon: “It starts with the consciousness of a threat. There are evil men in this world and sometimes they wish you harm. With the consciousness of a threat comes the awareness of a vulnerability. The police can only protect the people you love in the most limited of circumstances (with those limits growing ever-more-severe the farther you live from a city center.) You want to stand in that gap….”

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Worldviews and Emotional Assumptions in the Gun Civil Rights Debate ]

In his article, It Took a Pandemic for Me to Finally Buy a Gun…or Two, Patrick Buchanan says, “At the age of 55, I had yet to ever fire a single weapon….I never had a problem with the 2nd Amendment. The sad truth is, I never gave it much thought at all….COVID-19 provided a profound jolt to my gun ownership sensibilities….I now understand the strong feelings regarding 2nd Amendment rights….I can see why banning guns and restricting rights is not the solution.”

A new gun owner writing on Reddit says, “Now I’m suddenly questioning my previously strongly held political beliefs as I used to favor strict gun laws but now I see that as an uniformed opinion that was not based in reality….”

Another article describes how “Scott Kane, a former supporter of gun-control measures and AR-15 bans, is frustrated by the arduous process [of buying a firearm] that has denied his family a sense of security. The pandemic has made the soft-spoken software engineer an unlikely Second Amendment supporter….”

SemperVerus encourages you to take the Second Amendment seriously.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, USA State Constitutions Providing for Armed Self-Defense ]

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3 Ways to Get More Done

In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the late Stephen Covey said, to be productive, we need to schedule our priorities.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, The 7 Habits: Put First Things First ]

Podcast host Pat Flynn, in a Fast Company article, suggests 3 ways to to keep yourself on track to accomplish that:

  • Manage distractions by setting 5-6 alarms on your phone to sound at random during your workday. When they go off, ask yourself if what you’re doing at that moment is productive or unimportant.
  • Perform “just-in-time learning” where you only consume educational content that has to do with your current priority (not a future idea). It should be relevant (related to the next most important milestone along your prioritized project’s path) and actionable (can be put into action in the next week or two). Otherwise, set the information aside to read at a later time.
  • Delegate 10% to 20% of your time per week to “scratch the itch” you have that’s a dream idea or brainstorm, but not yet a priority. That 20% is your reward for being focused and productive the rest of the week.

Read this article in full…

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Secure Your Base (Your Soul)

Portrait of Carl von Clausewitz19th-century military strategist Carl von Clausewitz was a Prussian general who fought against Napoleon. In 1832, his book On War was published and military experts regard it even today as the definitive study of warfare.

In the novel Dr. No, Ian Fleming writes, “Clausewitz’s first principle was to have a secure base. From there one proceeds to freedom of action.” Fleming’s paraphrase of the famous war strategist’s philosophy is worth adopting. Securing your base means establishing a self-sustaining, shock-resistant “headquarters” that’s well-defended against disruptions from external forces.

In a letter written to his son, Gen. George S. Patton said, “Defeat is not due to losses but to the destruction of the soul of the leaders.”

For the SemperVerus Brotherhood, a secure base begins with a strong, healthy soul that directs your moral compass. Keep Psalm 73:26 (“Maybe my mind and body will become weak, but God is my source of strength. He is mine forever!”) before you in order to accomplish 1 Corinthians 10:13.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the subject of spiritual fitness ]

Centuries ago Clausewitz wrote, “The talent of the strategist is to identify the decisive point and to concentrate everything on it, removing forces from secondary fronts and ignoring lesser objectives.”

Let’s apply his definition of strategy to the small and big decisions we make every day from the basis of securing our base:

Identify: Perceive and analyze the everyday situations you face with a worldview rooted in biblical teaching. Exercise wisdom to discern the good path from the bad path before taking action. For example, use Luke 6:31 as one of your guiding principles. In the words of the military, “intel precedes ops.”

The decisive point: Marketers call it the unique value proposition. It’s the most important, pivotal, and centralized determinant from which to organize all your decisions and actions. What’s your decisive point? How about Proverbs 4:23. And Mark 12:30-31.

Concentrate: Once your decision is made to stay true to what is right (1 Timothy 4:16) in any given situation, focus your attention on following through on it. According to military historian Basil Hart, “all the lessons of war can be reduced to a single word: concentration.” Keep looking straight ahead, without turning aside (Proverbs 4:25).

Remove: Making choices to act rightly means deciding what we will not do. Remove whatever hinders you from achieving the optimum results (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Ignore: Cultivate a disciplined mind and a steadfast character. Don’t be distracted by inferior goals. Keep your main objective to be: “staying true to what is right” (Philippians 3:13-14).

[Adapted from Von Clausewitz on War: Six Lessons for the Modern Strategist]

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[ Read the SemperVerus article, SemperVerus™ Brotherhood/Sisterhood Launches to Help People ‘Stay True’ ]

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Interview: Building a Church Security Team

Lew Gosnell is a Rangemaster at Gunsite Academy and 20-plus year police officer and firearms instructor in California. He served as a Tactical Team Supervisor in the Marine Corps Military Police and worked private security, in addition to being a champion shooter in IPSC, 3-Gun, and cowboy action — including the first-ever Single Action Shoot Society End of Trail competition.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of Church Security ]

GUNS Magazine podcast host Brent T. Wheat interviewed Lew about how he got his start at the renowned firearms training academy, what he teaches students in his single-action pistol and lever gun classes, and his advice for congregations starting their own church security teams, which begins at the 15:50 mark in the embedded audio player below.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Church Shooting Analysis Reports ]

He says places of worship, by definition, want to be welcoming to people, so they have special training needs to ensure proper security practices at their facilities. He offers suggestions on how and who to select volunteers to serve on church safety teams, equipment needs, and draw development procedures.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Self-Defense Training Directory ]

— Read other interviews on SemperVerus —

Learn about the Sheepdog Church Security certification program for your church safety team

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