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Self-Defense Training Directory

Personal Training Resources  |  Church Security Training Resources

The knowledge you acquire when you learn how to drive a car translates into safety and confidence every time you use the car. The same is true with firearms and their use in self-defense. Just as cars are dangerous machines when driven irresponsibly, so, too, are firearms when handled without the proper care, attention, and education they deserve.

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

A gun is only as good as the training of its owner. Firearm triggers don’t pull themselves; they require someone to interfere with the physics law of inertia: if a body is at rest, it will remain at rest unless it’s acted upon by a force. That force (us) should be responsibly trained in basic—as well as advanced—gun safety rules, and self-defense principles and law. The following resources offer that training.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, A Directory of Firearm Podcasts & Video Channels ]

The 4 Basic Rules of Gun Safety

An image of the four gun safety rules

Col. Jeff Cooper (1920–2006) was a US Marine, the creator of the modern technique of handgun shooting, and an expert on the use and history of small arms. He introduced the concept of the mental alertness color code which indicates the degree of peril a person is willing to act upon and which facilitates a person to move from one level of mindset to another (situational awareness) to enable the person to properly handle a given situation.

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

As a way of encouraging universal firearm safety, Col. Cooper also advocated a simple 4-point set of rules anyone can understand:

  1. EVERY gun is loaded until proven otherwise.
  2. Point the muzzle ONLY at what you want to destroy.
  3. Put your finger on the trigger ONLY when you’re ready to fire.
  4. KNOW your target and what’s behind and around it.

Church Shooting Analysis Reports

A killer murdered two people during the morning service at West Freeway Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas December 29, 2019. He was about to kill a third person and probably more congregants when he was fatally shot in the skilled self-defense maneuver by Jack Wilson, a volunteer member of the church security team who undoubtedly saved many lives. The murderer’s six-second terror spree and the armed civilian’s rescue were video recorded. Here is a collection of links to resources examining the event to arrive at lessons learned for future self-defense and church security planning:

The 5 Elements of Self-Defense Law

Attorney Andrew Branca has distilled the laws in all 50 states that concern themselves with self-defense. He says, “There are at most 5 elements to any self-defense case (and often not even that many). That’s true in every one of the 50 states, and all US territories.” Be sure you adhere to them.

Buy the book The Law of Self Defense, 3rd Edition through this affiliate link with Amazon

The 5 Elements of Self-Defense Law are:

  • Innocence
  • Imminence (ability, opportunity, jeopardy)
  • Proportionality
  • Avoidance
  • Reasonableness (subjective and objective)