Having spent four decades in the gun culture, I am sometimes amazed at how certain platitudes or pieces of dogma are still floating around. Some of the pseudo-advice bandied about in the gun shop when I was a teenager, who just hung around and listened, can still be found as comments on FacistBook and the comments under YouTube videos.
For instance, “For home defense, birdshot is the best thing to put in your shotgun,” or “Never chamber a round in a gun that has no safety.” Though not as frequent now, we still encounter the advice from the random internet guru extolling the merits of warning shots or shooting to wound. But what about the advice given by authority figures, instructors standing in front of a class full of students? Is what they say gospel and undisputed training dogma?
Stupid People, Places, and Things
Recently, I was a party to a conversation where a person offered the advice; “Don’t go to stupid places with stupid people and do stupid things.” I know the person in question didn’t make up that saying because I had heard it in person at a training class 30 years prior when the man I heard repeat it would have been in elementary school.
I would venture to say that a good percentage of the audience has either heard or read that exact advice or something very similar. The admonition is primarily given to students in firearms training classes and aimed at offering advice about how we should behave as lawful gun carriers. The saying, about stupid people, places, and things, is viewed as a postulate and never questioned by those who hear it. Well, that is, it’s accepted by those who have never been in the infantry where going to stupid places with stupid people and doing stupid things is often par for the course.
Seriously though, if those in the class who are given that advice are predisposed to exhibit reckless and thoughtless behavior, can that one sentence, delivered one time from an instructor alter their normal behavior? Ninety-nine percent of those who took the firearms training class wouldn’t behave that way as a matter of course and didn’t need to be told.
Such a statement puts me in mind of a billboard I once saw that read “Stop Domestic Violence.” Are we really supposed to believe that a woman who has been abusing her husband for years is going to read that billboard and suddenly have a change of heart? If billboards possessed the magical power to alter human behavior, shouldn’t we put up those that say “Stop Stealing Cars,” “Stop Raping,” or “Stop Taking Heroin?”
If we would only increase our billboard budget, we could end all crime and violence in America.
Do Versus Don’t
An excellent piece of advice for those who would be instructors is to emphasize the positive and de-emphasize the negative. That is, use the word “do” and avoid the word “don’t” when teaching and delivering lectures. Another piece of valuable advice is, “Show the student the correct way and avoid the tendency to demonstrate the incorrect way.”
Many years ago, I took a training course and that evening, after class, I was thinking back to the lessons of the day. The instructor had demonstrated how he wanted us to perform, but he had also highlighted the wrong or incorrect way. As the subject was new to me, I couldn’t remember which was which…which was the wrong way and which was the right way?
Avoiding the use of the word “don’t” and the instinct to show people how something has been done wrong is tough, particularly for a person who has a high level of experience. I’ve been teaching military, law enforcement, and citizens for better than 30 years now and I would venture to say I have witnessed students doing the wrong thing more than I could ever calculate. Nonetheless, if the student is only ever exposed to the correct way to perform an action, they are far less likely to perform the skill incorrectly.
Another line of thinking is this; “Tell me what you want me to do. Don’t tell me what you do not want me to do.” Do students need you to tell them what not to do or what they should do?
The Path of Least Resistance: The Easy Way
Returning to the lecture about how to be a responsible and lawful gun carrier, should we be telling people what not to do or giving them a positive, what to do? First we need to understand human psychology. The standard mental setting for the vast majority of humans is to take the path of least resistance or to do things the easy way. The correct way is often not the easy way and the incorrect way is often easier.
A perfect example is strength training. The best exercise for developing overall body strength is the barbell squat. The barbell squat gives us the best return on investment for our time in the gym. If that is true, then why do the squat racks sit empty in the gym while people flock to the various machines? It is simple, squatting is HARD, sitting on a machine is EASY.
When it comes to dedicating yourself to being an armed citizen, carrying a gun and the other necessary items for self-preservation and security requires dedicated effort. When you begin, you may have to alter your mode of dress and your normal behavior. Wearing a gun can feel awkward and be uncomfortable. That being said, many of those who once thought they were going to be armed citizens end up not being so because putting all the stuff on and carrying it becomes a chore. It is easier to just not carry. When I was a police officer, I was appalled at the number of officers who were allowed to carry guns off duty, but made the choice not to. Not carrying was just easier.
The Psychological Out
I have had people who went through the process of applying for and receiving a state-issued concealed carry permit tell me, “I don’t carry all the time, I’m not paranoid.” I have lost count of the times that someone who is a ‘gun person’ told me, “I only carry when I think I might need it.”
The danger of the stupid places, people and things advice is that it gives the recipient an out or a psychological excuse not to do the right thing. The right thing is to always be an armed citizen, but that is the hard thing. Not carrying all that stuff or needing to conceal a gun is the easy thing. The student thinks, I don’t go to stupid places with stupid people to do stupid things. They start to give themselves excuses NOT to do the right thing. Well, we are just going to the grocery store, what could happen? Fill in the blank with only going to church, temple, shopping mall, movie theatre, etc. I carried a gun to my daughter’s wedding. No, I was not expecting trouble, but it was the correct thing, not the easy thing.
Some years back, a man walked into a grocery store 3 miles from my house at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday armed with a handgun and shotgun. He was looking for his ex-wife and in the process took customers and employees hostage. Is a grocery store at 11:30 a.m. a “stupid place.”
Do you think those who were slaughtered in a church in Texas thought they were going to a stupid place with stupid people? I bet not. How about the Greenwood Park Mall in Indiana in the early afternoon? Stupid place? Thank the Lord that Eli Dicken didn’t do the easy thing and leave his gun at home. Innumerable peoples’ lives were saved that day because Eli chose to do the hard and correct thing rather than the easy and incorrect thing.
Doing the Right Thing, Regardless
So, if we deliberately avoid telling people what not to do, what do we do instead? Our students are encouraged to always have the fundamental four on their body when they walk out of their front door. For that matter, even if they aren’t planning to leave their house, the mantra is “Pant on, gun on.” When curious people would ask my friend James if he was carrying a gun, he would look at them and say, “Do I have my pants on?”
I’ll go out on a limb and say that 95 to 99 percent of all daytime home invasions would be stopped in seconds if people would just put their gun on when they get dressed and leave it there. Wearing the gun is the ultimate gun security. If it is attached to your body you never have to worry about running to get it or unauthorized people finding it.
The innumerable victims of daytime home invasions never anticipated that it would happen. They thought they were safe at home. I’m not paranoid, I don’t wear a gun in my house. You are never going to get a postcard that says, “FYI, tomorrow at 2:37 p.m. you will be attacked, be sure you are ready.”
For those new to carrying firearms and being a legitimate armed citizen, we tell them, “When you first start carrying a gun, you will be constantly aware of it and may feel a bit of psychological discomfort. What you want to develop is the opposite feeling. If you don’t have a gun on you should feel uncomfortable.”
If you cannot bring yourself to carry a firearm unless it is convenient or only on rare occasions when “think you might need it” that is 100 percent your prerogative as a free person. However, please don’t delude yourself into believing that owning a firearm makes you an armed citizen.
Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran, police officer and Executive Protection Agent. He is also the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.
I carry a gun wherever I go. Been doing it for 15 years now. I’ve taken several classes over the years.
The stores and gas stations I use several have been robbed and some have had murders there. During the day and night.
So yes it’s very possible to be in a so called “safe place.” And still get shot.
The best you can do is to just be aware, of what goes on around you. So you have time to react. With or without a gun.
While I was in college. I carried a long gun. It was a take down weapon. In my book bag. Nobody ever knew. Because I never had to take it out to use it.
Because several years ago shootings at colleges seem to happen about every 5 or 6 months.