Getting Started
I have two pieces of pre-snub training advice. First, get the best gear available, test it, discard what doesn’t work and try again. Order your equipment custom made if commercial offerings fail to meet your needs. Second, damn the expense. Nobody in the middle of a gunfight ever gave thanks for the money he saved on his second-hand holster, ill-fitting stocks, cheap reloaded ammunition, or the diminutive factory sights, none of which worked particularly well during practice. There will be no second chance if you lose your first fight. Along the same lines ask yourself, if tomorrow morning you walk into a gunfight is your current carry snub, ammo, stocks, holster and skill level of sufficient quality to give you confidence that you will win that fight? If the answer is anything other than a resounding “Yes”, then the time is long overdue for you to correct the situation. It is worth remembering that you will have the rest of your life to get the tools and the training you need to win your first gun fight. It just may be less time than you think.
Mindset
To paraphrase Ed Lovette, in any confrontation a legally armed citizen’s first priority is to as safely as possible avoid, evade or escape the threat. Occasionally, realistic considerations render these options impossible. In preparation for such a situation an armed individual needs to assess his current mental resources, i.e. his mindset. The mindset of the armed citizen can be defined as the upper limit of his personal resources (mental, physical, financial, etc.) and his willingness to expend any or all of it in order to win against an unavoidable assault. The elements of a self-defense mindset include your goal, strategy, tactics, skills, physical conditioning and equipment.
