John Holschen is an instructor with Insights Training Center. John just posted to the Center’s mailing list his “recipe for personal defense preparation”

1. Get a handgun you will carry and can shoot well, in a caliber you can handle, fill it with cartridges that go “bang” every time you pull the trigger launching a hollow point bullet that reliably expands. (Gear/ingredient selection is done. The ingredients are in the refrigerator and/or cupboard. Now you have to make something with them.)
2. Get safety, gun-handling, marksmanship, and mindset training
3. Practice to develop proficiency.
4. Have the gun at hand when you need it.
5. Get tactics training (force-on-force)
6. Practice to develop proficiency.
7. Have the gun at hand when you need it.
8. Practice to maintain proficiency.
9. Have the gun at hand when you need it.