I had some mixed reactions after reading the following article and felt it’d make a good blog post.

To note a bit of context, KRGV is in the Texas Rio Grande Valley, which is basically the southern-most tip of Texas, right on the border with Mexico.

Crime and spillover violence is forcing some people to take safety into their own hands. They are carrying weapons out of fear. Law enforcement says arming themselves for protection doesn’t guarantee safety.

[…]

Armed robberies, carjackings, home invasions, violence from across the border spilling into our back yards, [concealed handgun license instructor, Roy] Balli says a lot of the people he deals with feel like they need to protect themselves.

Understandable. Good people wish to live their lives unharmed. To be at the mercy of evil people is no way to live your life.

“There are so many responsibilities that come with a person being armed,” says Hidalgo police Chief Vernon Rosser.

This is true. However, the statement sounds like it’s about to be followed by a “but…”.

Rosser says he’s not against people arming themselves. It’s their right, but he worries about the implications.

“What my fear is is that if a person sees something or hears something, rather than pick up the phone and call us so that we can be on our way that they may feel like. I will just get my gun and go check it out. I don’t know that they would have the training. I don’t know that they would be mentally prepared of what to do in a situation if it became confrontational,” says Rosser.

This gives me mixed emotions.

I will agree that if there is a potential for danger, should you go walking into it? Generally no, but circumstances will dictate. If I hear my child screaming, I’m not going to dial 911 and wait. If I heard the sound of my back door being kicked in, I’d be more wont to hunker down, arm myself, dial 911, and start shouting commands. It takes too long for the police to arrive. In a city like Austin, 5 minute response time is about the best you could hope for (if you’re lucky), and a lot can happen in 5 minutes.

Nevertheless, I do agree with Chief Rosser. A gun is not a talisman that will ward off evil. It is a tool, and like any tool you need to know how to use it properly. This necessitates education and training.

The chief says if you carry a gun, you better be prepared to use it. That weapon could cause more harm than protection.

“You always have to be faced with one thing. What am I gonna do when it comes time to do it?” says Rosser.

It goes beyond simple marksmanship. Yes, being able to hit your target is fundamental, but you must move beyond that level. You need to be able to shoot under pressure. You need to be able to shoot one-handed. You need to be able to shoot targets at a distance greater than you are comfortable with. But again, we’re still talking marksmanship. After laying this foundation, it’s important to learn about greater skills towards keeping you safe: mental skills, mindset, tactics. Classes that emphasize use of your brain more than your fists or gun, that’s what you ultimately should seek. These are the sorts of things that could keep you out of a dangerous situation in the first place, to recognize it before it happens. The sooner you can bail out, the better for you.

Police do have their place, and there are times when calling them is the best response. But the police cannot always be there and cannot protect us at at moment’s notice. Ultimately self-preservation is your personal responsibility.

Well, maybe not yet, but apparently there will be: (h/t Breda)

Today the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, with the Department of Health and Human Services, announced a contest to develop a smartphone app to help students better protect themselves in risky situations. The effort is dubbed Apps Against Abuse.

The competition calls for developers to build an app that lets women designate friends or emergency contacts and check in with them during at-risk situations. The app would also provide fast access to information and resources for dealing with sexual assault or dating violence.

Um… OK. Sure. I guess that’s not horrible. But it also doesn’t seem to be that effective in stopping anything. This app would only be good after the fact and uh… that’s of little comfort in my book.

“Everyone has a role to play in the prevention of violence and abuse,” Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. secretary of health and human services, said in a prepared statement. “This application can be another way to encourage young women and men to take an active role in the prevention of dating violence and sexual assault.”

My role?

I teach women how to shoot guns and effectively defend themselves. I teach them how to recognize potential bad situations and get themselves out of them or avoid them in the first place. Taking classes like this, getting a concealed handgun permit and always carrying, that’s a more effective active role in the prevention of violence and assault.

Somehow I think 124 grains of 9mm hollow point is a lot more effective at preventing rape than an iPhone app.

The Handgun World Show podcast episode 128 pays a compliment to my boss, Karl Rehn of KR Training. The episode is talking about choosing a good handgun trainer, they mention Tom Givens, but then go on to say around 1:19:54 in the podcast:

When you look at force-on-force stuff? Karl Rehn out of Texas is the standard, from KR Training. When you want to know how to do force-on-force and not have it turn into a giant (garbled) match, Karl is the man to go to.

Thanx to Tim for passing this along.

Friend of mine that lives in North Austin sent me this:

We were both gone Saturday. Neighbors reported that around 2 pm we had a gang of between 8-10 “YUTES” arrive on foot and, starting at the beginning of my cul-de-sac on both sides of the street, were smashing car windows with bats and burglarizing whatever contents they could find. An APD unit responded in less than 5 minutes (I was told) and while this was still in progress, but the “YUTES” split up, ran in different directions, and disappeared into backyards and over fences.  I am not aware that anyone was either detained or arrested.

Coincidentally, just yesterday Gabe Suarez posted on the topic. It’s a rising problem, but for whatever reason the media and police aren’t reporting on it. Curious that….

I was wondering when this was going to start happening in Austin. I guess that question is now answered.

I do hate how the term “flash mob” has been co-opted and turned from something spontaneous and fun to something so malevolent. Nevertheless, the take home is things are getting uglier out there. The predators are traveling in bigger packs.

Stay alert… and carry your damn gun, people.

He meant well, but he’s doing it wrong:

[Ashley] Viola was driving his car on Third Avenue and witnessed a 57-year-old San Mateo woman being assaulted near San Mateo Drive and asked her if she was OK, police said.

She indicated she was OK and then told Viola that the assailant was running down the street, police said.

The Good Samaritan then allegedly caught up to the man, parked his car and confronted the assailant with a firearm.

A witness recounts:

Kiera McKernan, a manager at Edmond’s Plaza Florist at that intersection, said a customer came in screaming for her to call 911. She looked across the street and saw the confrontation happening in front of the U.S. Bank.

“An older gentleman was standing out there and a younger kid pulled a gun on him and was pointing it at him,” she said.

The older man was trying to hide behind a newspaper rack and the gunman was circling the rack trying to get to him, holding a silver gun, McKernan said.

“He was waving it and making it really known that he had a gun,” she said.

From the sounds of it, Mr. Viola was using the gun to detain or threaten or harass or “make a point” or apprehend or “teach a lesson to” or something to the woman’s attacker. It’s hard to say what he was doing, but from the sounds of it his own life was not in imminent danger thus he had no reason to draw his gun. Again, I’m armchairing this because I can only go based upon what the article says.

The key take home: it’s good to help people out. You might even decide on the “beer and tv scale” that to put up chase is worthwhile. Perhaps you can keep tabs on the attacker, get a description, get a picture. Heck, even if you are able to safely subdue and detain the attacker… that’s all up to you. But unless your life or the life of another (based upon your local laws) is in imminent danger, there’s no reason to pull the gun. And in fact, you can see that it might get you in bigger trouble.

Think through these things in your head beforehand. Be clear. Have your plan on how to handle situations figure out ahead of time. Know when it’s right and not right to draw your gun, to use force, to use deadly force. To have more than the one hammer in your toolbox so that every problem doesn’t look like a nail.