Home defense? Concealed carry?
I've just recently gotten into shooting. Have my first pistol and a good range where I can practice and take some training classes ranging from basic marksmanship to more advanced stuff, like shooting in low light or simulated stressful encounters.
In conversations with some acquaintences, who own guns and in some cases carry (although not always, or everywhere) it seems they have surprisingly little training or practice. Almost as though "Hey, I bought this gun, shot a decent group at 20 feet on my first day, and now I keep it loaded under the bed--and God help whoever breaks in!"
Others, hearing of Orlando or other horrible assault situations, take an 8 hour CCW class, buy a small pocket pistol and a holster, and begin carrying with (seeming) confidence that they'll take down a crazed shooter with a rifle, should the need arise.
I'm just guessing that being a dead-shot at 50 feet still won't help me a lot in the dead of night, with an intruder in my house (maybe), an alarm going off, and my heart up in my throat, and family members on the other sides of walls. I don't expect to be robbed by a sheet of paper.
And in a real situation where someone has gone crazy? No idea if he's acting alone, or where another CCW person might be in the situation, or where/when the police could show up and mistake ME for a criminal, etc. etc. etc.
Or a robbery--oh no! This punk has a gun on me! Should I give him my shoes and hope he runs away? Should I try to draw from my cool new CCW holster and take him down? What if this punk kid is a better shot than John Wayne???
So I guess I'm asking, in the experience of those here, how much training should one have before actually keeping that gun under the bed to stop an intruder? Before carrying a weapon into places where it might actually have to be used?
And how many people do you think carry weapons unprepared?
Thanks, y'all.
I've just recently gotten into shooting. Have my first pistol and a good range where I can practice and take some training classes ranging from basic marksmanship to more advanced stuff, like shooting in low light or simulated stressful encounters.
In conversations with some acquaintences, who own guns and in some cases carry (although not always, or everywhere) it seems they have surprisingly little training or practice. Almost as though "Hey, I bought this gun, shot a decent group at 20 feet on my first day, and now I keep it loaded under the bed--and God help whoever breaks in!"
Others, hearing of Orlando or other horrible assault situations, take an 8 hour CCW class, buy a small pocket pistol and a holster, and begin carrying with (seeming) confidence that they'll take down a crazed shooter with a rifle, should the need arise.
I'm just guessing that being a dead-shot at 50 feet still won't help me a lot in the dead of night, with an intruder in my house (maybe), an alarm going off, and my heart up in my throat, and family members on the other sides of walls. I don't expect to be robbed by a sheet of paper.
And in a real situation where someone has gone crazy? No idea if he's acting alone, or where another CCW person might be in the situation, or where/when the police could show up and mistake ME for a criminal, etc. etc. etc.
Or a robbery--oh no! This punk has a gun on me! Should I give him my shoes and hope he runs away? Should I try to draw from my cool new CCW holster and take him down? What if this punk kid is a better shot than John Wayne???
So I guess I'm asking, in the experience of those here, how much training should one have before actually keeping that gun under the bed to stop an intruder? Before carrying a weapon into places where it might actually have to be used?
And how many people do you think carry weapons unprepared?
Thanks, y'all.