ladydeej,
No I dont mind if you print it out, by all means if it can be of use.
Its not a necessity to get trained by the big names, but it definitely is a plus and if you can is a great place to start. If you cant dont let that discourage you, there is usually instrutors available who have trained at the larger schools in most areas....the schools I refer to are, John Farnams--Defense Training Int., Massad Ayoob's lethal force institute, John Shaws school, gun site, thunder ranch, and there are more that Im not aware of, there are seminars put on by these very people in different areas of the country that you could arrange to attend instead of the expense of visiting those schools for a week or weekend, although that would be a the best way to do it. There are people out their like Lewis Awerbuck who does seminars but I dont believe has a school, he taught at gunsite under cooper and is extremely knowledgable and a superb teacher. Until you can do that(it should make a great vacation), there are books put out by the various people that teach at these schools, my personal favorites are the "street smart gun book, by John Farnam", and "the truth about Self Protection, by Massad Ayoob"---these are inexpensive about $10 or $15 apiece, they contain a wealth of knowledge, they are dated, but the core still applies today. Massad Ayoob has several books out and ive learned from all of them, besides they are good reads....lol....(yeah Im a founding member of the "one of them" club, lol...).
Do what ever you have to do to improve your skills including marking your targets, the heck with everyone else, dont be common be exceptional, dont worry about the norm, you can flat out out work 85% of your competition and outtrain, outpractice the other 10%, and at that point your in some pretty rare company--that top 5%--thats when it gets hard, and at that point your usually fighting yourself.
What ever pistol you decide on, figure out what kind of parameters it will have to fit and which one you cant compromise with and use that as y0ur basis for a decision, such as I want something I can carry all the time.....look at how your going to carry it....I know folks that have the nicest 45acp's money can buy and they leave em at home, I know folks that have one gun a smaller frame revolver that goes everywhere with them, its the gun youve got with you that will help you, not the one that is home. One other thing and ill quit, get quality in your firearms and holsters and belts, if you are preparing to use this as a self defense firearm you want this to last and too work everytime--this does not mean the most expensive. I personally like the Kiss method of selfdefense...I going to quit att.......good shooting...fubsy.
