Only if you feel it’s necessary. If you do, it is your OBLIGATION to obtain PROPER TRAINING to make you most proficient in the use of your firearm. This is to ensure safety to yourself as well as the public. Knowing how and when to use your firearm is crucial and will not be as simple as it seems.

Sign up for our Beginner Gun class or CCW course and educate yourself. No excuses for ignorance when it comes to being a responsible gun owner and carrier.

Primary Objectives for Self-Defense: Prevention & Escape

Having a handgun on your person is great, but it should ONLY be used as a last resort. That “last resort” can come mighty quickly. In the blink of an eye, you could go from walking the dog to deploying your pistol to protect you or others from a violent threat.

In order to make this a “last resort”, you must work to acquire Prevention & Escape tactics and knowledge. After all, if you can, theoretically, prevent a violent encounter from happening, your gun becomes useless. Learning the warning signs of violence or criminal activity can put you a step ahead of the rest and make you a more difficult target.

Learning how and when to escape is an integral part of self-defense. We cannot possibly prevent the infinite amount of scenarios that could happen, but we can be ready to react in a way to promotes safety by distance, a.k.a. Escape. In the simplest way, escape is to exit the situation either immediately before it happens or during the actual event. You see a shady group of handsome thugs coming your way, maybe you’re better off avoiding them “just in case”. If you wrong about them, oh well. But if you’re right about them, you just saved yourself from pain, stress, aggravation, hospital visit, police involvement, the justice system, civil lawsuits, and so on. Trust your instincts.

We have all the information, and more, about Prevention, Escape, and Tactics and why they are the foundation of self-defense.

Carrying a Firearm for Self-Defense

Now if you were unsuccessful in preventing a violent encounter AND escape was not a viable or achievable option, we must now escalate to self-defense “TACTICS”. This is the physical part of self-defense that most people aim to train. BUT keep in mind, if tactics is all you train and you do not mindfully practice Prevention and Escape, you will likely find yourself “sticking around” to fight or, in this case, shoot it out.

The is the one major DOWNSIDE to having a firearm or self-defense tool on your person and that is the likelihood of you engaging dramatically increases simply because you have an advantage! We must prevent and avoid the use of our firearm and knives, etc. Use them because you have no other options remaining and it’s you or them.

Remember: THESE ARE SPLIT SECOND DECISIONS THAT COULD CHANGE YOU LIFE FOREVER! Receive PROPER training and you will likely never have to use your gun or knife. But when you must, YOU WILL KNOW how and when to use it in an efficient, effective, and legal way.

In order to survive an encounter that requires you to deploy your firearm and discharge it, you must consider the following:

• You will most likely be moving or running during a self-defense scenario
• The attacker will not likely drop after just one shot
• You will undergo an extreme amount of stress which will trigger the Fight or Flight or Freeze mechanism
• There may be bystanders
• You may be with friends or family
• The scuffle may end up on the ground prior to deployment
• The attacker may also have a gun, shooting at you too
• and so on…

It’s extremely IRRESPONSIBLE to actually believe you know how to use a firearm properly if you haven’t taken a combative shooting course.

Gun Owners: WAKE UP CALL!

You will not be able to “just pull out your gun and shoot them…”. There is no “shooting them in the leg”. None of this, “I have a gun, therefore I’m safe”. At Impulse Tactical, we have no problem PROVING to you why training is 100% necessary. You won’t survive our test. And if you do, we applaud you in advance for obtaining the skills and knowledge necessary to be a gun owner!

If you are not CONFIDENT and COMPETENT with the following attributes or skillsets with a firearm, you need training:

• Moving (walking & running) and shooting
• Shooting around obstacles
• Peak performance under duress
• Preservation before Presentation
• Deploying your firearm smoothly and being on target quickly
• Close-Quarters Combatives (close range defense & shooting)
• Gun Retention
• Knife Defense
• Gun Defense (disarms in case they take your gun)
• Threat response and assessment (making sure you don’t shoo the wrong person)
• Firearm operation in a crowded environment
• Cover vs Concealment
• Grappling with a Firearm

We cover all this a more at Impulse Tactical Firearms Training. We are here to educate gun owners and CCW holders. We advocate for responsible operators. Going to the range is not good enough. They DO NOT and CANNOT teach what we teach. We guarantee all of our classes will leave you with valuable information.