After every mass shooting, there is an immediate push for gun control. This is a knee-jerk reaction for some people who fret about how somebody needs to do something. There are, of course, politicians who have their agenda. When faced with the fact that there are more privately owned guns in America than there are people,…

I turned Fifty years old this week. Holy crap, if I had been given any clue that I would live this long, I would have taken better care of myself. I have lived a pretty exciting life, from my perspective. I am going to present here my list of ten things every man should know…

At this writing, there was a mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas yesterday, and another in Dayton, Ohio overnight. I am saddened by the shootings and disgusted by the public response. In this post, I am going to point out where so many people who think that they care are really showing…

I wanted to stay a little more lighthearted for a while after some of the more serious issues that we have discussed here, but fate’s big ol’ ugly face jumped in and changed those plans. I present this with a heavy heart as it is a terribly disturbing story, and it highlights some of the…

When it comes to personal safety, one of the things that I really try to bring home to my students is a simple concept. How far are you willing to go to ensure that you get out of the situation in one piece? This simple question will give you a pretty clear idea on whether…

One of my all-time favorite movies is Oh Brother Where Art Thou. I have many times over watched it just for the music. But the story itself has always been something entertaining. It dawned on me the other day that there was something else about the movie that struck me, even though I had left…

In the United States, there is about one home invasion every two minutes. The fact that we have about 320,000,000 people in this country allows us the freedom to entertain the thought that this sort of thing only happens to other people. But what if it wasn’t happening to another person? What if it is…

Debates in the martial arts can range from really important ideas to silly minutia. One argument tends to be that old school was the BEST school. I admit, I am old school, and believe that old school training is far superior in many ways to anything offered in new school martial arts. Having said that, I…

I took some time to really read the plan put forward by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and, setting aside all of the craziness that followed its release, I looked at this in the spirit of searching for the best answers to a horrendous problem. Like anyone else, I looked at this and saw a lot…

Today I finally went in to take the LTC (License to Carry) class, written test, and firearm accuracy test. It took the better part of the day to get everything done, and I want to share some of the insights I had today as things progressed. It was actually just a few years ago that…

I had a talk with my students today. We are working on finding ways to make acts of kindness. I thought I would share some of that here today, with a little extra because most of my readers are grown adults. If you stop and think about it, there is probably at least one person…

Do you ever ask why we never hear much about those times when a bad guy breaks into the wrong home and gets blown away by an armed homeowner? Does it ever cross your mind to think about how in the event someone is killing innocents and is killed by the proverbial Good Guy with a Gun that…

A lot of email inquiries come in about choice of firearms for home defense. There are a lot of choices out there and a lot of things to consider. If I am to respond honestly, I will tell you that anytime anyone answers this question, they are merely giving their opinion. My answer here is…

A while back I wrote a few posts on people assuming digital identities and from the safety of home, acting out in ways which were totally unlike their actual self. Lately, I have been concerned with another issue. This has to do with the way in which people are approaching real life, actual reality as…

There have been several highly publicized news stories on people who were bullied and ended up committing suicide, even one that I read was only 10 years old. There was also a viral video online of a parent interviewing her crying son on the subject of his experiences of being bullied. I am going to…

Due in large part to the way in which people are assuming roles as if they are in a movie, my correspondence after shooting events such as Sutherland Springs, Texas tend to be one extreme or the other. On the one hand, I hear from people who say, how does it feel to advocate ownership of firearms and…

I had a family emergency which resulted in my extended absence from this blog. I have not been ignoring the questions and emails which have come in, I was just not in any shape to do anything. While things have settled, this is a situation that cannot be cured, only endured. Those who know me…

I woke up this morning, the occasion of my 48th birthday, to read about the terrible events which happened in Las Vegas last night. At about 10:00 PM the shooting began. Just before 11:30 the Las Vegas Police gained entry into the shooter’s room and found him dead of a self-inflicted shot. During the elapsed…

Hurricane Harvey hit Texas and flooded the southeast portion of my home State. I have read reports that the rainfall totals broke continental records. Since such totals have been recorded, there has not been this much rainfall on the North American Continent. What I will be looking at today is something that caught my attention as events…

At this writing, we are a few days removed from some terrible events in Charlottesville Virginia. I have been asked for thoughts and advice, and that is the only reason for this post. I do not want to touch this subject at all and will try to keep things within the confines of the intended…

There are martial arts groups and organizations that engage in some borderline cult behavior. There are some that push things much further. Today I want to look at some of the characteristics that should be red flags that you are participating in a martial arts cult. Cult status is going to require more than proclaiming that one…

If you are one of the lucky people who are a classic natural, congratulations, but you don’t need to read this one. This is for those of us who are imperfect and full of flaws and shortcomings. Many people make unwarranted assumptions. For me, it is often assumed that because of my enormous size that I…

Today I will be answering the questions which came to me from many different people via email that all boiled down to one thing – How can I keep my kids safe? To give a really blunt answer, you can’t. There is nothing you can do that will keep your child 100% safe from all possible…

I had a person this week find offense with something I say quite often – Any training is better than no training. It is a statement that I am willing and prepared to defend. And so it will be our topic this week. It is often ignored in the martial arts that a person with no training can seriously…

Many people who know me know that I spent a part of my younger days working as a Pro Wrestler. It was a very fun time for me, and at the time I had no responsibilities to anyone other than myself, so travel, injuries, and other assorted difficulties were of little concern to me. I was…

In the late 1980’s I was working on a construction site as a part of a masonry crew. I was a teen at the time. The scaffolding was…we will just say that it was not set in any way that would be approved by even a drunk safety inspector. There was a stack of 2X12 in….

Some elements of real safety are talked about so much that people get tired of hearing about it. I remember losing several subscribers after publishing an article on awareness. Nevermind that if you don’t know what’s going on around you, you have zero chance of defending yourself against it. But there are other elements, essential…

In our time, people have begun a dangerous practice of self-segregation. Of course, this is not what it is called, as that would be too honest, and one thing our society will not tolerate is honesty. It seems innocent enough in the way it is presented and practiced. To start things rolling, we are not…

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Regardless of style and system, we all learn to emphasize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses. But what about those times when we, for whatever reason, are less than 100%. That is our topic this week. Quick background information as we begin. On Saturday, April 22, the KickStart Kids State Karate Championships…

With the use of cars to run over people, followed by knives to kill more, and questions from readers coming in, I decided to take a look at this new modus operandi of the terrorists. And wouldn’t you know, it isn’t new at all. My mind was preoccupied with the horrible news coming out of London, without making…

Yes, I’m aware that the word butthurt has some unpleasant connotations. But I chose it after careful consideration. I hope I can be forgiven. People are very quick to excuse their own bad behavior. People are blisteringly quick to condemn the poorly thought-out actions of others, but the excuse-without-thought for their own action is of comparable speed….

So much of your personal safety can be covered in developing your ability to interact with others as equals. There has been an increase in the attitude of superiority by different groups, and this can and does lead to conflict. Social media allows people to express their opinion, but there is a strange piling on…

This footage is not graphic. It is probably disturbing to people who do not understand this type of violence or prefer to pretend such things never happen. I think it offers a chance for some reflection on our state of mind and how we might react to such an occurrence. Take a moment and watch….

In our time we have seen the rise of the highly opinionated, poorly informed, easily offended, self-righteous, self-promoting, vociferous, obnoxious, feisty-yet-spineless, anti-bully, cry-bully, cry-baby, my-mom-says-I’m-special-like-a-snowflake generation. It is easy to dismiss them as cupcakes, but this does not give a real picture of the coincidence of opposites they truly are that makes them such a…

There is a wave of self-defense instructors breaking from the standard Run, Hide, Fight advice, and instead opting to suggest attacking the attacker. Today I am going to take a look at this and offer my thoughts on the pros and cons of attempting to put this advice to use. From Government websites to self-defense bloggers, the…

In this post, I intend to take a look at some of the habits developed through social media and how they impact our safety. And just so you know going in, this is not another post on avoiding stalkers or identity thieves. One of the problems I have had with the internet in general and social media…

One of the more challenging things that we have to do from time to time is to tell those people in the group with which we find our identity that they need to tone it down, cool their jets, and in some of the more extreme cases, stand down. This is being said without regard…

When we are driving, we are supposed to be aware of the fact that as we drive there is an area in which we cannot see another vehicle. This is the blind spot, and it is why we need to turn our head and look before making a lane change. Within your own eye there is…