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Up in Arms with Rob Pincus

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Overview

Season 4, Episode 39

We welcome back special guest Rob Pincus for a compelling conversation about the complexities of gun ownership and personal safety. It’s been over a year and a half since their last encounter, and the duo dives right back into an intense discussion.

Starting from a provocative premise—”guns are not the answer to your personal safety”—O’Brien and Pincus explore the nuances of firearm ownership, accountability, and the importance of comprehensive self-defense training. This episode challenges traditional narratives, questioning Hollywood’s portrayal of gun use and dissecting the emotional rhetoric often used within the 2A community.

Together, they unravel the intricate layers of gun rights and responsibilities, encouraging a balanced view that respects the right to self-defense, while maintaining that safety doesn’t solely lie in ownership. With a harmonious blend of storytelling and expert insights, this episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of personal defense and the role of firearms in it.

Transcript

View Podcast Transcript

00:00:11.097 –> 00:00:13.777
Hello and welcome to another episode of the

00:00:13.777 –> 00:00:19.057
self-initiative project podcast i’m your host jim o’brien hello and welcome

00:00:19.057 –> 00:00:23.417
back today i’ve got my very special guest rob pinkus back with us for a second

00:00:23.417 –> 00:00:28.777
time and um you were right i was listening to your live event earlier this morning

00:00:28.777 –> 00:00:33.437
and it has already been over a year and a half since we last did.

00:00:33.557 –> 00:00:38.057
That was my podcast 16, and I think I just put out 35.

00:00:38.937 –> 00:00:44.357
So time flies when you’re having fun. But I know that when I launched the last

00:00:44.357 –> 00:00:49.457
podcast, something to the effect of guns are not the answer to your personal safety.

00:00:49.737 –> 00:00:54.337
I think that that kind of piqued your interest, and there’s some points in that

00:00:54.337 –> 00:00:57.137
that we want to get through that we may or may not agree with.

00:00:57.137 –> 00:01:01.537
And so I wanted to get together and chat through it today. How are you?

00:01:02.277 –> 00:01:06.477
I’m great, Jim. I appreciate the opportunity. You know, I do pay attention to

00:01:06.477 –> 00:01:08.437
what you put out and your thoughts on this.

00:01:08.597 –> 00:01:12.097
I did enjoy our conversation. And it seems like, I don’t know,

00:01:12.417 –> 00:01:14.537
2020 to me seemed like three years long.

00:01:14.877 –> 00:01:20.077
So I guess that’s even longer than a year and a half. But I’ll tell you, the reason,

00:01:20.457 –> 00:01:24.497
certainly the title, and then in listening to the show, And it,

00:01:24.697 –> 00:01:28.317
the reason it did pique my interest and I wanted to have a conversation is it,

00:01:28.477 –> 00:01:32.537
you said a lot of things that I’ve said for years, right?

00:01:32.577 –> 00:01:37.477
About role of the firearm and sort of the fact that just owning the gun isn’t

00:01:37.477 –> 00:01:38.657
enough and all that stuff.

00:01:38.657 –> 00:01:50.077
And yet I want to make sure that what I am thinking is what you’re thinking for,

00:01:50.077 –> 00:01:54.597
because so much of what you say I think is aligned with a lot of my core principles

00:01:54.597 –> 00:01:56.637
and values when it comes to different things.

00:01:56.637 –> 00:02:01.157
And if not, then what a cool opportunity to take somebody that I respect and

00:02:01.157 –> 00:02:04.757
I consider a friend and who’s very articulate and I think very thoughtful and

00:02:04.757 –> 00:02:05.957
sincere in their principles.

00:02:06.537 –> 00:02:09.257
What a great opportunity to explore a difference of opinion if that’s what we

00:02:09.257 –> 00:02:10.337
have. Yeah, absolutely.

00:02:10.677 –> 00:02:14.557
And so just to kind of recap the spirit of where I was going with that.

00:02:14.677 –> 00:02:17.477
First of all, the title of it was meant to kind of be, you know.

00:02:18.177 –> 00:02:24.017
Kind of a shocker, you know, but the genesis and I think I made mention of this in the podcast.

00:02:24.017 –> 00:02:29.877
But the genesis of it, what inspired me to do the topic, to cover the topic

00:02:29.877 –> 00:02:31.677
in the first place is I keep seeing.

00:02:32.942 –> 00:02:39.342
And I think I see it mostly, you know, following folks in the 2A community or related.

00:02:39.862 –> 00:02:43.662
It may have been self-defense, but I know I’ve seen it a couple of places from

00:02:43.662 –> 00:02:44.722
a couple of different sources.

00:02:44.722 –> 00:02:49.002
And what sparked this whole thing is something that kind of irks me.

00:02:49.002 –> 00:02:55.802
And that’s this notion that, you know, gun control takes away a woman’s right to self-defense.

00:02:56.162 –> 00:03:02.862
And I get it. I get the spirit of that. But it couldn’t be more wrong, in my opinion.

00:03:03.422 –> 00:03:08.062
That’s another one of those emotionally charged statements to get people fired up.

00:03:08.062 –> 00:03:14.862
So I understand it in principle, but my whole thing is, and I said this,

00:03:15.642 –> 00:03:23.422
is that if there was tons of gun control or if guns went away altogether or

00:03:23.422 –> 00:03:27.442
never existed in the first place, you still have the right to self-defense.

00:03:27.822 –> 00:03:32.322
And you still have a ton of tools, both hardware and software,

00:03:32.542 –> 00:03:35.222
to employ in order to defend yourself.

00:03:36.122 –> 00:03:40.902
And so that was kind of the whole premise of me doing the last podcast.

00:03:41.642 –> 00:03:45.402
But yeah, I mean, I had a few points that I was trying to make.

00:03:45.622 –> 00:03:48.742
That being the first one, because that’s what kind of sparked it all.

00:03:48.962 –> 00:03:53.862
The other one is, is that when you get a gun, it doesn’t make you automatically safer.

00:03:54.242 –> 00:03:58.622
It doesn’t make you automatically a badass for carrying a gun if you’ve elected

00:03:58.622 –> 00:04:00.182
to carry one for self-defense.

00:04:00.722 –> 00:04:04.862
And then, you know, if you have a gun, that doesn’t mean you can suddenly do

00:04:04.862 –> 00:04:07.622
away with all your other personal safety responsibilities.

00:04:08.442 –> 00:04:15.922
And piggybacking on that, that doesn’t mean now that you go seeking out fights

00:04:15.922 –> 00:04:20.402
or you don’t have to worry about avoiding the dark alleys or doing all the things

00:04:20.402 –> 00:04:21.502
you should be doing anyway,

00:04:21.522 –> 00:04:24.182
because you’re carrying. You actually have a greater responsibility.

00:04:25.122 –> 00:04:29.242
So those are my main takeaways. That and the fact that we shouldn’t be listening

00:04:29.242 –> 00:04:33.482
to Hollywood and the media about guns and how they get used, right?

00:04:34.221 –> 00:04:39.481
Does that all make sense? Absolutely. And I think that all of those,

00:04:39.481 –> 00:04:45.821
you know, absolutely resonate with the philosophy that we teach at IC Training

00:04:45.821 –> 00:04:48.701
Company, the stuff that we share through Personal Defense Network. Yeah.

00:04:49.201 –> 00:04:52.841
I think this idea, you know, there is a universe, pretty universal.

00:04:53.341 –> 00:05:00.201
Nothing’s really absolute, right? But it’s a pretty universally accepted right to self-preservation.

00:05:00.201 –> 00:05:05.301
And in international law, culturally around the globe, it’s pretty universal

00:05:05.301 –> 00:05:12.561
that, yeah, you as a as a human being have the right to defend yourself from

00:05:12.561 –> 00:05:14.941
harm, from unreasonable attack,

00:05:15.221 –> 00:05:17.101
you know, whatever, physical, mental, all of that.

00:05:17.221 –> 00:05:21.581
We that is that is almost unquestioned in around the globe.

00:05:21.941 –> 00:05:29.561
Now, guns, obviously, are a potential means to exercise that right.

00:05:29.561 –> 00:05:31.441
And the gun isn’t the right.

00:05:31.661 –> 00:05:39.301
And in the United States, we have a constitutionally explicit protected right

00:05:39.301 –> 00:05:41.821
to that means, to keep and bear arms.

00:05:41.881 –> 00:05:44.701
And the government is told, you may not restrict this.

00:05:44.821 –> 00:05:49.721
You may not infringe upon this right, which, again, based on the writing and

00:05:49.721 –> 00:05:55.141
the presentation is self-evident and exists prior to the writing of the Constitution.

00:05:55.141 –> 00:05:57.321
And merely the government is being told.

00:05:58.176 –> 00:06:02.116
They can’t interfere with it. And interestingly, and obviously the source of

00:06:02.116 –> 00:06:06.996
a great controversy is the fact that the framers of the Constitution,

00:06:07.196 –> 00:06:13.296
and perhaps one of their obvious missteps, I think,

00:06:13.576 –> 00:06:19.996
they felt compelled to tell the government why the government shouldn’t infringe

00:06:19.996 –> 00:06:22.896
on this right in a way that appealed to the government.

00:06:22.896 –> 00:06:25.636
Right so what did they say the right of

00:06:25.636 –> 00:06:29.076
the people to protect themselves potentially

00:06:29.076 –> 00:06:31.876
even from the government right and potentially from other

00:06:31.876 –> 00:06:34.576
people outside remember we had no standing arm there’s no plan for a

00:06:34.576 –> 00:06:40.116
standing army then the fact that we might need to do the government’s work essentially

00:06:40.116 –> 00:06:45.016
as individuals we may need to protect ourselves and our country from internal

00:06:45.016 –> 00:06:51.236
or external foe yeah so therefore you should not get in get in the way of people’s

00:06:51.236 –> 00:06:52.256
right to keep and bear arms.

00:06:52.356 –> 00:06:55.376
And it’s in your interest, government, to not get in the way.

00:06:55.536 –> 00:07:00.616
And that clause has really screwed things up in terms of the individual right.

00:07:00.676 –> 00:07:05.296
Now, luckily, and I think rightfully, the Supreme Court in all of the recent

00:07:05.296 –> 00:07:08.876
rulings has been very clear that this is an individually protected right.

00:07:08.876 –> 00:07:10.156
It’s not a collective right.

00:07:10.316 –> 00:07:14.516
It’s not the National Guard is the militia. It’s not the state of the army made it obsolete.

00:07:14.916 –> 00:07:18.556
None of that. And that’s good. But the fact that the question even had to be

00:07:18.556 –> 00:07:21.076
clarified is because of the wording of the Second Amendment.

00:07:21.576 –> 00:07:25.636
And I have always been very clear, I believe, regardless of what the way that

00:07:25.636 –> 00:07:27.776
amendment is written, obviously, I support it.

00:07:27.976 –> 00:07:30.896
I support the idea that the government shouldn’t get in the way of our means

00:07:30.896 –> 00:07:35.776
to be able to protect ourselves in the situations where a gun is the best tool for that job.

00:07:36.116 –> 00:07:41.696
I also have been really clear with people that I see that nearly as an extension

00:07:41.696 –> 00:07:47.236
of the acknowledgement of the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

00:07:47.236 –> 00:07:49.816
that’s self-evident and our right to protect ourselves.

00:07:50.016 –> 00:07:55.196
So there really is a huge, huge difference between the right to protect yourself,

00:07:55.416 –> 00:07:59.196
the obligation to protect yourself, the responsibility we have to be prepared

00:07:59.196 –> 00:08:02.476
to defend ourselves and the object of the gun.

00:08:03.118 –> 00:08:07.478
Couldn’t agree more. And, and that was, that was, I guess that would be a good

00:08:07.478 –> 00:08:10.378
summary overview of what I was trying to get at with that point.

00:08:10.378 –> 00:08:14.438
Because again, I’ve seen a few things pop up and every time it agitates me,

00:08:14.578 –> 00:08:17.238
because again, I understand the spirit in which it was said,

00:08:17.558 –> 00:08:19.858
but it’s a little bit misleading.

00:08:19.858 –> 00:08:26.358
It’s meant to get that visceral reaction, but I don’t need a gun to defend myself. You know what I mean?

00:08:27.218 –> 00:08:31.358
Right. And again, I can come up with an example where, well,

00:08:31.478 –> 00:08:32.798
what would you do if you didn’t have a gun?

00:08:32.998 –> 00:08:37.718
I get it. And sometimes when I’m talking to that, that anti-gun parent,

00:08:37.718 –> 00:08:40.698
I’ll say, well, you know, let’s just imagine for a second, you know,

00:08:40.778 –> 00:08:42.498
I don’t think I could ever take a life with a gun.

00:08:42.498 –> 00:08:45.238
Okay well you know you’re in your duct

00:08:45.238 –> 00:08:48.258
tape to the chair and the gun’s in your hand and

00:08:48.258 –> 00:08:50.958
the person’s gonna kill your child would you pull the

00:08:50.958 –> 00:08:53.998
trigger you have no other option you know it’s ridiculous

00:08:53.998 –> 00:08:57.298
it’s hyperbolic but as a thought experiment it

00:08:57.298 –> 00:09:01.498
definitely gets people to the point of okay i can see where yeah under certain

00:09:01.498 –> 00:09:06.618
circumstances that are convoluted unlikely i would gun but but the idea that

00:09:06.618 –> 00:09:11.318
they would protect their kids that is period self-evident the idea even the

00:09:11.318 –> 00:09:12.218
people i think that would say

00:09:12.218 –> 00:09:15.398
they don’t know if they could hurt somebody else to protect themselves.

00:09:15.818 –> 00:09:19.418
Which I don’t know that if that gets tested, I don’t know that ever really stands up.

00:09:19.598 –> 00:09:24.278
They don’t say that about their kids or their mom or their wife or their dad, right?

00:09:24.618 –> 00:09:27.558
People are pretty ready to protect their loved ones.

00:09:27.658 –> 00:09:32.418
So when we talk about it, and I think that’s why the emotion of most of the

00:09:32.418 –> 00:09:38.158
donors and most of the likers and most of the sharers and reposters in the gun community are men.

00:09:38.358 –> 00:09:42.998
So when you say, Hey, this gun control could victimize women and make it impossible

00:09:42.998 –> 00:09:46.998
for them to defend themselves, you trigger the emotion and you get the donation,

00:09:46.998 –> 00:09:48.618
you get the like, you get to share.

00:09:48.798 –> 00:09:53.358
And that’s, that’s fear mongering. And I also agree with you that it’s not the

00:09:53.358 –> 00:09:54.698
way we should be doing this. Yeah.

00:09:54.998 –> 00:09:58.138
I, yeah. And I think that’s the part that gets me both. It’s like,

00:09:58.258 –> 00:10:00.378
that’s not a good sales technique.

00:10:00.598 –> 00:10:04.498
Yeah. You’ve got the emotional charge piece, but you’re going about it all wrong.

00:10:04.638 –> 00:10:08.298
And, you know, it’s, it’s funny that you mentioned mindset. Cause we talked

00:10:08.298 –> 00:10:12.138
about that in that podcast too. And we touched upon that very thing.

00:10:12.278 –> 00:10:16.838
Like before you think a gun is the answer to your self-defense problems,

00:10:16.838 –> 00:10:20.698
you need to figure out whether or not you can do it or not.

00:10:21.078 –> 00:10:25.998
Like if it came down to it and you had to employ that tool, are you capable?

00:10:26.438 –> 00:10:29.738
Can you do it? And if you haven’t answered that for yourself yet.

00:10:30.618 –> 00:10:34.638
Or you say no, then why do you have a gun in the first place?

00:10:34.818 –> 00:10:39.058
So it’s not the go-to tool,

00:10:39.713 –> 00:10:44.493
And it’s not necessarily a tool for everyone in the audience, you know.

00:10:46.333 –> 00:10:52.353
100%. And the real danger then, and I think this was really a big part of your

00:10:52.353 –> 00:10:55.753
point, whereas I spent a lot of time sort of trying to police our community

00:10:55.753 –> 00:10:57.313
and get our community better, because,

00:10:57.533 –> 00:11:02.613
you know, I will admit that when we say it’s not the right way to do the fundraising,

00:11:02.673 –> 00:11:04.073
it doesn’t mean it’s not effective, right?

00:11:04.073 –> 00:11:08.313
And it gets the clicks going, but it then gets used against us,

00:11:08.473 –> 00:11:11.793
I think, rightfully, because it’s, oh, look, they’re fear-mongering, and this is not true.

00:11:12.013 –> 00:11:15.153
And intellectually, that argument can be undermined pretty quickly,

00:11:15.153 –> 00:11:17.493
because what’s the worst case scenario?

00:11:17.613 –> 00:11:22.553
To me, the worst case scenario is you just made a woman who doesn’t own a gun

00:11:22.553 –> 00:11:26.153
or can’t own a gun. Maybe it’s a woman in France.

00:11:26.433 –> 00:11:30.013
Maybe it’s a woman who committed a felony of tax evasion.

00:11:30.173 –> 00:11:34.893
Maybe it’s a woman who lives in Manhattan. And you just made her think she can’t defend herself.

00:11:35.073 –> 00:11:40.773
If she takes you seriously, she now just got disempowered because of your fear

00:11:40.773 –> 00:11:43.813
mongering, because you weren’t genuine enough to just say, sure,

00:11:43.893 –> 00:11:47.333
there’s other means to self-defense work in a lot of different situations.

00:11:47.533 –> 00:11:52.073
But ultimately, humans should have the right to have the gun for those rare

00:11:52.073 –> 00:11:54.013
and worst case scenarios as well.

00:11:54.153 –> 00:11:57.953
And if you just say it that way, maybe you’ll cause that same woman to say.

00:11:58.353 –> 00:12:01.033
Well, gee, I wonder what the I don’t want a gun, but maybe I should look into

00:12:01.033 –> 00:12:03.213
these other means. of defending myself.

00:12:03.593 –> 00:12:06.793
I’ve got options to explore. And that’s, that’s an important takeaway,

00:12:06.813 –> 00:12:11.013
because if you say you said, you said it very well, if you take away the gun,

00:12:11.013 –> 00:12:12.413
I’ve been disempowered.

00:12:12.573 –> 00:12:15.573
Now I’ve been, you know, I’ve been fixed, so to speak. Right.

00:12:15.653 –> 00:12:20.093
So I don’t have any options if I don’t have that tool as an option for my go-to.

00:12:20.793 –> 00:12:24.493
And so I think, I think understanding that it’s not the only option.

00:12:24.493 –> 00:12:29.133
And then when it is the option, it’s not the go-to in all situations.

00:12:29.133 –> 00:12:33.913
Dare I say, you know, you’ve got the LEO background, you probably know better

00:12:33.913 –> 00:12:39.013
than me, but it’s probably not the go-to option in most cases.

00:12:39.013 –> 00:12:40.213
Would you agree with that?

00:12:40.733 –> 00:12:44.833
Oh, absolutely. When I’m teaching defensive shooting skill development,

00:12:45.073 –> 00:12:47.873
and when I do instructor development for people that are going to be teaching

00:12:47.873 –> 00:12:52.773
shooting skills, you know, I’ll draw like a big rectangle on the board or square

00:12:52.773 –> 00:12:54.133
or something. You know, I’m not super great.

00:12:54.813 –> 00:12:59.193
If anybody’s ever seen my whiteboards, it’s not 90 degree angles. So I draw a shape, right?

00:12:59.613 –> 00:13:05.073
And I’ll say, yeah, this is your, this is conflict in your life, right?

00:13:05.213 –> 00:13:09.033
Like this is, this is conflict that, that creates aftermath.

00:13:09.253 –> 00:13:11.913
That’s how I define conflict. You, you were in a, you were in a conflict.

00:13:12.093 –> 00:13:14.773
If there’s an aftermath, if you think about it afterwards, if it,

00:13:14.893 –> 00:13:17.713
if you’re in the hospital afterwards, if you’re in court afterwards,

00:13:17.913 –> 00:13:20.293
you know, if there’s math, you were in a conflict.

00:13:20.573 –> 00:13:24.333
That’s how we define it. Right? So somebody looks at you funny and you move

00:13:24.333 –> 00:13:25.713
on, you weren’t in a conflict.

00:13:25.873 –> 00:13:29.553
Somebody looks at you funny and you have a nightmare about it.

00:13:29.613 –> 00:13:30.873
That was a conflict, right?

00:13:31.193 –> 00:13:33.333
So what happens is.

00:13:33.934 –> 00:13:36.454
When we look at conflict in our

00:13:36.454 –> 00:13:41.374
lives, that rectangle that I just drew is potentially happening every day.

00:13:41.454 –> 00:13:45.094
If you cross the street because there’s someone that intimidates you,

00:13:45.234 –> 00:13:48.494
scares you, or you just don’t want to be messed with by down the streets,

00:13:48.494 –> 00:13:52.394
you go out of your way to go around that corner, that was conflict.

00:13:52.394 –> 00:13:54.414
You recognized potential conflict.

00:13:54.574 –> 00:13:57.994
You avoided it or de-escalated the situation by changing your route.

00:13:58.134 –> 00:14:00.734
You took an action and you moved on with the rest of your life.

00:14:00.854 –> 00:14:03.774
Well, that goes in that rectangle, right? So then once I’ve established that,

00:14:03.834 –> 00:14:08.834
I’ll say the whole whiteboard, which is 10, 50 times the size of this rectangle

00:14:08.834 –> 00:14:11.034
I’ve drawn, the whole whiteboard is your life.

00:14:11.394 –> 00:14:15.174
So your life isn’t mostly conflict. Conflict is a small part of your life,

00:14:15.234 –> 00:14:16.674
but it does exist. We need to acknowledge it.

00:14:16.994 –> 00:14:21.494
Somewhere in a little piece in the rectangles, okay, this piece is physical conflict.

00:14:21.494 –> 00:14:25.794
This is the kind of stuff that could have been physical or was physical.

00:14:25.794 –> 00:14:31.214
The fist fight you had in third grade, the person who hugged you awkwardly at

00:14:31.214 –> 00:14:34.014
the Christmas party that you had to kind of push them away.

00:14:34.154 –> 00:14:37.474
And you’re going to avoid being isolated with them to the rest of your work

00:14:37.474 –> 00:14:38.974
experience with that in that company.

00:14:39.274 –> 00:14:41.914
You know, these are physical things. And then I’ll draw a little,

00:14:41.914 –> 00:14:46.354
little dot and I’ll say, these are the potentially lethal, literally a dot in

00:14:46.354 –> 00:14:47.854
the corner of the second rectangle.

00:14:48.014 –> 00:14:53.454
This dot I just made with the dry erase marker, that’s potentially lethal conflict

00:14:53.454 –> 00:14:54.834
that might involve a gun.

00:14:55.014 –> 00:15:01.414
And I can’t even articulate like there isn’t a molecule of the ink that’s on

00:15:01.414 –> 00:15:03.134
the dry erase board in that dot.

00:15:03.214 –> 00:15:06.914
That is the times you actually have to pull the trigger because we know a lot

00:15:06.914 –> 00:15:10.774
of defensive gun uses are merely letting people know that you will use the gun

00:15:10.774 –> 00:15:13.894
and that deescalates things rather quickly in most cases.

00:15:14.074 –> 00:15:17.294
So, so this idea that, that you’re taking a gun glass, you’re going to spend

00:15:17.294 –> 00:15:20.754
the money, spend the time, do all this for something that’s incredibly unlikely

00:15:20.754 –> 00:15:24.834
and incredibly rare in the human experience is a good thing.

00:15:25.094 –> 00:15:28.734
One of the reasons it’s incredibly rare is because of.

00:15:29.298 –> 00:15:35.178
Situational awareness, conflict avoidance, de-escalation, unarmed skills, all these things.

00:15:35.258 –> 00:15:38.198
And we’re not alone and I’m not alone in this theory.

00:15:38.498 –> 00:15:42.378
People have said for years, Masada, Claude Werner,

00:15:42.638 –> 00:15:45.798
so many people over the years have said, if you’re carrying a gun,

00:15:45.998 –> 00:15:51.278
you should also carry pepper spray or have unarmed fighting skills or carry

00:15:51.278 –> 00:15:55.958
a taser, carry some alternative force so that you don’t have to jump to the gun.

00:15:55.958 –> 00:15:59.398
And Clint Smith has said for decades, if all you have is a gun,

00:15:59.758 –> 00:16:03.198
you know, then that’s all you’re going to use. If all you have is a hammer,

00:16:03.438 –> 00:16:04.858
everything looks like a nail.

00:16:05.078 –> 00:16:10.698
And he and we have to go beyond that in our preparation to defend ourselves mindset wise.

00:16:11.118 –> 00:16:15.678
Otherwise, absolutely. You go right to the gun and that’s a recipe for disaster

00:16:15.678 –> 00:16:18.518
in the vast majority of human conflict. Yeah.

00:16:18.998 –> 00:16:24.838
Yeah. And I think the last number and, you know, numbers in my mind are always

00:16:24.838 –> 00:16:30.158
questioned because they’re, you know, they’re put out to make a point or manipulate the facts.

00:16:30.318 –> 00:16:35.138
But, you know, what do they say about statistics? Statistics can say anything you want them to say.

00:16:35.438 –> 00:16:41.418
But I think the last number relative to bad things that really get so bad that

00:16:41.418 –> 00:16:45.678
you’re going to be going at it, you know, fisticuffs or having to go even to

00:16:45.678 –> 00:16:48.118
that next level of force is like,

00:16:48.278 –> 00:16:52.718
there’s a 0.04% chance in your life that that’ll ever happen.

00:16:53.338 –> 00:16:57.138
And so, you know, you bring up another good point. Why do we in the gun community

00:16:57.138 –> 00:17:01.378
focus so much or put so much energy into the importance of training,

00:17:01.378 –> 00:17:04.958
which was a point that I was trying to make in my last podcast, too, is that,

00:17:05.098 –> 00:17:08.738
you know, you don’t just buy a gun and automatically get safer, right?

00:17:08.898 –> 00:17:11.138
Be a badass and make yourself safer.

00:17:11.518 –> 00:17:16.118
You might make yourself feel safer by having that gun on your nightstand or

00:17:16.118 –> 00:17:19.398
carrying that gun on your hip if you’ve got the license to do so.

00:17:19.758 –> 00:17:23.038
But it does not make you automatically safer. And, you know,

00:17:23.138 –> 00:17:24.758
if you purchase a firearm,

00:17:25.138 –> 00:17:30.718
it’s incumbent on you to get that associated training, both basic skills and

00:17:30.718 –> 00:17:35.358
safety, obviously, going all the way up into, you know, potentially advanced

00:17:35.358 –> 00:17:38.538
defensive firearms training like you offer.

00:17:38.878 –> 00:17:44.078
So it’s not an automatic, but why do we spend so much time worrying about training

00:17:44.078 –> 00:17:48.038
for a tool that the chances of us ever having to use assumed a nil.

00:17:48.318 –> 00:17:51.098
And I’d say it’s because that tool.

00:17:51.920 –> 00:17:55.200
Is not very it requires

00:17:55.200 –> 00:17:58.440
a lot of training to use effectively right so if

00:17:58.440 –> 00:18:01.520
you’re going to elect to carry that particular tool you really need

00:18:01.520 –> 00:18:04.740
to make an effort to get the proper training i heard

00:18:04.740 –> 00:18:08.960
someone say more recently even for women that a knife might be a better choice

00:18:08.960 –> 00:18:15.260
in self-defense tool because with very little training in close counter situations

00:18:15.260 –> 00:18:19.240
which are they’re likely going to be involved with right especially with people

00:18:19.240 –> 00:18:21.840
that they know or that have loved them or whatever However,

00:18:22.100 –> 00:18:27.720
a knife might be a better choice because you can enact a lot of damage and not

00:18:27.720 –> 00:18:29.300
have a lot of training behind it, right?

00:18:29.700 –> 00:18:33.540
Like everybody knows what a knife does, but that’s why for guns,

00:18:33.540 –> 00:18:36.000
that tool does necessitate the training.

00:18:36.160 –> 00:18:40.600
And that was a point that we were definitely trying to make in that podcast as well.

00:18:40.980 –> 00:18:47.580
I think that that may be one of the areas that we disagree maybe in the practical

00:18:47.580 –> 00:18:50.940
application of the theory. I think we agree in the theory, it sounds like.

00:18:51.080 –> 00:18:54.920
But what I would say is this, you know, I have spent the last 20 plus years

00:18:54.920 –> 00:19:01.060
distilling defensive firearm skill development down to make it more efficient.

00:19:01.260 –> 00:19:05.500
Right. So when you start training in the traditional model, the 80s,

00:19:05.540 –> 00:19:09.520
you know, defensive handgun model, you really you started learning with the

00:19:09.520 –> 00:19:12.480
techniques that would help you hit a golf ball at 100 yards.

00:19:12.740 –> 00:19:17.600
Right. Like really isometric tension and push pull and bladed stances and front

00:19:17.600 –> 00:19:21.600
sight focus and sight all this trigger staging and all this stuff.

00:19:21.860 –> 00:19:25.500
And that that is a very high level physical skill.

00:19:25.640 –> 00:19:29.080
If you want to shoot a golf ball at 100 yards. The fact is what we’ve seen,

00:19:29.280 –> 00:19:34.380
the empirical data, many, many, many, many untrained people successfully use

00:19:34.380 –> 00:19:38.000
guns to stop lethal threats without any training whatsoever.

00:19:38.000 –> 00:19:39.220
They had the gun in their nightstand.

00:19:39.860 –> 00:19:42.740
They had the gun in the closet or they had the gun under the counter.

00:19:42.840 –> 00:19:44.900
At the convenience store that their grandfather started.

00:19:45.100 –> 00:19:47.140
You know, the grandfather left the gun there. It’s just been there.

00:19:47.220 –> 00:19:51.040
And they use those guns very intuitively to defend themselves. Sure.

00:19:51.651 –> 00:19:55.331
Pretty? Is it a hundred percent hit rate? You know, no, absolutely not.

00:19:55.431 –> 00:19:58.991
But we also know we learned when dash camera videos came out and so they own

00:19:58.991 –> 00:20:00.411
camera videos became more common.

00:20:00.631 –> 00:20:04.591
We also learned that the police officers in the late nineties and in the early

00:20:04.591 –> 00:20:08.691
two thousands, weren’t using those target shooting techniques that they use

00:20:08.691 –> 00:20:10.191
to get their qualification score.

00:20:10.391 –> 00:20:14.191
They were also improvising a great deal of what happened on the street.

00:20:15.451 –> 00:20:18.331
Winning, they were winning the fights, but they were winning with a 20% hit

00:20:18.331 –> 00:20:21.811
rate, not a 89% hit rate, like they had qualification score.

00:20:22.131 –> 00:20:28.331
So, so a lot of the idea that guns are hard to use, I would disagree with, but here’s where I,

00:20:28.531 –> 00:20:33.651
where I like in Rob’s, you know, half a second ahead version of what you were

00:20:33.651 –> 00:20:36.451
saying, what I anticipated you saying, or what I would say is this,

00:20:36.571 –> 00:20:41.891
the reason we emphasize training so much is because of the incredible responsibility.

00:20:42.371 –> 00:20:46.171
That comes with carrying a gun in public, boning a gun home.

00:20:46.311 –> 00:20:50.911
Because when you say, when you, You also said in that last piece,

00:20:51.011 –> 00:20:52.931
you don’t automatically become

00:20:52.931 –> 00:20:56.811
a badass. You don’t become more dangerous just because you own a gun.

00:20:57.171 –> 00:21:04.331
The fact is you’ve increased the risk of negative outcome in your home or in

00:21:04.331 –> 00:21:07.811
your space or for those around you when you bring in a firearm.

00:21:07.911 –> 00:21:10.771
That’s going to get cut out, and somebody on the Internet is going to say,

00:21:10.851 –> 00:21:12.771
oh, my God, Rob, how could you possibly say that?

00:21:12.931 –> 00:21:15.731
Well, I said it because it’s self-evident. If you buy a big dog,

00:21:15.951 –> 00:21:19.771
you just increase the chances of someone being bit by a dog in your home.

00:21:19.871 –> 00:21:23.771
If you build a pool, you increase the chances of someone drowning on your property.

00:21:23.951 –> 00:21:28.731
These are self-evident facts. So it is incredibly important that people get

00:21:28.731 –> 00:21:32.351
the training on responsible firearms owners,

00:21:32.711 –> 00:21:36.491
responsible firearms staging, responsible firearms carrying,

00:21:36.711 –> 00:21:42.711
responsible firearms deployment and use in situations, which is where we started 20 minutes ago.

00:21:42.711 –> 00:21:46.611
This idea that your guy cuts you off in traffic, you don’t pull your gun out.

00:21:47.071 –> 00:21:51.171
We may think you don’t take class to tell you that, but you do.

00:21:51.411 –> 00:21:55.091
You don’t, don’t, some guy stealing your truck in the front yard, you don’t.

00:21:55.639 –> 00:21:59.399
Start shooting at him through the window with your ar-15 and

00:21:59.399 –> 00:22:02.379
and somebody might actually right now be like well in texas you

00:22:02.379 –> 00:22:05.339
can you shouldn’t i don’t care if the law says

00:22:05.339 –> 00:22:08.899
you can i’m telling you as a gun rights advocate and a personal defense home

00:22:08.899 –> 00:22:13.799
defense home security educator you should not be shooting through a window to

00:22:13.799 –> 00:22:18.479
keep someone from stealing your truck yeah like it makes us all look bad yeah

00:22:18.479 –> 00:22:22.039
so well and it’s just you could you could literally kill a guy He’s just stealing

00:22:22.039 –> 00:22:23.499
your truck. You could kill something.

00:22:23.799 –> 00:22:26.959
We’ve had neighbors get shot because it’s like that. There’s just,

00:22:27.019 –> 00:22:28.799
you could lose your gun rights forever.

00:22:29.039 –> 00:22:33.839
Like I had my truck stolen in September. And if I had been looking out the window

00:22:33.839 –> 00:22:36.679
as the truck was, you know, the guy was breaking into the truck,

00:22:36.719 –> 00:22:40.379
I would not have grabbed an AR and started shooting down at him.

00:22:40.619 –> 00:22:45.919
I might have done something, right? But what I would not have done was deploy lethal force, right?

00:22:45.999 –> 00:22:50.179
There’s no justification for that. So the idea that a lot of the things you

00:22:50.179 –> 00:22:51.359
said really resonate with me,

00:22:51.439 –> 00:22:55.099
but I want to be really careful about what I see as the reason we advocate for

00:22:55.099 –> 00:22:59.739
training and education has everything to do with responsibility and not as much

00:22:59.739 –> 00:23:04.239
to do with the physical use of the gun in an appropriate situation.

00:23:04.999 –> 00:23:09.379
Because a lot of people, I think, envision completely inappropriate situations

00:23:09.379 –> 00:23:14.539
where they might want to use the gun and why the education becomes important.

00:23:14.539 –> 00:23:18.459
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. And I don’t think we disagree that much.

00:23:18.519 –> 00:23:22.799
Actually, the reason why I put so much emphasis on training is because in the

00:23:22.799 –> 00:23:27.199
last 10 years, I’ve gotten, you know, I’m not at the range all the time.

00:23:27.339 –> 00:23:30.219
But before COVID, I was there as much as once a week, you know,

00:23:30.739 –> 00:23:34.779
doing what I thought I needed to be doing as a concealed carry individual.

00:23:34.779 –> 00:23:38.939
You know, I put emphasis on training because I do think it’s important that

00:23:38.939 –> 00:23:45.999
now I’ve got this tool that’s a, you know, a tool of force, a deadly weapon. Right.

00:23:46.439 –> 00:23:51.179
And I need to get training to know how best to use it, as you said,

00:23:51.259 –> 00:23:54.779
responsibly, whatever, whatever I’m doing with it.

00:23:55.396 –> 00:23:59.976
And so I think training for me personally is a big item because I know how much

00:23:59.976 –> 00:24:03.436
it’s meant to me and how much better of a shooter it’s made me over time.

00:24:03.656 –> 00:24:07.756
How much more knowledgeable, not that I know it all, I’m learning all the time.

00:24:07.756 –> 00:24:13.196
I’m always learning, but how much it’s made me think about scenarios and do

00:24:13.196 –> 00:24:15.116
things I wouldn’t have otherwise have done.

00:24:15.516 –> 00:24:19.296
And then the other thing that I think that’s important that I mentioned is,

00:24:19.396 –> 00:24:23.916
you know, learning some of those legal aspects, you know, can I do it?

00:24:24.036 –> 00:24:27.016
Should I do it? it depends right and thinking

00:24:27.016 –> 00:24:30.436
through scenarios you know some self-training right thinking

00:24:30.436 –> 00:24:33.216
about scenarios to be better prepared hey what would i do

00:24:33.216 –> 00:24:35.996
because the person that’s thought through the scenarios is going

00:24:35.996 –> 00:24:38.816
to respond better potentially than the person

00:24:38.816 –> 00:24:41.536
that hasn’t given it any thought at all and then the

00:24:41.536 –> 00:24:44.876
other part of that training is all of that aside you

00:24:44.876 –> 00:24:49.716
need some basic first aid and basic trauma care training right and so to me

00:24:49.716 –> 00:24:54.936
the training really is key oh absolutely it is and And that’s where it becomes

00:24:54.936 –> 00:24:56.616
really important is to remind everybody

00:24:56.616 –> 00:25:01.736
we’re talking about comprehensive self-defense and care education,

00:25:01.736 –> 00:25:05.676
not just shooting skill. There’s so much more to this.

00:25:05.896 –> 00:25:09.936
And, you know, I’m wearing an emergency trauma kit on my ankle right now.

00:25:09.936 –> 00:25:11.896
I am not carrying a gun right now.

00:25:11.996 –> 00:25:15.396
There’s a gun staged in a quick access safe about 12 feet from me.

00:25:15.536 –> 00:25:21.316
But when I go out, I’ll put the gun on. but the trauma kits on and the,

00:25:21.596 –> 00:25:26.916
when I, you know, came back from the house or ranking back to the house,

00:25:27.016 –> 00:25:28.436
I dropped my daughter off of school this morning.

00:25:28.816 –> 00:25:32.796
I was going to, I jumped in the shower. So the gun got put in the quick access safe.

00:25:33.016 –> 00:25:39.376
The trauma kit got taken off and put on the kit, you know, the bathroom Kennedy and came right back on.

00:25:39.536 –> 00:25:47.296
So, so the, this is something that is ingrained in probably for four or five years now. Um,

00:25:47.474 –> 00:25:50.714
It was about this time of the year because it was right during the European

00:25:50.714 –> 00:25:55.094
version of SHOT Show. I was introduced to the company that makes this ankle kit.

00:25:55.274 –> 00:25:56.994
And I can’t remember if it was four years ago or five years ago,

00:25:57.114 –> 00:26:00.994
but probably 300, literally 360 days a year.

00:26:01.134 –> 00:26:05.294
If I’m on the beach, which is a very rare thing, or if I’m wearing shorts around

00:26:05.294 –> 00:26:08.054
all day, which is a very rare thing. You may not have it on.

00:26:08.594 –> 00:26:12.314
Very ankle kit. So that, and I’m the gun guy, right? Right.

00:26:12.474 –> 00:26:18.934
So it is so important to think about kind of what if you’re really serious about personal defense.

00:26:19.174 –> 00:26:21.574
Yeah. And I think this really was the core of your point.

00:26:22.034 –> 00:26:28.254
The gun is a tool, a tool that will rarely be needed and rarely be the best answer.

00:26:28.834 –> 00:26:31.734
But it’s a tool that if you decide to bring it into your world,

00:26:32.054 –> 00:26:36.094
you better get the education and training around owning it, storing it,

00:26:36.274 –> 00:26:39.214
staging it, carrying it and using it appropriately. Yep.

00:26:39.734 –> 00:26:43.954
And and there’s a bunch of other stuff to learn even before you get to a gun.

00:26:44.054 –> 00:26:50.394
You know, we’ve talked about situational awareness, avoidance, deescalation, etc.

00:26:50.754 –> 00:26:53.834
So, yeah, I think we’re on the same page.

00:26:54.374 –> 00:26:57.074
Yeah, I think we are. And it really is.

00:26:57.611 –> 00:27:00.991
Sometimes it’s important to note that it’s not necessarily sequential, right?

00:27:01.971 –> 00:27:04.651
Because a lot of people are going to hear this. I’m going to share this, right?

00:27:04.711 –> 00:27:07.551
I’m going to share this with a bunch of gun owners who probably heard me say

00:27:07.551 –> 00:27:10.911
this kind of stuff 20 times and not heard it. It didn’t click, right?

00:27:11.151 –> 00:27:13.051
Today, it’s going to click. And they’re going to say, you know,

00:27:13.091 –> 00:27:14.171
I don’t carry a medical kit.

00:27:14.291 –> 00:27:17.991
Maybe I should look into that. I’ve never done, I’ve never really done any arms

00:27:17.991 –> 00:27:19.851
training. I mean, fitness, right?

00:27:20.011 –> 00:27:24.371
Like, that’s part of it. I mean, if you’re in the mall and somebody starts shooting

00:27:24.371 –> 00:27:29.811
up the mall and you can run out the door and get to your car or get off the

00:27:29.811 –> 00:27:32.991
property or run to someplace you can barricade yourself,

00:27:33.171 –> 00:27:37.691
you’re way better off than if you can’t run from that part of the mall.

00:27:37.891 –> 00:27:42.271
And the bad guy gets to that part of the mall before the police intercepts, right?

00:27:42.391 –> 00:27:46.351
Now you’ve got to draw your gun and shoot him. Whereas if you were physically

00:27:46.351 –> 00:27:48.911
fitter, you might’ve just been able to avoid the conflict.

00:27:49.111 –> 00:27:54.451
And, and that is the kind of stuff that you’re right. It doesn’t get talked about enough.

00:27:54.711 –> 00:27:59.671
But I also will say that this is a very, very different landscape than it was 10 or 15 years ago.

00:27:59.851 –> 00:28:04.111
20, 30 years ago, this stuff was hardly talked about unless you were really

00:28:04.111 –> 00:28:08.491
an advanced student of defense, armed defense. You didn’t hear any of this stuff.

00:28:08.891 –> 00:28:15.731
Today, you’d have to be willfully ignorant to not have heard from some qualified

00:28:15.731 –> 00:28:20.831
instructor that you should not go directly to the gun, that there are other

00:28:20.831 –> 00:28:23.671
things you should worry about, that medical training is part of it.

00:28:23.811 –> 00:28:26.851
And I say that the way I did, because if there’s an instructor out there today

00:28:26.851 –> 00:28:28.711
telling you, Hey, just get a gun. That’s all you need.

00:28:28.911 –> 00:28:32.371
Uh, you know, some of the things we used to get a 22, because at the end of

00:28:32.371 –> 00:28:35.971
the day, it just, as soon as you pull that gun out, the bad guy is going to run away.

00:28:36.031 –> 00:28:40.271
You don’t even need to load the gun. If you show them the gun, it’s going to run away.

00:28:40.491 –> 00:28:42.971
Just get a gun. If there’s somebody out there still doing that,

00:28:43.071 –> 00:28:46.171
tell them to shut up and give them my phone if he’s had a problem with it. Yeah.

00:28:46.531 –> 00:28:50.391
You said something earlier that made me think of one of my points that I tried

00:28:50.391 –> 00:28:53.911
to drive home as I do every chance I get with just about anyone.

00:28:54.171 –> 00:28:59.451
And that is, if you’re first time or not, you don’t have to be first time,

00:28:59.571 –> 00:29:03.931
but certainly if you’re a first time gun owner or just purchased a gun with

00:29:03.931 –> 00:29:07.791
everything that’s going on, please don’t take your cues from Hollywood.

00:29:08.651 –> 00:29:13.131
Please don’t take your cues from Hollywood. I think so much of the misinformation,

00:29:13.131 –> 00:29:18.031
much like the news and media that we see today, especially,

00:29:18.511 –> 00:29:22.471
and have for a while now, I think, you know, a lot of people think it’s going

00:29:22.471 –> 00:29:24.871
to happen just like it is in Hollywood.

00:29:26.571 –> 00:29:30.211
And that’s not the case at all. So to me, that’s another one of those reasons.

00:29:30.331 –> 00:29:33.231
Okay, if that’s what you think, or if you’re thinking when you think through

00:29:33.231 –> 00:29:36.531
your scenarios, you’re going to be doing those Rambo maneuvers or those,

00:29:36.891 –> 00:29:39.411
gosh, I can’t even think of the name of the movie right now.

00:29:39.531 –> 00:29:43.531
But, you know, the CQB stuff in your own home, not saying that there’s not a

00:29:43.531 –> 00:29:44.811
place for some of that stuff.

00:29:45.031 –> 00:29:49.691
But if that’s the way you’re envisioning things going down, you probably need

00:29:49.691 –> 00:29:53.491
a good dose of training from somebody that knows what they’re doing to kind

00:29:53.491 –> 00:29:56.151
of dial you in a little bit better, you know.

00:29:56.756 –> 00:30:01.696
Oh, for sure. It is. It is so important. And I and I’ve been guilty of this in the past.

00:30:01.796 –> 00:30:07.636
And I think our community, you know, nowadays, I think everybody like celebrates like John Wick.

00:30:07.856 –> 00:30:13.496
Right. And back on the day it was it was, you know, the gun handling and heat was great.

00:30:13.736 –> 00:30:19.576
The link in way of the gun was great. You know, I heard that seal consulting. That was great.

00:30:19.856 –> 00:30:23.476
Well, it’s great if you want to play Navy SEAL.

00:30:23.896 –> 00:30:28.896
Right. Or if a criminal kidnapper turned good guy in a movie script that wants

00:30:28.896 –> 00:30:31.536
to save the pregnant girl, yeah, I guess then it’s good.

00:30:31.736 –> 00:30:38.996
But in the real world, none of that is the appropriate defensive use of a gun.

00:30:39.156 –> 00:30:41.656
And that’s really hard to get people to understand.

00:30:42.316 –> 00:30:49.756
It’s no more real than any other house. That’s not really how hospitals work. Right.

00:30:49.896 –> 00:30:54.336
Like you have to remember it’s entertainment.

00:30:54.656 –> 00:30:58.216
And I think that works both ways. I’m sure there are plenty of people who watch

00:30:58.216 –> 00:31:01.536
certain media that makes them think the last thing they would ever want is to

00:31:01.536 –> 00:31:04.576
own a gun because it’s just recklessly dangerous to own a gun.

00:31:04.576 –> 00:31:06.096
And that’s not true either.

00:31:06.296 –> 00:31:10.816
But as a gun rights and responsibility guy, I have to assume I’m talking to

00:31:10.816 –> 00:31:13.136
people who own guns or will own guns.

00:31:13.216 –> 00:31:15.696
And I want you to focus on the responsibility.

00:31:15.896 –> 00:31:19.436
But that’s not to say, you know, wait 20 years.

00:31:19.596 –> 00:31:23.356
I’ve certainly told people that you’re not ready for a gun or a gun’s not right for you.

00:31:23.476 –> 00:31:24.756
But that’s the exception, right?

00:31:24.856 –> 00:31:29.696
Like what what percentage of the population is is a gun not right for?

00:31:29.876 –> 00:31:32.836
I would tell you that that I’m I cringe.

00:31:33.782 –> 00:31:36.862
Thinking about the number of people who are considered leaders in the gun rights

00:31:36.862 –> 00:31:41.542
community who would say, no one, everyone should have a gun.

00:31:42.502 –> 00:31:45.402
And they know better. And they know better and I know better and you know better.

00:31:45.402 –> 00:31:51.662
I don’t think it’s 10%, but it’s more than zero people shouldn’t own a gun.

00:31:51.982 –> 00:31:53.702
And I’m not saying shouldn’t be

00:31:53.702 –> 00:31:57.822
allowed to own a gun. I’m saying shouldn’t make the choice to own a gun.

00:31:58.022 –> 00:32:01.222
And that’s a conversation we need to be ready to have too. Yeah,

00:32:01.342 –> 00:32:05.322
I mean, some people just should not have power tools in their garage, right? Right.

00:32:06.942 –> 00:32:13.062
Absolutely. Well, one of the issues we deal with in our culture is we have an

00:32:13.062 –> 00:32:19.342
awareness of dementia and the havoc that can be wreaked upon a family and an

00:32:19.342 –> 00:32:23.182
individual when they just aren’t judging situations well.

00:32:23.362 –> 00:32:27.102
They aren’t paying attention to their situations well. They’re losing some of

00:32:27.102 –> 00:32:31.242
the neuromuscular control that they once had and their perception and judgment’s

00:32:31.242 –> 00:32:35.042
off, and we take away their car keys. You know, it doesn’t mean we don’t love it.

00:32:35.202 –> 00:32:39.422
You know, we just were taking your car keys away to protect you and protect society.

00:32:39.722 –> 00:32:43.062
And there’s no law, by the way. Right. There’s no law that says when you turn

00:32:43.062 –> 00:32:45.282
72, you have to go get your gut.

00:32:45.362 –> 00:32:48.222
You know, you have to show up and get a psych test to see if you can drive.

00:32:48.222 –> 00:32:53.342
We just think out in our society that we need to take the car keys away for

00:32:53.342 –> 00:32:55.142
individuals on an individual basis.

00:32:55.422 –> 00:33:02.442
And we say take the car keys away very specifically because it’s a judgment

00:33:02.442 –> 00:33:07.242
perception, mental processing issue that might prevent somebody from willingly

00:33:07.242 –> 00:33:08.862
giving up the keys. Right.

00:33:09.382 –> 00:33:13.322
But something like a living will, you know, if I’m diagnosed with dementia or

00:33:13.322 –> 00:33:16.902
other cognitive issues, I want you to take my car keys away.

00:33:16.922 –> 00:33:20.442
Even if I’m fighting you over it, please protect me and protect our community.

00:33:20.642 –> 00:33:24.122
I think we need to be doing the same thing with firearms. Right.

00:33:24.222 –> 00:33:27.702
If there is, it’s almost the same exact scenario.

00:33:27.822 –> 00:33:34.322
If I take grandpa’s car keys away, how can I responsibly leave a loaded gun behind his door? Right.

00:33:35.295 –> 00:33:39.835
Yeah, no, it’s a good point. And arguably, they’re both deadly weapons at the

00:33:39.835 –> 00:33:41.935
end of the day after 14 accidents.

00:33:42.135 –> 00:33:46.555
And maybe that’s the maybe that’s on that particular topic.

00:33:46.735 –> 00:33:50.075
Maybe that’s the difference between the two, though, is that,

00:33:50.195 –> 00:33:52.975
you know, like my buddy had to recently.

00:33:53.335 –> 00:33:58.055
Well, it’s a year plus ago now, but my buddy more recently had to take his car

00:33:58.055 –> 00:34:01.755
keys away from his stepdad for just that reason. He, I think,

00:34:01.815 –> 00:34:07.315
had been in four accidents, hitting cars in parking lots, even hit a school bus one afternoon.

00:34:08.895 –> 00:34:15.235
And, you know, my point is, is that in the car scenarios, there’s things that

00:34:15.235 –> 00:34:18.115
are exhibited or that are that

00:34:18.115 –> 00:34:22.355
have happened to cause you to need to consider taking those keys away.

00:34:22.795 –> 00:34:26.495
Loaded gun behind the door. It might be just a matter of time,

00:34:26.615 –> 00:34:30.315
but nothing’s happened yet. But to your point, with the gun,

00:34:30.755 –> 00:34:36.475
we shouldn’t be waiting until something happens to take action with that tool, maybe.

00:34:36.735 –> 00:34:42.015
Is that a fair overview? I mean, I certainly wouldn’t say that,

00:34:42.195 –> 00:34:45.395
you know, I’m not a, I’m not a driving rights advocate, right?

00:34:45.535 –> 00:34:48.575
Or a driving, but I would say that, yeah, if you’re, if you’re,

00:34:48.695 –> 00:34:53.355
you can’t have the metric can’t be after three or four fender benders within

00:34:53.355 –> 00:34:56.735
six months, if someone’s over the age of 65, it’s time to take the keys.

00:34:56.855 –> 00:35:01.275
I feel like it’s so, it’s so subjective, right? There is no metric and we’re

00:35:01.275 –> 00:35:04.035
not talking about the government coming in and taking away the car keys.

00:35:04.155 –> 00:35:09.955
We’re talking about the family realizing that it’s time to use the Uber. and it is really…

00:35:10.431 –> 00:35:14.911
Like I said, incredibly subjective. Certainly we can have a negligent discharge.

00:35:15.091 –> 00:35:19.391
I’ve had negligent discharge. I’ve had two in my life that I can point to and

00:35:19.391 –> 00:35:26.111
say, I wasn’t paying enough attention and a gun went off when I didn’t intend for it to go off.

00:35:26.891 –> 00:35:30.951
There were redundant safety protocols and procedures.

00:35:31.271 –> 00:35:35.711
Nothing bad happened. No one was injured. The bullet went where it was supposed to go.

00:35:35.851 –> 00:35:40.631
But in both cases, I know cognitively, I was not expecting the gun to go bang.

00:35:40.951 –> 00:35:44.491
And in one case, I purposefully pulled the trigger. In another case,

00:35:44.611 –> 00:35:48.791
I absentmindedly had my finger in a position where the trigger got pulled while

00:35:48.791 –> 00:35:52.091
I was focused on something else, but it was my action.

00:35:52.431 –> 00:35:57.871
And if I weren’t, I would worry if I weren’t able to say, this is how it happened.

00:35:58.031 –> 00:36:01.431
This is the mistake that was made. This is the thing that I did wrong.

00:36:01.991 –> 00:36:06.851
That’s the indicator, right? It’s like, okay, so why did you hit that tree?

00:36:07.191 –> 00:36:10.651
Well, it moved. Well, no, the tree didn’t. No, it didn’t.

00:36:11.851 –> 00:36:16.011
If you can’t even admit that you ran into the tree, well, the car just lurched

00:36:16.011 –> 00:36:17.811
to the left. No, it didn’t. No, it didn’t. Right?

00:36:17.951 –> 00:36:20.671
Like you let go of the steering wheel, or you did this, or you swirled because

00:36:20.671 –> 00:36:22.611
of a squirrel, or something happened.

00:36:22.791 –> 00:36:27.511
And if you can’t articulate and define what happened, that might be the indicator

00:36:27.511 –> 00:36:30.711
that it’s time to change, you know, to take away.

00:36:30.851 –> 00:36:33.311
Yeah, give it up. But that situation develops again.

00:36:33.511 –> 00:36:38.551
So I don’t know that we can say it’s, you know, with a car, it’s not as urgent.

00:36:38.751 –> 00:36:42.391
Because certainly that first accident could kill the school bus full of kids, right?

00:36:42.491 –> 00:36:46.291
So it’s just something we all need to exercise responsibility.

00:36:46.291 –> 00:36:50.991
We all need to advocate for responsibility amongst our peers and our family

00:36:50.991 –> 00:36:53.471
and those we care about and everybody else in society.

00:36:53.631 –> 00:36:58.471
And if we’re doing that genuinely, then it’s not a question of taking away someone’s rights.

00:36:58.671 –> 00:37:01.991
It’s a question of preventing somebody from doing something tragic.

00:37:02.651 –> 00:37:08.271
Yep. Couldn’t agree more. Sure. So I know it, I know you are the one that reached

00:37:08.271 –> 00:37:12.271
out when I put out that last podcast. Is there anything else you wanted to cover?

00:37:12.811 –> 00:37:16.731
I just, I, like I said, Jim, I appreciate the conversations. I think that this.

00:37:17.480 –> 00:37:22.880
This dialogue revealed some maybe fine-tuning or refinement of my own thoughts

00:37:22.880 –> 00:37:24.660
based on some of the things you said.

00:37:24.820 –> 00:37:30.660
Your podcast made me think about what you meant and what I think and where there’s

00:37:30.660 –> 00:37:32.280
alignment and where there’s disagreement.

00:37:32.500 –> 00:37:34.980
I think, as you said, we really probably don’t disagree all that much.

00:37:35.060 –> 00:37:38.300
I think that there are things I emphasize. There’s things you emphasize.

00:37:38.620 –> 00:37:44.280
I hope that anybody listening to this right now does go back and listen to your show.

00:37:44.380 –> 00:37:46.960
Do you happen to know which episode it was? That was the last one,

00:37:47.100 –> 00:37:49.720
which was 35, three years of this.

00:37:50.700 –> 00:37:55.520
Self-initiative 35. If you’re in my audience and you don’t listen to Jim’s podcast, keep an eye on it.

00:37:55.600 –> 00:37:59.860
But especially if this was interesting to you, go back and listen to what he said.

00:38:00.180 –> 00:38:07.100
I think that the two, you know, the willingness that you show to further explore your ideas.

00:38:07.280 –> 00:38:10.780
And again, you know, for the audience’s benefit, the way I reached out was kind

00:38:10.780 –> 00:38:13.880
of like, hey, I’m not sure I agree with you on all these points.

00:38:14.360 –> 00:38:19.920
If you’re open to it, let’s hash this out for the good of earth. Let’s do it publicly.

00:38:20.200 –> 00:38:25.420
And your willingness to do that speaks volumes about your sincerity and your

00:38:25.420 –> 00:38:27.560
interest in the dialogues.

00:38:27.740 –> 00:38:29.880
I think the dialogue is where we learn more about ourselves.

00:38:30.060 –> 00:38:33.820
And hopefully people who eavesdrop on that dialogue get a lot out of it.

00:38:33.880 –> 00:38:35.280
So I hope that’s what’s happened here.

00:38:35.360 –> 00:38:40.320
And I really appreciate you doing it and having me back on the show to do it.

00:38:40.640 –> 00:38:43.640
Yeah, absolutely. And I appreciate you reaching out again and us being able

00:38:43.640 –> 00:38:45.080
to connect again and do this.

00:38:45.200 –> 00:38:48.640
And hopefully, you know, like you said, the people that are listening get that

00:38:48.640 –> 00:38:51.980
like they understand now that we’ve even talked through it further.

00:38:52.560 –> 00:38:58.740
If they go back and listen to 35, they’ll understand even better now what the

00:38:58.740 –> 00:39:04.740
points were I was trying to get across because of the dialogue that we’ve had about that very topic.

00:39:04.740 –> 00:39:07.880
So I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you about it.

00:39:07.880 –> 00:39:13.540
And I think, you know, in the gun community, we would do ourselves better if we were,

00:39:13.720 –> 00:39:16.780
and I know folks like yourself and others are doing it more,

00:39:16.920 –> 00:39:21.880
but if we had more open dialogue or more willingness to have more open dialogue

00:39:21.880 –> 00:39:28.580
and less name calling or emotional grabbing headlines and what we were trying to accomplish,

00:39:28.760 –> 00:39:31.280
because I think that’s just going to only help.

00:39:31.420 –> 00:39:35.780
Well, I know it’s only going to help reach those that we’re actually trying to talk to and reach.

00:39:36.260 –> 00:39:40.220
So I appreciate you doing it. Yeah, man. Thank you. Thank you very much.

00:39:40.440 –> 00:39:43.280
And again, continued success with the show. And if there’s anything I can do

00:39:43.280 –> 00:39:45.560
for you or your audience, let me know.

00:39:45.720 –> 00:39:48.600
If you’re interested in the training information that we’ve been stressing,

00:39:48.920 –> 00:39:53.100
not just the gun stuff, but everything else, personaldefensenetwork.com.

00:39:53.100 –> 00:39:57.080
There are literally hundreds of free articles and videos there hitting on on

00:39:57.080 –> 00:40:01.840
just about every aspect of firearms related training information,

00:40:02.080 –> 00:40:05.620
the medical information, the unarmed information, the staging and storage,

00:40:05.860 –> 00:40:09.960
the when you should use the gun. All that’s there. Personal defense.

00:40:10.340 –> 00:40:14.900
You got all kinds of good information there. And you’ve also got ice training as well.

00:40:15.707 –> 00:40:21.927
Yeah, the intuitiveshooting.com website is the home of the ICE training calendar

00:40:21.927 –> 00:40:26.027
for my in-person stuff and for those who have been certified by me.

00:40:26.227 –> 00:40:29.767
And it’s probably worth mentioning that United States Concealed Carry Association,

00:40:29.767 –> 00:40:34.807
they asked me several years ago to write a curriculum for them to basically

00:40:34.807 –> 00:40:39.607
take my material and adapt it for the scope and scale at which they can reach people.

00:40:39.607 –> 00:40:45.327
So they have level one and level two defensive shooting fundamentals courses

00:40:45.327 –> 00:40:46.567
they offer around the country.

00:40:46.727 –> 00:40:50.447
And we’ve got hundreds of certified instructors offering that program through

00:40:50.447 –> 00:40:52.647
the United States Concealed Carry Association as well.

00:40:52.727 –> 00:40:56.207
So the information is, it’s readily available, readily accessible.

00:40:56.427 –> 00:41:00.407
There’s books out there, there’s DVDs, and there’s a lot of great conversations

00:41:00.407 –> 00:41:04.587
like this one that I’ve had with other people in the training community and otherwise as well.

00:41:04.587 –> 00:41:08.627
I hope people that are looking for this don’t ever think that you have to spend

00:41:08.627 –> 00:41:13.087
hundreds of dollars or days on the range or, you know, whatever to get this education.

00:41:13.327 –> 00:41:18.367
It’s largely the fundamentals, maybe the most important parts are available

00:41:18.367 –> 00:41:21.207
for free out there if you just do a little digging around. Yeah,

00:41:21.327 –> 00:41:23.347
there’s a lot of information out there for free.

00:41:23.547 –> 00:41:27.627
Good, good information for free. And, you know, I know you’ve got your home

00:41:27.627 –> 00:41:29.047
range down in St. Augustine.

00:41:29.167 –> 00:41:36.147
I love St. Augustine. I spent my time as a kid with my family vacationing down

00:41:36.147 –> 00:41:37.767
in that area. And I love St.

00:41:37.847 –> 00:41:41.147
Augustine. I need to get down there and do some shooting with you, Rob, for sure.

00:41:41.147 –> 00:41:44.027
That would that would be great i am uh just i’m

00:41:44.027 –> 00:41:46.767
actually that’s i’m literally the minute

00:41:46.767 –> 00:41:50.007
we hang up i’m going to start loading the truck i’m going to drive down there uh

00:41:50.007 –> 00:41:54.727
this is now uh getting to be the middle of march and i’ll be 10 days in a row

00:41:54.727 –> 00:41:58.727
doing video work and teaching on the range there but it is my eastern headquarters

00:41:58.727 –> 00:42:03.607
i’m there quite often and uh it is a great place to train at ancient city shooting

00:42:03.607 –> 00:42:07.447
range awesome well rob thanks again for coming on and we’ll talk to you soon

00:42:07.447 –> 00:42:09.307
thanks jim have a great day.

00:42:09.360 –> 00:42:28.571
Music.

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Beyond the Basics: Gun Safety, Mental Health, and Integrity in Training

Join us for Episode 16 as we welcome renowned firearms expert and educator Rob Pincus. Dive deep into the principles that drive Rob’s company, ICE …

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