Condition white could have killed me.

So I just took a vacation where I spent 5 days in training and shooting guns. I will post a blog about that at a later date. In the training I we have it beat into our heads to always do a chamber check and mag check. Well the other night I was bored and had a case of insomnia I decided to clean my gun and magazines. Being safe I unloaded my magazines and locked the ammo up. I took my time I was watching a movie and cleaning, I was off in LaLa land. I finish up and its about 2am and I put everything away. Insert magazine and put gun away. Morning comes and I am in a hurry I get ready put my gun on and head out the door. Well two days go by and I go to change holsters and I notice my gun feels light. After cleaning I never loaded my magazines up. For two days I carried an unloaded weapon. How could I forget what was drilled into my head over and over again. Just a reminder to always stay vigilant with safety and never allow yourself to be in condition white. I'm just glad I didn't need to use it.

Are you prepared

I am what some people would call paranoid. These are also the same people who believe cops are there to protect them, and nothing bad could ever happen to them. Don’t get me wrong, I love cops and the job that they do. I have had the privilege of working closely with many cops in various functions. I also know the limitations of the local law enforcement officer or LEO as I will call them throughout this post. I will break down an officers job and how I have prepared myself, and how I think you should prepare yourself.

A LEO’s primary job is to enforce laws, be it traffic or civil. A LEO shows up to where he is dispatched to go. Contrary to popular belief, LEO’s don’t have a 6^th sense that allows them to feel where trouble might be happening. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. You will routinely hear an officer say he was “lucky” to be there when he was. An officers “beat” or AO is usually a 2.5- 5 square mile area. That doesn’t sound like much, but when you factor in neighborhoods it turns into a lot of ground to be responsible for. LEO’s cannot be everywhere all the time.

Your safety and the safety of your loved ones is yours and yours alone. I hate to use the clichéd expression but when seconds count help is minutes away. I believe every outstanding citizen should be a gun owner. Get training first, get comfortable handling a weapon then buy a weapon for self defense. Buying a gun is not just enough; once you purchase it get training with it. Learn everything you can about it. Get training in low light conditions, most home invasions occur at night. Learn how to do emergency and tactical reloads. Learn how to clear all three levels of malfunctions. What would you do if one of your arms is injured? Practice one handed reloads. Practice for every scenario you can think of.

Part of your training should be response training. Get everyone involved, set clear cut rules for what to do, where to meet, who is responsible for calling the police and securing the children, who will defend the family against an attack. How will you get out of the house if you need to escape? Where do you go once out of the house? Your backups need backups as well.

If an armed intruder breaks into your home, do you have the means to defend yourself? Will the responding LEO be investigating your murder or sexual assault? Or will he be investigating your justified homicide on an armed intruder? I would rather be on the latter. Do you want to take the chance on not being a responsible armed citizen?