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When teaching a concealed carry license (CHL) class to “new recruits”, the importance of having the correct state of mind cannot be stressed enough. Too many CHL holders—as one instructor I know put it— see their firearm as a “talisman” that keeps them from harm. They can use that amulet to get out of any situation, no matter how grave. Even after sitting through a CHL class, many fail to realize how serious the consequences are when faced with using deadly force. Not only from the legal issues that changes your life, but from the many sleepless nights induced by the taking of human life. No matter how justified, you must be ready to defend yourself, or someone else, every time you strap on your gun.
The state of mind discussion in class is covered during the topic of “Force and Deadly Force.” We use different colors to illustrate the elevations of risk; from walking around in “La-La Land” to complete panic. Unfortunately when the unthinkable happens, many will immediately jump from a state of blissful ignorance of the events around them to a state of panic in a New York minute! This is never beneficial! Not only does it put the panic stricken in a precarious situation, as all rational thought has left the building, but more importantly, panic breeds more panic. Those around will begin to lose their collective minds, and now there is a human stampede in the direction of perceived safety. The “fight or flight” response has kicked in and now, if you’ve chosen to stand your ground, you not only have to worry about the primary threat (the one that began the hysteria), you also have to contend with your neighbors knocking you down and running you over!
Needless to say, it’s one thing to be sitting in the white when you’re at home watching the ball game on television; it’s an entirely different matter to be oblivious to your surroundings in the shopping mall. In the early summer of 2007, Overland Park, KS was rocked by the abduction and murder of teenager, Kelsey Smith. Ms. Smith was an eighteen year old high school graduate getting ready to enter college when she was forced into her car on June 2nd in the parking lot of a local Target. Unfortunately, her body was found several days later and now her parents and family grieve the loss of their child. When you stop to think about how many people were walking to and from their cars that day, it’s tragic that none of her fellow citizens noticed her. Could it be that if only one person had a heightened sense of awareness, Kelsey Smith would be alive today? That is a gigantic “if” but it is certainly agreeable that the events of that day would have taken a major turn; one which would have thrown her murderers plan into a tailspin.
With these and other similar headlines as our backdrop, we begin to see how tremendously important keeping our head up, and off our Blackberry’s, really is! In public settings, it isn’t paranoid to look for places to escape if the creatures of the night rear their ugly heads. In fact, by staying in the yellow state, you may be able to avoid the orange and red before they become issues. For example, as you walk down “The Drag” (Guadalupe St. on the west side of the University of Texas at Austin) you take note of the people walking toward you, who may be behind you, and who is going into and out of the shops. You notice a pair of street panderers practicing their trade which causes your threat level to increase ever so slightly. As you approach, you begin to hear them shouting vulgarities at passersby who refuse to give them money. It seems you have a couple of options here. You can cross the street and avoid any conflict, you can go into a shop and wait for them to leave, or you can continue down your intended path. As you remained in the yellow state, you were able to formulate a plan before defensive actions were required; you looked for options and you were aware of which ones were viable. Had you been in the white, you would have been one of the verbally accosted or worse. In recent weeks many of these vagrants have become violent.
The best way to keep from the red state is to avoid the conflict that will put you there. Sound simple? With awareness, it is. A quick Google search using the key words, “avoid a fight” shows over 50,000 hits! Many offer similar suggestions to the ones I offer here:
- Do not take actions that put yourself at risk
- Try to calm, not provoke or escalate, the situation
- Be aware of your surroundings (yellow state)
- Tell a potential threat that you are not looking for a fight
- Understand your goals. Escaping the conflict should be your first goal. The second—stop the conflict by force—should only be used in self defense situations
The rub comes when you have identified a threat, and any pre-planning to avoid it has evaporated by unforeseen events. As the threat becomes more menacing, you should begin to engage your alternate plan; you need to run or prepare for a potential fight. Not only is this a decision you need to make on a moment by moment basis, but it’s one you should have mentally prepared for weeks or months prior to the present situation. If you’re trying to make yourself act without making the mental preparation, you will lose. At the core of any “fight” plan should be the desire to stop your opponent and use the necessary force required to make that happen. Jeff Cooper has been noted as saying, “The will to survive is not as important as the will to prevail… the answer to criminal aggression is retaliation.” This will to prevail cannot be developed at the moment you need it to survive.
How do you develop the “prevail” state of mind?
This is a daily exercise for many people. Most elite athletes have psychology that drives them to success. It’s an irresistible force that yells, “I will not be beat by my opponent.” The defensive mindset is logically simple. The will to win comes before a plan to win; the plan to win before the observation of threats; the observation prior to the execution of the plan. It is a serial progression whose foundation rests on the will and whose implementation is supported by awareness.
If you have trouble with maintaining an active awareness in public settings, try this: make a game out of it. If you have children, you may recall playing Eye Spy with them, and you’ll find this game quite similar. As you leave a public location, talk to your spouse, kids, or significant other about what you saw. Be specific in the details. What kinds of cars were parked close to yours? How many people were around you? Can you describe them? Did anything, or anyone, look out of place? What would you have done if “something” happened? Whoever has the most complete list wins the game. Come up with some “prize” for the winner and practice this as you go out. Not only will this make you safer over the long run, but it will also help you make accurate descriptions for law enforcement if you do witness a crime. Practice never makes perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. If we want to do something well, we need to be consistent in error-free practice. Of course, there’s no reason practice can’t be fun, especially if the prize is a quick trip to Amy’s Ice Cream!