I recently watched a YouTube video where a fellow was offering advice and instruction on what firearms a homeowner will “need” to “confront a group of armed, violent criminals.” The narrator reminded everyone that mob violence has happened, while they ran a video of the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023. He then walked the uninitiated (meaning not previously armed or trained) home-owner through a list of weapons one may potentially “need” to “confront” a “group of armed, violent criminals.”
In truth, the first thing you need to confront a group of armed violent criminals is a group of armed violent criminals. Do you have one of those? Have you ever? Has anybody you know, or anybody in your circumstances that you know of, ever been directly threatened by a group of armed violent criminals?
And by “threatened,” I mean exposed to immediate injury or death in close proximity to the group of armed, violent criminals? I am talking about circumstances where you would be within the law to respond with deadly force; not watching a news feed that has you worried, or hearing about something happening across town or on another continent.
No? Okay, then the concern must be prospective. Do you have tangible information to the effect you are actually going to be threatened in the future by a group of armed, violent criminals? In that case, give the information to the police.
Or is the threat merely postulated, because it “could happen?” Okay, let’s play “what if.” Imagine you are at home mowing the lawn, and 1,000 Hamas fighters descend upon your neighborhood and rush up your driveway. I submit at that point your only hope is flight, not confrontation, no matter what kind of gun you have in the house.
I have several very nice rifles, hundreds of hours of training, and a lot of ammunition, side-arms and field kit. Yet, I do not consider myself equipped to “confront” 1,000 – or even 10 – armed fanatics executing a military operation. Maybe that just makes me a “snowflake.” If so, what does that make you?
Buying guns without training is just invoking the mojo; it will not protect you. And training time is limited. So limited, in fact, that most people never devote any time at all to training. So, instead of watching scary YouTube videos and wasting money stocking up your arsenal in anticipation of some kind of major conflagration, you are very well advised to devote just a few days to training that will show you ways to control a situation involving one or two criminals, a deranged ex-, a random lunatic, or the bully who just doesn’t like who you are. Those kinds of threats are also relatively rare, but still in much better supply than roving bands of armed criminals.
It is a waste of money to buy guns without specifically training on how, whether and when to use them. And it is a waste of valuable training time to fret over highly improbable scenarios, rather than preparing for the kinds of things that happen in our communities every day. If and when you become proficient in dealing with threats that are plausible, then you can start equipping yourself for the fantastic.
