One of the more popular demonstrations at the annual Pat Rogers Memorial Gunsite Revolver Roundup every year is the ballistic gelatin testing block conducted by Chuck Haggard and Mark Fricke. Last week, Mark got all the bullet penetration, expansion, and velocity information categorized into an easily digestible table. Mark and Chuck […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz “I like to throw myself passionately into a sport or activity until I reach about an 80 percent efficiency level. To go beyond that requires an obsession and degree of specialization that doesn’t appeal to me. Once I reach that 80 percent level I like to go off and do […]
Seth Godin once made a very powerful statement in a blog post. “My most popular blog posts this year…weren’t my best ones. As usual, the most popular music wasn’t the best recorded this year either. Same for the highest-grossing movies, restaurants and politicians doing fundraising. “Best” is rarely the same as “popular.” Which means […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz During my police career, my department sent me to several schools covering criminal interview and interrogation tactics. Most of the classes I took involved what is known as “Reid Interviewing.” The Reid Method teaches a very specific interview method that won’t be useful for most of you. However, some of […]
This is a guest post from my friend Darryl Bolke. It is a followup to the Thoughts on Revolver Reliability post he contributed last week. The original is published on Darryl’s Facebook page DB’s Shooting Adventures. Darryl is the co-owner of Hardwired Tactical and a very well-established firearms instructor. All of you revolver […]
This is a guest post from my friend Darryl Bolke. Darryl is the co-owner of Hardwired Tactical and a very well established firearms instructor. I saw this posting on Darryl’s Facebook page DB’s Shooting Adventures. In the piece, Darryl discusses his view of revolvers as defensive sidearms. All of you revolver shooters and instructors should […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz Unless you have been hiding under a rock you’ll know that tomorrow marks the day of the mid-term political elections in the United States. As a result of the election, congress may soon be under the control of a different political party. That often creates some cultural friction. Most […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz Today’s school shooting in St. Louis has provided an excellent illustration of a fact I have been noting for years. Active killers often have weapon malfunctions during their attack. Read this witness statement: “All I heard was two shots and he came in there with a gun,” Gholston […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz I’ve been thinking a lot lately about active killer events. I’m convinced that it is getting incrementally more and more dangerous to intervene in such an attack. A study came out last week stating that 8% of Americans have a CCW permit/license. Unlicensed carry is also completely legal in 24 states. […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz I’ve seen some recent articles on the internet talking about citizens with CCW permits carrying more than one gun in public. While I carry two pistols in uniform every day, I rarely carry a second pistol when I am off duty and on my own time. I have nothing against […]
*After the recent Canada active stabbers and the shooter in Memphis yesterday, I think I need to re-post this one. -Greg Anyone researching the tactics of active killers is quickly confronted with the fact that killers study police response tactics. Being informed by their research, the killers adapt their own tactics in order to […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz “I’m in fear for my life!” I’ve heard this phrase pop up a couple of times in the last month. The first time was during a close quarters shooting class I was teaching. The students were working a weapon retention drill and I had instructed them to use loud, […]
I’ve been traveling a lot lately and am seeing a gradual increase in public mask wearing across the country and worldwide. I was in Colombia last month. There were no mask requirements when I arrived. In less than three weeks, masks were required in the airport and on all flights to and from […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz With the growing number of commercially made tourniquets, an increase in availability of medical courses focusing on gunshot wounds, a greater chance of getting caught up in an active killer event, and the classes like Stop the Bleed being offered everywhere, the issue of tourniquets is on many of my […]
Ten years ago, an experienced handgun instructor contacted me to help him reconstruct the events of an accidental shooting. This instructor shot himself while reholstering after doing a demonstration during a basic concealed handgun class. I know what you are thinking…. “He shouldn’t have had his finger on the trigger when […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz You’ve just shot the criminal who broke into your house and threatened you with a weapon. The threat has been neutralized and police have been called. You’ve read my articles in the past, so you know it’s not a good idea to have a gun in your hand when the […]
*This is a guest article from a friend and reader who recently took a couple of my courses. Barry is retired from both the FBI and a job as a police chief. He managed high threat event security for many years in his FBI position. He provides some suggestions on best practices for school security. […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz I’ve taught a lot of active killer response classes over the years. One of the key learning points I regularly discuss is how to avoid being mistaken for the killer if you choose to draw your pistol and respond during an active killer event. Last year’s police shooting of Johnny […]
This is my analysis of the Texas tragedy designed to explain the pertinent issues to those who don’t have a background on the topic of active killer response. Additionally it should provide police agencies and school staff with some best practice guidelines to prevent such a disaster in the future. This article is based […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz I travel quite a bit. Most of my adventures take place in third world countries where I can’t carry my gun. But whenever I travel anywhere in the United States, I bring a couple pistols, even when traveling by air. As I was going through the airline firearms check […]
