I had several calls in my 25-year police career where I did everything right, but I still can’t help but think that my solid police work caused more harm than good. Here’s the one I think about most. It happened a couple years before I retired. One of the new guys on the […]
I belong to several firearms instructor groups on Facebook. In one such group, a member recently asked the following question: “Are shorts acceptable for an instructor? Range or classroom? Would you consider them “professional attire” for someone in an instructor role?” I have a rather unique lens through which to view such questions. […]
Background As many of my readers know, in early 2020 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. For more details about my initial diagnosis, you can read this article. To make a long story short, I didn’t like the long term consequences of the treatment options my doctor gave me. For me, being […]
My first encounters with lunacy began long before I became a cop. The year was 1989. I was a high school junior who worked part time at a nearby K-Mart department store. Even though my friends and I were all three-sport athletes, most of us still had part-time jobs in the 1980s to pay […]
Last month I spent 17 days traveling through Central and Eastern Europe (articles about my experiences forthcoming). I spent one of those days touring the Auschwitz and Birkenau WWII concentration/extermination camps. It was a moving experience that I highly recommend. Before visiting the camps, I chose to re-read Man’s Search for Meaning by […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Many of the questions I receive from students involve the use of chemical sprays. It seems that nearly everyone carries or is contemplating the carrying of some type of Mace or chemical irritant. Accurate information about the selection and use of these chemicals exists, but it is often difficult to […]
I’ve seen several recent news reports describing criminals using fire as a weapon. This year there have been at least 10 such incidents reported in the United States. While researching this article, I also found numerous incidents in India, England, Ireland, Canada, and Australia. Take a look at the following news stories: Virginia councilman […]
*In the last couple weeks, most of you have likely witnessed video of at least two murders (Charlie Kirk and Iryna Zarutska). I intentionally avoided watching both videos. Do you think it’s good for our psychology that we are able to witness countless murders with the click of a mouse or a swipe of our […]
Last week, a Houston resident foiled a home invasion attempt by a couple criminals trying to impersonate the police. According to the news article: “Police said the men told the homeowner they were serving a warrant. They were wearing bullet-proof vests, had badges around their necks and were wearing ski masks.” The […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Last week, two deputies in South Carolina were shot in a training exercise. The exercise controller loaded breaching rounds into the training shotgun thinking that they were blanks. Last year a soldier was shot in a training exercise when someone mistook a live round of ammunition for a […]
I’ve always thought that the fastest draw was to already have the weapon in your hand. I once interviewed a criminal who had used The Bag Trick to stab someone. I explored using it and found that it was quite handy. I was issued an unmarked truck in my cop job and kept the […]
*This is a guest posting from a friend and student who wishes to remain anonymous (you’ll see why after you read the article). The author is a “gun guy” with military special operations experience and a lot of formal firearms training under his belt. He is attending a police academy with the hopes of becoming […]
Story time. It was early spring in 2003. I was flying to California to attend a police training conference (ASLET for you old timers). It was only the second flight I had taken after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. For those of you who were flying in those times, you might remember the utter […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz I travel by air quite a bit. Last year I took 49 flights with guns. In the four years since my police retirement, I’ve flown with firearms over 250 times. Even though each airline and airport is slightly different, after a lot of trial and error I’ve figured out how […]
Last week, I posted an article linking to my most popular posts in 2024 In that article, I discussed how my “most popular” articles were not the same as my “best” articles. I liked many of the most popular articles (ranked by page view), but I think other articles that I wrote were […]
Ever since I read the book Benghazi: Know Thy Enemy: A Cold Case Investigation, I have been paying attention to its author, former CIA analyst Sarah Adams. Last week I listened to her being interviewed on the Shawn Ryan podcast. I’d urge you to watch/listen to the whole episode, but the most relevant […]
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 […]
This is a guest post from Dr. John Giduck. John is a well known author and trainer who specializes in writing about international symphonic mass terrorist attacks. John originally prepared this article for a lecture on international travel safety. I thought it was so good, I asked him to allow me to […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz My friend and mentor Ed Lovette recently passed away. Ed was a CIA paramilitary officer who worked undercover for many years in Africa and South America carrying nothing but a Smith and Wesson Model 10 snubnose revolver. After his CIA career, he became a firearms trainer and famous gun writer. […]
One of my favorite authors/teachers is David Deida, the author of The Way of the Superior Man. As I am recovering from last week’s knee surgery, I’ve been reading and listening to some of Deida’s material I find inspiring. I listened to one of his audio lectures yesterday. He started out […]
