Written by Greg Ellifritz I work as a police officer in a very wealthy suburban community. It’s a nice place to be a cop because there are relatively few violent crimes. What we see most often is theft. Thieves like to steal from people who have money and who feel secure enough to leave […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz I was fortunate to spend 13 years as the primary armorer for my police agency. It was my responsibility to fix, upgrade, and maintain several hundred weapons owned by both the police department and the individual officers. The department sent me to every armorers school imaginable. I can fix just […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz Last week, the FBI released its most recent research report on active shooters in the United States. The 47-page report is quite informative and worth the time to read. The study looks at a very small and well defined subset of mass shootings. According to the publication: “This is not […]
This is a guest article from my friend Jonathan Willis. Jonathan is a retired fire department lieutenant, paramedic, and instructor. Jonathan is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to all things medical and has written an excellent article on tourniquet selection. Not all tourniquets are created equal. As the modern tourniquet establishes […]
In my AAR of the Paul-E-Palooza 2 training event, I mentioned that one of the medical classes involved a wound ballistics lab where two (humanely killed) pig carcasses were shot with various weapons in order to take a look at the accompanying tissue damage. Dr. Brian Springer taught the class and led the exploration […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz The Washington DC Metropolitan Police issued their final report of the Navy Yard active killer event that took place in their jurisdiction last September. If you are unfamiliar with the incident, here is the description given by the Metro Police: “On the morning of Monday, September 16, 2013, Aaron […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Recently, there has been some high level media “reporting” about the so called “dangers” of weapon mounted lights (WMLs). It seems that much of the interest about the story was prompted by the Denver Colorado police department banning the use of WMLs by its police officers. Check out the links […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz With the ATF recently approving the SIG-designed “arm brace” attachment, AR-15 pistols have become quite popular. The arm brace was designed for disabled shooters to secure the pistol to their arms, but it also serves as a workable shoulder stock. This allows people to fire AR-15 pistols from the […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Almost every police administrator recognizes the inherent benefits that a physically fit police officer can bring to an agency. Reduced absenteeism, greater productivity, fewer injuries, and a reduction in health care costs have all been correlated with a high level of physical fitness in police officers. Despite these benefits, only […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz With the weather getting nicer, we’ve seen our annual spring increase in both car and house break-ins. The city where I work has been hit hard. While most residents think it’s mischievous teens stealing from cars, that really isn’t the case anymore. 20 years ago, almost all car break-ins were kids […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Take a quick look at this news article about the violent attacks that occurred in Iraq on Monday. In one day more than 50 people were killed in several coordinated attacks spread all across the country. The attacks were all similar and all the attackers wore police or military uniforms. […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz While the investigation is still ongoing and the military has effectively placed a gag order on the personnel involved, some details are being released about the April 2 shooting. A soldier (who will not be named in this article) killed three people and wounded 16 at his workplace at Ft. […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz A reader recently sent me a link to the video of a tragic police shooting and asked for my take on the matter. In the video, the officer pulled a man over for a traffic violation. The man got out of the car and reached inside for a walking cane. […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz At last weekend’s Rangemaster Tactical Conference, I heard three different presenters mention the same problem frequently seen in their female self defense students. All three mentioned that their students are “too nice.” In the interest of social conformity or in the attempt to be polite, women often endure situations that […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz Caleb Giddings wrote two thought provoking blog posts last week about what he thought were mandatory requirements in a modern defensive revolver. Before reading further, check them out HERE and HERE Caleb’s articles were insightful and provide a lot of guidance for people who carry revolvers for self […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz By now you have all likely seen the news reports detailing the confrontation between a retired police Captain and a person using his cell phone in a Florida movie theater. The confrontation escalated and the retired cop shot the man after he was attacked. Interestingly, the entire incident was recorded via […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz As the taxi driver saw the roadblock and screeched to a halt, a man wearing a tattered uniform leaped out of the bushes and stuck his AK-47 through my open car window. I remember noticing that the safety was off as he jabbed my cheek with the muzzle and said “Don’t […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz Col. Jeff Cooper was a huge fan of the .45 handgun. He once made the statement that the .45 ACP will instantly stop 19 out of 20 attackers. While I greatly respect Col. Cooper’s contributions to the shooting world, on this topic he was flat wrong. The .45 […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Although much of the population views the police officer as proficient in all aspects of unarmed self-defense, practical experience proves otherwise. Conversations with police officers will usually show that most officers receive little, if any, unarmed self-defense or defensive tactics training after their initial course of instruction in a […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Tactics and trends change often in the firearms training community. Some of these changes are positive. Some amount to little more than a trainer’s attempt to differentiate himself from others in a competitive market by doing something new and different. The “flavor of the month” trainers are constantly trying to “improve” […]
