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 […]
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School Safety- What We CAN Do

*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. […]
Weapon Handling in an Active Killer Event

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 […]
Analysis of the Uvalde School Shooting and Implications for the Future

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 […]
The Definitive Guide To Flying With Guns

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 […]
Shooting Through Bags and Purses

Although I generally don’t advise my students to carry their firearms off body, I recognize that lots of folks carry guns in purses and bags. One of the stated “advantages” of such a carry method is the fact that you can fire the gun from inside the bag or purse without removing it in […]
Situational Awareness for Concealed Carry

Written by: Greg Ellifritz Now that most states have a process allowing citizens to legally carry concealed handguns, many of you may be carrying a firearm more frequently, or just starting to carry for the first time. A common mistake I see with a great number of my students is an obsessive focus on […]
Glock Pistols- What Breaks and How to Fix It
OK, let me get this out of the way right off the bat. I carry a Glock pistol during about 95% of my waking hours. My police duty gun was either a Glock 21 or a Glock 17. A Glock 26 or a Glock 19 in 9mm are constant companions in my off-duty hours. […]
Weapons and Carry Methods for Foreign Travel

Written by: Greg Ellifritz In yesterday’s article, I talked about the common guns I see carried all around the world. As a traveler, since you aren’t likely to be able to legally acquire firearms overseas, this continuation of last week’s theme covers some of the weapons you ARE able to carry. When I’m […]
Preparing for Foreign Travel- Guns

Written by: Greg Ellifritz I regularly take short trip to visit friends in the Dominican Republic. My most recent trip prompted some friends to ask me how I planned on protecting myself in a third world country where it is illegal for me to carry a firearm. I’ve spent an average of at least […]
Don’t Evacuate into a Parking Lot

Written by Greg Ellifritz I regularly teach a class that covered the skills an armed citizen needs to respond to a terrorist bombing attack. In the class, I spend a lot of time talking about the concept of the “secondary device.” The secondary device is some hazard that is designed to injure or kill […]
What Happens in a Civilian Gunfight

I recently read this article on Tom Givens’ Rangemaster Patreon feed. While I’m not a big fan of Patreon’s politics, I love how they allow me to directly support the content creators I enjoy. Rather than subscribing to a digital or print magazine and indirectly supporting lots of second tier authors who may be either […]
Gunsite Revolver Roundup

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I flew to Arizona to teach at the Pat Rogers Memorial Revolver Roundup at Gunsite. It was the premier revolver training event of the year and featured instructors Darryl Bolke, Wayne Dobbs, myself, Chuck Haggard, Dave Dolan, Mark Fricke, Caleb Giddings and Lew Gosnell. It was a truly all star class […]
Don’t Be a Crime Scene Tourist

* At last weekend’s Gunsite Revolver Roundup I was talking with some current and retired cops about the best advice they would give to someone starting out in a police career. They mentioned a piece I wrote on Facebook a couple years ago about being a “crime scene tourist.” I realized that I had never […]
10 Tips for Surviving a Terrorist Vehicle Attack

Written by: Greg Ellifritz Yesterday a criminal/terrorist used a vehicle to attack a Christmas parade in Wisconsin. Twenty people were struck by the car and five died. For more info, read Car rams into Wisconsin Christmas parade The attack was stunningly similar to an ISIS terrorist vehicle ramming attack in London back […]
Using Blanks in Scenario Training

Written by: Greg Ellifritz Most of you have likely heard about actor Alec Baldwin’s negligent discharge of a “prop” pistol on a movies set last week. Someone’s failure to distinguish between blanks and live ammunition led to the tragedy of two people being shot, one of whom died. ‘Why was I handed a […]
The 9mm Revolver: Boom x 6 or 5 or 7

*This is a guest post from Travis Pike. To learn more about him, check out the “about the author” blurb at the end of the article. Travis is a big revolver fan and thought that my audience might appreciate this piece. I think you will enjoy it. -Greg When talking about revolvers as a […]
Revolver Squib Loads

Written by: Greg Ellifritz During a recent range training session, I was doing some shooting with a couple of my revolvers for a change of pace. While shooting a beat up Model 10 Smith and Wesson, I experienced a squib load. I shoot a bunch of .38 ammo every year and I can’t […]
The Sub-Second Draw

The internet has been abuzz with talk of the relative importance of the skillset of being able to draw and fire a gun from concealment in under a second. If you want to catch up on what has been said and gain an understanding of the debate, I would suggest the references below. […]
Contact Distance Shooting…Rescuing a Friend or Family Member

Written by: Greg Ellifritz Have you ever thought about how you would rescue a friend, partner, or loved one who was engaged in a life or death struggle with a criminal? It may be a little more complex than you have imagined. A while back a concealed carry permit holder named Perry […]