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Articles

The Best Tourniquets- A Research Review

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 […]

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
medical skills, Paul Gomez, Steve Fisher, tourniquets View Post

Bird Shot, Binder Clips, and Bullshit

Last Sunday I taught a shotgun class.  A curious thing happened.  I snapped a quick picture and shared it on Facebook the day after the class.  Here’s what I posted:         “A thought for all you folks who prefer bird shot for self defense…   In the shotgun class I taught yesterday, […]

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
bird shot, shotguns, stopping power View Post

2024 Rangemaster Roundup

Two weeks ago, I spent three days teaching and learning at the Rangemaster Tactical Training Conference in Dallas.  I’ve now taught at the last 11 Tactical conferences and my TacCon blocks are regularly some the most fun classes I teach every year.       The conference consists of three days of material taught by […]

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
Claude Werner, firearms training, John Farnam, Julie Golob, Karl Rehn, Rangemaster, Tamara Keel, Uncle Zo View Post

Apocalyptic Revolvers

    Last weekend I attended the Rangemaster Tactical Conference.  I put my new Lipseys .32 revolver through a workout during Wayne Dobbs’ revolver fundamentals class and then drove home right before the total eclipse.  My drive home was directly in the path of the eclipse’s totality.  People were acting insane.  Everyone was massing chaotically […]

Posted on April 11, 2024 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
collapse, economic collaspe, revolvers, Ruger, Smith and Wesson View Post

Do I Still Have It?

I imagine it’s a question quite a few of you folks ask yourselves.  I have to admit that I ask the question myself more regularly as I age.     When I was a cop, I had a reputation of staying calm in life threatening emergencies.  I’ve been retired almost four years now.  Since my […]

Posted on April 10, 2024 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
Apache, Caleb Causey, Civilian Defender, Gunset, John Hearne, Jonathan Willis, Lone Star Medics, Rangemaster, Sherman House View Post

An Alternate Look at Handgun Stopping Power

Written by: Greg Ellifritz     I’ve been interested in firearm stopping power for a very long time. I remember reading Handguns magazine back in the late 1980s when Evan Marshall was writing articles about his stopping power studies. When Marshall’s first book came out in 1992, I ordered it immediately, despite the fact that […]

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
ballistics, bullets, Ed Sanow, Evan Marshall, Massad Ayoob, stopping power View Post

Rule One?

A couple months ago, Alex Ooley interviewed me on the topic of travel safety for his “Forge of Freedom” podcast.  Alex was an excellent host and I really enjoyed talking with him.  You can watch/listen to the podcast at the link or embedded video below if you are interested, but doing so isn’t necessary to […]

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
travel View Post

Skill Degradation Over Time

  Since my police retirement, I have been spending a large part of the each winter living in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.  Last year, between living out of the country without a gun and my cancer surgery, there was a period of approximately two months where I didn’t fire a single round or do […]

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles, What's New
Jeff Gonzales, Justin Dyal, shooting drills View Post

Are You Replaceable?

I was just re-reading Tools Of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers and came across the following quote:   “Are you doing what you’re uniquely capable of, what you feel placed on Earth to do? Can you be replaced? Life is short. Put another way: a long life is […]

Posted on February 20, 2024 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
police, psychology, Tim Ferriss View Post

Acquiring Guns in a Foreign Country- A Cautionary Tale

I love to travel and tend to visit some crazy third world countries.  For the past two decades I’ve spent at least four to eight weeks a year traveling in places where it isn’t safe to drink the tap water.     As a retired cop, I can carry a gun almost everywhere in the […]

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
Dominican Republic, travel View Post

Danger?

Have you ever considered the difference between being in a dangerous situation and being in one where you have limited response options?   I think a lot of us in the gun/self-protection world get those feelings confused.   I reached this conclusion on New Year’s Eve.   I’m spending a good chunk of the winter […]

Posted on January 4, 2024 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
psychology, travel View Post

Top 10 Most Popular Articles of 2023

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 […]

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
View Post

A Cautionary Tale for CCW Permit Carriers

      About seven years before I retired from my police job, I encountered a chaotic situation involving a criminal, a couple cops, and an armed citizen.  The call could have gone very badly for the CCW carrier and I want to describe what happened so that none of  my readers ever place themselves […]

Posted on December 13, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
ccw, police View Post

Stupid Active Killer Advice

  I just finished the book Be a Hero.  It was a very good book, full of useful information about how to successfully survive an active killer attack.  There was one section, however, with which I profoundly disagree.  The authors talk about setting off fire alarms, breaking bottles full of slippery liquids in hallways, and […]

Posted on December 7, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
active killer, active shooter, school shootings View Post

Weapon Malfunctions in an Active Shooter Event

Written by Greg Ellifritz   The 2022 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,” […]

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
active shooter, school shootings, weapon malfunctions View Post

Hip-Pocket Medical Drills

  This is a guest post from Caleb Causey, owner of Lone Star Medics.  Caleb is an experienced Army medic who provides top notch trauma medical training to law enforcement agencies and armed citizens alike.  Caleb intended this article to be a list of potential medical training scenarios for police roll-call training sessions.  These drills […]

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
Caleb Causey, guest author, Lone Star Medics, medical skills View Post

Mindset vs. Hardware

    I have a confession to make. I like guns and gear. If you are reading this website, then you probably do as well. Nothing wrong with that. Guns are cool. Having the latest and greatest new gear makes people happy and drives growth in an industry where many of us make our living. […]

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
Breach Bang Clear, ccw, firearms training, police View Post

Are Those Really Gunshots?

When I research active killer attacks all around the world, I nearly always see that victims rationalize the sounds of the gunfire as some more innocuous noise.   Read this article about the 2016 San Bernardino active killer attack.  The article summarized the attack which eventually led to 14 people being killed an 22 more […]

Posted on October 11, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
active killer, active shooter View Post

The Reality of Modern Criminal Attacks

I recently saw this video and it caused me to think about how common criminal attacks are fundamentally changing.  Take a few seconds and watch the clip.   Surveillance video shows brutal attack on cashier in gas station robbery   Watch the latest video at foxnews.com   Traditionally, the most likely criminal attack most folks […]

Posted on September 25, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles, News and Tactical Advice
Dr. William Aprill, Michael Bane, multiple attackers, pepper spray, psychology, robbery, Rory Miller, The Organic Prepper, Zero Hedge View Post

Precious Foreknowledge to Recognize Threats

*This is a guest post from my friend Ron Borsch.  Ron is a retired police officer/trainer who is one of the world’s leading experts on the behavior of active killers.  In his article below, he shares the most well-researched list of common active killer personality traits and pre-incident behaviors that I have seen.  Becoming aware […]

Posted on September 20, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
active killer, active shooter, guest author, Ron Borsch, school shootings View Post
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