Written by: Greg Ellifritz It’s been a few years since two officers were shot in a dramatic gunfight in a trailer park in Enon, Ohio. The gunfight was even more remarkable considering that there was a photographer on scene taking photos as the shots rang out. I still regularly think about that photograph […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz I’ve written before about criminals and the guns they carry. My study was obviously limited by the relatively small number of guns my upscale suburban police department seizes. Other police departments seize far more guns than we do. Currently, the Chicago Police Department seizes the largest number of firearms […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz By now, you’ve likely seen the news article from a couple weeks ago. An armed robber shot a compliant victim in the face. The bullet ricocheted off the victim’s skull and hit the second robber, killing him. Read about it HERE. It may seem strange, but it happens all […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz One of the hardest things I do as a firearms and self defense trainer is convincing people that their lives are worth defending. Many students come to my classes with an attitude that displays an extreme lack of self worth. It’s hard for me to comprehend, but many people do […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Watch the excellent surveillance video of a store owner and his wife fighting two robbers armed with knives. The store owner is able to access a large can of pepper spray and blast his attackers. He then holds one attacker down on his counter while his wife kicks the dude […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Read this article about a police gunfight that occurred following a traffic stop. Some of the lessons learned have utility for the CCW carrier as well. “I’ve been shot point blank!” “Then, the corporal thought his gun jammed. Actually, he discovered later, he had short stroked it. That is, […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Take a look at this article. Tacoma man shoots would-be burglar in the face The link above shows what happens in a typical birdshot defensive shooting. The birdshot created the desired response (stopping the attack), but it certainly didn’t incapacitate the burglar. If the burglar had been armed, […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Have you seen the four recent attacks on large outdoor parties? The most recent was in Fresno, California on Sunday. Two unknown attackers crashed a family outdoor football viewing party. The attackers fired numerous handgun rounds, killing four people and wounding six more. There were two outdoor Halloween […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Details are starting to come out about last Friday’s shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California. If you haven’t seen any of the details, you can read a brief summary here. This was a school shooting that would be categorized as pretty “typical.” There was nothing exceptional […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz The news story I read wasn’t all that remarkable. It described something that happens every day with unfortunate regularity. An armed robber shot one of his victims. This particular story, however, yielded a worthwhile learning point. The robber walked into a store and fired a couple of shots from […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz A short post today containing my observations about two recent active killer attacks. The first was an attack on a police station in Vermont. In that case, a man (who had likely just murdered someone) drove up to the front door of a local police station at 5:30 am. […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Last week, I saw several body cam videos of police officers being attacked by charging, knife armed attackers. That’s a difficult scenario to handle and a lot of cops give in to their natural reaction to back up and create distance. The problem is that the defender cannot move faster […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz In order for a criminal to get close enough to commit his crime, he has to appear non-threatening. If he appears dangerous, his “prey” are likely to spot him earlier and either run away or call for help. Hence, the criminal will close the distance, often using the pretense of […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz “The bad guy can lure you to an isolated place. This is almost infinitely varied. Anything from offering a cheap, unlicensed cab to telling you that there is a beautiful shrine just down the alley that isn’t on the tourist maps. It’s hard to pass up. I have learned an incredible […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz We know that active killers frequently have to reload or clear gun malfunctions. When the killer is preoccupied with the task of making his gun work again, it provides an opportunity for victims to either escape or to attack. A friend of mine with limited gun knowledge asked me […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz I often write about my encounters with CCW licensees at work. I’m regularly disappointed at how few CCW licensees are actually carrying their guns when I have contact with them. I encountered a CCW carrier last week. The scenario was a bit different from my normal pattern of encounter. […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz You might have missed the news last week that a US Customs and Immigration office in San Antonio was attacked by gunfire from the outside. A couple months ago a Tacoma ICE facility was attacked with an incendiary device. These aren’t the first cases of police facilities being attacked […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz You can prevail against an active killer even if you are unarmed. One of the most famous cases where unarmed men stopped an active killer was on a train traveling between Amsterdam and Paris a few years ago. Four unarmed Americans and one unarmed Brit teamed up to take […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz I found a couple articles yesterday that I would like to share and comment upon. Both articles cover some behavioral characteristics two recent active killers displayed before their attack. The first one is about the active killer in Dayton. Surveillance Video Shows Shooter Preparing to Carry Out Mass […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz While reading my news feeds in the past few weeks, I’ve seen accounts of a couple preventable accidental shootings. I’d really prefer to see that my readers and students learn to better secure their weapons so that people aren’t injured or killed by unintentional gunfire. Let’s examine these negligent discharges […]
