Two weeks ago, an Indiana man heard some noises at his doorstep at night. He fired through the door and killed a cleaning lady who thought she was at an unoccupied house to do work. That case is all over my news feed since the shooter was criminally charged with the killing on Monday. […]
I have over 2100 articles on this website going back nearly 14 years. Almost all deal with personal safety in some context. While most consist of personal safety advice to protect against criminal violence, we are also vulnerable to other threats. If you travel internationally, have you ever considered that the alcoholic beverage you […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz You’ve probably seen the news about the sniper attack on an ICE detainment facility in Dallas this morning. A different ICE facility was attacked by 10 people back in July. I’ve been predicting an increase in this type of attack since we first started seeing them ramping up in 2020. […]
*My long time friend John Holschen died last Thursday morning. He was one of the true intellectuals in the firearms/self defense training world. I never missed an opportunity to take one of John’s classes or listen to one of his podcast appearances. John was one of the few people truly on the cutting edge of […]
On August 11, 2025, a man fired 40 shots in a North Austin Target store parking lot, killing three people. After shooting, he fled the scene and was on the run for almost an hour before police caught him. During his flight, he attempted several car jackings and assaulted numerous additional victims. He dumped […]
While researching articles for this week’s edition of the Weekend Knowledge Dump, I found so much good .22 content that it merited its own post. Let’s start with the article titled: The “Defensive” .22 I suppose I’ve been a fan of the .22s for self defense far longer than most. Interestingly enough, the gun […]
Last week, two deputies from South Carolina were shot during a police training scenario. Those of us in the training business have noticed a dramatic increase in the numbers of officers injured or killed during their mandated department training sessions. There have been a rash of police training injuries and deaths in the last […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz After seeing the two Ohio officers recently shot from ambush, I decided to re-print this piece. While I primarily wrote this article for police patrol officers, it has a lot of relevance for everyday citizens as well. If you ever find yourself sitting in a car in a public place, you […]
Earlier this week, a student shot four people at Wilmer-Hutchins high school in Dallas. I found this article that provides an excellent summary of the incident. The link shows video of how the shooter got past the school metal detectors as well as of the shooting itself. https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/dallas-wilmer-hutchins-high-school-shooting-suspect-tracy-haynes-jr-arrest-affidavit-video/ Two quick thoughts (as […]
It’s spring time. We are starting to see our annual rash of “mass shootings.” Take a look at these mass shooting events that have popped off in the last couple weeks. 3 killed and 15 hurt in a shooting at a park in New Mexico’s Las Cruces 2 dead, 4 injured after mass shooting […]
“Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is, and you must bend to its power or live a lie.” ~ Miyamoto Musashi Let me tell you all about a call I once took when I was a police officer. A woman reported that she had been […]
Yesterday’s Shawn Ryan Intelligence brief discussed the threat of terrorists and criminals wearing uniforms to better facilitate their attacks. I’ve written about this issue for more than a decade. It’s probably time to update my thoughts on the topic. Most recently, we saw terrorists wearing uniforms during the October 2023 Hamas terrorist attack in […]
You might have seen news coverage from yesterday’s vehicle run-down attack in Germany If you missed the story, the link below will get you up to speed. Nine-year-old among five killed in attack on German Christmas market Vehicle attacks peaked in the United States in the 2017-2018 time period. Back then, the crimes […]
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 occasionally get questions from readers about changing their defensive ammo to better defeat heavier winter clothing in the colder months. People who consider an ammo change generally do it for one of two possible reasons. The most common is that the person misunderstands wound ballistics. He wants […]
It was a sunny autumn afternoon. A woman called police to report a “suspicious person” in a city park. Cops arrive and the woman points out this “suspicious” man. He was simply sitting on a park bench enjoying the sunny day. The woman told police that this conduct was suspicious because he was a […]
*This is a guest post by my friend Steve Moses extolling the importance of leaning how to shoot from a retention position and fight in close quarters with your carry pistol. Steve will be hosting my upcoming Extreme Close Quarters Gunfighting class where we cover those topics in great detail. If this article inspires you […]
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 asking a question […]
I’ve seen a recent bout of “never talk to the police” advice on my Facebook news feed. I’ve written about my advice regarding speaking to the police after a defensive firearm use before. In this article, I want to describe a real-life incident to which I responded as a police officer. A young CCW carrier […]
If your social media feed looks anything like mine, you’ve been deluged with photos, videos, memes, and speculation regarding the failed assassination attempt against former president Trump. Among my friend group (a lot of cops and firearms instructors) the primary shared discussion has been about the poor weapon handling displayed by a certain female agent […]
