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  • News and Tactical Advice (Page 6)

News and Tactical Advice

Timing…a Missing Component in Training

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 […]

Posted on December 17, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice, Tactical Training Scenarios
ccw, resistance strategies, robbery, TDI, training View Post

Lessons Learned from a Successful Use of Pepper Spray

  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 in the face. Nicely […]

Posted on December 16, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice, Tactical Training Scenarios
pepper spray, resistance, robbery View Post

The Saugus High School Shooting

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 […]

Posted on November 19, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
active killer, school shootings, school violence View Post

Insults and Challenges- 5 Tips for Effective Verbalization During a Violent Encounter

 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 […]

Posted on October 21, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
book reviews, complaince, criminology, John Farnam, language, resistance strategies, robbery, shootings View Post

Recent Active Killer Trends

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.  […]

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
active killer, active shooter, church security, church shootings, Claude Werner, police View Post

Active Killer Pre-Assault Behavior

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 […]

Posted on August 14, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
active killer, active shooter View Post

A Critical (but often overlooked) Holster Function

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  […]

Posted on August 13, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Gear Reviews, News and Tactical Advice
ccw, Claude Werner, holsters, negligent discharge, pocket carry, Sherman House View Post

Throwing Water on the Police

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   Cops around the country have recently been targeted by members of the community who have thrown buckets of water on the officers as they are making arrests.  If you haven’t seen the news and videos about this new trend, check out Dangerous new viral challenge: Assault police officers with water […]

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
flash mobs, police, riots View Post

Taking a Look at the Athens, Georgia Police Shooting

Written by Greg Ellifritz   My cop friends should watch this police body camera video footage. It highlights many of the problems created by poor officer selection practices and subpar training.     What can we do differently to create a better outcome?   – When responding to the call of a man threatening people […]

Posted on July 3, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
John Hearne, Ken Murray, police shootings, police tactics, police training, William Aprill View Post

Women and Violent Crime

  Written by: Greg Ellifritz   You ladies are better behaved than us men.  It’s somewhat rare to see female violent criminals.  Depending on the type of crime and the study, you’ll find that about 95% of violent criminals have a Y chromosome.   Does that mean all women are angels?  No.  Far from it.  […]

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice, Tactical Training Scenarios
book reviews, crime, criminology, Gavin De Becker, robbery, women View Post

The Bag Trick…How to Easily Conceal a Weapon in Public

 Written by: Greg Ellifritz   Students who have taken my knife fighting class will likely remember “The Bag Trick”.  I demonstrate  it in every 2-day class I teach.  My students all give me the same feedback after seeing it “That’s so simple, but it’s genius!  Learning  that one technique was worth the price of the […]

Posted on June 17, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles, News and Tactical Advice
3rd world travel, ccw, concealed carry, guns, knives, shooting, stabbing, survival View Post

Shooting Through Doors and Walls

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   As I was scanning my news feed last week, I came across yet another mistaken identity shooting where the “defender” fired through a door or wall.   Dad mistakes daughter for intruder, shoots her to death   According to the article: “Pressley’s father told investigators he fired through a door […]

Posted on May 27, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
building search tactics, bullets, home defense, home invasion, training View Post

Guns, Gear, and Training Issues in Last Weekend’s Shotgun Class

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   Last Saturday, I taught Active Response Training’s very first open enrollment shotgun course.  It’s kind of odd that I’ve never done one, considering that the very first firearms instructor certification I got was Phil Singelton’s Benelli shotgun instructor class.  I’ve been teaching cops how to shoot shotguns since the year […]

Posted on May 22, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
firearms training, shotguns View Post

Tourniquet Musings

Written by: Greg Ellifritz I spent some of my day off today working with three of the new CoTCCC-recommended tourniquets.   I self applied the TMT (Tactical Mechanical Tourniquet), RevMed TX2, and RevMed TX3 to each limb. I was able to achieve full occlusion (no distal pulse) on all applications.   I like the extra […]

Posted on May 16, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
medical skills, tourniquets View Post

Compliance Doesn’t Always Ensure Your Safety

Written by: Greg Ellifritz     Many of my students tell me that, should they ever be robbed, they plan on complying with the robbers’ demands.  While I can’t presume to tell anyone the individual best course of action during a dangerous situation, I can provide some general statistics about past events.   Statistically, complying  […]

Posted on May 1, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
compliance, resistance, robbery View Post

When the Criminal Doesn’t Obey Your Commands

  Written by: Greg Ellifritz   It’s a rewarding thing to watch my firearms students as they learn and progress.  They start with safe gun handling skills, the basics of marksmanship, and learning when it is legally appropriate to shoot someone.  If they continue training, they might learn more “tactical” or combative shooting skills.  As […]

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
ccw, verbalization View Post

The Gas Station Clerk

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   *I posted the article below on my Facebook page a couple days ago.  I got a lot of feedback and the post generated a massive amount of commentary.  Several people asked me to expand upon my original post and turn it into an article on my site for those who […]

Posted on March 21, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
ccw, John Holschen, Rangemaster, robbery, third party protection View Post

Can a Walking Cane be an Effective Weapon?

  I’ve taught hundreds of people how to fight with a cane.  I genuinely believe that a cane can be an excellent “low profile” weapon in the right hands…assuming the person wielding the cane has a little training or practice.  Before I talk about how best to use the cane, let’s take a look at […]

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles, News and Tactical Advice
burglary, cane, cane fighting, impact weapons, TDI View Post

The Asian Bistro Active Killer Attack

Written by:  Greg Ellifritz On Tuesday, a man shot up a restaurant in San Diego.  He fired through the windows from outside the restaurant.  Although he fired approximately 20 rounds out of an AR-15 rifle,  miraculously none of the nine restaurant patrons were hit.   The gun was recovered and the suspect was arrested a […]

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
active killer, active shooter View Post

Group Identity Concepts

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   Do you know about “Social Identity Theory” and “Identity Fusion?”  If not, it might be beneficial for you to read the article linked below.  It’s about an Army doctor who struggled with PTSD after his retirement. Abandoning the tribe: The psychology behind why veterans struggle to transition to civilian life […]

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
military, police, psychology View Post
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