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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

Knife Attacks: Dealing with the Charging Attacker

If you pay attention, you’ll regularly see video of criminal attackers armed with contact weapons closing the distance by charging their victims at a dead run.   That’s a difficult scenario to handle and a lot of victims give in to their natural reaction to back up and create more distance.  The problem is that […]

Posted on October 9, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
ccw, edged weapons, knife attack, police View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- October 6, 2023

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   Handling Patient Firearms for EMS Professionals I: Pistols This is an excellent article for my fire/EMS readers.  You should also read the author’s thoughts on a civilian battle belt.     The Best AR-15 […]

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
Active Self Protection, AR-15, Caleb Giddings, Dr. William Aprill, First Person safety, forgotten weapons, Hock Hochheim, holsters, James Altucher, Justin Dyal, knife fighting, Massad Ayoob, Matt Haught, Matthew Allen, open carry, pistoltraining.com, psychology, Rangemaster, revolvers, Rob Leatham, Ryan Holiday, shooting drills, shotguns, survival, SWAT magazine, Swift Silent Deadly, Tamara Keel, The Revolver Guy, The Truth About Guns, travel, weapon mounted lights View Post

“I Saw an Opportunity and I Took It.”

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   Back when I was a cop, I got a call about a stolen bicycle. A college-aged female rode her bike to a local drug store and went inside. She didn’t lock up the bike. When she came out a couple minutes later, the bike was gone.   Fortunately, several witnesses […]

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Tactical Training Scenarios
police, psychology, theft View Post

New Podcast Interview

Marcus Wynne was an amazing author and a great friend.  He died unexpectedly in January 2022.    Marcus was one of the first people I told when I got diagnosed with prostate cancer.  He was also one of the few people who supported my decision to go against my doctors’ advice and refuse the traditional […]

Posted on October 2, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in What's New
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Weekend Knowledge Dump- September 29, 2023

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   The Right Tools for the Job: A Personal Journey into Appendix Carry A deep dive into some of the finer points of appendix carry.     Zeroing Your Dot Great information for you dot […]

Posted on September 29, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
ACLDN, Active Self Protection, American Cop, appendix carry, AR-15, ccw, civilian gunfighter, crowd violence, Dave Young, Ed Lovette, Erick Gelhaus, Force Science Institute, Grant Cunningham, holsters, hostage survival, Integrated Skills Group, Jeff Gonzales, John Lott, kidnapping, Louis Awerbuck, Lucky Gunner, Massad Ayoob, Michael Bane, New Revenant Society, Pew Pew Tactical, police, precision rifle, red dot sights, Refactor Tactical, revolvers, shooting drills, shotguns, The Truth About Guns, Tiger McKee View Post

Free Books- Part 282

Amazon has a tremendous number of FREE ebooks on their website.  You can find thousands of free kindle books on Amazon’s site every day.  These books can be downloaded to a Kindle reader or a free App on your phone or personal computer.  Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can download a free […]

Posted on September 28, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Uncategorized
View Post

Should I Leave the Scene of a Defensive Shooting?

Written by: Greg Ellifritz Last week, I received the following question from one of my readers:   “I have discussed ‘what to do’ after a successful ‘stop the threat’ shoot. Some have said that they would leave the scene rather than be subjected to the legal hassle, or additional danger, (depending on the circumstances). Please […]

Posted on September 26, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Reader Questions
Andrew Branca, ccw, law, Legal, Massad Ayoob, shootings 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

Weekend Knowledge Dump- September 22, 2023

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   More About Tactical and Partial Reloads I think the partial revolver reload is a critical skill to have and practice if you are carrying a wheelgun for self protection.  Your gun is “loaded” if […]

Posted on September 22, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
Active Self Protection, American Cop, AR-15, Armed Lifestyle, building search tactics, ccw, Clint Smith, concealed carry, Ed Head, Erick Gelhaus, GAT Daily, gelatin testing, holsters, Jeff Gonzales, Justin Dyal, Massad Ayoob, medical skills, pepper spray, Personal Defense Network, PHLster, police, Primer Peak, Recoil Magazine, revolvers, robbery, school shootings, school violence, shooting drills, statistics, survivopedia, The Revolver Guy, Tier Three Tactical, travel 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

Observations from Last Week’s Defensive Shotgun Class

A little more than a week ago I taught my defensive shotgun class at Blackwing Shooting Center in Delaware, Ohio.   I only do this class a couple times a year and usually learn as much from the students as they learn from me.  In large classes like this one (21 students), I have a real-world […]

Posted on September 19, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in What's New
Blackwing Shooting Center, class reviews, firearms training, shotguns View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- September 15, 2023

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   Ayoob on Handguns Massad Ayoob provides an argument for carrying a high capacity handgun.  I appreciate Mas’ shout out and his commentary in this article as well.     Book Review: “No Safe Alternative” […]

Posted on September 15, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
.22, .41 magnum, Active Self Protection, American Handgunner, American Partisan, appendix carry, AR-15, body armor, ccw, Claude Werner, Clint Smith, GAT Daily, gelatin testing, gun digest, GunsAmerica, holsters, lega;, malfunctions, Marty Hayes, Massad Ayoob, medical skills, Michael Bane, Michael Janich, Personal Defense Network, pocket carry, Recoil Offgrid, Shelley Hill, shotguns, sig sauer, snubnose, Soldier Systems, survival, SWAT magazine, T.C. Fuller, The Firearms Blog, The Organic Prepper, The Revolver Guy, The Suited Shootist, Widener's View Post

Free Books- Part 281

Amazon has a tremendous number of FREE ebooks on their website.  You can find thousands of free kindle books on Amazon’s site every day.  These books can be downloaded to a Kindle reader or a free App on your phone or personal computer.  Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can download a free […]

Posted on September 14, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Uncategorized
View Post

Remaining 2023 Open Enrollment Classes

I only have a small number of open enrollment classes remaining this year.  Many of those I do have on the books are already full.  Here are the last classes I have with some remaining open seats.   My next open enrollment classes will be held at Apache Solutions in North Carolina.  They are about […]

Posted on September 12, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in What's New
Apache Solutions, Blackwing Shooting Center, class announcements, Condition Red Response, firearms training View Post

Situational Awareness Podcast

Instead of a written article for you today, I’m going to share a podcast Interview I recently completed.   This is the first podcast I’ve done in three years.  When I got my cancer diagnosis and didn’t have long to live, I decided I wanted to focus my limited time on writing and stopped doing […]

Posted on September 11, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in What's New
Blackwing Shooting Center, situational awareness View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- September 8, 2023

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   Rifles vs. Pistols: The Basics of Terminal Ballistics Concepts that should be better understood in the shooting world.     You Vs. The Crowd Thinking about public defensive encounters.     Glock Gen Differences: […]

Posted on September 8, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
ACLDN, active killer, active shooter, Ballistic Magazine, Dustin Salomon, Erick Gelhaus, firearms training, Gun Mag Warehouse, history, Jeff Gonzales, John Hearne, John Holschen, Legal, Lucky Gunner, Massad Ayob, medical skills, Memphis Beech, police, Primer Peak, revolvers, shooting drills, statistics, survival blog, Tamara Keel, That Weems Guy, The Organic Prepper, The Truth About Guns, Tiger McKee, Uncle Zo View Post

Surviving Burning Man

My blog usually focuses on the topic of self protection and survival.  This post detailing a recent experience is a little different.  Stick with it, as there will be some survival lessons I hope you will find useful.   I first went to Burning Man back in 2013.  Since then I’ve attended a total of […]

Posted on September 7, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in What's New
Burning Man, survival, trave View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- September 1, 2023

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   Long Range Work Clint Smith takes a look at what handgun shoots the best at ranges out to 150 yards.     Survival Tips: Preparing Yourself For Traveling Our Nation’s Highways You are far […]

Posted on September 1, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
.22 magnum, Active Self Protection, Armed and Styled, backup guns, Bryan Eastridge, Claude Werner, Clint Smith, drugs, flashlight tactics, gelatin testing, Gunsite, Lee Weems, low light shooting, Massad Ayoob, medical skills, Melissa Soalt, Organic Prepper, Pat Rogers, pistoltraining.com, police, Primary and Secondary, Primer Peak, Rangemaster, revolvers, robbery, Ryan Holiday, shooting drills, Spotter Up, Survival Mom, Tim Kelly, Tom Givens, William Aprill, women's self defense View Post

Streetlights and Shadows- Searching for the Keys to Adaptive Decision Making

Written by Greg Ellifritz     The book Streetlights and Shadows highlights author Gary Klein’s research on decision making.  This research is especially important for police officers or citizens who carry concealed firearms.  Those groups of people are forced to make life-altering decisions under the most intense stress possible.  Every bit of guidance is useful […]

Posted on August 31, 2023 by Greg Ellifritz in Book Reviews
book reviews, books View Post
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