Active Response Training
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • RSS
  • Home
  • Available Classes
  • Instructors
  • 2025-2026 Classes
  • Recommended Reading
  • Contact
  • Class Reviews
  • Media

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

Back From Jordan!

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   I got back home last week after a whirlwind seven-day tour of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.   That’s not on most people’s travel bucket list.  Why go to Jordan?   When Lauren and I met, we both had independent travel goals.  My goal was to visit 50 countries before […]

Posted on July 2, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in What's New
third world travel, travel View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- June 28, 2019

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   Study: Civil asset forfeiture doesn’t discourage drug use or help police solve crimes I’m not a fan of civil asset forfeiture.     What if you can’t get the ‘best’ ammunition? I suspect there […]

Posted on June 28, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
Caleb Causey, Chuck Haggard, Grant Cunningham, Jim Cirillo, Jordan Peterson, knife fighting, Kyle Lamb, Legal, Louis Awerbuck, medical skills, Michael Bane, pepper spray, Primary and Secondary, psychology, Steve Moses, survival, survival blog View Post

Are Cops Good Shooters?

Written by: Greg Ellifritz An article on the Bearing Arms website caused a bit of controversy.  Check out HARSH REALITY: Police Are Not Highly Trained Firearms Experts.    The article essentially describes how most police officers simply aren’t very good shooters or tacticians.  A lot of folks who have never been shooting with cops would […]

Posted on June 25, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
police, police training View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- June 21, 2019

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   On Being Gray-ish… Michael Bane discusses how to remain the “gray man” while still being prepared for workplace violence.     TFB FIELD STRIP: Mossberg 500 The Firearms Blog recently started posting incredibly valuable videos […]

Posted on June 21, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
1911, AR-15, Breach Bang Clear, Caleb Causey, Craig Douglas, edible plants, escape, exercise, Grant Cunningham, Hardwire Tactical, holsters, home defense, Integrated Skills Group, knife training, knives, Legal, Lucky Gunner, Mark Sisson, medical skills, night vision, open carry, optics, police, Practical Eschatology, Prepared Gun Owner, psychology, Range Hot, Recoil Magazine, shooting drills, shotguns, Tamara Keel, Warrior Poet Society, women's carry 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

Weekend Knowledge Dump- June 14, 2019

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   This guy got lucky. You might not. “Just because it “worked” doesn’t mean it’s worth emulating Let’s look at this incident from a practical standpoint. What if the thief hadn’t obeyed the owner’s commands? […]

Posted on June 14, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
ACLDN, active killer, ambush, ankle holsters, appendix carry, ccw, Doom and Bloom, exercise, gelatin tests, Grant Cunningham, Green Ops, Gun Nuts Media, holsters, home defense, ITS Tactical, Kathy Jackson, Legal, medical skills, Mountain Guerilla, Pat McNamara, police, psychology, Sherman House, situational awareness, snubnose, Tatiana Whitlock, The Revolver Guy, Tiger McKee, Tom Givens, travel View Post

The .380 for Police Backup and Off Duty Carry

Written by: Greg Ellifritz     I received this question (edited for brevity) from a police firearms instructor last week:   “A lot of my guys on the department are going with .380 pocket guns for off duty carry instead of carrying their issued Glock 26 9mm pistols.   Our policy will not allow officers […]

Posted on June 13, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Reader Questions
.380, backup gun, gelatin tests, Lucky Gunner, police View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- June 7, 2019

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   How To Safely Decock A Revolver A lot of people have never built a skill set involving the safe handling of a revolver.  This is a critical skill to understand and to be able […]

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
active killer, Active Self Protection, active shooter, appendix carry, carjacking, ccw, Dave Young, David Yamane, dryfire, edible plants, exercise, Glock, Grant Cunningham, ITS Tactical, John Hearne, Kyle Defoor, Legal, Massad Ayoob, medical skills, Mike Seeklander, modern service weapons, physical fitness, police, police gunfights, precision rifle, Recoil Magazine, revolvers, robbery, school shootings, Scott Jedlinski, shooting drills, situational awareness, sniper, The Revolver Guy, tourniquets, weapon retention View Post

Surviving the Flash Mob

Written by Greg Ellifritz   Within the last couple weeks we’ve seen several teen flash mob attacks on innocent bystanders.  There was an attack perpetrated by a large number of Somali youths armed with hammers at a train stop in Minnesota.  Less than a week later, we saw a mass teenage attack in Baltimore.  Large […]

Posted on June 5, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
flash mobs, looting, riots View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- May 31, 2019

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   Heavily Armed Robbers Utilizing Parked Vehicles as New Concealment Tactic A recent robbery trend that you should be aware of.     Prescription For Violence: The Corresponding Rise of Antidepressants, SSRIs & Mass Shootings […]

Posted on May 31, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
Active Self Protection, active shooter, Breach Bang Clear, Buckeye Firearms, carjacking, ccw, chokes, Craig Douglas, Dark Star Gear, Ernest Langdon, extreme close range, firearms training, gunsmithing, health, Hock Hochheim, holsters, John Farnam, Karl Rehn, knife fighting, Legal, Melody Lauer, Michael Bane, open carry, pepper spray, police, Recoil Magazine, road rage, robbery, Ruger, school shootings, shooting drills, snubnose, Spencer Keepers, Steve Moses, survival, Survival Mom, The Revolver Guy, Wim Demeere View Post

Shooting Drill- Justin Dyal’s “Par 5”

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   I found this pistol shooting drill in a recent Justin Dyal article in SWAT magazine called STANDOFF HANDGUN DRILLS: Accuracy at Situational Speed. From the article: The purpose of the Par 5 drill is for the shooter to gain an appreciation of the linkage between sight alignment and trigger break […]

Posted on May 28, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Shooting Drills
Justin Dyal, shooting drills, SWAT magazine View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- May 24, 2019

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   Choosing Your First AR-15: A Practical Guide Very valuable information for those of you contemplating buying your first AR-15 rifle.     Elmer Keith On Combat Quick Draw I love studying the history of […]

Posted on May 24, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
active killer, Active Self Protection, active shooter, ankle holsters, AR-15, ccw, Cecil Burch, crime statistics, edible plants, family safety, Grant Cunningham, Gun Nuts Media, Henry Holsters, holsters, Jeff Gonzales, Mark Manson, Matt Bracken, medical skills, open carry, partner rescue, police, police shootings, Primary and Secondary, psychology, reloads, robbery, scams, shotguns, third world travel, Zulu Bravo Kydex View Post

What if your Backstop is a Freeway?

Written by Greg Ellifritz   Click the link below and watch the body camera video of a police officer shooting an active killer.   Newly released body cam video shows deadly officer-involved shooting   A suspect shot victims at two different public locations, threatened a hotel employee with a gun, and then ran out onto […]

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
active killer, active shooter, backstop, police, shooting 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

Upcoming Medical Classes

I have two medical classes scheduled in June and July.  Both classes are nine hours long (with a short lunch break).  In addition to the description below, the classes will also cover material on using the new tourniquets most recently recommended by the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care.  There will also be a block […]

Posted on May 19, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in What's New
class announcements, medical skills View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- May 17, 2019

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   Data on the Rate of Shootings and Accidents in Schools that allow Teachers to Carry Click “download this paper” in the upper left corner of the linked article to get a free full text […]

Posted on May 17, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
Active Self Protection, AK-47, AR-15, ccw, Chuck Haggard, civilian gunfighter, G4 Personal Safety, Jerking the Trigger, Mark Manson, medical skills, PHLster, police, police gunfights, police training, school shootings, school violence, shotguns, Steve Moses, The Revolver Guy, travel, weapon malfunctions 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

Highlands Ranch Stem Shooting

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   On May 7, 2019 two students conducted an attack on their classmates at the Highlands Ranch STEM School in Colorado.  The shooting was quite unusual and doesn’t fit the normal narrative for an active killer who shoots up a school (that’s probably why the story disappeared from the media so […]

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
active killer, active shooter, school shootings View Post
«‹5051525354›»

Recent Posts

  • Weekend Knowledge Dump- January 9, 2026
  • The Best of What I Read-2025
  • Weekend Knowledge Dump- January 2, 2026
  • My Best Writing- 2025
  • Weekend Knowledge Dump- December 26, 2025

© 2023 Active Response Training - Made with ♥ TheBlackBellCo
Privacy Policy