Written by: Greg Ellifritz I’ve written a lot recently about the history of firearms instruction. That topic has only existed for about the last 100 years. Formal weapons training most certainly existed earlier, but it was pre-Civil War and reserved for the luxury class. Between the end of the US Civil War […]
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 […]
It could evolve as medical systems are stressed after a natural disaster. It could be caused by a terrorist attack. It could even be the result of a societal or economic collapse. Have you ever thought about what might happen if our current health care system (EMS, Doctors, Hospitals, Pharmacies) ceased to function normally? […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz The ability to make fast decisions under stressful and time-pressed conditions is a critical component of winning a lethal force confrontation. Unfortunately, it is also very hard to teach. Research on decision making has traditionally been conducted in laboratories under calm conditions. The implications derived from such studies don’t […]
My friend Jeff Gonzales published a book titled Concealed Carry Manual. I think that it is the best gun-related book I’ve read in 2022. I was honored when Jeff asked me to “blurb” the book. This is what I wrote: “I first trained with Jeff more than a decade ago and have followed […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz I got the following question from a reader. As I think this answer has a universal appeal, I chose to answer it here so that all of you can benefit as well. Here’s the question: “I want to assemble/integrate your suggestions for practice sessions, but I’m overwhelmed by the […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz I’m going to start by saying that this is a massive book containing nearly 700 pages of text followed by almost 100 pages of reference notes. I’m also going to state that book is an intellectual masterpiece that contained ideas that were slightly more advanced than my limited mental capacity […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Delf “Jelly” Bryce was an old time gunfighter who started his career as a lawman in the 1920’s. He served as a Oklahoma State Game Agent, Oklahoma City Police Officer, and later an FBI agent in the agency’s heyday fighting gangsters and alcohol smugglers. He received the nickname “Jelly” […]
Lots of folks are asking me questions about the best way to hunker down and survive the pandemic lock down. There are lots of survival books on the market, but most of them focus on “bug out” scenarios and surviving in the wilderness with nothing but a knife and some paracord. That isn’t the […]
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 Depending on the source of the research you read, you’ll find that about 40% of violent criminal attacks will involve you fighting more than one attacker. Fighting one person is bad enough. Fighting a group is exponentially worse. I’m seeing lots of recent news articles where groups of teens […]
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. […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz A couple days ago I finished Karl Rehn and John Daub’s new book Strategies and Standards for Defensive Handgun Training. I really enjoyed it and found it to contain a whole bunch of valuable information. The authors’ book description follows: “What percentage of carry permit holders attend training […]
This is a guest post from my friend and long time Federal Law Enforcement officer, John Hearne. John is a gifted instructor and skilled tactician. In this post, he reviews a book written by a guy who quit the FBI after a couple years of service. Things seem to keep getting progressively worse. These are […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz I was contacted several months ago by a group of writers who wanted to use my handgun stopping power data in a new book they were writing. After some discussion with one of the writers, I allowed them to use my data. The book was published last month and […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz My friend Claude Werner (a former instructor at the Rogers shooting school) recently wrote an internet post which reminded me of a good drill that I had forgotten. The drill came out of Gila Hayes’ excellent book “Effective Defense- The Woman, The Plan, The Gun”. As a side note, […]
I recently read a book about active killers that many of you will enjoy. Surviving a Mass Killer Rampage by Chris Bird was just released and is one of the better books available on the topic. Unlike many books, Chris looks at the problem through the eyes of both police officers and everyday […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz I’ve been studying the active shooter phenomenon for a long time. The one active shooter event that has occurred closest to where I live isn’t commonly discussed in the literature on the topic. The event to which I refer is the 2004 shooting at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz A couple weeks ago I opened my mail to find that my friend and fellow trainer Richard Nance had sent me a copy of his new book gunFIGHT! I quickly skimmed the book and realized that it covered quite a few concepts that are not commonly addressed in most gunfighting […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz I know what you are thinking….who carries a revolver? I do. So do many other knowledgeable firearms instructors. In a recent conversation with John Benner (founder of the Tactical Defense Institute), I learned that John relies on a revolver for his PRIMARY night-time home defense weapon! That’s what is on his […]
