All too often, people who obtain a CCW think that they will have the upper hand in a confrontation and the mere possession of a handgun is a magical talisman that will protect them. They envision the “gentleman mugger” calmly asking them to hand over their wallet while holding out a rusty pocket knife as a weapon or pointing their finger under their shirt like a kid playing cops and robbers. The reality of this line of thinking is deeply flawed.

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All too often, people who obtain a CCW think that they will have the upper hand in a confrontation and the mere possession of a handgun is
a magical talisman that will protect them. They envision the “gentleman mugger” calmly asking them to hand over their wallet while holding
out a rusty pocket knife as a weapon or pointing their finger under their shirt like a kid playing cops and robbers. The reality of this line of
thinking is deeply flawed.
Criminals are predators
Like predators in nature, they stalk the herd, looking for weaknesses. What will you do when
you’re with your wife and children coming back from a trip to the grocery store and your hands
are full of paper bags holding your food for the week? What if you are shoveling snow and your
gun is under layers of clothing or safely on your nightstand? How will you react if you are
attacked while changing a tire in the rain on the side of the road at night? These are situations
where your situational awareness may not be at its peak and an aggressor may think you are an
easy target. If you have not thought of how you will react to a threat while in these scenarios,
you may need to rethink your game plan.
Condition White, Yellow, Orange, Red and Black
Most people in modern society go around in a state of what Colonel Jeff Cooper referred to as: Condition White. That is, they are
preoccupied and focused on something other than their surroundings. Their thoughts are not focused on their surroundings. People in this
state do not notice impending danger until it is usually too late. The next step is Condition Yellow, when a person is alert and aware of their
surroundings. Yellow is followed by Condition Orange when a potential threat has been identified and the person is assessing how to deal
with the threat. Condition Red is the top of Cooper’s list: the decision to use lethal force has been made. The USMC goes a step higher
with Condition Black, meaning that the person is now in the fight, but that is a subject unto itself.
Confronting a deadly attacker puts your body into a state of stress. The human body reacts to this by secreting adrenaline and triggering
the “fight or flight” syndrome. When this happens, time can seem to slow down, fine motor skills are reduced to gross motor schools and
some of the skills needed for “target shooting”, such as breath control and trigger control, go out the window. This is why some target
shooters who can hit the 10-ring on the bull’s-eye all day will scoff when they read an after action report on a police or military shooting
where hundreds of rounds are exchanged and only four may hit the targets.
Making that mental leap from condition white to condition red can make the most mundane tasks seem difficult. Worse yet; the precious
few seconds it takes for the mind to go from “la-la land” to a gun fight can make the difference between life and death.
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