In my work as a firearms instructor, there are three assumptions I’ve found to be common among concealed carry licensees and applicants.  Every week, I know I’ll hear various renditions of each one of these.

While these assumptions (and more importantly the behaviors that follow) generally serve the gun owner where convenience is concerned, they could also result in needless death or injury the day they find themselves the target of violent crime.

1. I only carry/keep the gun in my car.

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While carjacking crimes seem to be frequent in the news, leaving a gun in the car exposes two vulnerabilities: The first is that car break-ins are common. Why risk having the firearm stolen? The other is that armed robberies—which are often deadly even when victims comply—are to be expected any place there’s a cash register.

Gun Digest Book of Con... Ayoob, Massad Buy New $14.99 (as of 11:20 UTC - Details) Being aware of one’s surroundings and avoiding confrontations in the first place is heavy insulation against having to draw a firearm. But not having it at the time and place you may expect to need it is folly.

2. Practice? I’ve been around guns all my life!

Shooting well under stress is both a simple and difficult skill.  A multitude of considerations must be processed in short order during a crime in progress: external circumstances, the draw, and successful, accurate operation of the gun.

Unfortunately, I have found in my classes that people who bring with them more past experience handling guns — often as a youth, a service member, or a hunter — sometimes show the biggest gap between confidence and performance.  At the other end of the spectrum, some new shooters choose a carry system with so many safeguards that it would take a professional shooter’s schedule of practice to defeat those measures when the gun’s needed in short order. Both are recipes for failure.

After You Shoot: Your ... Alan Korwin Best Price: $1.98 Buy New $7.80 (as of 07:45 UTC - Details) Confidence is an asset in self-preservation. Over-confidence produces rounds that go somewhere besides the intended target.  There’s no price to pay for that in a controlled range environment, but the same error in a public area could be devastating for both the person shooting in defense and anyone around them. Prospects are equally dim for the new shooter who hasn’t mastered a safe and fast draw, plus defeating whatever safety measures they chose like a mechanical safety or empty chamber.

Handling the gun—including the draw, defeating safety measures, clearing malfunctions, and dealing with less-than-perfect firing conditions—is not an inborn trait. Gun handling and marksmanship skills are honed by practice and fade with time.  For most people including myself, “time” between top-shelf proficiency and imperfect technique is measured in weeks, not years.  Having the humility to accept that your 4-H, hunting, or military history may not be enough to carry you without being bolstered by practice is part of successful self-protection.

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