(1) Buy a gun that ‘points’ naturally with your hand relaxed and finger on the trigger. Buy the weapon with the highest caliber you can hit something with while firing fairly rapidly. For starters thats .380 or 9mm. For those of us with zillions of rounds behind us, .40sw, .45 and 10mm are fine, but for others, they have too much recoil for fast follow-up shots. Rounds-in-the-air when bad things happen, matter. To stop a person from attacking you it will often take more than one round. You shoot until they stop moving. which is about the time it takes for blood to stop getting to the brain. (I can shoot a 45 on target like it was machine gun, and but only because i trained for weeks to do it with a fantastic instructor.) Most people can get there with 9mm without spending a fortune. Make sure you have two magazines. If possible get three or four. The purpose is to help you train, not carry four magazines.

(2) Heavier guns are heavier to carry but absorb more recoil. Lighter guns are lighter to carry but absorb less recoil. Metal guns are heavier than composite guns. Composite guns generally hold more ammunition and ar bigger. Small composite and light, to big metal and heavy. If you want to carry a gun pick one you are willing to lug around with you. Otherwise it’s just a paperweight in a safe somewhere. Carry guns and fighting guns are not the same. Older guns are slimmer with fewer rounds. Newer guns bulkier with more. Buy a weapon for your purpose. Most require at least two: ‘dress gun’ for emergencies, and ‘fight gun’ to protect self, kin, and home. For home, a shotgun is about as simplee and effective as you can get, and you don’t even have to aim very well. (Plus people are disproportionately scared of them, and the sound is unmistakable.) ( I advise people that they will buy two guns. Usually a .380/9mm small, and a 9/40/45 full size. And eventually sell back the one they don’t use. ) Modern (post 1980, and certainly post 2009) composite pistols from the top manufacturers all come with decockers, trigger safeties, manual safeties, hammer-blocks, lock open when empty, and have thumb-press magazine releases. All of these are safety features. I suggest avoiding manual safeties on the slide. They are too difficult to manipulate. 1911’s have only grip and manual safeties. They are for ‘experienced’ and ‘trained’ users. I’ve listed suggested manufacturers below.

BASICS

(3) Learn basic safety. “Always and Nevers”.

a) never point the gun at anything, ever, even for a millisecond, ever unless you intend to kill it and pay the consequences for killing it. Guns are to be treated as permanently-on laser beams that kill everything out into infinity wherever they are pointed.

b) never touch the trigger unless you’re going to use it to kill someone – the minute you touch the trigger you’ve committed to killing someone.

c) the gun is always loaded whenever you think it isn’t. Unless you check it as the very first step in doing everything you do to it, you’ve just forgotten it’s loaded. Guns teach you humility and the frailty of human mind and memory. Guns require ‘agency’. You must be dead certain at all times. (Hence why liberals can’t deal with them. they are impulsive and lack agency.)

d) only hand someone a gun, with the clip removed, round ejected, chamber open and exposed, after checking yourself that it is clear. Never take a gun from someone without the clip removed, round ejected, chamber open and checking that it’s clear.

e) never load a gun in the presence of others who are not armed as well. Never handle a gun in the presence of others who are not armed as well.

f) Never point the gun at anyone, any creature, or anything, unless you are intent on ‘killing’ that person, animal, or thing.

g) if you can’t do all of the above, you are not worthy of owning and operating a weapon. Thankfully we can teach young men to do this around the world with practice.

(4) Learn how to take apart and reassemble the gun ‘gently’. Do it at least 50 times, and do that at least five times. It will be unconscious at that point. That’s what you’re looking for.

(5) Learn how to clear the weapon of jams:failure to seat the magazine, failure to feed from the magazine, failure to battery, failure to eject, stove-piping. Buy cheap ammo and randomly stick it in your magazines, and practice it. Practice it dry. Do ten of each, every three days, for two months. It will be unconscious at that point. That’s what you’re looking for.

(6) Buy fake (plastic, dummy) rounds, and have someone randomly insert them in your clip among your regular rounds. (or do it yourself and then mix up the magazines). This will train you not to flinch. After that, learn double-tap. After than learn the Mozambique drill – two in the chest, one in the head. (Personally that’s all I ever practice. ) Practice once a week, for three months. It will be unconscious at that point. That’s what you’re looking for.

(7) Keep the target at 25 yards or less. Spend half your time shooting with the sights. Half your time point-shooting without them. You will be very happy you did. Initial sight picture takes 1.0-2.5 seconds. Follow-up shots take .25 seconds. Point shooting takes only the time to point and follow ups only the time for you to feel the recoil and trigger reset. practice once a week for three months. Practice a bit less often for a year. It will be unconscious at that point. That’s what you’re looking for.

MASTERY

(8) Martial artists know teach to side step, and move forward and backwards, or at an angle while maintaining ‘stance’ (secure footing). Fencing is probably the best. But old fashioned basic karate and ju jitsu teach it as well. Most police and soldiers do this VERY BADLY. I have seen example after example of people ‘tripping’ because they don’t know how to move. It should only take you a few hours to learn it, but a lot of time to practice it. After you have practiced it, practice point and sight shooting while moving back and forth, and side to side. It will be unconscious at that point. That’s what you’re looking for. At this point you have mastery of the sidearm.

(9) Do not try to quick draw until you have been shooting for at least a year regularly. Never do it alone. And never at a range. Only out in the wild. With someone who can drive you to the hospital. Otherwise you will absolutely positively shoot yourself. it hurts. It hurts like hell. Instead, practice quick draw with an empty gun. Practice point shooting starting with your finger off the trigger, with your arm 15 degrees out from your side. When you have done this a few hundred times over at least three weeks, then do it with fake rounds. When you have don this a few hundred times over at least there weeks, then do it with one round. etc.

  1. Learn how to shoot flat against a wall, both directions, then how to drop and shoot on one knee, seated on one knee with leg outstretched, prone (lying down) all four directions. Then inverted (on your back) in four directions.

  2. There is a vast difference between ‘concealment’ and ‘cover’. Concealment hides you but can be shot through. Cover hides you but cannot be shot through (easily). With modern weapons there is effectively no ‘cover’ only concealment. In other words, modern weapons shoot through pretty much everything: windows, doors, walls, car doors, concrete walls, brick walls, really thick steel plate. And pretty much everything but three layers of heavy sandbags. For all intents and purposes walls, furniture, cars, refrigerators and appliances, are made of something more than smoke and less than cardboard. Larger slower bullets will stop, but smaller faster bullets will not. Expanding bullets will stop better, solid and cored bullets will not stop. if you have a 9mm pistol the fact that someone is hiding behind a door or wall or in a car is meaningless. Likewise, if you are hiding behind a door or wall or in a car, it’s meaningless. In fact the only wall you can reliably hide behind is the one made of the bullets you are shooting at the other person. If someone has a modern rifle the fact is, that they can effectively shoot through steel, and very likely drill through a wall with multiple shots. So, you can either teach yourself to shoot through concealment, or be the victim of those who have taught themselves to shoot through concealment. Because the only cover is the cover you generate by returning fire.

GROUP MASTERY

  1. Learn anticipatory shooting. Often we know the shape of the space we cannot see. We can practice shooting targets before we have sight picture. So that we can shoot from high, low, and center without exposing our bodies to fire. And so that we can only expose ourselves for minimum time to hit an anticipated spot. And so that we can enter an area shooting.

We can practice providing covering fire while others move. Then Learn clearing a room. Anticipatory shooting plus entry into an enclosed space.

  1. Learn basic movement (look it up. I don’t have to cover it here. However, note that militaries using combined arms (concentration of forces) have to patrol a lot of territory using human bodies as ‘sensors’. People who are defending their homeland, conducting a revolt, or a revolution do not. They merely have to be able to blend in, move, perform an action, and return home or to safety. Furthermore, there is a great deal of advantage using only sidearms in purely urban or suburban areas.

  2. Learn bounding. One person provides cover while the others move past a point of vulnerability. Rotate with the next first in line at the next point of vulnerability. until you are . (The military taught this badly last I knew.) it takes quite a few seconds to observe a hallway, an alley, or street, or courtyard, or any open space.

  3. Learn basic medical (wounds). I don’t have to cover that here.

  4. Learn basic fitness. Modern militaries carry too much weight. If you can walk for 20 miles with 30 lbs of water bottles and still do 50 pushups and 30 jumping jacks (drinking them along the way) then you are fit. Bulk is your enemy.

SAFETY

(16) a) Never give another person your gun to shoot without doing the same rituals above. I have taught dozens of people to shoot. I can make someone who is serious about it, safe when handling a gun in one day. And confident after three to five half-hour lessons.

(b) Never give a girl a gun to shoot with more than one round in it. EVER, unless you want someone – likely you – to get shot. Same for kids.

(c) Never give a ‘newbie’ a gun over 9mm with or with more than one round unless you want someone to get shot -likely you.

d) Never use or be in the presence of anyone using a machine pistol, an SMG, or Full Auto Carbine or Rifle, until you have, and they have, mastered using it a single shot at a time, as above – unless you want everyone in visual range to get shot. You must lean heavily into, and physically work to hold down, and use both leaning and holding to control these weapons. As far as I know, unless you are providing suppressing fire when you can’t see the enemy, three to five round smg bursts fired to ‘paint’ a space, or to intersect with a movement, are the maximum utility these weapons provide. Shooting fast with a pistol is a lot safer.

  1. The safest place for a gun is in your hands, against your chest, pointing wherever you’re looking. iii) The next safest place is in your pocket, in your belt or in a holster in your belt. iv) the next safest place is in a safe with a lock on it. v) the next safest place is in reach of your pillow. vi) everywhere else is NOT SAFE.

  2. Avoiding ‘situations’ is always wise. Running away whenever possible is always preferable. The only reason not to run away is to prevent harm to you, your kin, those you love, those under your charge, those under your protection, and in defense of the civic commons from the proliferation of corrupt, criminal, predatory, or evil behavior. Killing is never a question of property. Other than fine art and artifacts, everything except life and limb is replaceable. Stopping a robbery in modernity is for the purpose of stopping the spread of behavior. So know what it is that you are shooting for, and why you must shoot. That said, those most needing arms are those not privileged to be insulated from troublesome characters by birt, wealth, or ability. And we must consider their circumstances as unequal to ours if we have such privileges. What is ‘reasonable’ behavior in an industry with many ex convicts where theft is common, and threat is common, and stress is common, and hardship is common, is very different from what is reasonable behavior among middle class people with education and comfortable consumption due to comfortable employment.

WHAT TO BUY

PISTOLS: Glock, S&W, CZ modern pistols. HK older pistols – although collectors drive up prices. For ‘aesthetes’ the 1911 is the Harley of guns, and can be customized heavily and easily for your needs. Special nod to Walther ppk, HKP4+ and Makarov’s. That’s it. Better used great gun than new cheap gun. Evidence is revolvers are only good for girls afraid of guns. They are dead simple to operate, dead simple, to learn, and good as a last resort.

RIFLES: “Black Rifles” AR-15 or HK416 or AR15 with HK416 plunger systems. Any variation on the AK47. And special nod to the Steyer-Aug variants for those that want weight close to the body or to take up less space. That’s it. There are some superior older models of rifles but the black rifle won the 20th century because the tech is just lighter and more precise. In the very near future the 5.56mm will be replaced by a more powerful cartridge, but nearly anyone can be taught to fire a black rifle without losing sight picture. The AK is a weapon more tolerant of the operator (russian philosophy at work), and of conditions. It hits very hard, goes through everything, and there is steel core ammunition everywhere on the market.

HUNTING RIFLES: Hunting Rifles for men are like women’s purses or shoes: they come in all sorts of variations for all sorts of tasks, and all sorts of tastes. That isn’t my specialty. Although it is pretty hard to argue with S&W .50 pistols, Remington 700’s, and Italian shotguns. ;)

THE PURPOSE OF WEAPONS

The purpose of weapons is to *Preserve Sovereignty for the Great, Liberty for the Talented, Freedom for the Able, and Subsidy for the Weak and those lacking Agency, using the single law of Reciprocity, under the distributed dictatorship of armed men we call ‘western civilization’.*

Sovereignty, liberty, freedom, and subsidy cannot be produced by other means than a militia: shareholders in the preservation of reciprocity by the prohibition on rule. Western civilization begins with the militia: all free men capable of bearing arms.

Every man a craftsmen, every man a sheriff, every man a soldier, every man a warrior, every man a judge. A judge of reciprocity. In the end, when all is said and done, we are equal only in our defense of one another’s interests. And that is equal enough for everything else that matters.

Curt Doolittle

The Propertarian Institute

“The Philosophy of Aristocracy”

“The distributed dictatorship of sovereign men.”