Having A Defensive Mindset

Having a defensive mindset is the freedom that the founding fathers originally authored the constitution to defend. The second amendment gives the people of this nation the right to bear arms and protect themselves both from oppressive government and the attack of sociopaths who have had a mental malfunction in their home communities. Having a defensive mindset is so much more than just owning a firearm and becoming a proficient marksman by spending hour after hour standing on the firing line drawing from your strong side OWB holster paying attention to sight alignment and sight picture and trying to put larger and larger groups into smaller and smaller spaces. It is so much more than spending hour after hour in the MMA gym losing brain cells and performing the same repetitious movements over and over again trying to beat the snot out of your buddy you talked into getting a membership there too.  While all that really, really helps, it is not the whole picture to surviving a life or death encounter.

Many martial arts have their place in boxing rings and MMA events likewise hour after hour on the firing line is great for your local speed shooting competition or NRA sponsored contest, but when it comes to real life or death situations a whole new attitude i.e. the Defensive Mindset is what will mean the difference between life or death. Tim Larkin of Target Focus Training in Southern California teaches his students that a lethal encounter is not even the same experience as a sanctioned martial arts sparring match or shooting competition. He explains that there is a continuum of things that are on a social plane i.e. martial arts and target shooting. But when it comes to surviving a lethal encounter it is an A-social situation, completely devoid of communication, (the definition of a social encounter is based in communication with your opponent i.e. stop bugging me would be a basic communication underlying a bar type fight) your opponent has dehumanized you and wants to destroy you. Cease your existence.

So to treat such an attacker with basic human rights is going to put you at the disadvantage. If you look at any “deadly force situation” like this some basic facts present themselves.

1. If you are better prepared to do more damage to the opponent than he is to you then you would be at the advantage and would be the one that has the ability to keep on surviving.
2. It does not matter whether your the “good guy” or “bad guy.” Again, he or she who is better prepared will be the one that continues to enjoy this mortal existence.
3. Prisons all around the country offer their inmates a virtual doctorates degree in street combat, deception and all-around effective ways to be a criminal.

So what is the solution? Do I just continue on in my life hoping that nothing will ever happen to me because I live in a place where I suppose crime is never going to happen? Well from personal experience I have realized that is not an option. I was in High School in Colorado when the tragedy at columbine occurred. It hit even closer to home as we were watching the tragedy unfold, and found out my best friend had family at that high school. Ever since then I have had a realization that sociopaths exist here in my community no matter where that happens to be geographically. So then is my only option to live in fear and hope that none of those trained experienced criminals, of which hundreds are released back into society each day, ever have the notion to break into my home or assault me or my family? I cannot comprehend an effective way to completely avoid the criminal element and thereby remove myself from the possibility of ever having a confrontation with a violent criminal.

Well what about the police? It is their job to serve and protect me from the criminal element right? Well yes but no. A popular phrase I really like goes like this: “when seconds count, the authorities are minutes away.” One thing that was surprising to me was the fact that the police have the option to refuse to respond to a call. If they believe that there will be substantial danger of their life being threatened or that the call is too dangerous then they have the option to allow you to deal with your own problems. So clearly the only real solution is self reliance. So what is the first step to becoming self reliant and developing that defensive mindset? The answer for me comes from my Concealed Weapons permit class when I was 21 years old. In that class my Utah Concealed Weapons permit instructor said something really poignant. He said “ok now that you have gone thru this class and will be awarded a Permit to carry a concealed weapon it is now your responsibility to decide at what point will you actually use your firearm to end an attacker’s life?” This question really hit home for me.

So I would say the first step to having a defensive mindset would be realizing that at some point you could be in a situation that will require you to take a guilty person’s life in defense of the innocent. Are you mentally prepared to do that? Any physical actions we perform in this life are first created as possibilities in our minds. So an effective mental exercise that will help you have and build a defensive mindset is mentally drawing lines wherever you go. I will share with you some of the exercises I use when I am out and about. Go to restaurants sit in places where you can see people and entrances and exits and you can see cash registers and even out into the parking lot. Watch people and how they behave and people that behave abnormally watch them closer. Everyone who reads this can easily conjure images of what people who are more aggressive look like we can think of aggressive attitudes and postures and facial gestures and expressions.

As I watch people I am able to see the differences and pick out and separate people who are more likely to threaten my existence from others who are interested in living their lives in peace.  From these observations we are able to draw lines such as “if this guy, who I feel is suspicious, does this then at this point I will feel justified by the law to protect myself and others.” Also I recommend watching Youtube® videos and deciding where you would draw the line in those situations. Personally I recommend “Pizza fight” I feel it’s a perfect exercise to put yourself in the position of one of the patrons standing in line watching this horrific display unfold. The basic point is this: Your mind is the absolute most powerful weapon in your survival arsenal. Your capability to train and retrain your brain to protect yourself is massive. So training it to continually think defensively is the key to your ability to walk away from any situation in which your life is threatened. Then when it comes time to put all your training to use, you’re able to deal with a situation you have already made mental steps to deal with in your head.