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MASF Civilian Carry Mindset Seminar

Tess

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2006
Messages
3,837
Location
Bryan, TX
I'm attending this seminar. It was originally scheduled for this weekend (26 Aug) but has been rescheduled to allow more to attend. Not a shooting course, but those of you who have expressed interest in hearing Dan Hawes may be interested. He is not the only good speaker who will present.
 

Grapeshot

Legendary Warrior
Joined
May 21, 2006
Messages
35,317
Location
Valhalla
Really would like to have attended this. Very impressive group of speakers.

Please advise how it all went.
 

solus

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
9,315
Location
here nc
Tess, if you are coming to Winchester, today, then please bring the membership flyers. I am out.
thanks,
Mark

uh, excuse me nemo, the fourth of November was yesterday?

as a 99, :uhoh: tess can do exemplary things, but time travel isn’t one of them ~ yet !!

btw tess how was the event?
 
Last edited:

Tess

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2006
Messages
3,837
Location
Bryan, TX
Review

So, I attended the seminar on the 4th.

Overall impression - worth the time and money, but no more of either than I spent.

First, apparently "mindset" means so many different things to different people that a theme should have been communicated to the presenters. Two spoke of training, a necessary component of mindset, but not, IMHO, the first thing. Another spoke of things to think of while carrying, and another of what to think of after an incident, whether brandishing or shooting or the impression of same. I'm ignoring the politician, who didn't speak of mindset, didn't speak of carry except he expects others to carry in his defense, and whose presentation was generally useless. One of the speakers was way too arrogant for my tastes, but I at least know not to sign up for classes there. The panel discussion was okay.

Perhaps we should have defined "mindset" either up front or at the start of the day. In my mind, "mindset" is not "when the time to perform arrives, the time to prepare is over" or "two shots from two yards in two seconds". To me, mindset includes the decisions that carrying a firearm increases one's responsibility to society, that one could take the life of another if necessary to protect one's own life, that one is prepared to become competent (and in my mind, "competent" is not "gunfighter level").

Pros: Extremely knowledgeable speakers, well-organized registration process, good facility

Cons: Timing, theme, duplicative material from speakers, pure lecture format
 

Maverick9

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
1,404
Location
Mid-atlantic
Interesting, thanks for the post.

I'm wondering if anyone has heard any stories, or experienced any events where there was a largely favorable outcome to ever having to use your defensive tool/equipment as a firing solution to handling a life-or-death matter.

We hear horror stories, we hear of PTSD of the survivor, we hear of travesties of justice and people charged that should not be.

I'm not an anti- by any stretch, but my mindset is to make sure the use of deadly force is way, way down the list of options to handling things, either by not being there or by anticipation making the need to be in a low option, high chaos situation.

To me, the best use of a defensive tool is in a targeted situation, either a stalker event or a home invasion event, and then, of course by not having to perforate anyone or any innocent bystanders.

FWIW
 

Tess

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2006
Messages
3,837
Location
Bryan, TX
Interesting, thanks for the post.

I'm wondering if anyone has heard any stories, or experienced any events where there was a largely favorable outcome to ever having to use your defensive tool/equipment as a firing solution to handling a life-or-death matter.

We hear horror stories, we hear of PTSD of the survivor, we hear of travesties of justice and people charged that should not be.

I'm not an anti- by any stretch, but my mindset is to make sure the use of deadly force is way, way down the list of options to handling things, either by not being there or by anticipation making the need to be in a low option, high chaos situation.

To me, the best use of a defensive tool is in a targeted situation, either a stalker event or a home invasion event, and then, of course by not having to perforate anyone or any innocent bystanders.

FWIW

I spend a great deal of my training time envisioning:
What if I were attacked on the street?
What if I were in a crowd where a shooting started?
What if I were in a mall/store/restaurant where a shooting started?
What if I were with my spouse and son? What if just my son?
What if it's a home invasion?

I try to put myself in places I've been recently, envision what forms an attack might take, and use my knowledge of my particular tendencies and reactions to inform response scenarios. Unable to spend hundreds of hours a year in scenario-based training, this is, for me, the most practical. I also have to contend with the fact that I spend many hours each week in, or in transit to, places where I cannot legally be armed.

FOR ME, the response seems simpler for a mall/store/etc. or crowd/place where I can take cover. My reflexes have never been fast enough to be the gunfighter responder. I have learned, through exercise of unarmed self-defense techniques, which of those are instinctive for me, and thus which can be relied on as first steps. Unarmed was not addressed in this seminar, not surprisingly since it was a "civilian carry" event. (I recall responding to a martial arts instructor who asked why I wanted to learn -- if someone attacks me, I want to be able to put him to the ground then draw my firearm and my phone.) I've found my first thought *always* leans to cover or concealment, so I use that. I believe the home invasion scenario is the least likely, though far from impossible. I believe probability has a strong role to play in preparation.

I have heard of favorable outcomes. There have been news reports - one in Virginia just today - of no charges being filed in self-defense cases. A co-worker's sister, not in Virginia, fired a shot at a home invader. Police officer responded that she might need to keep the firearm - "he might have friends". I cannot recall off the top of my head one such when the firearm was used outside the home.
 
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