It’s always been a quiet neighborhood. You and your wife bought this house to raise your kids and hopefully spend your golden moments in. 19 years and you’ve never had a problem. One night, on your way to a nice quiet dinner, you go outside to warm up the car, and what do you see? A masked perpetrator looking to do you harm, enter your home and harm your wife, and hopefully escape like a thief in the night. He spots you and pauses. Then you……
***Using deadly force should always be your last resort.***
A – Avoidance – Being able to avoid a possible defensive situation is ALWAYS the best option. Responsible armed citizens should always have situational awareness enough to be able to avoid any threats or confrontations. How should we do this? This is the time to ensure that your O.O.D.A. cycle is primed and up to par. As you continue about your day, ensure that you are continuously observing, orientating, deciding, and acting in the best interest of safety.
D – Deescalate – If you are in a situation and avoidance is not an option, the next best alternative is trying to deescalate the situation. At this point you need to start thinking about how can you display that you are trying to calm things down to an attacker. A good idea is to try to talk it out. At your best attempt, try and talk your adversary out of their threatening behavior. Remember, it’s not a pride game. This is about life and quite possibly death. Deadly force should be the last resort.
R – Retreat – If the situation is bad enough to where deescalation does not work, the next best alternative is to retreat. Again, we want to take this time to remind you that this is NOT a pride game. This is a game about life and the preservation of safety. After you’ve tried avoidance and deescalation to no avail, simply try to back up and leave. If at all possible stand down from any aggressive behavior.
E – Engage – Once you’ve tried to avoid a defensive situation….once you’ve tried to deescalate a possible threat…..once you’ve tried to retreat and it doesn’t work, you may be forced to now engage the threat. This is absolutely the last resort. At this point you’re completely out of options an d the threat persists, so you must defend yourself. Understand that when you are forced to engage a threat, there will ALWAYS be legal ramifications, so please be prepared.
***Never stand between a bad guy and their means of escape.***
*** If you are unfamiliar with firearms and/or their accessories, and want to learn more, PSA strongly suggests that you find, enroll, and attend a comprehensive and reputable firearms safety course. Firearms safety is all of OUR responsibility.
We want to thank you for taking out the time to stop by our lane at the shooting range!! We hope that you enjoyed your stay and hope that you stop back by early and often to catch up on all PSA updates! We truly hope that we were able to hit the target, and if you ever have any questions please don’t hesitate to shoot them our way!! We look forward to shooting the breeze with you soon again!!
And as always….remember to watch your six and stay low!!!