I teach the defensive use of firearms for a living. They are the great equalizer. Being able to own and use a firearm is what separates a citizen from a subject, but depending on that firearm alone leaves the Defender in great peril.
True and total defense is like a castle's defensive fortifications - integrated and complete.
Earlier this week, the world watched in horror the aftermath of the terrorist homicide bombing at a music concert in Manchester, UK. Many of us in the defensive world are desperate to help you, our clients and students, to avoid experiencing this kind of tragedy. This type of attack is hard for law enforcement to predict or prevent. You're going to see a lot of posts by security experts telling you simple steps to take to avoid these killers, but the truth is there's nothing simple about it.
You see, there aren't necessarily consistent features between homicide bombers. There are often different bomb-making techniques, and gender, age, or ethnicity may vary. Instead, defenders must look for extraneous signs to ID the homicide bomber, while attempting to make the smartest positioning decisions possible.
Let's start with an after-action review of the Manchester homicide bombing terror attack. Here's what we know so far:
1. The terrorist was using some kind of Improvised Explosive Device.
These devices are made from products you could buy at a hardware store. They can cost anywhere from $25 to $250 to make. Terrorists often tape or pack other shrapnel around the bomb to cause as much tissue damage to the people around them as possible. In this case, it appears that the terrorist used nails, but it could be other metal items like ball bearings or nuts.
These vests or belts are often very hard to see and terrorists wear extra clothes to conceal these bombs from security forces. The bombs often have multiple forms of detonation, from simple cord pulls to "clackers" (mini plungers that can be squeezed with the hand to send an electrical signal to the bomb to detonate), or pressure release switches, which are held closed in the hand so even if the terrorist is killed before getting to their desired attack point, the bomb will detonate as their hand releases. With the cell phone detonation, it doesn't have to be the terrorist wearing the bomb who detonates it, but another person that is overseeing the plot, a sort of "command and control" operator, if you will.
2. The terrorist utilized a "choke point" to ensure that his victims were as closely packed together as possible.
The concert had ended and as people were leaving, the terrorist detonated himself in a choke point, which is a geographical space that restricts movement. With the Manchester Arena, much like Target Field in Minnesota or any other arena, there are limited avenues of entry or exit. This means that when large numbers of people are moving through those entry portals, they crowd together and slow down. This makes for an incredibly easy target for the terrorist. In this case, the terrorist seems to have been waiting for the crowd to gather in the foyer of the arena, specifically in the place were parents were picking up their children.
The choke point was just past the entry/exit, but before the terrorist would have needed to be screened by security. Below you can see the foyer from the inside, then outside. Note the doors, which would impede the flow of people, crowd them together and make for an easy target.
3. The terrorist targeted children specifically.
This is far from the first time that terror groups have targeted children. Read the book Terror at Beslan if you'd like to see my worst nightmare for what might happen in the US. In these terrorists' twisted and evil view of the world, children are a legitimate target because they will become the soldiers of their enemies in the future. This kind of homicide terror attack is not uncommon in the Middle East or Chechnya. Some elements of ISIS are now using children to commit horrid atrocities like beheadings and murders, and as the US and coalition forces have taken away the oil revenue of ISIS and other like-minded groups, they have turned to harvesting th e organs of children to make the money they need to continue their fight.
4. The terrorist was not a "lone wolf."
Though that term has been bandied about incessantly by the media in the last several years, the reality is that these terror events are rarely one-offs. There is almost always a web of connected individuals that eventually lead to the homicide bomber. The police in the UK have already arrested five other suspects in regard to this attack as I write this newsletter. The more appropriate term for many of these terror attacks in the last few years was coined by Patrick Poole of PJ Media as "known wolf" terrorists, meaning that law enforcement and other intelligence services were most likely aware of these potential threats and had been unable to stop the threat, or had made the incorrect determination that the individual would not become an active threat. An example of this was the Boston Marathon terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
So, what does this mean for us as defenders? What do we do?
1. Understand the threat and get educated.
A quote from Sun Tzu comes to mind: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles. Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win. {Thus} the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."
We should read what it is the terrorists are saying to us and we must come to the conclusion that this a fight that we've had before (Barbary Pirate War) and we will win again, but we must be ready. If you don't know how to carry a firearm and use it well, then learn. If you don't know core emergency response, learn it. If you don't know how to conduct urban chaos escape and evasion, learn that, too.
2. Develop Situational Awareness at a deep and unconscious level.
Situational Awareness is identifying threats and threatening environments and taking positive defensive action to avoid conflict. The special operations community has this skill mastered and you should too for your Citizen Defender environment. The DVD series: Avoid-Deter-Defend was made specifically to help you, the citizen, learn this skill.
3. Know what the professional terror hunters know about identifying the homicide
bomber terrorist.
Since September 11, 2001, federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies have been watching, studying, and training their officers to identify potential homicide bombers as early as possible. Some great unclassified material is available to the general public. To save a bit of time though, I'll summarize from an unclassified Department of Homeland Security Document:
FBI Suicide Bomber Indicators: ALERT
A - Alone and nervous
L - Loose and/or bulky (inappropriate) clothing
E - Exposed wires (possibly through a sleeve)
R - Rigid mid-section (possible explosives device location on the person)
T - Tightened hands (person may be holding a detonation device)
Additional Indicators
Person may be carrying luggage, handbag, or backpack
May be seen repeatedly patting his/her body, as if double-checking for something
No obvious emotions or displays nervousness and profuse perspiration
Hesitant mumbling (such as praying)
Person appears to be focused and vigilant, maybe even trance-like
Walking with deliberation or running in a suspicious manner
Person does not respond to authoritative commands or direct salutations
Person appears to avoid security forces
Person makes attempts to blend in with a crowd (suspicious movements or wearing disguises)
Female homicide bombers may dress in Western clothing and wear makeup instead of normal religious coverings (Palestinian and Chechen homicide bombers)
Reluctant to have bags inspected at security checkpoints
Should you identify a possible homicide bomber, your first action should be to get some space between you and them and if possible, put some cover (which will stop a bullet) between you and the threat. Next, contact higher authorities, but try to do so while monitoring the threat from a safe distance.
So learn your Situational Awareness and stay ALERT.
If you haven't spent any time with SMT in a range session, you might not realize that range time for most people is utterly useless.
Sounds like heresy coming from a firearms instructor, doesn't it? But it's true. Most people's idea of a range session is a fruitless few minutes or hours of blowing money on ammo and reinforcing bad training scars.
This is the last in a series of drills designed to help you overcome the bane of the handgun shooter, the flinch.
If you haven't done previous HDotW's on the flinch, don't do this drill. Trust me, your sanity will thank you. Instead, go back to the previous two weeks and make sure your shooting fundamentals are sound. This Drill of the Week is a finishing drill for that work.
There are three types of target transitions, all based on what your eyes can see. If you can clearly see both targets, that's Line of Sight. If you can see one clearly, but the other is just on the edge of your vision, that's Inside 45 Degrees. If you can see one and cannot see the other, it's an Outside 45 Degree Transition.
Outside 45 Degree Transitions are the most risky because not only can we not see the target, we don't know how far away or near it is. If we simply swing the rifle around, we might find that the threat is so close that we could end up fighting for the rifle.
By doing a proper transition and being conscious of the retention of the rifle, we can give ourselves the best chance to quickly engage both targets AND retain the rifle from a grab, if necessary. Check it out.
Continuing our work on fixing the flinch, part 2, the Switching Drill. Utilizing both the SIRT pistol and our carry handgun, we can push ourselves just a little further in identifying and conquering that bane of shooters, the flinch.
Five Dynamic Weapon Positions. Each one meant for a different use. But no matter which one you happen to be in, you need to learn how to mount the rifle from that position, quickly.
The grand-daddy of all training scars, the Flinch, is the bane of shooters across the country. SMT has a system that we call "Flinch Remediation" that has taken shooters with massive flinches and dialed them in to perfect 2-6" circles with fast splits hundreds of times. In this week's Handgun Drill of the Week, I'll show you just one of the drills in that Remediation sequence.
There are two ways that SMT teaches a rifle Emergency Reload. Check them out, try them out, and see which one works best for you.
This week, let's put a few skills together. Stay focused with this drill and remember that any advanced tactic is depentant upon the mastery of the fundamentals.
For a long time, Europe has been a favorite travel destination for Americans, but on May 1st, the State Department issued a Travel Alert to all Americans traveling in Europe to be on the look out for possible terrorism "with little or no warning."
While that's concerning, you may have booked this trip for months or even years in advance. So what do you do? Do what top level protection and security professionals have been doing for years and bring your LADDER.
Getting a single shot on target, unless perfect, will probably not stop your home invasion threat. Being able to get multiple rounds on target in a rhythmic, fast, means, will stop the threat. So let's start with Hammer Pairs.
Speed vs. Accuracy, it's a game that you need to play every time you run your handgun. With this drill of the week, you'll learn SMT's method for enhancing speed and shot placement together.
Every week I read a story about a home invasion or a robbery. They've become so widespread and common, that in every radio or television program I take in, there's at least ONE advertisement for a security system.
Now security systems are good, but really, they're designed to help you AFTER the threat has made their way into your home. The hope is, that the security system will mentally deter the threat by scaring them into thinking that the police will quickly be on the way, but when you take into account average law enforcement response times....the threat really has a fairly useful amount of time to take action before fleeing.
What if instead of relying on the security system to get police response, we instead made our homes simply harder to break into? You don't have to turn your home into Fort Knox, but with a few simple steps, you can really make a big difference in how easy it is to break into your residence. Better still, as most burglars will case their target homes before robbing them, these simple actions can act as a major deterrent in themselves, meaning that you may get the burglar to say screw it, this house is too hard.
If you'd like the full lecture on house hardening, that's available in Sealed Mindset Training's DVD: Home Defense Rifle. You can get your copy here. So here are a few steps you can take to harden your home right now:
The most common form of entry for a burglar is an unlocked door or window. So do the simple things, don't leave exterior portals open! But Beau, it gets hot in my house and I need to leave a window open. Then make sure it's a window that is off of the ground floor and if the window doesn't come with a open lock, make one out of a simple wooden dowel you can buy at any hardware store.
If you have cheap doors on your entry portals, get either solid core wood doors or a metal one. These doors will be able to take a lot more abuse than cheap doors. Next, harden the contact points between the door and the frame with Doorjamb Armor. This simple product will quickly make your door much more sturdy. The company, and my own experience, says it makes a door "kick-proof." Now nothing is absolutely impenetrable, but you will definitely be giving yourself a lot more time with this set up. Finally, replace cheap deadbolts with high quality ones. If you go to your local hardware superstore, you will quickly see that not all deadbolts are created equal. The better the deadbolt, the stronger, more durable, and harder to pick the lock will be.
Lots of crimes happen at night. Burglary is not usually one of them, they're often done during the day when the victim is off at work. That's where your good home security system comes into play. With that security system, we decrease the time the burglar may spend in the home to only a couple of minutes, because they know that the police will be notified and be on the way to check out the alarm. However, home invasion or robbery, where the intended victims are the people living in the home, not just their stuff, often happen in dark or low light conditions. The robber or invader doesn't want to be seen nor identified, if possible. By setting up motion lights 360 degrees around the house, such that the threat cannot approach the house without setting off a light, can act as a powerful deterrent. Pro-tip here, every month, take a walk around the house to make sure all of the lights come on, as it is not unheard of that the would-be robber or invader, may have cased the house and disabled the lights in the avenue they had intended to approach the house.
The last house upgrade that you could take that is relatively easily is to instal is 3M Scotchshield Safety and Security Film on your ground floor windows. This clear plastic film adheres to the inside of your windows and will significantly increase the strength of the window against forcible entry. Here's a video of that 3M film in action. This is probably the most expensive of the home hardening upgrades, but it does take one of the weakest links, the glass of a window, and upgrade it's defensive capabilities, considerably!
Whichever of these steps you take to harden your home, any of them will give you more time to take action to defend yourself and your loved ones if a home invasion or robbery does occur. And remember that you can get the full instruction on home security in our DVD series, Home Defense Rifle.
Next week, I'll go over the three plans you must have in place in your home if you want to protect yourself and your loved ones from the three most common disasters that befall families in the United States.
Get it ready! Here's how.
If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times from the Gun Ninja. "When you're attacked, get off the X!"
Yes, but how?
There are lots of different options: linear movements left and right, going forward, going backward, angled left or right, but I've always sort of wondered...have ANY of these guys actually tried this in SIM scenario?
SMT did. I can tell you from experience, linear movement didn't work. What works is circular movement. Flanking. This week's Drill of the Week will show you a drill you can use to practice this critical skill.
Do you ever wonder if your life's work actually makes a difference?
I'm fortunate that I have evidence that the curriculum I've developed and taught truly produces results. Almost two years ago, we released Sealed Mindset Training's first DVD series, the Concealed Carry Masters Course and I take great pride in this training series because I know the methodology works.
I recently got another confirmation of its effectiveness from a woman named Amy from Ohio.
She told me over the phone that she lived alone, had troubles with an aggressive neighbor, and had left an abusive husband only a few years earlier. Trying to start her life over again, she found she was riddled with fear. But instead of being thwarted by that fear, she decided to do something about it and reached out for the Concealed Carry Masters Course.
Amy emailed an update the other day, saying:
"I am writing to let you know that I went to BASS(shooting competition) tonight and I was really surprised at how my skills improved. While I don't have the official results yet, all the guys (at BASS) were really impressed, so I guess I've improved. (I) think the dry fire stuff has made a difference."
Amy's now regularly involved in local shooting competitions, carrying her defensive firearm with confidence, and living a life without unnecessary fear. If Amy can gain these results and this peace of mind, anyone can.
Developing your personal security is about simple things, a journey of a thousand little footsteps toward confidence that you are ready for whatever life might throw at you.
You can get your copy of the Concealed Carry Masters Course here, and start your journey >>>
While the DVD series is the most convenient way to improve your skills from the comfort of your own home, we offer training every Thursday night at Osseo Gun Club, in Osseo, MN, and we hope to expand our in-person training opportunities in the near future. The students who learn the Sealed Mindset method gain firearm skills that are absolutely astounding. Click on this link to learn more and sign up to join us.
Beyond large-scale training series and in-person classes, I enjoy producing content to help you gain solid self-defense skills. You can access this content for FREE online and stay connected. Check out:
I'm looking forward to helping you gain results, just like Amy did.
Happy Friday SMTers!
I wanted to get this posted on Tuesday, but ill kids kept me from getting it filmed and edited on time.
But no illness stops a good Defender! So here's the next Rifle Drill of the Week.
Mounting is the skill necessary to bring the rifle from any ready position to sight alignment. SMT typically works from the Two Hand High Ready position vs other options. The reason is that we're training for home defense, odds are good that the threat is extremely close to you. You have to keep in mind that the rifle isn't simply a shooting tool, but a DEFENSIVE tool. If you can't shoot it, it makes a great club. From that muzzle up, two hand high position, you can deliver a fast mount and shot, AND you can deliver a quality muzzle strike if the threat gets into close range.
I'm a little behind this week, so I present the DotW without comment.
DMT staff are only onsite during scheduled classes and private training times, but we are available by phone 8:30am to 4:00pm or during training hours, Monday to Saturday.
To best accommodate you, please sign up for classes online at least 12 hours in advance!
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