Prepared by Mike Glover

Author:Mike Glover [Glover, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

Lethal Options

PISTOLS

As much as we would like to avoid the use of deadly force whenever possible, EDC for self-defense begins with concealed carry pistol considerations. If you are serious about being able to defend yourself and your family from imminent threats, you have to get serious about your choice of firearm.

Now, there is a school of thought in the self-defense world that puts the emphasis on the “concealed” part of concealed carry weapons. They advocate for the use of smaller pistols because they are low profile, low visibility. For women, experts in this school talk about little .22s that can fit in your purse. For men, they talk about .38s that can tuck into your beltline anywhere or into ankle holsters and fanny packs. They even have a name for these types of guns: pocket-ready pistols.

And while I agree that low profile and low visibility are absolute priorities when it comes to your EDC pistol, defaulting to smallness to achieve that is a big mistake for two reasons: capacity and capability. A smaller pistol typically means either fewer or smaller-caliber bullets—sometimes both. That translates to less stopping power and less capacity for defending yourself and those around you. This sounds obvious, and for the most part, it’s undisputed. What is disputed by far too many people is whether it matters all that much, because they believe (or they hope) that the presence of the pistol alone will be a sufficient deterrent.

These are people who think that when they’re accosted by a mugger or a rapist or an armed robber, if they pull out a pistol (of any kind) from their bag or their holster and aim it at their assailant, it will scare them off. And here’s the thing: nine times out of ten, they’re probably right. But that doesn’t mean the strategy is right. It only takes one time being wrong to be dead.

That is Tim Larkin’s entire point in When Violence Is the Answer, and it’s why we talk so much about deadly force in the previous chapter. Most of the time, you should do everything in your power to flee from danger. Like Jocko said, your first line of defense is your feet and running away. But in those instances where you can’t run away, then you must be prepared to stand your ground and use deadly force. In this instance, with your EDC pistol.

One of the things I’ve learned over my years of teaching preparedness is that the people who default to smaller options—because they’re more concerned about concealment than about capacity or capability—are the same people who are rarely prepared to use deadly force when necessary. They don’t train with their firearms. They don’t clean them regularly. In more cases than I care to remember, people with this kind of mentality tend to not even keep their pistols loaded. I have seen this with EDC concealed-carry firearms and pistols maintained for home defense. The gun is in one location; ammunition is in another location. From

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