You’ve always been told to lock up your firearms and keep ammunition stored separately.  Well… THAT’S WRONG.  In the event of an intruder in your home, you will not have time to unlock your firearm, find your ammunition and load it into your weapon.

Your firearm must be loaded and ready at all times.  There are a number of safes on the market that will keep children, and other unauthorized people, away from your gun and still offer instant access.  GunVault products are safe, secure, and easily accessible day or night to people who know the security code.  The GunVault operates on batteries.  The Deluxe models come with an AC power adapter as well.  Both Standard and Deluxe models come with a set of keys so you can open the safe if your batteries die.

With GunVault Safes, you simply program a sequence code using the four buttons on top.  Deep finger grooves allow your hand to find the buttons in darkness.  Just press the buttons in the order you programed and the door flips open so you can access your firearm.

Many people get into the habit of loading the weapon when they take it out of the safe, and then unloading it when putting it back.  This habit leads to a number of problems:

1) The more you handle and manipulate the firearm, the greater chance of having an accident.  Over time, you will become more and more complacent while loading/unloading.
2) Repeatedly loading/unloading creates more chances of not properly seating the magazine which will cause a malfunction.
3) Repeatedly loading/unloading the firearm will eventually damage the top round in your magazine.  Each time that round is loaded into the chamber; the bullet will be pressed farther back into the casing.

Chamber a round and place the firearm in your safe.  With your firearm, you should also have a flashlight, additional loaded magazine(s), and a phone instantly available.  I prefer a rechargeable light like the Streamlight Stinger so I know the battery is always fully charged and ready.

The AR15 isn’t really a long range rifle, but if you want to push the limits of the 5.56 (.223) round, then you’ll most likely want a good scope.  Now you’ve heard me talk about “good scopes at low prices”, but I always state there are exceptions to that concept.  One exception is when lives depend on your tools.  When lives are on the line, don’t trust them to a $200 scope.  Low price scopes are great for plinking and general shooting, but they’re not made for combat.  Another exception is long range shooting.  Low price scopes just won’t do the job at long range.  So what’s “long range” with the AR-15?

Now I know some of you “experts” out there will scoff and this, but I consider long range for the AR15 to be anything from 300 to 600 yards.  Before you can shoot a target that far away, you need to be able to see the target.  I know that’s stating the obvious, but seeing the target is your first consideration in long range shooting.  This brings us back to my first question when talking about rifle scopes – What are you shooting at?  It all comes down to what you are shooting at.  If you are shooting terrorists at 400 yards, a 4x Trijicon ACOG will do the job.  If you’re shooting prairie dogs or 6 inch steel plates, you want something with a lot more magnification.

We’re going to focus more on the latter – precision shooting on small targets.  One of the main factors in the price of a scope is the quality of the lenses.  For long range shooting, you want quality glass.  At 100 yards, under normal shooting conditions, a “good” quality scope will suffice.  But the farther you extend the range, the better quality lenses you’ll need to see the target.  You need to jump up to the “better” and “best” categories of scopes for long range shooting.

Another consideration is adjustable focus.  Most scopes under 10x come with factory set focus.  Most scopes above 10x, will come with an Adjustable Objective (AO) or Side Focus knob – both of which allow you to focus the scope to the target.  This feature becomes essential in long range shooting.  Higher price scopes have much better focusing ability, especially at high magnification, than lower price scopes.  I was shooting with a $150 6-24x scope.  Above 18x, everything was blurry no matter what I did with the side focus knob.  Contrast that with a Leupold Mark 4 8.5-25x scope I was testing.  The Leupold was crisp even at 25x.  Of course the Leupold costs $1500.00.  But if you want to shoot small targets and need 25x, you need to save your pennies and buy the scope that will do the job.  Trying to use a low-cost, budget scope for long range shooting will be extremely frustrating and discouraging.

So let’s start at the top and work from there!

1. Leupold Mark 4 8.5-25×50

The Leupold Mark 4 series are some of the top rifle scopes in the world.  Even at 25x, this scope provides crystal clear, sharp focus on your target.  Additionally, you can count on it to hold up under any conditions and provide a lifetime of enjoyment.  This is a scope that you will hand down to your grandson some day!  It’s a lot of money up front, but when you think about every shot you’re going to take for the rest of your life – and the satisfaction of nailing your target under any situation – all of a sudden it’s really not that much money.  This scope is also available in 6.5-20×50, 4.5-14×50 and lower magnification options.

2. Leupold VX-3 8.5-25×50

For a few hundred dollars less than the Mark 4 8.5-25×25 scope, you can get the VX-3 8.5-25×50.  So what’s the difference between the Leupold Mark 4 Series and VX-3 Series?  The main difference is the Mark 4 is built for military and law enforcement snipers and the VX-3 is made for hunters.  The Mark 4 has a thicker, beefier tube and hardened for combat.  All of the Mark 4 scopes have 30mm tubes and only some of the VX-3 scopes have 30mm tubes – most of them are 1 inch.  Additionally, the adjustment turrets between the two are different.  The VX-3 has caps over the turrets while the Mark 4 has the open-style turrets.  Turrets are not interchangeable between the two series.

Now… with that said, the VX-3 is a damn fine scope!  When you compare the specs side by side, the VX-3 has everything the Mark 4 does except Multicoat 4 lens coating.  Basically you’re getting the performance of the Mark 4 at a lower price.  The lenses, lens coating, and craftsmanship are the same on the VX-3 and the Mark 4.  Since you’re probably not jumping out of airplanes over hostile countries, the VX-3 will do the job for you very well.

3. Millett LRS-1 6-25×56

Jumping down from the $1000 price tag to around $500 we come to the Millett LRS-1.  I’ve been very impressed with the Millett Tactical Scopes.  My partner and I used the 4-16×50 on our Remington 700 for the Survival Trial and it performed flawlessly.  We were consistently hitting targets on the 1000 yard range there at the Whitington Center (we didn’t do so hot on the long range target out on the actual course – but that wasn’t the scope’s fault!)  Even at full magnification, the target was crisp and clear.  This scope has a 56mm objective lens, bigger than the other scopes we’ve talked about, which allows more light and probably makes up for the difference in lens quality as compared to the more expensive Leupold scopes.  Whenever someone asks for a long-range scope, but can’t spend $1,000, I always point them to this Millett.  The big difference between this scope and the ones above is the lenses and lens coatings.  The Leupold scopes will have better lenses, BUT… this Millett will give the Leupold scopes a run for their money and half the price.

So even though I said to save your money and buy the best scope, the reality for most guys is it’s just not going to happen – especially if you want to stay married!  I’ve have some close friends who would love to have a $1200 scope, but it’s just not in the cards.  “I’ll never be able to spend $1200 on a scope”, said one of my good friends.  I get that.  I understand where he’s coming from.  That’s why I really try to pick through all the hype out there and find other options that will work well and not put you in divorce court, bankruptcy – or both!

Parting Shots…

So in the end, if you want long range performance you’ll have to pay for it.  There are some “good” $100 scopes out there for plinking jack-rabbits at 80 yards on the desert.  But when you want to hit that same jack-rabbit at 400 yards, you’ll need a much better scope.  Higher end scopes give you the superior lenses to see and focus in on your target.  If you can’t see it, you can’t shoot it.  Even though lower cost scopes are available with 24x magnification, they really don’t do very well over about 18x.  There are a lot of other great scopes out there for long range shooting.  I’ve tried to narrow it down to a few just to simply your search.  Pick any of these scopes I’ve mentioned above and you won’t go wrong!

Well… we’re about a week and a half into the New Year and it doesn’t look good.  In the last two weeks we’ve sold out of just about everything… and most of it was gone within the first 48 hours after the shooting in Connecticut.  We’re still sorting out some of the problems and dealing with orders that didn’t get shipped and cannot be fulfilled at this time.  But that’s not what I want to talk about.  We’ve been getting hundreds, if not thousands, of emails from people wondering what’s happening and when a particular item will be available again.  I thought I’d talk a little about what is happening and give you the straightest answers possible.

First of all, nobody knows what’s going on or what is going to happen.  When Obama was elected in 2008, sales sky-rocketed for months and then leveled off the following summer.  But the last two weeks have been like nothing we’ve ever seen before.  I’d say demand was 3-4 times more than what we experienced in 2008.  In less than one week, the entire national inventory of assault weapons and accessories was sold out.  When will it be back in stock?  Nobody knows.

Manufacturers are producing at full capacity, but unlike 2008-2009, there’s an impending ban.  Not an imagined one like in 2009, but a very realistic threat.  Here are my predictions for 2013 and beyond…

1. A Weapons Ban Will Be Passed

I predict semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines will be banned.  This time around, unlike 1994, they will focus more upon the performance of the weapon rather than what it looks like.  You will still be able to purchase a semi-automatic rifle, but it will have a fixed magazine.

2. Magazine capacity restricted to 5 or 6 rounds

I predict that any magazine, whether fixed or detachable, will be limited to 5 or 6 rounds.  The gun banners have stirred up so much anger, I believe they won’t stop at 10 round capacity but will cut it down even further.  They have a lot of momentum right now and they’re going to push things as far as they can.

3. Ban the private sale of firearms.

Hundreds of thousands of firearms are sold privately every year.  No background check is ever completed on these sales.  A number of states, like Maryland, require all sales of firearms to be processed by a licensed gun dealer.  If you want to sell your gun to your neighbor, you both go over to the local gun store and the dealer transfers the gun from you to the buyer and performs a background check.  The buyer then pays you directly… but I can see them requiring the dealer to take it in as a purchase and then turn around and sell it to the buyer.  That way they must charge sales tax.  Of course the dealer charges a fee for this process.  I predict they will ban the private sale of firearms.  All firearms sales would be processed through a licensed dealer.

Beyond 2013….

What good does it do to ban any type of gun?  Hundreds of millions of guns are already on the streets, so what do the “control hungry” politicians gain from banning any form of firearm?  When I saw the news and the aftermath of the shooting in Connecticut, I kept wondering what is their next step.  Sure, ban the future production of semi-automatic rifles with detachable, high capacity magazines, but I just kept thinking there had to be more coming.  To me, the impending ban is just Step 1.

I talked with a lot of people, both in and out of the gun industry, and then I finally came across what I believe is Step 2 in their plan.  A very good friend of mine had the answer to what’s coming next.  It seems his wife had taken a couple of their kids into the pediatrician for a check-up.  The doctor went through his normal list of health related questions and then asked, “Do you have firearms in your home?”

She basically told the doctor it was none of his damned business, but he went on to explain that firearms in the home is a health risk to children.  Now that the government controls healthcare, they don’t need to pass laws to regulate gun ownership – they’ll just do it through your health insurance.

In the near future, they will determine that owning guns is a health risk.  You will have the option of turning in your guns or paying some outrageous fee for your health and/or life insurance.  It’s just like any other activity your insurance company decides is “high risk”.  They make you pay a whole lot more for insurance – or refuse to insure you at all.  Because you present a “high risk” to the insurance pool, the rest of the people don’t want to pay for the risk you present, so you either pay more for insurance or go without.

Maybe they decide that each gun in the home costs an additional $10,000 annual premium for health insurance.  If you have 5 guns that’s $50,000 you’d have to pay for your health insurance.  Could you pay it?  What would you do?

So there you have it:

Step 1 – Ban the production of semi-auto rifles and high capacity magazines and prohibit private sales of firearms.

Step 2 – Use health insurance to control gun ownership by determining it to be a health risk and make you pay exorbitant amounts if you choose to own guns.

Sorry I don’t have better news!  We have dark days ahead.  Don’t under estimate the people who control the Federal Government.  They want to control and regulate every aspect of your life.  They will use their control of healthcare to control every other aspect of your life… and they’ll start with gun ownership.

I know that I’m preaching to the choir here, but I hope to provide you with some facts and logic that will help in the national debate over guns and violence.  If I believed than banning guns would prevent the future death of children I would be all for it.  BUT, banning guns will do nothing to prevent further mass homicide… and anyone who tells you otherwise is an idiot.

Let’s looks at some facts:

1) Private people are banned from owning explosives in Israel, but that does nothing to prevent suicide bombers from blowing themselves, and hundreds of innocent people, to pieces.

2) Guns are illegal for private ownership in Mexico, but that has done nothing to prevent the murder of tens of thousands of people in that country.

3) Between 1994 and 2004, assault weapons and magazines holding more than 10 rounds, were banned in American… and this did nothing to prevent the 25 school shootings that happened in that ten year period… including the Columbine shooting.

4) Alcohol was once banned in this country and we all know how well that worked.

So what would another round of gun bans and regulation do to make Americans safer… absolutely nothing.  Here’s what no one is talking about out there.  No one is focusing on the fact that bad people do bad things.  We seem to have forgotten that on September 11, 2001, 2977 people were murdered when terrorists used box cutters to take over airplanes and crash them into buildings.  See, evil people will use whatever means available to do evil things.

But we no longer place the blame on people here in America.  We focus the blame on objects like guns.  Well why not ban box cutters while we’re at it.  I’ve read articles talking about how in China some whack job came into a school and slashed a bunch of kids with a knife, but none of them died.  Some how they use this as proof that getting rid of guns will make us safer.  Really?  Well terrorists used razor knives to bring down the World Trade Center and kill nearly 3000 people.

There are evil people out there and they will do bad things unless there is someone there who can kill them before they do it.  That’s the only way to be safe.  Laws and regulations won’t make you safe, because evil people disregard them.  They just go right on with their evil plans and murder you and your children regardless of the law.  So you can continue to bury your heads in the sand and scream for the government to pass more laws and regulations.  But you won’t be any safer.  And the next time some evil person murders a bunch of people, what will you blame?

I’m saddened every time one of these horrific mass murders takes place, but what saddens me even more is the completely naive state of so many people in America.  You’re expecting the government to solve all of your problems and take care of you.  You actually think banning guns, creating more laws, and implementing more regulations makes you safe.  It never has and it never will.  But the fact that so many Americans are naive and clueless enough to believe more laws make them safe shows me that we’ve crossed the point of no return in this country.

With such a society of sheep, our nation will not survive.  You see, the greatness of America was not built by timid, cowering, whining people like we have today.  It was built by people who understood the risks of freedom.  It was built by people who understood there are evil people in the world and the only way to stop them is to kill them before they kill you and your family.  It was built by people who took responsibility for their own safety because when evil presents itself, there’s no security force in the world that can get there fast enough to prevent the killing.  It’s just you and whatever you have with you.  And if you don’t have your own gun, you’re just going to get shot down… because the bad guys will always have guns… no matter what the law says.

Team Valhalla Armory checks in at the finish line after covering 36 miles

 I’ve purposely waited for a few weeks to write about our Survival Trial experience.  I wasn’t quite sure how I wanted to approach it or what I wanted to say.  So, here goes…

First of all, what is the Survival Trial.  I took this from their website (http://www.survivaltrial.com), “The Survival Trial is a 24 hour endurance shooting event that will push competitors to the absolute limit.  Taking place at the beautiful NRA Whittington Center in Raton, NM, the 2012 Survival Trial is designed to make competitors think outside of the box, as one would in a survival situation. “  That’s a fairly accurate description.  I will also add that it’s an ultra-endurance event of the ‘unknown’.  Each person carries an AR15 rifle, 9mm handgun, backpack with about 35-40 pounds of gear (required items).  Each team also carries a .308 precision rifle.

Team Valhalla Armory started preparing for Survival Trial over one year ago.  Part of that preparation was trying to find out everything we possible could discover about the event.  There’s not much out there – and I think it’s meant to be that way.  After having experienced it for myself, I think the best part of survival trial was not knowing what to expect.

So in keeping with that idea, I won’t give a lot of details, strategies, etc.  Sorry… if you want to know what to expect, you’ll just have to go do it yourself!

Survival Trial is a test of you as a person and your partner – and how well you work as a team.  The most important thing you can bring to Survival Trial is a strong team.  You can both be super shooters and ultra fit, but if you don’t work well together, you will not do well.  Survival Trial pushes you on all levels; physical, mental and emotional.  You have to think, plan, analyze, develop strategy… and then make it all work together as a team.

There’s a lot of competitions and adventure type races out there.  To one degree or another, they are games.  The better you play the game, the better you do.  Survival Trial is the same way.  There is a ‘game’ element to it.  Before going, you need to decide if you’re going to ‘play the game’ or testing yourself.  Team Valhalla Armory went on the idea of testing ourselves and our gear.  We looked at it this way, “If we really had to survive 24 hours and cross 30-50 miles of dangerous, difficult country, what would we need?”  If you take this approach, it probably means showing up with things you will not need.  Most of the teams at Survival Trial 2012 II had a lot more gear than what they needed.  For example, I carried a water filter in my pack.  I didn’t need it as they provided water at each station.  But in my mind, if I was on a real survival trek, I’d need a water filter so I carried one anyway.  That’s what I mean by ‘playing the game’ or testing yourself.  If you’re going to Survival Trial just to compete and do well, you probably won’t need much more than what’s on the packing list.

How does it work?  Survival Trial is actually very simple.  Each team gets a military grid map and a list of coordinates to the shooting and event stations.  Then they say, “You have 24 hours… Survival Trial begins now!”  You and your partner sit down, plot out the coordinates and decide where you want to go.  Every team will end of working through the arena in their own way.  Team Valhalla Armory covered 36 miles.

Everyone wants to know, “What was the hardest part”?  My partner came up with the best answer and I’ll quote him here:

Looking back over the race, the hardest part was not the skill challenges, events or tasks we had to perform.  At each of those phases, such as carrying a tire 5 miles up and over a mountain pass, we had a finite task at hand.  There was something very specific in front of you to overcome.  For a competitive spirit, having a defined task to overcome is a dream come true.  It is inspiring and focuses the mind and body on defeating that objective.  The surprising “hardest part” was the boredom of seemingly endless miles of just walking in the dark.  There were no challenges, no tasks, nothing to focus on and no visual or mental “goal line” to cross. Once boredom set in, the mind starts to wonder, to loose focus and to start questioning.  ”Is this even the right trail…shouldn’t we be there…why am I really doing this…”  So, in retrospect, I expected the obstacles and physical challenges to test me, in reality, it was the hours and hours of “nothing” that challenged my mind and will the most.

So very true!

For me, Survival Trial set a new baseline for what’s possible.  Most of us go through life with this imagined idea of what’s possible.  Events like Survival Trial allow you to go out and see that you are capable of doing more than you thought possible.  It’s like hitting a ‘reset button’ on possibility.  It’s life changing because it changes what you think is possible and leads you do doing more and more.  Everybody else is standing around telling you something’s impossible, but then you go and do it – and that’s a powerful experience.  You’ll never look at things the same again.

Team Valhalla Armory finished in 3rd place out of 12 teams.

There’s a lot I could say today, but this pretty much sums up my thoughts on the day…

On September 7, 1876, members of the James-Younger Gang (Jesse James for those of you not familiar with history) entered the town of Northfield, Minnesota intent on robbing the First National Bank.  The gang members were hardened, Civil War guerrilla veterans from Missouri.  They were experienced, well trained, equipped and on a mission.

Upon entering town, the gang split into three groups.  One to guard the escape route, one to provide overwatch while the third took care of business inside the bank.  But the citizens of Northfield, MN were no slackers.  They immediately became suspicious when the group of men rode into town.  Inside the bank, the robbery starting falling apart when the employes refused to hand over the money or open the vault.  J.S. Allen, owner of a local hardware store, was passing by on the street and saw the commotion in the bank and yelled, “Grab your guns boys they’re robbing the bank!”

A military style firefight erupted as citizens poured well aimed gunfire into the robbers and gang members on the streets.  The gang members had all worn light colored, linen dusters to conceal their weapons, but also made it easier for townsfolk to identify the bad guys.  “Were the citizens of Northfield at the time skilled marksmen or were the gang members unprepared for the firearms that the citizens used against them? In this incident the locals fought back with rifles and a shotgun against the infamous James –Younger Gang who were brandishing revolvers. The citizens’ heroic actions resulted in the demise of the gang.” (http://mavdisk.mnsu.edu/bailej1/researchabstracts/research15.pdf)

The outlaws were decimated by the overwhelming firepower and accuracy of the citizens.  Frank James escaped unharmed, but all the others were killed or captured.  Jesse James was most likely not involved in this raid.

I bring this up as it illustrates the responsibility for safety and security lies with every citizen.  We all need to be ready, willing, and able to defend ourselves and our communities from dangerous people.  I love the story of the Northfield Raid, because ordinary people stood up to, and defeated, one of the most notorious outlaw gangs ever to ride.  That’s the true American Spirit and I’m afraid it’s pretty much died out in our modern age.

Where are the men yelling, “Grab your guns boys, they’re killing people in the movie theater” or “Grab your guns boys, he’s killing people at the mall” ?  We live in dangerous, violent times.  In fact, I’d argue that we live in the most violent time our country has ever known.  Let’s take the example of the folks living in Northfield, MN 136 years ago and be prepared to protect ourselves, our families, our homes, and our communities from those would seek to harm us.

The City of Houston, Texas, with funds from Homeland Security, produced a video informing citizens of what they should do if caught up in one of these rampage shootings.  Additionally, they stated:

•Run if a safe path is available. Always try and escape or evacuate even if others insist on staying.
•Encourage others to leave with you but don’t let the indecision of others slow down your own effort to escape.
•Once you are out of the line of fire, try to prevent others from walking into the danger zone and call 9-1-1.
•If you can’t get out safely, find a place to hide.
•When hiding, turn out lights, remember to lock doors and silence your ringer and vibration mode on your cell phone.
•As a last resort, working together or alone, act with aggression, use improvised weapons and fight.
The only thing I really have an issue with is the word “improvised” in the last sentence.  Why do we need improvised weapons, when what we really should have is a firearm?  The best defense against a rampage shooter is your own gun and will/skill to use it.  That’s the only effective defense.

Notice at the one minute mark of the video, as the gunman enters the facility, there is a notice banning firearms from that facility.  I guess this bad guy just can’t read and doesn’t understand that he isn’t supposed to bring guns inside.  Obviously it doesn’t stop him from coming through the door and killing people.  I do recognize that some people do work in an environment where they cannot carry a gun.  In that situation, do the best you can.  Additionally, I would rather live through a rampage shooting because I had a gun somewhere it wasn’t allowed, than die because I was unarmed.  Sure, you might lose your job, but you can always find another job.  Just keep it hidden and don’t mention it to anyone.  I also recognize that some people work in facilities where you pass through a metal detector and cannot sneak in a self defense weapon.  In that case, you’ll just have to do the best you can… But carry a gun everyone else.  More and more these events happen in public places where you should be armed.

We cannot stop rampage shootings from happening, but we can lessen the lives lost by having our own guns and simply shooting the attacker.  We are living in a very violent age and depending on someone else for your protection is simply naive.

I’m predicting a ban on magazines holding over 10 rounds within 12 months – if not sooner!  The shooting tragedies in Colorado and Wisconsin have given the anti-gunners the ammo they need to go after semi-automatic rifles and high capacity magazines.  A customer asked me yesterday, “Do you think they will be able to ban AR15s”?  My answer…. No, I don’t think they will be able to ban the guns, but I expect they will be able to ban high capacity magazines.   And it will be permanent this time – meaning it won’t expire in 10 years like the ban from 1994 to 2004.

Today I was asked why anyone, outside of military and law enforcement, needs a high capacity magazine.  They’re illegal for hunting.  What’s the big deal if they get banned?

On the surface of the issue, I agree.  I don’t see why target shooters and plinkers would need magazines holding 30, 50 or 100 rounds.  If anyone can justify a need for a 30 round magazine – outside of combat – I’d like to hear it…. but before you get all pissed off at me, let me finish!

My answer to the magazine issue is this, No, I don’t see why anyone outside the military and law enforcement would need a 30 or 100 round magazine, but the real issue is that I don’t trust the politicians in power to stop there.  If we let them get started they will ban everything from 30 round magazines to sharp sticks.  You can’t compromise with terrorists and that’s exactly the type of people we’ve got running this country.  If you give them anything, they will take it and keep on taking.

And here’s a historical fact…. any government that lasts very long eventually ends up abusing its own people.  That’s not conspiracy theory, that is just history.  Government eventually does one of two things – and sometimes both at the same time – it either collapses or becomes tyrannical.  You don’t need a psychic to read the future.  Just look at the past.

The issue isn’t high capacity magazines, the issue is freedom.  The freedom haters in Washington want to ban guns.  Well, over 10,000 Americans are killed every year by drunk drivers.  Why not ban alcohol and vehicles… oh they did ban alcohol once upon a time and we saw how well that worked.

But what I think doesn’t make much difference, so I recommend that we all start buying up as many magazines as we can.  Cause time is running out!

It seems two dirtbags in Florida decided to rob people at an Internet Cafe.  The armed robbers entered the facility and told people to get on the ground.  As they were attempting to gain control over the people, an armed patron drew his weapon and shot the robbers.  Of course this did not make national headlines.

The robbers in this case were asking for money, but we do not know their full intentions.  After stealing the money, they could have murdered people inside the Internet Cafe.  They have later claimed that they did not intend to hurt anyone.  But, they could have killed everyone in there.  That, of course, would have made the national news.

But one man was prepared.  He had the will and the skill to defend himself and others.  He waited for the right moment and then opened fire on the robbers.

It’s our hope, and our mission, that people across America are just as ready and determined to defend themselves from criminals as this man was.  The only sad part of this story is the two dirtbags survived being shot.

This situation, along with the shooting in Colorado and all the others, should make each of us ask, “What would I have done in that situation?  Would I have been ready for combat?”

Read the news report at, http://www.ocala.com/article/20120713/ARTICLES/120719846?p=1&tc=pg