After witnessing the American Defense Enterprises debacle a few weeks ago I am concerned about where people get their information regarding self-defense with firearms. Many of us were taught to shoot at home or by Uncle Sam, and if you’re like me you may have had encounters with firearms under less than friendly circumstances. I don’t consider myself a shooting expert but I have been shot at by criminals and had guns pulled on me a few times.

That’s the benefits of growing up in East Orange, NJ.

Those experiences have given me (admittedly limited) insight into the kind of gun play we sometimes find ourselves in. Based on the “skills” they’re teaching, I assume that the staff at A.D.E. don’t even have that limited experience.

I’m old fashioned enough to believe that experience is the best teacher. When that isn’t practical (such as in the case of shooting people in defense of home and family) research guided by the best experts you can find is far superior to emptying your wallets for the various “operator” run schools that teach you things like team room clearance – even if you’re a single woman. The Internet is full of videos of gun and knife attacks and I urge everyone to study them to see the reality of criminal violence so you won’t get fooled by the video game inspired fantasy scenarios these schools often teach.

I personally recommend people read Shooting to Live as a starting point – but again I’m not an expert and don’t pretend to be.

Massad Ayoob is an expert and he’s featured in a new DVD on Home Defense released by Panteao Productions. Make Ready with Massad Ayoob: Home Defense covers everything you need to know about using a firearm to defend your home from hearing that first bump in the night to dealing with the authorities in the aftermath of a shooting. Here’s a trailer for it:

I’ve already ordered mine. The Make Ready Series comes highly recommended and includes DVDs on reactive pistol shooting by Bill Rogers and an excellent training DVD on handling a shotgun called Make Ready with Bill Jeans: Shotgun Operator. They are a bit pricey at $50 a piece but they’re well worth the investment – and much cheaper than the mall ninja training doled out in most of the “schools” that are cropping up these days.

h/t Ammoland