In light of the current COVID-19 situation: Buying guns and copious amounts of ammunition in panic mode will not serve you well when the bell rings, unless it is accompanied by ammunition management and training.
Regardless of if you have 1 case of one thousand rounds of 9mm or 100 cases, when the bell rings you will be instantly reduced to the amount of ammunition that you have in loaded magazines. For example If you just came home with your new blaster and the 3 magazines that came with it and 5000 rounds of ammunition, in NYS when the bell rings you will have 31 rounds of ammunition between now and the rest of your life…
The best advice I can give any serious practitioner of self reliance is: whenever you have some disposable cash burning a hole in your pocket, stop at the local gun shop and buy magazines and enough ammo to fill them. Instead of buying a new Glock for $700.00, buy 10-20 magazines and a case of ammo for the one you already own. You can stuff the magazines and still have some ammo left to put in some range time…
Have something portable that will contain all of your loaded magazines. Preferably something with a shoulder strap that also minimally contains your phone, water and medical supplies.
Fighters earn the right to enter the ring or cage through serious education, training and sacrifice. Even then some of the best lessons learned in organized combat sports are through defeat, remediation and continued training.
When you strap on your brand new blaster you are in effect stepping into the ring, and not an amateur bout, this ring is the ring of life or death and should be viewed as such. I vehemently support everyone’s 2A rights, as well all of the rest of them, however please get some training and experience before the bell rings for real. Start with use-of-force law, then basic weapons safety, then tactical and performance based training, and any curriculum that does not include scenario based force-on-force training should be considered incomplete.
Donald P. Redl, Jr. – Managing Member Executive Options LLC
Don is a board certified investigator with over 25 years of experience, a member of ASIS and a published author: “Get Off The X” (2017) & “Fighting Handgun” (2019). He has personally led and/or conducted investigative, executive security and/or training operations from coast-to-coast and internationally, and has been deposed and/or testified, including subject matter expert testimony in both Florida and New York State courts.
As an instructor, Don is a member of IALEFI, The International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors and hold state instructor certifications as a firearms instructor and use-of-force/general topics instructor. He is an active shooter response instructor and scenario based force-on-force instructor. His experience and expertise includes 25+ years of continued study, training and teaching security and armed guard practices, judicious use-of-force, tactical firearms and scenario/reality based force-on-force training. The American Tactical Shooters Association has recognized Don as a Tactician and a past winner of the prestigious National Tactical Invitational.