1. YOU ONLY CARRY WHEN YOU THINK YOU NEED IT. This is one of the more bizarre indications of not taking personal defense seriously. People go to all the trouble to get a Concealed Carry License and then they don’t carry all the time. How in the world can anyone know when they might have to defend themselves? For goodness sakes, if you think you are going to get into a gunfight, get a repeating rifle or shotgun and forget about a pistol! Or, just don’t go there at all. We only carry handguns because they are relatively easy to transport. All of that good training and all of those neat guns won’t do you a bit of good unless you have the gun with you.

2. YOU CARRY A LITTLE GUN AND PRACTICE WITH A BIG GUN. These folks generally go to the range to impress others and to make themselves feel good. It should go without saying that a fellow ought to practice (and practice a lot!) with what he carries. This is especially true with the smaller defense guns. They are much harder to manage efficiently and reliably, and are much more difficult to shoot accurately. The smaller the defense gun, the more you need to practice with it.

3. YOU SPEND MORE MONEY ON GUNS & GEAR THAN YOU DO ON PRACTICE AMMO & TRAINING. It’s been said, and rightly so, that owning a violin doesn’t make you a violinist. And owning the fanciest pistol is not going to automatically declare you the winner of a gunfight. A person must learn how to handle his pistol accurately and reliably. He must then learn how to really fight with it. In addition, the ability to shoot well is a rapidly diminishing skill. The smart thing is to get good training and then practice what you’ve learned on a regular basis.

4. YOU GET YOUR TACTICS & OTHER DEFENSIVE ADVICE FROM INTERNET FORUMS. Internet forums are, at best, entertaining and nothing more. The anonymity is the perfect venue for Internet Commandos to pontificate about things that they know nothing about. In reality, a lot of them haven’t been in a fight (of any kind) since their third-grade scuffle on the school ground. You’ll have a lot less grief if you spend good money to get professional training. You wouldn’t take your flight training from an instructor who has never even been in an airplane, would you?