Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Bad Guys Don't Care!


John Farnam uses the motto “Nemo Curat” for Defensive Training International (DTI), which literally translated means “Nobody Cares.” Here at the Twistedwire ranch we’ve altered this slightly to the more palatable “Bad Guys Don’t Care.” It’s a motto taken seriously and brought up regularly in conversation. Allow me to demonstrate the use of the phrase and hopefully influence you to accept it into your lexicon and make it part of your day-to-day mindset.

We all love a good trip to the range right? Of course, but most of us look out the window before we head out to see if the weatherman’s coin toss was right today. If we see rain, cold, or other inclement weather out the window we might change our minds and decide to stay in. Then comes the proverbial dark and stormy night when you’re rushing out to your car to head home from work. Suddenly you’re confronted with a soaking wet attacker holding a gun on you demanding your wallet. Your hands are cold and numb, your overcoat is covering your gun with an extra layer, your glasses are dotted with blurring raindrops, and you realize then and there what you’ve done. You scheduled a time to practice for just this even last week but canceled because it was cold and rainy. Now your life is in danger because you didn’t want a little discomfort or extra gun cleaning last week. Guess what, BAD GUYS DON’T CARE!

You’re visiting your friends in Dallas and they meet you at a local eatery. Bad thing is that the restaurant makes more than 51% of their profits from alcohol so it’s illegal for you to carry inside. Instead of suggesting to your friends that a trip to another restaurant would be better you discretely slip off your gun and go in with them. While you’re inside some hooligan who’s had about nine too many decides he doesn’t like you or someone at your table and pulls a gun threatening to shoot. You reach for your trusty firearm on your hip and find nothing! The bad guy ignored the law but you kept from insulting your friend’s choice in restaurants. Once again, BAD GUYS DON’T CARE!

You find yourself in a self defense situation but you’re carrying your trusty Smith & Wesson 642 (J frame, five shot, 38 spl) instead of the Glock that you normally train with because it’s got a high round count, is cheap and easy to shoot, and looks cooler with your training buddies. Now you pause for half a second because your hand doesn’t know where to go, the trigger pull is foreign to you, and you’re looking right over the much smaller sights. And let’s not forget that you only have five rounds to work with instead of 16. So you left your well trained gun at home and have the one you never shoot on you when you need a gun the most; BAD GUYS DON’T CARE!

You left your daughter at home while you and your wife took a trip out for the weekend. She’s old enough to spend the night by herself, she’s very responsible, and she’s a good kid all around. Sure you worry, like any good parent would, but it’ll be ok and it’ll be good for her anyway. Just to be sure though, you leave a list of emergency numbers by the phone, you go over how to call 911, review the rules of the house (like no boys or alcohol) and remind her that there’s a shotgun behind the bedroom door. You leave and she settles in for a night of movies, popcorn and chatting on the phone with her boyfriend. A few minutes after midnight she hears a knock at the front door but she doesn’t answer, just like you taught her. The man at the door wants in and starts pounding and kicking at the door so she calls the police, just like you taught her. After the 911 call she is in fear that he’ll make it through the door so she goes to the safe room, the master bedroom, just like you taught her. She hears the front door give way in a terrible crash of broken glass, splintering wood and collision with the tile floor. Your beautiful teenage daughter reaches for the shotgun you leave behind the door in a cruiser safe configuration (empty chamber, loaded magazine, safety on, slide locked forward). She tucks the stock under her elbow because it’s to big for her to shoulder and points it at the door where the bad guy is about to come through. She goes to rack the slide and chamber a round but it wont budge. She turns off the safety and still nothing. She sees the bad guy coming at her and squeezes the trigger with only a click of the hammer falling. It’s to late. She didn’t know to unlock the slide to chamber a round because you never taught her that. You failed your daughter, and BAD GUYS DON’T CARE!

We could go on and on with these kinds of stories and hypotheticals. The fact of the matter is that you can make excuses all day long for why you do or don’t do this, why you do or don’t know that, and why you have or haven’t got something. The fact remains that they’re just excuses and BAD GUYS DON’T CARE! If you know you need to do something and you don’t then you’re negligent at best, and dead at worst. You know you should carry a gun all the time and yet you leave it at home when it’s not comfortable or it’s to too hot out. You know you need to take a shooting class but it’s expensive and you’d rather spend that weekend on the golf course. You know that your windows and doors need to be locked but you’re only going to be gone for an hour or two. You know you should have kept a training file and kept telling yourself you’ll do it next week. I implore you; take care of business now, don’t wait for tomorrow. Prepare yourself today for what might happen tonight. Be prepared because BAD GUYS DON’T CARE!

Personal Note: This post was inspired by a very spirited conversation I had with my best friend after his home was broken into. Fortunately no one was home and only ‘stuff’ was taken. However, the emotional impact is still very present and will be hard to get over. While the points mentioned above will not always keep crime from happening to you or your property, they will help keep you safe. Create an island of security around you at all times, stay aware, and learn from the mistakes of yourself and others.