The rules of our society say that the honest citizen should not initiate violence. It's almost like saying that you have to let the bad guy draw first. In reality, it means the bad guy has to make the first move, thereby alerting us that we are about to become the victim of criminal violence.
When the armed citizen becomes aware of this pending violence, his first thought should be to find a way to avoid it altogether. If that fails or is not practical under the circumstances, his next immediate thought should be to deliver an overwhelming counterattack. He should respond with such aggressiveness that his attackers are stunned and bewildered. After all, most criminals are looking for easy targets and really don't know what to do when someone just "clouds up and rains on them." That just isn't in their plans.
When our lives are threatened, fear is a natural reaction. After all, we don't want to get hurt and we sure don't want to see our loved ones hurt. Unfortunately, fear is not an effective mindset to guarantee survival. Fear causes a person to fail to act quickly, and it also causes a person to do stupid things. Fear can cause a person to lose the fight before the fight has actually begun.
Anger is the best way to push through fear. Now, please understand that I am not talking about blind anger; again, that will cause a person to do stupid things. Rather, the proper response should be controlled anger. Controlled anger allows a person to marshal all of his training and skills to deliver a devastating blow to the enemy. Once the criminals have indicated, beyond a shadow of a doubt, their intentions, the best way to deal with an attack is an aggressive counterattack. Put another way, a person can waste his time worrying about the odds, or he can spend the same amount of precious time trimming those odds down in his favor. Controlled anger is the way to make this happen.
All of our shooting skills are worth very little if we don't know how to apply them in a crisis. And, when violence is visited upon us, we should learn to respond in an aggressive manner. It's the key to victory and survival.
