Lessons learned last week:

CARRY YOUR GUN.

If you live in a place that allows you to legally carry a concealed weapon, do so. If you have a CCW permit, use it. Don't say things like "Oh, I'm not going anyplace dangerous..." Places aren't dangerous, people are; there's no magic fence around anyplace you're going that will keep the dangerous people out. Get in the habit of carrying your gun so that it will be there when you need it.

Carry a reload. No matter how many or how few rounds your pistol holds, a spare magazine or speedloader is cheap insurance. Consider, if circumstances allow, a small backup gun. Not only is it a backup should your primary gun fail, but it could also allow you to arm a trusted companion should the balloon go up.

Don't carry like it's a game. Be serious about it. Don't carry a gun because it looks awesome, because James Bond does, or because you just felt like carrying the Luger today. Do you move your fire extinguishers around every other day? Do you relocate your car's brake pedal on Fridays to make it look cooler? No? Then why is the piece of emergency gear on your belt being treated like a fashion statement? Save toys and fashion statements for the range; carry a weapon.


DON'T TRAIN IN VAIN.

I cannot predict for certain whether or not you will ever have to use your firearm, and if you ever do, I cannot tell you what the circumstances will be like. I can tell you one thing with 100% certainty, however: You will not be attacked by a piece of paper facing you squarely, hanging from a wire, and conveniently illuminated by a can light in the ceiling at a distance of seven yards.

If your local range won't let you draw from the leather or shoot from cover or kneeling or on the move, it would behoove you to try and find a way to get that kind of practice. Look into shooting in competition such as IDPA or USPSA. Even something as stylized as steel matches or bowling pin shooting will have you shooting under time pressure and reloading at speed.

If you shoot at an indoor range, see if they'll dim the range lights fifteen or twenty minutes before closing once a week; they may be amenable if you and four or five friends all request it. If you have an outdoor place to shoot, don't call off your shooting sessions due to weather. If you need your gun for real, it will probably be poorly lit, it may well be cold or wet or 102 degrees out, you may be wearing gloves, or a raincoat; you'd better know how to use your weapon under those conditions.

But most importantly, train. Train. Train. Train.


STEER INTO THE SKID.

What do you do when your car starts to skid? Well, if you're like most people, you sit there like a duck in thunder and tell the officer who comes to clean up the mess "I dunno, it just skidded out of control!"

If you payed attention in Driver's Ed, however, you heard "Steer into the skid!" Maybe you even chant it as a little mantra if the road is icy or you feel a bit of aquaplaning on the freeway. If you're really a preparedness fanatic, maybe you've practiced on dirt roads or deserted, rain-slick parking lots.

But the important thing is the decision. You've already made the decision and when the car starts to skid, you don't sit there thinking "What do I do?" because you've already decided what to do: You steer into the skid.

Make up your mind ahead of time to resist; that's the most important thing of all. When the flag flies, your decision will already be made, and your mental decks will be cleared for action. Resist. Do not go gently. Fight back. The life you save may be your own, or it may be that of the innocent person standing next to you who now has time to run, but make up your mind now. Steer into the skid.