The most remarkable thing about Joshua Benson is the words he doesn't say. In a world full of whiny emo-boys and latte-sipping cowards, a man who never utters the words "I can't" and who never asks for a drop of sympathy is a refreshing change.

I met Josh for the first time last spring at the Firearms Academy of Seattle, during the last course Jim Cirillo ever taught. Cirillo's class was a two-day adventure into close quarters shooting techniques, including alternative sighting methods and shooting from downed positions. Josh wheeled himself in on the first day of class, taking the far right-hand end of the line so that his crossdraw holster and unusual one-handed reload would not cause his muzzle to cross any of the other students. This class was designed for intermediate to accomplished shooters, not at all for beginners, and I confess that I wondered if the young man in the chair was going to be able to keep up--a worry that seems downright laughable in retrospect.

Josh, it turned out, was no beginner: he is a certified handgun instructor through Tom Givens' Rangemaster firearms training school in Memphis, TN. Now 25 years old, he's taken dozens of professional training classes in the three years he's been shooting defensive handguns. And he takes his personal defense very seriously, carrying a concealed firearm every day.

The physical challenges that Josh faces are a bit out of the ordinary. An encounter with vaccine-induced poliomyelitis as an infant left him with no function in either leg, roughly five percent function in his right arm (very little in his right hand), and only about eighty percent function in his left arm and hand. While most shooters struggle to get shots on paper using both hands in a stable stance, Josh nails the target while holding the gun with his left hand only, steadied somewhat by the lifting muscles in his right arm.

"This kid just impresses the hell out of me," says Massad Ayoob, who taught Josh's LFI-1 and LFI-2 classes in 2007. "At LFI, we've had students in a chair before. We've had one-armed students before. But Josh is the first one-armed guy in a chair we've ever had. He taught us all some things." Like many firearms classes, LFI-2 is physically demanding in a lot of ways. Josh, working one-handed from his wheelchair, kept up with this demanding class just fine. He successfully completed the LFI Qualification shoot at double speed, which included getting all his reloads well under time.

"I can reload an auto-pistol in about four to six seconds," Josh explains. "I recently have shaved off about two seconds by going straight to a backup gun, the New York reload."

Although Josh sometimes carries a snub-nosed revolver as a backup, his regular carry is a semi-auto. He considered, but ultimately rejected, making his primary carry gun a revolver--the gun type perhaps most commonly recommended for people with physical challenges--for two reasons. First, he believed that he wanted more ammunition available to him than a revolver generally carries. The second reason was minor, but still worth considering: Less felt recoil. Josh explains, "The action of the slide absorbs some of the recoil. Since I have only one arm to hold the gun, less felt recoil means faster follow-up for me."

Was there a specific incident that caused you to carry a gun?

No. I grew up with my dad carrying, so when I turned 21 it was one of those natural things. Plus, I moved to Memphis, and they kind of have a high crime rate down there. And being in the chair I wanted to have all the advantages I could if something happened. It was all just very natural.

What training methods do you employ?

Friday nights at Rangemaster we have shooting league, a competition basically similar to IDPA, that helps keep my manipulations and gunhandling skills up.

For regular practice, I like just going to the range and dedicating 50 rounds to going through various qualifications. Tom Givens has a list of different qualifications, different tests from various places like the FBI Qualifications and others. I just take 50 rounds and run myself through one of those qualifiers so I'm doing something structured and not just putting holes in paper. I like using the qualifications because it's a specific bar that tells you this is how well you're doing. It gives you a structure to shoot and something to evaluate it with to see where you're at. Plus I take a class probably every couple of months so that also helps. I take classes just as often as I can.

Have you had any difficulties with safety in any of the classes you have taken, or with shooting while there are a lot of other people on the line?

Not really. I've just gotta be aware of my muzzle during my one handed reloads and watch the angles from my crossdraw holster. I always take the far right hand side of the line so I don't sweep anyone. It's more positioning than anything, and making sure the instructors are aware of what I need, and also my fellow classmates.

You've taken a lot of different classes. Which specific classes have been the most helpful to you personally?

The most helpful class was LFI-1, easily. Judicious Use of Deadly Force, the classroom part of the class, covers what happens after a shooting, the aftermath and the legal concerns. That's a subject a lot of people don't like to talk about, but it's probably the one thing that will save you after an incident. If you manage to survive the incident there's a whole other world that a lot of people aren't aware of.

Other than that, I cannot name just one class--because I've taken so many from them--but working with Tom Givens and John Farnam, definitely. It's not so much the course, it's the instructor, and Tom Givens and John Farnam have both been very very helpful.

Your primary carry gun is a semi-auto. Did you have a hard time learning how to rack the slide?

Not really. I'm pretty quick at adapting some things. When I was younger my dad just ran it for me but obviously that wasn't going to work for defensive handgun. My one-handed reload, my shooting ability and how I carry came from different instructors pretty early on.

My shooting ability just came from working with Tom Givens. He's really been very helpful. The cross-draw carry came out of a Gabe Suarez class. And then when I took the course with John Farnam, he taught me how to do a one-handed reload, so my reload technique came from John Farnam. I started shooting in August when I was 21 (in 2004). I took my first class from Rangemaster in August, and took the Gabe Suarez class also in August, right after my first class. In September that year I took the class with John Farnam. So it all went really quick. I just kept taking classes, figured out what kind of holster I needed, and then was able to work out the one handed reloads. It all happened in a matter of just a couple months, bringing everything together.

What weapons do you carry, and what ammunition?

I carry a Browning Hi Power that's been worked on by Jim Garthwaite, and also a Springfield XD, both in 9mm. I had a beavertail added to the Hi Power and a Teflon finish and all the parts fitted. It's got Heinie sights with a gold bead front sight. You can pick the front sight up in any light conditions, or if it's too dark to see the gold bead it's too dark to see what you're shooting at. My Browning Hi Power carries 15+1 and the Springfield XD-9 carries 17+1. I use 127-grain Winchester Rangers in those.

What concealment holsters do you use?

Right now I use a crossdraw holster, the FIST Driving Holster. The holster has a snap where you can move it around on your belt from driving to on your hip and back again. I just run with it in the driving position and it works great. It holds the mouth of the holster up a bit higher than the holster I was using before too.

Do you have a big box o' holsters?

I really don't. By taking the classes very early on I kind of avoided that.

My first carry holster was actually made by Dale Fricke. My first two holsters were custom made by him, just for me. After that, I ended up looking around a little bit and I found that FIST driving holster. The other holsters were good, but I looked around because if I never try new things I'll never know if there might be something better out there. The FIST was leather and I prefer leather over Kydex, it's just more comfortable. I found it smoother to draw from, and it's less clicky. Also sometimes I felt like my Kydex one was going to break on me. Since I'm sitting down and bending around a lot, moving around to a lot of different angles in the chair, I just felt like it was on the brink of snapping sometimes. Major paranoia there. So I just like the leather holster better.

What specific adaptations have you needed to make in order to shoot well?

I do a one-handed reload off my wheelchair. It's just your basic one-handed reload like they teach in a lot of classes. You know, where you just stick the empty gun back in the holster, pop the old mag out, put the new mag in, and then draw the gun again and rack the slide. Instead of running the slide off a belt or a holster, I found a spot on the wheelchair I could press the slide, and just run the slide against that. It works pretty well.

What do you recommend to other physically challenged people who are concerned about self-defense? What advice do you have for other people who have physical difficulties and want to figure out how to safely run the gun?

I would say take as many classes as you can and learn from as many different instructors as possible. You want to get as many different inputs as possible because what one may come up with might work really well for one thing, and someone else might have a good solution for something else. So get a lot of different perspectives. Everybody problem solves just a little bit different. With the different perspectives I was able to problem solve most of the things that I ran into.

Do you have any recommendations for all of our readers?

Yes. If you have the time and money to do it, get as much training as possible. I know not everyone has the money or the time, but if you can you really should. A lot of people don't want to give up the time but they need to give up at least some time for training. Shooting is a skill that diminishes if you don't do it for a while. Even just going to the range at least once a month will at least keep your skill where it's at.

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