USCCA Firearms & Self-Defense Blog
Self-Defense
Be prepared with a variety of concealed carry and firearms tips and tactics that can help keep you and your family safe both inside and outside of your home. Find helpful articles and videos, including the Into the Fray training series, that cover everything from situational awareness and conflict avoidance to cover vs. concealment and the use of force in a critical encounter.
Recent Self-Defense Articles
Situational Awareness: Using and Recognizing Nonverbal Cues
Research shows us that we can usually get a realistic “first impression” of someone within the first eight seconds, thanks, mostly, to nonverbal communication, like eye contact, gestures and facial ex[…]
Continue Reading →When to Reload: The Debate Rages On
There’s a lot of discussion about reloads in the world of firearms. Tactical reloads, speed reloads, reloads with retention, emergency (slide-lock) reloads…. And I saw a post on social media the other[…]
Continue Reading →Situational Awareness Is Fundamental
Take a look at the plethora of police-involved-shooting videos on the internet to see how quickly things can go bad (often with deadly results). You seldom have time to carefully consider your options[…]
Continue Reading →The Sounds of Silence: Suppressors for Home Defense
Sound suppressors, often referred to as “silencers” or “gun mufflers,” have a mystique about them that has created a lot of misinformation and subjective opinion in the firearms community as well as i[…]
Continue Reading →Ask Ed: Concealed Carry FAQs — July 2022
NOTE: USCCA Customer Engagement team members get a lot of questions, and they pass a good number of them along to Concealed Carry Magazine Senior Editor Ed Combs. If you have a question, you can eithe[…]
Continue Reading →Don’t Go There! Avoiding Trouble Hotspots
You’ve got your gun. You’ve got your permit (if you live in a state that requires one). You’ve even gotten some training. So now you are ready to go anywhere, right? Wrong. You can’t predict wha[…]
Continue Reading →Don’t Do This After a Self-Defense Shooting
What is the one thing you should never do after a self-defense incident? U.S. Concealed Carry Association’s director of content Kevin Michalowski talks to attorney and former Wisconsin state prosecuto[…]
Continue Reading →Active Threat Events: More Than Run, Hide, Fight
A few years ago, I had a former student reach out to me to share an experience she had. She was at a local shopping mall and started to feel uncertain and uncomfortable. Remembering our training about[…]
Continue Reading →Why Carry A Cane: Practical Cane Tactics for Personal Defense
Choosing a self-defense weapon is a balancing act. While you definitely want the most potent weapon possible, you also need an option that is appropriate for non-lethal threats. Similarly, you want so[…]
Continue Reading →Distracting Questions Criminals Use to Gauge Victims
It isn’t uncommon for well-versed criminals to “shark-bump” a potential victim. One of the most usual ways for them to do so is to ask seemingly harmless questions. Your response will let a potential […]
Continue Reading →Psychologically Prepared to Use a Gun
Winning a fight for your life depends on well-practiced fighting skills and being psychologically prepared to use your gun. Psychological preparedness for combat survival encompasses four elements: si[…]
Continue Reading →Self-Defense Next Steps
Amidst the chaos of the last few months, gun sales — particularly of handguns — have jumped up considerably. There are several reasons for this, including fears of social unrest and concerns about pot[…]
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