self defense

You Can Be Right—And Still Lose

By Tom McHale|2025-01-18T11:19:53-05:00January 18th, 2025|

If you carry a gun for self-defense, you can do (almost) everything right… and still lose. Some good advice here from Ken Hackathon. What’s the missing piece? Read on. I also talk about these scenarios quite a bit in my new book, The Practical Guide to Concealed Carry.

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New XRB Solid Copper Defensive Ammo from Sellier & Bellot

By Tom McHale|2025-01-09T09:16:00-05:00January 9th, 2025|

Sellier and Bellot has some new(ish) defensive ammo. It’s an all-copper projectile design that’ll stay together when passing through challenging barriers like glass. I tested it with a couple of pistols with known accuracy and was able to print sub-two-inch groups from 25 yards, so it can shoot more accurately than most humans.

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Bold Take? If You Draw Your Gun, You’ve Failed

By Tom McHale|2024-11-15T11:48:41-05:00November 15th, 2024|

Steve Tarani, Gunsite and independent instructor, is one of those guys you’ve seen wearing a dark suit in the background of presidential photos and such, so he knows a thing or two about protecting people from threats. Here’s an interesting article on how protective services measure success. Hint: if guns are involved, they’ve failed somewhere along the line.

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What You Need to Know About Self-Defense Training [VIDEO]

By Tom McHale|2024-02-14T14:56:50-05:00February 15th, 2024|

American Handgunner Editor Tom McHale welcomes James Queisner to discuss the must-knows of self-defense training. James is an instructor at Gunsite Academy and has written a few of American Handgunner's "Make Ready" columns focusing on training issues.

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Self-Defense Scenario Training with W.O.F.T.’s Philip Toppino [VIDEO]

By Tom McHale|2024-02-14T14:56:01-05:00February 13th, 2024|

Everyone offers a self-defense training program, but how many self-defense training centers put you in the middle of everyday training scenarios and help you practice your response over and over until you get it right? American Handgunner's Tom McHale attended a program at W.O.F.T., and his eyes were opened.

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False Assumptions! You Most Certainly Can Carry a Larger Gun

By Tom McHale|2023-06-06T10:25:06-04:00June 6th, 2023|

I’m saying you can carry a larger gun concealed — every day even. To be clear, I’m not talking about one more powerful or in a larger caliber. I’m talking about a handgun physically bigger than the pocket micro mini subatomic ultra-compacts all the rage these days.

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A Quick Look at the Bravo Concealment LINKed Holster

By Tom McHale|2023-04-14T11:28:32-04:00April 14th, 2023|

Here’s a mea culpa moment: I always feel I “should” carry at least one spare magazine for capacity and failure resistance. Do I follow through? Not nearly often enough.

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How Do Your Concealed Carry Team Skills Stack Up? Team Tactics: Pernicious Pas De Deux

By Tom McHale|2023-03-13T10:03:50-04:00March 13th, 2023|

Humans are naturally confident, bordering on arrogant. In our minds, we’ve got all the correct answers, and for those situations we haven’t yet experienced, we assume we’ll make the right choices on the fly. We’re awesome like that.Gunfighting schools, on the other hand, are a force created by the universe to expose and counterbalance our genetic hubris. These diametrically opposed forces of nature are like gravity and orbital velocity — the reasons our hunk of rock topped with flawed humanity doesn’t crash into the sun or zoom past Pluto.

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Less-Offensive EDC Tools

By Tom McHale|2023-03-06T09:18:15-05:00March 6th, 2023|

The parking garage was darker than normal. That light at the top of the stairwell was busted. No surprise, if the public bathroom on the ground floor is any indication, maintenance in the city’s public parking garages takes a distant second place to fixing that pothole at the end of 2nd Street. No reason to panic … yet. Nothing unusual about the light being smashed given the copious scrolls of graffiti on the walls.

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American Handgunner Carry Options DeSantis OWB Season Leather – American Handgunner

By Tom McHale|2023-02-21T12:11:18-05:00February 21st, 2023|

Winter is here, so for me, it’s outside-the-waistband (OWB) carry season — at least some of the time. While I generally make more use of Kydex for IWB carry here in the humidity capital of the world (leather can get sticky on the draw when moist, and yes, I hate that word), the cooler months offer an opportunity to easily conceal a full-size pistol with classic OWB leather.

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IMPROVE YOUR SHOOTING!