Fighting Myself

I have this strange habit of contradicting myself.  It's actually related to my personality type.  I do it in so many ways that it has become quite the annoyance for me.  My purpose here is not to point out all of my shortcomings, but rather to discuss my most recent annoyance related to concealed carry and personal defense.

I have taken a good handful of professional tactical pistol courses over the past 20 years and one of the main things I've taken away as gospel is that you must find and utilize what is most efficient in terms of personal protection.  For example, choosing to carry a firearm in an ankle holster is probably one of the worst things you can do.  When ambushed and forced to defend yourself you need to move quickly toward cover or a position of safety, preferably while drawing your pistol and potentially returning fire.  How can you possibly move and draw from an ankle holster at the same time?  It's nearly impossible.  At the very least it's not efficient.  This is just one of many, but it helps make my point that efficiency is close to godliness when it comes to gunfighting.

Now on to my current conundrum.  The most comfortable way for me to carry a pistol, and the most comfortable pistol for me to carry is a snub nose revolver in the appendix position.  The problem is that a revolver is not the best defensive tool.  Knowing this yet also wanting maximum comfort is a problem I face daily.  Because I know you're itching to hear my answer to why a revolver is not a good defensive tool, I'll get that out of the way.  Revolvers are generally heavier than small frame automatics, have longer and heavier trigger press, are less accurate due to short barrels and heavier triggers, hold fewer rounds, and take much longer to reload when precious seconds count.  In short a 5 shot revolver will always be a poor choice for personal defense when compared to say a Glock 19 which is pretty much the antithesis to any revolver.  Feel free to nit-pick and ask more questions of a tactical nature in the comments section below.  I'm always happy to hash it out with you.

Back to what frustrates me so much about this.  I don't want to be unarmed.  I don't want to carry an inferior tool for protection. I want to be as comfortable as possible, but honestly if I'm uncomfortable I'm less likely to carry a pistol at all. (weak mind I know) I haven't practiced with my revolver nearly enough to feel supremely confident with it.  So I guess the question causing so much torment for me is this - is it better to carry something than nothing at all?  Is it ok that the revolver may leave me at a serious disadvantage in a gunfight?  Basically I'm trying to determine if it's ok to sacrifice efficiency and tactical advantage for comfort and ease of carry?  Your thoughts would be appreciated.

--ME

My Knife is Better Than Yours

Sorry for the title. Sometimes I can't help but be a little snarky.
If you have been around the tactical industry for any time then you have heard of the knife maker Ernest Emerson.  His knives have become one of the top brands in the world hands down.

Mr. Emerson has trained Navy SEALs among other elite units from around the globe as well as being one of the only knife makers whose work is featured at the Smithsonian. He's kind of a big deal in this industry.
All the hype aside, he builds into some of his folding knives a very unique and intuitive feature. It's called the Emerson Hook.  At this point you've glanced below and have an idea what I'm talking about with regards to the hook. It more or less grabs onto your pocket as you draw, and opens the knife. But why is this so great you ask? In a word, efficiency.

You may not be aware that the human weapon system doesn't perform fine motor functions very well when it's under critical incident stress. To rephrase - when you get ambushed by that thug in the dark alley, your fingers or thumb will have trouble opening your folding knife in a fast and accurate way. Fine motor functions become difficult to perform when our heart rate rises to 120 beats per minute, and they become all but impossible when/if your heart rate reaches 220.  When does your heart rate ever get that high?  When you're attacked at close range and have to fight for your life.  So you have to ask yourself, does my knife work well with what my body is going to do naturally at max stress level?

Can I open my knife by using gross motor movements instead of fine motor movements?  If you said no then it's clear you don't own an Emerson folding knife.

To my knowledge, and I am by no means a knife expert, the Emerson Hook is the only knife of its kind in the world. In my opinion you won't find a better made or more intuitively efficient knife anywhere.

So next time you're thinking about upgrading or adding to your knife collection, please consider an Emerson. You won't be disappointed.

Be sure to comment below with your thoughts on knives.
-ME

*I am not a paid spokesman of Emerson