Training on Tuesday: Willing to Kill but not to Save a Life?

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Willing to Kill but not to Save a Life?
by Paul Markel via The Tactical Wire

Take note of the date and time. Check your clocks and your calendar. Write it down if you have to, I'm about to admit an error on my part. That's right, my judgment was clouded. I mistakenly thought that when addressing the matter of traumatic first aid, life-saving measures used to stop-gap a potentially terminal injury that "the choir" would understand.

I'm not speaking about the sheep. Sheep are by nature just that, sheep. They are subservient and rely on something other than themselves for protection and salvation. Sheep are happy in their helplessness.

Target Audience








I am speaking of gun owners, those who look at firearms as a tool potentially used to save their lives. I'm talking about men and women who take guns to the field and harvest wild game. These are all people who consider themselves citizens, not subjects. I'm also referring to folks who spice up their conversations with words and phrases like "terminal ballistics", "stopping power", "hydrostatic shock" and "permanent wound cavity".

I'm referring to the guys who revere the names Cooper, Jordan, Keith, Browning, Winchester, and Colt. When addressing an audience populated with the aforementioned individuals I mistakenly assumed that they would appreciate and understand that any man, and I mean human, armed and prepared to take a life must at the same time be prepared and equipped to save one.

This is not the first piece I written where I dared to mention the "T" word: tourniquet. Over the last several years I've penned a number of reviews mentioning life-saving, medial trauma training and gear available to U.S. Military troops, law enforcement officers, and citizens alike. These reviews were not published in the "Ladies Home Journal" or "Cat Fancy", they were printed in paper and electronic media geared toward the meat-eater. Despite this attempt to target the correct audience, I've experienced such a cacophony of whining, moaning, and lame excuse offering that I can no longer hold it in.

Willing to Kill but not Heal

For every single review written that addresses Tactical Combat Casualty Care or what I call "Beyond the Band-Aid" training, there are one hundred more written by myriad authors and bloggers extolling the virtues of this firearm or that as the greatest "man-stopper". Personal defense ammunition is promoted for expansion qualities, wound cavity, "energy transfer", and, of course our favorite "stopping power".

Read this excellent article in its entirety.

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