We cannot express enough how much we appreciate Mike Mack from Freedom Outdoors for coming out to speak to our club about home and personal defense on July 17th. His easy going personality makes discussing a difficult topic much easier to digest. Here's a summary of the topics we covered.
Deterrents For Your Home:
Home security systems: Mike didn't endorse any particular security system, but stated that there were many reasonable options. He discussed locations of keypads as well as sensors at windows and doors.
Locking your cars if parked outside: He mentioned to make sure your car is locked especially if you have a garage door opener in your vehicle. He doesn't keep an opener in his car, he brings it into the house.
Don't leave your overhead garage door open: Mike discussed how easy it was for someone to slip into your house if you leave your garage door open often. He encouraged everyone to keep the overhead garage doors closed and be sure that the door leading from the garage to the house is locked.
Exterior lights & motion sensors: Often people with bad intentions use the cover of darkness to execute their plans, so use lighting to expose dark areas around your home and deter those with bad intentions.
Cameras: Cameras don't stop everyone, however they can stop some. The goal here is to have many layers of deterrents, making yourself and your home less of a target.
Safe Room: Has your family devised a "Home Defense Plan"? If not, stay tuned, we will be outlining the steps in a future blog post to help you create your own home defense plan for you and your family.
Personal Deterrents / Situational Awareness:
Cooper Color Codes:
What is the Cooper Situational Awareness Scale? In 1972, Col. Jeff Cooper published his book “Principals Of Personal Defense.” He created the coding system initially for police and military training purposes. Cooper’s code defines four states of mind and is often referenced in the self-defense community. An individual can assess their state of readiness using the definitions of the color code.
Personal alarms: Mike pulled out a personal alarm he gives his grand children. Another member pulled out another personal alarm that they use. He also said these personal alarms could be used at doors to notify you as well. Another member mentioned using the alarm on their car's key fob as a deterrent.
Parking lot safety: When parking in a parking lot, where do you park? Do you park in the closest parking spot to the store? Is that the best option? Mike explained that he normally drives through the parking lot evaluating what area looks safest, and typically will park a bit further from the store. He advised that we pay attention to our surroundings and "keep our head on a swivel". Be sure to look people in the eyes and acknowledge them when possible. Most looking to do harm, are looking for an easy target so put your phone down and pay attention when walking to and from the store. Most people targeted are not paying attention or aware of what's going on around them.
Concealment:
How many guns can a person carry concealed? I sure hope you enjoyed this part of
the presentation, MIKE IS THE MAN. The key here was about truly being able to conceal your EDC (every day carry). Mike discussed the importance of holsters, apparel w/ prints and layering.
Purses: Several ladies pulled out their purses and show the group purse options. Yvonne shared that some of Gun Tote'n Mamas brand of purses had reinforced purse straps.
Thank you to all the ladies that attended and participated, we hope you learned a lot from Mike's session.