Written by: Greg Ellifritz I’ve written a lot recently about the history of firearms instruction. That topic has only existed for about the last 100 years. Formal weapons training most certainly existed earlier, but it was pre-Civil War and reserved for the luxury class. Between the end of the US Civil War […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz The book Streetlights and Shadows highlights author Gary Klein’s research on decision making. This research is especially important for police officers or citizens who carry concealed firearms. Those groups of people are forced to make life-altering decisions under the most intense stress possible. Every bit of guidance is useful […]
The advanced practitioner in the combative arts quickly realizes that a proper mindset trumps skill and equipment issues in a fight. Two of the most common questions that I get from my students are “How do I learn how to control my reactions to fear” and “How do I cultivate the mindset of […]
About 20 years ago, I attended a seminar taught by Dr. Kevin Gilmartin. It was one of the single most useful training seminars I’ve ever attended and I used the information I learned in that class every single day of my police career until I retired. Gilmartin distilled his lecture concepts into a short […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Compared to the average American, I read a massive number of books. I try to read around 10 books a month. I accomplish this because I don’t have TV in my house and I carry a book wherever I go. Whenever I have a few spare moments, I spend them […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz The ability to make fast decisions under stressful and time-pressed conditions is a critical component of winning a lethal force confrontation. Unfortunately, it is also very hard to teach. Research on decision making has traditionally been conducted in laboratories under calm conditions. The implications derived from such studies don’t […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz I recently finished this very informative book on school shootings. It was published in 2008, but somehow it escaped my notice until now. The information contained within is timeless and just as relevant today as it was when it was published. From the author’s description: “In the last decade, school […]
My friend Jeff Gonzales published a book titled Concealed Carry Manual. I think that it is the best gun-related book I’ve read in 2022. I was honored when Jeff asked me to “blurb” the book. This is what I wrote: “I first trained with Jeff more than a decade ago and have followed […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz I got the following question from a reader. As I think this answer has a universal appeal, I chose to answer it here so that all of you can benefit as well. Here’s the question: “I want to assemble/integrate your suggestions for practice sessions, but I’m overwhelmed by the […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz My obsession started early. As a teenager in the 1980’s I would annoy my school teachers by using class time to catch up on my fictional reading. The late Jerry Ahern’s “Survivalist” series was always a favorite. Ahern wrote entertaining stories about living in the USA following a nuclear bombing […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz I’m going to start by saying that this is a massive book containing nearly 700 pages of text followed by almost 100 pages of reference notes. I’m also going to state that book is an intellectual masterpiece that contained ideas that were slightly more advanced than my limited mental capacity […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Compared to the average American, I read a massive number of books. I try to read around 10 books a month. I accomplish this because I don’t have TV in my house and I carry a book wherever I go. Whenever I have a few spare moments, I spend them […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Delf “Jelly” Bryce was an old time gunfighter who started his career as a lawman in the 1920’s. He served as a Oklahoma State Game Agent, Oklahoma City Police Officer, and later an FBI agent in the agency’s heyday fighting gangsters and alcohol smugglers. He received the nickname “Jelly” […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Compared to the average American, I read a massive number of books. I try to read between around 10 books a month. I accomplish this because I don’t have TV in my house and I carry a book wherever I go. Whenever I have a few spare moments, I spend […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Dan Ariely’s book The Upside of Irrationality is a book about making rational and irrational decisions. Books like these are a goldmine of information for firearms and combatives trainers. We regularly see people making irrational decisions in the context of self defense. It’s nice to figure out why they are doing […]
My new travel safety book is out in all formats! You can buy the Kindle edition HERE. You can get a paperback copy HERE. If you have a NOOK reader or are looking for the book in Apple Books, Kobo, and for library editions, you can get a copy on Smashwords. […]
My new travel safety book Choose Adventure- Safe Travel in Dangerous Places has been on the market for 10 days now. It’s doing pretty well. The book has been the #1 New Release in both the “Adventure Travel” and “Travel Reference” categories. Other authors have told me that it’s fairly difficult to hold that spot […]
Lots of folks are asking me questions about the best way to hunker down and survive the pandemic lock down. There are lots of survival books on the market, but most of them focus on “bug out” scenarios and surviving in the wilderness with nothing but a knife and some paracord. That isn’t the […]
Written by: Greg Ellifritz Compared to the average American, I read a massive number of books. I try to read between around 10-15 books a month. I accomplish this because I don’t have TV in my house and I carry a book wherever I go. Whenever I have a few spare moments, I spend […]
Written by Greg Ellifritz Here are two quick reads written by some friends of mine. I finished both of them this week and found each to be a valuable resource. The first is Annette Evans’ book The Dry Fire Primer. Annette introduces the book as: “Dry fire – practicing without live ammunition – […]
