Self-defense Strategies for the Family

Earlier this week, Natalie Foster, creator of Girls Guide to Guns and host of Love at First Shot, had this article at America's 1st Freedom on the subject of Moms and Armed Self-defense.

The firearm, the safe, the training—it’s the holy trinity of gun ownership. Across our Second Amendment-loving community, there exists a general consensus that these three elements shall not be separated. I learned this the day I was given my first gun, and have abided by it ever since. And like many single women, back then I obtained my concealed-carry permit, was diligent about my own safety and maintained my gun training religiously. Situational awareness was always paramount in my thinking, as my trainers, colleagues and family had preached. But those were the days before I became a mom.

Yes, I’ve still got the guns and the safes, but my training needs an update. Sure, many of the basic skills I’ve learned over a few years of training still apply, but when I’ve got my son with me, the rules change altogether—and not in my favor.

For example, when you’re alone, getting into the car in a parking lot is simple. You’ve got your situational awareness radar up and keys in hand long before you approach the vehicle. You walk quickly and confidently toward the car, press the unlock button on approach, open the door, sit down and lock it. You’ve moved safely from parking lot to secured vehicle in a matter of seconds.

Now add a kid. The task list becomes much longer: Lock stroller wheels, place child in car seat, buckle car seat, throw diaper bag in the floorboard, open trunk, fold stroller, heave stroller into trunk, close trunk, rummage inside diaper bag for the snack you swear you packed, hand child the snack, grab bottle (is the temperature ok?), hand cold bottle to the child, close all open car doors, walk around the car, open driver door (shoot, where are the keys?), find the keys, seatbelt, lock door. Whew.

She goes on to talk about the special needs of the mom, and how, with a couple of exceptions, there is very little defense training tailored to parents.  She ends the article by imploring trainers to develop training that addresses the special needs of a moms and dads with children.

Apparently Foster is not the only person thinking about this topic.  On the same day her article was posted, I received my weekly email from DownrangeTV that included the below video on family self-defense strategies.  In the video, Michael Janich of Spyderco, Inc., discusses how one of the things the family primary defender should consider is to make sure you have at least some type of a plan that allows your family to get to safety while you take care of business.