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Playing The Odds

Playing The Odds

If you’ve been in one of my concealed carry classes, you know that I quote a statistic from a 2022 Georgetown University study which showed that 81.9% of lethal force encounters end without a shot being fired. The bad guy sees the gun,  realizes his actions suddenly became his life and then chooses to remove himself from your presence with all due haste. 

There is, however, another statistic in that report which bears an equal amount of attention:

“Approximately a third of gun owners (31.1 percent) have used a firearm to defend themselves or their property, often on more than one occasion.”

I just returned from a week in Vegas covering the SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade) Show for my day job. It’s held in the Venetian Expo Center, right next door to the Venetian and Palazzo casinos.

Imagine This:

You’re walking down the aisles of one of those casinos, and suddenly, there is a pit boss shoving every third person to a blackjack table. No, you don’t get to decide if you’re that third person, he does. All of sudden you’re sitting at a table, and the stakes are literally your life. 

Game on.

The cards are dealt, and it’s looking like you’re about to cash in all your chips. However, you remembered you brought your ace in the hole with you which gives you a better than 80% chance of winning the hand and walking away from the table relatively unscathed.

Do you play that card? When the time is right, of course you do. But you can only play that ace in the hole if you have the card with you when the game starts. Otherwise, you’re at the mercy of the dealer, and the deck is stacked against you.  

Plan (and train) accordingly.