Part 2 of 2 of the interview with Dan Abbott at the Oregon Firearms Academy.  If you missed Part 1 of the interview, be sure and check out episode 074 of the Self-Defense Show first.  We continue our general overview of firearms in the role of aiding you in a lethal self-defense encounter.  What mindset / attitude is best when handling a firearm?  When can it actually hurt your chances in a dire situation?  We explore many preliminary topics in this final part of our interview.  Be sure to check out Dan's website www.OregonFirearmsAcademy.com for more information on their classes and training.  You will find his email on that site as well.  Be sure and drop him a quick thank you email.

We interview Dan Abbott from the Oregon Firearms Academy.  This is the first of two parts to the interview.  Part 2 will be on Self-Defense Show episode 075.  In the interview with Dan, we discuss all kinds of topics involving self-defense and firearms.  Are firearms good for self-defense?  What are the pros and cons to owning a firearm?  What are some of the other issues that arise after deciding to carry or use a firearm for self-defense?  These are some of the questions covered in this interview.  As you will hear, Dan and his crew at the Oregon Firearms Academy are pretty knowledgeable about their subject.  Christie and I learned a lot from him already!  Now we just need to find a way to fly out there and take a week long extreme firearms course!  Ahhhh, maybe in 2009!  Please feel free to contact the Oregon Firearms Academy through their website www.OregonFirearmsAcademy.com.  We would like to thank Dan for spending over 2 hours of his valuable time with us and our listeners.  I'm sure you guys will get a kick out of these interviews.  Don't hesitate to drop Dan or ourselves an email.

We interview Dr. Steven J. Pearlman, author of The Book of Martial Power.  We discuss the principals at the heart of every martial arts style.  We also talk about how these martial principals can help ordinary people against violent crime.  Another interesting topic discussed was why and how martial arts has become less pragmatic over the centuries in regards to its original war applications.  Dr. Pearlman offers a very unique and wise opinions that serve to expand our understanding.  Although this episode dives into the technicalities of physical responses, and is a bit more martial arts heavy then what we normally go into, we believe understanding what Dr. Pearlman teaches can be very beneficial to a martial arts practitioner who wishes to enhance their fundamental knowledge.  Our thanks to Dr. Pearlman for spending his valuable time and wisdom with us.  Please visit him at his website www.SingleStepProductions.com or email him at StevenPearlman@gmail.com

Ready, Set, Go... Violence Vocals are the topics of this 72nd episode of the Self-Defense Show.  Before we dive into that topic, we answer a general question asked to us on the DefenseChat.com message boards.  Why did we leave the traditional martial arts world and do what we do now?  Ready, Set, Go are three stages of vocal (and semi-physical) responses to verbal aggression.  This episode is a continuation and/or extension of the topics discussed in episode 065.  So if you haven't heard that one, be sure and listen to it first.  As always, please keep in touch with us, as we love emailing and talking with all our listeners... even if they are critical of our views.  Programming note... we may have several interview episodes coming up in the near future, so be on the listen-out for those!

We talk about 3 violence stories in the news recently.  In the first story, a women and her boyfriend are verbally and physically assaulted on a public bus by a group of teenagers.  The second story is about a father in the UK who fights back against armed home invaders to save his children.  Finally, we read a letter from a wife who predicted her own murder by her husband by way of poisoning.  There is some mild PG-13 language a couple of times, but it is as a quote from a news story.  Don't forgot to check out after the music for a little extra material.  Thanks so much to all our listeners... and please keep in touch and voice your opinions!  Oh yeah, and give us a review on iTunes!!!

We review the book "Lucky" by Alice Sebold.  Except for one explicit yet non-gratuitous quote from the book, the language in this episode is clean.  The main part of the show is a bit shorter then normal just because we were pressed for time.  However, there is some good bonus "recorded in the car" stuff after the ending music to fill out the hour.  In the book, Alice Sebold tells her story of how she was raped and all the repercussion of that violent act on her life.  This is an extremely well done book that allows people who have never been sexually assaulted to understand a little bit better what it is like.  We really hope all women, but especially all men read this gripping, yet ultimately inspiring true story of a strong women who survived a rape to become a stronger women.  After the ending music we have some bonus material for you.  I talk about some questions that were recently asked to me by a person who has a stalker.  I give some basic advice that serves as a incomplete introduction to some stalking topics.

More information about stalking and how to get help can be found at
http://www.ncvc.org/src/
or call toll free 1-800-FYI-CALL
or email gethelp@ncvc.org

At last!  Talk of physical resistance (offensive) techniques!!!  I know you all out there have been waiting for it.  Now, here it is.  After 68 previous episodes on all kinds of other violence protection issues, I feel there is finally enough in the can to go ahead and talk about this over emphasized subject.  Now it's in the correct proportion to the other topics covered.  1/69th of effective self-defense is physical offense techniques!  LOL  Well, sort of.  Anyway, Charles is alone on this episode so brace yourselves for a lecture way over an hour again.  Charles reviews 12 physical tactics that can be used to cause emergency room level injuries to your assailant in order for you to escape or to stop the threat.  This episode goes very well with episode 024 in which we discuss Non-Combative Techniques, and episode 042 where we talk about defensive / protective techniques.  With the 024, 042, 069 episode combo, you should have generally all the techniques you will ever need... besides specialized scenarios.  So there you go all you technique fanatics out there.  Sorry, but in the scope of violence response training, physical techniques aren't that big in the picture.  And remember, your fighting spirit and righteous rage will determine about 60 to 70% of how effective your physical fighting back response will be.  only about a third of your physical response success is based on your knowledge and mastery of particular physical techniques.  Let me know what you think guys!

We talk about the 30 warning signs of an abusive boyfriend or husband.  Not all abusive partners have these signs, but most do.  And abusers don't need to have all of these characteristics either.  However, if a partner does show several of these traits, it should raise your concern.  If they show most of these signs, that should be a huge red flag.  We use Gavin De Becker's The Gift of Fear book for our discussion reference here.  This is a highly effective book that everyone should read... literally!  We apologize for the lower then normal sound quality on this episode.  We recorded it while driving in our car to a SuperBowl party.  We wanted to make sure you got your episode this week, so we squeezed it in when we could.  Don't forget to listen after the ending music for a bonus 11 minutes of an email conversation.  Please feel free to contact us at anytime... we love hearing from our listeners!

We pick off wear episode 066 left off.  This is a continuation of the police traffic stop topic from last episode.  We also talk about police interactions in general, and what to do if a tricky police officer is trying to get into your house without proper authorization.  The ultimate goal being how to ensure that your legal rights aren't violated in interactions with the police.  Not that the police are bad or the enemy, but they are going to play the game towards their agenda, and knowing the rules allows you to keep them in check when they bend the rules.  Please feel free to contact us with the below information.  We love hearing from our listeners!