Skill Set: The Center

Skill Set: The Center

There is a Yeats poem, "The Second Coming," about post WWI years in Europe. In it are these lines: "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, …" As we face times of trouble - individually and as a nation - I want you to consider in these times we are the "center." The only option we have is to "hold" and stand firm.

In a conflict, when someone attacks, if avoidance and escape are not options you are forced to defend. At this point in time you must become the center, controlling the action. Initially you may be in a reactive state; you didn't start the fight. As soon as possible you must force the threat to react to you. This gives you control, and once established you're not giving it up until the fight is over.

Obviously you can't control everything. For example if forced to shoot you don't know how many rounds will need to be fired to stop the threat. But, you can control your marksmanship, ensuring that every trigger press produces an accurate hit. In most situations it's impossible to predict where the confrontation will take place. If you knew that you wouldn't even be there to begin with. You can control the environment by using cover to make it more difficult for the threat(s) to attack.

All of this can only be accomplished if you, the center, are mentally in control of your actions. If all you're doing is reacting, using the primitive part of the brain, your ability to efficiently solve the problem is going to be less than acceptable. To deal with the trouble you have to be thinking. "What am I going to do? What will I do when that doesn't work?" Answering these questions requires remaining calm.

We are also the center of our nation. Things are getting crazy out there. Gun owners, now more than ever, need to hold firm, ensuring that our rights remain secure. We cannot let the outer fringes take command.

There will be all kind of cries for gun control. Many "gun owners," and I'm using the term loosely, have come out publicly for more regulations. I don't think many of us really care what Ashton Kutcher thinks, so don't spend time frettin' over that. Ignore the media. I heard one of them saying that if gun control will save one American's life it's worth consideration. Apply that same logic to cars and swimming pools and we still would save few, if any.

Instead of getting wrapped around the axle about what other people are saying spend your time where it will make a difference. Concentrate on being prepared to handle trouble. Focus on staying in contact with your government representatives at a local, state and federal level. Take other people shooting, showing them that firearms are not evil; there is no animism.

The center must hold.

Tiger McKee is director of Shootrite Firearms Academy,