Just Read: "Thank God I Had A Gun" by Chris Bird

Just Read: Thank God I Had A Gun: true accounts of self-defense by Chris Bird, 2006, 9780965678452.

Very good. Fourteen stories of self-defense. Bird interviewed most victims and he writes about the event, the victims' training and mindset and any mental trauma they had to overcome afterwards.

The events are told and then analyzed by firearms instructor and journalist Bird and - for me - are great reinforcement and reminders about awareness and training. Two big points that go hand-in-hand are the response time by police - even when they know shots have been fired - and that assailants would continue to move and fight after being mortally wounded.

One incident had a smaller guy, five foot five inches tall, getting robbed in his motel room. The victim shot both robbers with his .45 but still had to physically fight them off after emptying his weapon. One of those robbers died from the wounds which hit center mass. Another incident had a lady in Arlington, TX shooting an home intruder who had been fleeing from police. Even with cops actively searching her neighborhood it took six and half minutes for them to arrive at her home. Never mind the debacle in New Orleans after Katrina when the cops were nowhere to be found, or rural areas where the Sheriff's office has a slow response time.

Shot placement and good defensive rounds rule.