Random Nuclear Strikes

I’ve been enjoying Guns & Ammo’s TV series this year. Guns & Ammo TV in particular underwent a much-needed revamp of their opening sequence and have really changed the pace of the show, with more short subjects and much faster transitions between them. No longer do you have to wait five minutes listening to James & Boddington droning on about what’s on the show this week — now they get it done fast and jump right into the first subject.

Guns & Ammo’s Personal Defense TV, on the other hand, didn’t need to change anything — it’s still great advice, fascinating peeks into various defensive training schools, and lots of food for thought.

I especially enjoy Massad Ayoob’s “Action Plan” segment about halfway through each show. Love him or hate him, he always has plenty of ideas for specific protection tactics you can use in your daily life.

As a kid, I remember watching my Dad use one of those little wooden organizers to sort his pocket change, keys, pocketknife, and other accoutrements after coming home from work, and anticipating the day when I’d be enough of an adult to need to use one myself. Then in the early ’90s I read Ayoob’s book The Truth About Self-Protection and dumped the whole idea.

In the book, Ayoob advocates keeping the clothes you wore that day (or at least your pants) next to the bed at night, with your keys, etc. in the pockets just as they were during the day. That way, in any kind of real or suspected emergency, it’s a matter of seconds to pull on your clothes and know where everything is — no fumbling about in the dark. Plenty of time in the morning to sort your pocket lint and other stuff into a fresh pair of pants for the new day.

It’s good advice, and I’ve been following it for many years now. But Ayoob had a new wrinkle this week in his Personal Defense TV segment on personal protection while staying in a hotel — which could obviously be used at home as well.

If you have a firearm and flashlight with you in your hotel room, where you won’t have something like the Night Sentry, the natural spot to put them is in the bedside drawer. But there’s still an element of fumbling around if you need to get them in darkness.

Instead, Ayoob sets his shoes next to the bed, facing outward as though you were going to step into them after sitting up on the bed — and puts the gun and flashlight in the shoes.

This is a really elegant solution. Hardly any fumbling involved — shoes are easy to distinguish from the floor, after all — and gun and flashlight can be positioned so they’re easily grasped, too.

Just the thing for a nighttime encounter. Still going strong with good practical advice after all these years — thanks, Massad!