I'm a firearms instructor for my local police department, here's a great example of why I feel that nearly 90% of citizens who carry a handgun are going to get themselves killed if they are ever in a real life self defense situation.

Before I begin, I'll state the following:<br><br>1. I'm not a police / LEO "boot licker". I think there a lot of pieces of shit that manage to get themselves onto the force, and they give the rest of us a bad name. I've seen tons of examples of abuse of power, and I've called out fellow officers on such behavior. I don't go "I'm a cop, listen to me". I go "listen to me, I've spent 10 years actually training, and over 100 days a year in formal school and training for the last 10 years of my life".<br><br>2. If you carry a weapon, you should know how to use it. period. If you don't know how to use it, you shouldn't be carrying it.<br><br>I've been a firearms instructor for 6 years now. I've been a full time police officer for 10 years. I used to compete in competitions for the hell of it (3 gun, uspsa, idpa, etc.)<br><br>I carry a Glock 19. I carry it with one in the chamber, and the safety off. I've spent years training, both on my own and with my department, and I know that I can draw and fire my gun safely in a stressful situation. I've been in a life or death situation where I had to draw my gun, and I can tell you from experience that you absolutely need to train for that stress. When I'm off duty, I carry a Glock 43 with one in the chamber and no safety. I know that I can draw it safely, point it at a viable target, and shoot it without hurting myself, an innocent, or an innocent's property. I trust myself to do that. If you carry a firearm, you should have at least a bare minimum of training to do that as well.<br><br>Over the past few days, I've seen a huge surge in "I'm going to buy a gun to protect myself from riots", and it's honestly making me scared to even be out on the streets as a cop. That makes me worried that people are going to end up getting themselves killed in situations they shouldn't be. Here's an example of why.<br><br>A few months ago, one of our adjacent agencies had an OIS (officer involved shooting) that was caught on one of their bodycams. The video itself is extremely intense, and puts into perspective why I'm so worried about untrained people carrying firearms. <br><br>If you watch this video, you'll see the officer is faced with a woman who is armed with a firearm and a knife. The woman tells the cop that she is going to shoot him, and the cop shoots and kills her before she actually does it. The cop was trained in a situation like this, and he identified a threat and neutralized it. The cop didn't even flinch when another officer behind him fired his less-lethal weapon. <br><br>Imagine if this were to happen to you at Walmart, and you had no formal training. You're just some stressed out person with 1-2 days (or hours) of training and a permit to carry.<br><br>Or, if you're on the other side of this and you're an anti-gun person, you're calling for a ban on guns (or less-lethal weapons) because this cop just " murdered " another innocent person.<br><br>Imagine if you're an untrained person who carries a firearm, and you get someone comes up to you, points a gun at you, and says "give me your wallet". If you draw your firearm, you're likely to get yourself killed. If you don't, you're going to give your wallet over. If you do, you're probably going to end up shooting yourself in the leg and the person next to you.<br><br>I don't have a problem with people carrying a firearm, but I have a massive problem with people not taking training seriously, or not seeking training. There are plenty of resources out there that range from cheap to expensive. If you carry a gun (or a less-lethal weapon), you owe it to yourself, your family, your friends, and complete strangers to know how to use it properly.<br><br>Edit: I don't care if you carry condition 1, condition 3, or whatever condition you want to carry. If you're going to carry a gun, you should know how to use it. If you don't know how to use it, you should take some time to learn how to use it. The most important thing is that you know how to safely draw your gun, point it at a viable target, and discharge it without shooting yourself or someone else in the process.