What is the least useful self-defense advice you have ever heard?

[Mdeng]

"You don't need to aim a shotgun, just point it in the genral direction"

I hear this everytime I am in a gun shop and the sales guy is trying to close the sale on a cheap pump shot gun to someone who knows nothing about how to use one for personal defense. I have even repeated it, that is, before I deceided to get real training. MDENG

 

[LeonCarr]

Just shoot the gun out of his hand.

 

[c919]

From a gun store employee (talking to an older gentleman):

"If anyone is ever coming at you just shoot for the legs. Since you obviously didn't shoot to kill, you're guaranteed not to go to jail."

That was a real tongue biter for me.

 

[sidheshooter]

Mdeng may be the winner, IMHO. That shotgun myth's a classic.

 

[mustang_steve]

I've heard the "shoot to kill" "drag them inside
" and "It's easy, just point and click".

That last one grates on my nerves in a terrible way. It's implying that one can fire a handgun accurately without understanding grip, trigger technique or any of the other variables involved.

 

[BushyGuy]

think like Dirty Harry...

 

[RobMoore]

From an employee at Bass Pro to an elderly woman trying to chose between a revolver and a Glock

"I'd chose the Glock if you're not real familiar with guns. You don't have to clean it or anything, just load it and pull the trigger".

A minute latter I overheard him say "about 1/4 of all Cops are @ssholes". I really felt like going up to him (I was IN UNIFORM standing 10 feet away looking at shotguns) and saying "Do you really think its only a quarter?"

 

[Erik M]

Did you stand up and immediately demand his resignation? Or ask him if he has ethical qualms living a lie?

I agree that you would rather NOT shoot someone, but advising NOT to CC when these people are paying you good money to do just that is the tantamount to a pyramid scheme...

People did disagree; he said that he is only there to do the job that he is being paid to do, i.e. teach you to put lead through paper at 25 feet. He is not a state qualified CCW instructor, just a range manager or whatever the title is. Outside the range, well, all I know is the kind of bumper stickers on his vehicle paint a picture of an individual that many of us would consider elitist-anti.

 

[ChaoSS]

Let's not forget the people who advocate carrying, instead of pepper spray (or where pepper spray is illegal) a can of raid, or a spray bottle with vinegar that's been soaking jalepenos or similar for a long time.

 

[offthepaper]

"Just give them whatever they want, don't resist anything. It might make them mad"

Yeah, right.

 

[ArmedBear]

full bottles of wine...

Reason #23 for carrying a pocket pistol:

I usually don't keep the kind of wine around, that I'd be willing to bust over some guy's head.

 

[ArmedBear]

Oh yeah... One I've seen here.

"So that you don't have spent brass bouncing off the windshield and into your face, use a Taurus Judge for carjacking defense."

If you don't want to hold a semiauto across the front of your body, roughly in front of your face, you REALLY don't want to do that with a large caliber revolver, especially without eye protection.

Hasn't everyone seen the lines of fouling and burn cuts on range sandbags, from people sighting in revolvers?

 

[rbernie]

You don't need to know how to shoot or store your HD weapon - just buy a pump shotgun and rack the forearm on it when you feel threatened. The pure Chuck Norris-like awesomeness of the sound of the pump being cycled will make The Bad Guys soil themselves and run away!

 

[MedWheeler]

"Shoot to slide-lock."

 

[SomeDude]

"Just call the cops"

 

[numaone]

"You don't even need to keep the revolver loaded in your purse; just bring it out when you need it and it will scare away most assailants"- pawn shop gun salesman to woman looking to buy her first gun for self-defense.

 

[BBQLS1]

"A handgun is for shooting your way to your rifle"

Whichever version I think that this saying is idiotic.

Reasoning? I don't think it fits with most SD situations, but from where it came from.... it makes lots of sense to me.

 

[B yond]

" and "It's easy, just point and click".

That last one grates on my nerves in a terrible way. It's implying that one can fire a handgun accurately without understanding grip, trigger technique or any of the other variables involved.

The scary thing is, some people can.

 

[B yond]

The pure Chuck Norris-like awesomeness of the sound of the pump being cycled will make The Bad Guys soil themselves and run away!

I wondered why I keep getting mud-butt at the skeet range.

 

[Shadow 7D]

How about "Keep birdshot in you SD shotgun so you don't have to worry about over penetration" if that slide rack doesn't do the trick

 

[Erik M]

I wondered why I keep getting mud-butt at the skeet range.

Thats what will cause shotguns and assault rifles to be banned someday.

 

[Habeed]

Comment : what % of the time does pumping a shotgun NOT work? What robber out there is going to keep coming if you have a shotgun?

Not saying that you shouldn't train with your weapon, just that it probably is fairly accurate advice.

 

[sheepdog]

...Racking the Slide...

...you can laugh all you want...but those of us who've been out there in the dark alleys and burgled buildings and rowdy bars and tell you that racking a 12 ga. will get some respectful attention have done it and know what we're talking about...I've seen it often and done it often...and seen it cause the power brakes built into Converse tennis shoes to lock up!!!! Does it always work...no...but more often than not...and you don't have to say a word...but don't let the voice of experience(that we gained while you were home asleep in your warm bed) keep you from mocking...that's OK...

 

[03Shadowbob]

Revolvers are useless and at a severe disadvantage.
**Gun store employee advice to a female patron.**

 

[sidheshooter]

Gecko45... heh...

Seriously though, one friend that I trust and respect on the topic of firearms has told of giving someone a case of the 870 shakes by chambering a round. It's probably not a sound that most would want to hear right after illegally hopping a residential fence into a yard that they thought was unoccupied. The truth probably lies in the middle (case-by-case) on this one.