Key Insight
If you are solely relying on law enforcement to protect you, even though they can be very effective, this is not sufficient in our current society. People must be proactive to do their part to protect themselves and their loved ones.
You must be responsible for your own safety!
About Chris Bird
I was born and raised in the United Kingdom and lived there for my first 24 years. I grew up on a diet of television westerns – Gunsmoke, Cheyenne and Have Gun Will Travel. I must have seen The Magnificent Seven a dozen times. I was always interested in shooting – particularly handguns. I shot rifles in competition at school and later bought two Smith & Wesson revolvers. You could own handguns in Britain in those days provided you belonged to a shooting club. Self defense was not considered a good reason to own a gun. There was very little instruction in the sort of handgun shooting I wanted to do so I turned to books. Sixguns by Elmer Keith and Fast & Fancy Revolver Shooting by Ed McGivern were my bibles.
I joined the British Army and was commissioned as a short service officer into the Royal Military Police, serving mostly in Berlin and West Germany. Because of my interest in shooting, I became weapon training officer for my unit almost by default.
After leaving the Military, it was natural that I migrated to Canada and worked as a cowboy in British Columbia. I also worked as a newspaper and television reporter, and as a private investigator.
I met my wife in Vancouver, a Texan, and we moved to San Antonio. That changed everything. In Texas using guns in self-defense is considered normal. Anita told me that when she was 17, she was stuck in traffic in a park in San Antonio when a man opened the car door and got into the passenger seat of her Mercedes. She had a small semi-automatic with her. She laid it across the arm holding the steering wheel and said: “I’m going to blow your head off.” He must have believed her because without a word he got out of the car and disappeared.
Her story confirmed my belief that guns more often save lives than take them. A gun is the great equalizer particularly for women. Since then I have taken training courses from some of the best self-defense instructors in the country to improve my skills. I have passed on these skills to other ordinary citizens interested in being responsible for their own safety.
