Back from the holiday

As we return from another Independence Day holiday, I couldn’t help think about the many things we still had to celebrate without realizing how far we’ve come from the country I knew as a kid.

When I was a kid, not many people thought a thing about seeing me and/or my friends heading out into the woods with a rifle or shotgun. Today, most children don’t have the opportunity to go into the woods or handle a firearm. Instead, they’re dropped off at the mall or relegated to the bedroom with video games.

When I was a kid, not taking off my hat, standing up straight and putting my hand over my heart when the national anthem was played was a good way to either get scolded by the nearest adult, or paddled when my parents found out- or both. Recently, I watched a room full of reporters sit and talk while the national anthem was being sung -by someone they knew- only a few yards away. The staff of the event was already on their feet and had their hands over their hearts- it wasn’t as if they didn’t know better. It was simply a reflection of how disconnected many Americans are from American values.

When I was a kid, the idea that someone would want to take away firearms was ridiculous. Last week, the United States Supreme Court had to rule that the Second Amendment applied to the states as well as the federal government. That ruling only came by a single vote- had it gone the other way, well, you get the picture.

We’ve come a long way- in a very short time- and I don’t feel where we are today would ever be called progress. But here we are- and it’s up to us to figure out how we’re going to cope.

Today, we’ve come to realize that the criminal has the upper hand in many of the situations in which we find ourselves. Not because they’re smarter, but the system has been dumbed-down to prevent offending anyone. If you’re like me, you’re probably offended by that, but it is the way things work today. The squeaky wheels are now steering the vehicle -and it’s difficult to see a positive outcome.

Maybe it’s just me.

Later this week, a new series on personal protections debuts on Spike TV. With that rollout, a huge new viewing audience (100 million households) will start seeing firearms, personal defensive training and the mindset that turns you from a victim into a survivor in a way they’ve never seen before.

It’s also in a broad-form, two-hour long programming block the likes of which not many of us have seen. The programming block is called “Don’t Be a Victim” and it’s the product of a collaboration between Orion Multimedia and a group of firearms and defense instructors, gun companies and accessory manufacturers.

For most of us, it’s an interesting block of programming that looks at the combat mindset – including shooting and personal protection- from an entirely different perspective: a victim’s – the person who may have never considered owning, much using, a firearm for any application.

If the disclaimer at the beginning of the programming doesn’t head them to the gun store, it may send them to the closet to hide until help arrives. It doesn’t sugarcoat the fact that the training they’re about to see is designed to save your life, but may come at the cost of taking another. Many of the other networks that allow firearms programming would get squeamish at such a blunt message.

Throughout the two hours, it’s a non-nonsense approach to the theory that the best way not to get eaten is not to look like food. If you’re wondering who would deliver that message, think Gerald McRaney. He’s a longtime actor who just doesn’t seem to have any other way to present facts than his straight, no-nonsense delivery. He’s the all-business frontman throughout the entire two hours.

Checking out an advance copy, I was occasionally surprised, and generally intrigued at the mix of instruction, reenactments and “infotainment” – a light mix of information and a healthy mix of subliminal advertising messages. It’s safe to say that the companies involved with the block will have healthy top-of-mind awareness with SPIKE viewers.

There are four half-hour shows in the block; each dealing with a specific aspect of, well, how not to be a victim.

The first show, entitled What If? deals with how tragic incidents might have been avoided -had someone been prepared. The initial episode touches on the tragedy of Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas.

On October 16, 1991, a crazy gunman rammed his pickup truck into the front glass windows of the popular lunch spot, jumped out and started shooting. Before police arrived, twenty-two people were killed- making it America’s worst mass-murder.

Through the eyes of survivor Suzanna Gratia-Hupp, it’s a revealing look at how Texas law at that time effectively created a killing field of unarmed victims. It also tells how Gratia-Hupp took that event and learned from it- becoming a Texas legislator and working to help pass firearms laws that gave the right of self-defense back to the citizens.

From there, Because Lives Depend On It, tells the story of how experts and armed citizens train and practice their techniques and tactics in order to turn the tables on bad guys.

The third program Practical Tactical, features instructors giving short instructional sequences wrapped around reenactments and scenarios. It’s a dissection-type teaching, showing the what- and why-aspects of tactical action.

The entire programming block blends in short features like “Predator Stopper”- in effect a primer on a particular firearm and/or ammunition combination (the episode I have featured Ruger’s LCR and Winchester’s PDX-1 ammunition) or “School for Survival” -a handgun and personal protection class.

Show four has my favorite title: Conceal + Carry = Survival, and it follows a class of neophyte shooters through an intensive, five-day class on all aspects of personal defense in life-threatening situations.

The two-hour block is a professional television-style approach to personal defense. As such, there are going to be plenty of opportunities for critics who will dissect the presentation, tactics and instructors used in the show.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise. Since getting more involved in personal defense, competitive shooting and training, I’ve never seen anyone teach anything that someone didn’t criticize. It’s a fact there are as many methods as there are instructors and no one way has the corner of effectiveness any more than one size of pants fits everyone.

Because of that, it’s important to realize that the audience for this show isn’t -us.

It’s the 100 million or so households on Spike who might know a figure-four wrestling hold from cage fighting, but might not know the difference between a semiautomatic pistol and a revolver.

For them, it’s likely going to be intriguing content. Hopefully, it will intrigue them to the point they decide to give shooting a try for themselves. Orion President Chris Dorsey says the goal is to “awaken a massive new, mainstream audience to the need for personal protection products and methods.”

Don’t Be A Victim debuts on Spike beginning next Saturday, July 10, and will run for 26 weeks.

-Jim Shepherd
www.shootingwire.com