COMMON SENSE?

"Common sense is not very common."

• Supposedly this is a Danish saying. It certainly rings true. Why then is it called "common" sense?
• I believe the term comes from the Middle Ages when only the clergy and the nobility had formal education. Thus, the wisdom of the common people would be based on sense and experience, not on book learning.
• Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that all common people, nor all educated people, use sense. My own experience with educated people I have observed, which does not appear to be unique, is that many get so caught up in their knowledge that they don't always use the ruler of common sense to measure what they say or accept as truth.

Specialized knowledge versus common sense?

• You must be interested in furthering your own specialized knowledge about the defensive use of firearms or you wouldn't be reading this.
• Who would contribute to your specialized knowledge or training? Here are a few types of people:
  1. People who write for a living. These people may have varying degrees of expertise. They may also have to have an article ready to meet a deadline, regardless of whether they have anything worthwhile to say this month.
  2. People who teach for a living. These people may have varying degrees of expertise and, more importantly, may or may not be wed to a certain "method" which they teach.
  3. People who have some internal motivation (as opposed to external, like money) to put forth their ideas, but who don't have any real credentials to do so.
  4. People who have some internal motivation to put forth their ideas and have some verifiable credentials to bolster their position.
• Is any one of these groups more reliable than another? As a group, I don't believe so. That's where your common sense comes in. You must evaluate each person who would shape your mind and skills. Do their teachings or ideas make sense? Will their ideas increase the likelihood that you will prevail when attacked? Do they have some sort of credentials that will stand up to legal scrutiny if their teachings land you in court?
• Most importantly, just because a person makes sense some of the time does not guarantee that they will make sense all of the time. It's kind of like that famous credit card - when it comes to common sense, don't leave home without it!

First the website, now the book - DEFENSIVE USE OF FIREARMS Click image for further details