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	THIS SITE & ITS LOGO

Why this website?

• This website was created in response to frustration that I had with much of what I had been reading in gun magazines and some of what I saw being taught as defensive firearms training.
• It presents some general points as well as some of the controversial topics in the defensive use of firearms. The Naked Emperor page is devoted mostly to differences in interpretation that I may have with other instructors or with gun writers. I hope that this site facilitates your own evaluation of the issues.
• Unlike a book, a website is easy to modify and to update. This site should be viewed as a work in progress. Visitors are invited to check back periodically. The chart below shows the dates of the latest updates to the various site pages.
• Obviously my opinion will be discernible and I purport to furnish nothing more than my opinion on these pages. You can decide how well founded my beliefs and opinions are.
• This website has grown as intended. During this time I have both developed my own school and published my first book on this subject. I now view the website as part of a quartet that I offer to people who are seriously interested in the use of firearms for self-defense:
  1. The Defensive Use of Firearms website (no charge);
  2. The Defensive Use of Firearms e-mail list (no charge, see below);
  3. The Defensive Use of Firearms book;
  4. Actual training, under the aegis of Defensive Use of Firearms, LLC.

• I maintain an e-mail list which I use primarily to distribute annotated links to news items of interest to gun owners, along with some forwarded material on tactics and defense of our rights, and occasional comments of my own. One list member has described the mailings as a Reader's Digest for gun owners.
• These mailings normally go out on a daily basis, except for days that I am teaching or those rare days when I am away from home.
• If you would like to be added to the list, e-mail me your request.
  • I need a first and last name, as that's how I organize my e-address book.
  • Make sure that a phrase such as "Subscribe to Mailing List" appears in the subject line. The list mailing is a manual process and I receive all my e-mail at this address. I'm not very good at guessing - if you leave the subject line of your e-mail blank, it will be deleted as suspected spam.
  • I will only mail to people who make their own requests - please do not ask me to add friends or relatives to the list.

Why this logo?

• As to the picture, it is a Smith & Wesson Safety Hammerless, Fourth Model, in .38 S&W. While I firmly believe that shotguns and rifles have legitimate defensive roles, I also believe that handguns are Americans' primary defensive firearms.
• I intentionally selected an obsolete firearm for the logo to symbolize my belief that the operator is more crucial than the equipment. In fact, I rank my priorities as follows:
  1. Mental Awareness: Know the current status of your surroundings and its occupants. You should actually be able to avoid most unpleasant encounters.
  2. Mental Preparedness: You must decide in advance what circumstances will trigger your use of deadly force; you cannot wait until you are threatened to make the decision that you will respond with such force. Once you recognize that you have become a target you must become proactive.
  3. Tactics: In the simplest terms, this is using common sense to take any "unfair" advantage which will help you under the circumstances. While most instructors emphasize use of cover, most attacks come at close range, where side-stepping, coupled with deflection of the attack, are the crucial tactics that can give you the time to access your firearm.
  4. Skill: For the shooter this includes being able to place shots where you need them in a reasonable time frame, one-handed, with either hand, if need be. This is but the lowest-common-denominator example.
  5. Choice of Equipment: Last on the list is the actual choice of the gun and its ammunition. It's on the list, but the other issues are more critical.
• In historical point of fact, this particular obsolete firearm was selected because it was obviously designed as a defensive firearm, not a sporting one. Additionally, it is a direct ancestor of the S&W Centennial series, a personal favorite.
• As to the "~spwenger," this site spent its first four and a half years as a "free" site on on EarthLink, where "~spwenger" was part of its URL. This site is now hosted by Web Alaska.
• This website deals with the defensive use of firearms, not their sporting use or their misuse in any form. My fervent desire is that these opinions may help good people prevail against those who would do them harm.

• These pages were designed for viewing on a monitor. I have received a few complaints from people who have trouble reading the light-color text on the black backgrounds. Most browsers have the option to display pages with a default color scheme, instead of the one selected by the person who wrote the web page. Even if you only use that option temporarily, it will allow you to convert viewed pages to black font on a white background or another scheme of your choice. If you do not know how to do this in your browser, try searching for "font" or "color" in its help menu.
• I have also received a few complaints that these pages do not lend themselves to printing legible copies because of the light-color text. Nearly all of the pages are copyrighted. You may print a personal copy of such a page. If your browser does not generate a legible printout, you should also be able adjust your color preferences for printing.

Privacy

• I make no effort to identify or track visitors to this site, by cookies or any other means.
• While I do not knowingly share return addresses from e-mail generated from this site, such as to make comments or ask questions, I cannot preclude monitoring by ISP's and government agencies. Similarly, I cannot resist seizure of my computer by lawful subpoena or warrant.
• If correspondence from you would reveal indictable, illegal activity on your part, I suggest that you reconsider such correspondence. I have no desire to abet such activity nor to become embroiled in your prosecution.

Prefer snail mail?

Stephen P. Wenger P.O.Box 4227 Show Low AZ 85902-4227 U.S.A.

Wouldn't it be great if this many people really read all this stuff?
Tell your friends if you think it's worth reading.

Beyond the website, the book - DEFENSIVE USE OF FIREARMS: Revised and Updated (and now at a lower price) Click image for further details