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and Conc Disabled, but not an easy target. Boyles keeps her skills sharp at the range. Disability, Self-D As Dr. Bruce Eimer pointed out in his article, “Coping with Physical Disability in Concealed Carry and Defensive Handgun Training” (CCM February/March 2007), the elderly and people with physical disabilities tend to be victimized by criminals much more frequently than other groups of people. 1 Not only are the disabled more likely to be the victims of criminal attacks, they are also more likely to be the victims of domestic violence and abuse. This includes sexual abuse by hired caretakers and family and friends serving as caretakers. 2 In a horrifying example of abuse toward a person with a disability, The Guardian newspaper of Manchester, England reported in October 2007 that a drunken former soldier urinated on a disabled neighbor who lay dying on the street after a fall. Encouraged by his friends, the soldier first kicked the woman, who had collapsed and hit her head upon falling, in an attempt to get her to awaken. When that action failed to arouse her, he threw a bowl of water on her. Next, he covered her with shaving cream. After none of his actions roused the unconscious woman, the soldier urinated on her. His his friends used a mobile phone to record the entire scene which later appeared on YouTube. 3 According to Randy LaHaie, owner of Protective Strategies, a company that provides personal safety training and consulting services, “Success in self-defense is not winning a fight, but avoiding it.” He says, “The ultimate success in self-defense is when nothing happens.” LaHaie has a philosophy about self-defense: “If you can’t prevent it [violent crime], avoid it. If you can’t avoid it, defuse it. If you can’t defuse it, escape. If you can’t escape, you may have to fight your way out of the situation. If you have to fight, 32 USCONCEALEDCARRY.COM n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n JULY 2008
When choosing a handgun, you must find one you can physically operate. efense, ealed Carry [ B Y C A R O L Y N B O Y L E S ] it will be as a last resort, not a first.” You need to be able to read people and situations, says LaHaie. You need to know what to pay attention to, understand how to pay attention to safetyrelated details, and be able to match the degree of your awareness to your circumstances. He continues by saying you must accept full responsibility for your safety. You must identify situations in your own life that require a higher level of vigilance, build and refine your self-defense maps by continuous learning and analyze the news to familiarize yourself with criminal patterns and factors. You need to practice your observation skills and establish self-defense habits. 4 So how does all this come into play for a disabled person? One of the best ways to avoid becoming the victim of a crime is to be aware of your surroundings at any given time, even in your own home. Situational awareness is even more important for a disabled person because they may not be able to flee. Many of the factors to be considered in protecting yourself from personal harm or from harm to property are different for the disabled. As Dr. Eimer has bought up many times, having a disability brings with it problems a non-disabled person does not have. This affects a person’s ability to accept full responsibility for his or her own safety. A disabled person is more distracted than a non-disabled person. This may be as a result of pain, spasms, medication, financial worries, or other reasons, depending on the disability. A disabled person may not be able to assess a situation and avoid it in the same way a non-disabled person can. Now to my own situation. I have a spinal cord injury in my neck. I am an incomplete quadriplegic. This means the injury affects my entire body. While I do have some feeling and some mobility below the level of the injury, I have very limited range of motion in my neck. I get around using either forearm crutches or a walker. I want to discuss my decision to obtain a concealed carry permit and some of the factors a disabled person needs to consider in selecting a firearm. I live in Arkansas, which is a shall-issue state rather than a may-issue state. A shall-issue state is one where the issuing authority processing the application is required to approve it unless the applicant is disqualified based on the law. 5 If I lived in a may-issue state, I would be worried about being denied a concealed carry permit because I am disabled, especially if the issuing authority had decided it did not want disabled individuals to have concealed carry permits. Given my disability, I realized I had few alternatives to self-defense. I did not want to become a victim. I knew I was at higher risk to be victimized. I knew that crimes in my area were increasing, as a result of meth use and production. I also knew there was insufficient jail space to house all the criminals and that as a result jail was becoming a revolving door JULY 2008 n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n USCONCEALEDCARRY.COM 33
Page 1 and 2: REVIEW! RUGER LCP T H E U LT I M A
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS 14 POCKET PROTECTOR The Ru
Page 6 and 7: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor:
Page 8 and 9: STREET TACTICS Stay back about six
Page 10 and 11: Compare that to looking and shootin
Page 12 and 13: SIG SAUER ® ACADEMY IS “MATCH GR
Page 14 and 15: Pocket Protector: The perfect pocke
Page 16 and 17: majority of owners will likely carr
Page 18 and 19: CCM PROFILE Josh Benson shoots with
Page 20 and 21: Josh fires an AR during the final q
Page 22 and 23: Bare As Comfortable to wear and at
Page 24 and 25: Whatever you do, keep your co your
Page 26 and 27: CONCEALED CARRY SAVES LIVES Part Tw
Page 28: Walther_PPS_GunWOrld 5/27/08 1:27 P
Page 34 and 35: for many criminals. So I decided to
Page 36 and 37: POINT-COUNTERPOINT PHOTO BY OLEG VO
Page 38 and 39: the defender can feel misunderstood
Page 40 and 41: POINT-COUNTERPOINT Post If, in your
Page 42 and 43: FORCE-ON-FORCE NOTEBOOK 42 MOVE! Ge
Page 44: above and right: It is easier to dr
Page 47 and 48: Whoever remains from the panel is a
Page 49 and 50: JPFO LIBERTY CREW TAKE YOUR MONEY B
Page 51 and 52: Tracking target. Ten rounds are sho
Page 53 and 54: paraphrase Clint Smith, when have y
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