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self, you must recognize that the human
body can react in a number of ways. A
common symptom is nausea, especially
if blood has been spilled. Anyone who
has ever worked in a slaughterhouse
or dressed out his deer as a hunter will
know that it’s not a pleasant smell.
Another reaction, and this may sound
strange, is extreme tiredness. This is
called adrenaline dump, and is the
body’s reaction to the huge amounts
of adrenaline that have been poured
into your bloodstream. You may yawn
uncontrollably, and you could feel very
sleepy. All this is natural, and a quick fix
of caffeine in the form of coffee will often
bring you back to normal.
In this modern, touchy-feely world,
we’re supposed to feel guilty when we
take a human life. After all, doesn’t the
Ten Commandments say, “Thou Shalt
Not Kill”? Actually, no. The original
wording was “Thou Shalt Not Commit
Murder,” but later translations have
changed all this.
You are supposed to suffer from Post
Shooting Trauma. Why? Says who? If, in
your own mind you’re certain that you
had no alternative but to pull the trigger
in order to save a life, why should you
feel any guilt? Sadness maybe, at the
waste of a human life and perhaps sympathy
if he left any relatives who mourn
him.
Guilt? No way! You did nothing wrong!
The only thing you did was to make a
decision to defend yourself and your
family, and that’s nothing to feel guilty
about.
Post Shooting Trauma (PST) is an invention,
dreamed up by psychiatrists in
an attempt to make us come to terms
with our “inner demons.” Let’s face it,
if psychiatry really worked, Hollywood
movie stars wouldn’t have to spend
years (and lots of money) stretched out
on a couch.
The psychiatrists tell us that the
symptoms of PST include (and could
they be trying to plant a subconscious
seed here?):
• Constant worry about the incident.
• Nightmares and bad dreams.
• Withdrawal from loved ones and society.
• Social or sexual dysfunction.
Let's look at all of these symptoms:
Constant worry and preoccupation
with the incident. Well, that’s natural
enough. You’ve just shot someone, possibly
fatally. This is guaranteed to keep
anyone from sleeping. Did you ever
have a near-miss on the freeway late at
night? Your mind keeps running it over
and over as you try and get some sleep.
Nightmares and bad dreams. Once
again, if you do manage to finally get off
to sleep, that’s a perfectly normal reaction.
Withdrawal from loved ones and society.
Let’s face it, you probably won’t be
in the mood for conversation. You will
just want to be left alone for a while to
get over it. We’re told that your friends
and neighbors will be pointing fingers
at you and talking about you. So what!
This is a perfectly natural reaction. They
won’t think any less of you, in fact they’ll
probably be secretly envious. After all,
you’ve faced evil, and you have won.
Social or sexual dysfunction. Maybe,
but only for a short while. You certainly
won’t want to be going out to a ball
game with your friends, or to a party,
and it’s possible that your sex drive will
temporarily be put in neutral.
Well, I’m sorry, but none of these
symptoms sound too bad to me. In fact,
they sound more like the symptoms of
a bad dose of flu! So long as you can
convince yourself that what happened
wasn’t your fault, and that the bad guy
left you no alternative but to shoot him,
the symptoms of PST, if they appear at
all, will disappear in a week or so.
Think about this: in the military, a
soldier in the front line is told to shoot
his country’s enemies. If he does this
enough times, he is awarded a medal.
In WWII, before the pseudo-science of
psychiatry took over the country, America’s
heroes like Audie Murphy, Joe Foss,
and Clarence “Commando” Kelly won
the Medal of Honor for killing our country’s
enemies. They, and thousands of
other unsung heroes, came home from
overseas and simply got on with their
lives. They didn’t need counseling; they
would have scoffed at the thought.
Remember one other thing: there is
now a huge industry comprised of psychiatrists,
psychologists, stress counselors,
and grief counselors. In a crowded
profession, they all want to earn a good
living, and the best way to do this is to
keep their patient lists full by inventing
new mental conditions for them to
treat. One of these conditions is called
PST.
This country seems to be rapidly
turning into a nation of victims always
looking for an instant fix or for someone
to blame for society’s ills. Whatever
happened to good old rugged individualism?
The pioneers who trekked west
didn’t have the supposed advantages of
a host of pill-pushers, stress and grief
counselors, and psychiatrists to help
them cross the plains and mountains.
All they had working for them was courage,
common sense and the determination
to get themselves and their families
safely to their destination.
We are not saying that you should be
proud of the fact that you’ve been forced
to shoot someone. What you did at that
particular moment in time was the only
option you had. You made the choice
between acting like a free American,
risking possible death or serious injury
to you or your family if you resisted, or
acting like a sheep and surrendering
and living in shame for the rest of your
life. n
[ Tony Walker is the author of the critically-acclaimed
book How to Win a
Gunfight, and he also wrote Snides,
the action thriller that introduced ex-
SAS trooper John Pilgrim and his swiftshooting
wife Sally. The new John and
Sally Pilgrim novel, Pilgrim’s Banner,
will be published soon. Find more information
on Tony Walker’s website, www.
johnpilgrimbooks.com. ]
JULY 2008 n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n USCONCEALEDCARRY.COM
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