I have been fortunate enough to have seen and hear Lt. Dave Grossman in person twice at the Connecticut State Police Academy.  The man is nothing less than inspiring.  The following is a direct quote from his speech on the topic of the importance of the sheepdog.  And it begs the question:  Sheep, Wolf, Or Sheepdog...which are you?

I tried to put things into the perspective of what would I do or hope to do if I find myself an any kind of emergency situation.  When I drop my son off at school, I think for a minute, what if I was in school still and what if while in class I heard gunshots.  I ignore the fact that my son is five and pretend for that moment that I would have the knowledge and experience that I do now. What would I do? As mass casualty incidents are increasing in their frequency and the face of the horrific crimes change, shouldn’t the way respond to them adapt and change also?

Do you know when your neighbors are away without them telling you? I bet you do because as human beings we are inherently able to identify routines. Even if you are not paying attention to them, you recognize them and if you are not cognoscente of it, you have them too.

Every morning you may walk out with your cup of coffee to the end of the driveway and pick up your newspaper. For those that spend their time on their phones, a newspaper is a printed item that tells you what goes on in the world, it’s hand delivered to your home. 😉 Anyway, your neighbor, let’s call him Bill may have the same routine

We have been taught since a young age, as children, by our mothers and fathers, to be nice to people. It’s a fantastic quality to have, but, it also can work against us, in many ways. I have two young boys and yes of course, I teach them to be nice and respectful to people, but, as they get older I will teach them to treat people they way that they are treated. You see as a society made up of mostly “nice people,” we nice people can’t process the concept of the mind of a “mean person.” Our entire lives go against this principle. But, what about those children that weren’t as lucky as we are to have a strong foundation, a parent or mentor of strong mental fortitude and positive self-esteem.  What about the children that are raised by alcoholics, drug addicts, criminals and mentally unstable? Who teaches them to be nice to people? Who teaches them a positive work ethic, structure and a positive self-outlook?

  Our goal has always been to create a learning environment that is welcoming, clean, professional and not intimidating, at all. In 2016 my staff and I wrote our own lesson plan, creating an original pistol permit program that only Prepare To Act offers. Following state guidelines, we wrote the program and submitted it to the Connecticut State Police Special Licensing and Firearms Unit. Once they received all the required information, that reviewed, vetted and approved our curriculum.  We’ve taught nothing since.

The most difficult thing to do to is process exactly what is happening to you or around you when mass chaos surrounds you.  As I began paying more and more attention to these types of incidents, I realized that I consciously had to remember that what I was seeing on the news was not known to the victims that were suffering. Think hard about this. One of the things that we talk about so often is how daily routine can be and often is your worst enemy.  You’re not watching, observing, you’re not looking for a threat, your not present. And why do you think that is? Because, “It can’t happen to me!” 

Yes, Connecticut is a licensed open carry state, if you legally possess that firearm.  We’ve discussed in several of our other blogs what makes you able to legally possess a firearm in Connecticut.  

If you are a valid Connecticut Pistol Permit holder, you are allowed to carry pistols or revolvers, you are allowed to open carry your firearm.  This means that allow places that do not restrict the carrying of firearms, you can safely secure your weapon in any manner that exposes it to the public.