All good advice here. In many conversations about firearms I've quoted most of the article's tenets. I spent a long time (and still do) prior to purchasing my first defensive handgun thinking about the key question: could I take another life to save my own or that of someone I love? To me, that's the first thing anyone should do. It will do more harm than good to bring a gun to a fight and then not be able to pull the trigger - more harm to you, as well as others, since that firearm will likely end up in the hands of one's assailant and then be used to commit other crimes afterward.
Training is expensive (despite the author's inference), but it is an investment that is well worth the time and treasure you put into it. I've been asked, "How much training is enough?" The answer is, it's never enough. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but shooting is a perishable skill and all the "operational" activities the author covers in this article are perishable skills, too. I prove this to myself every time it's been a couple of months in between range sessions.
I still yearn to buy new firearms... because that's what we do
... but these days when I want to drop $600 or more on a new pew, I think about how much training I could get for that money. For the price of a nice Daniel Defense rifle (not that I can afford one!), I could pack up the wife and drive next door to Georgia, pay for the hotel and meals along with the costs of a training session or two with John Lovell (
https://warriorpoetsupplyco.com/train1/) - even if most of his courses are elsewhere now (Immokalee, FL in February?
). I wonder...