The Armed American's Complete Concealed Carry Guide to Effective Self-Defense

For multiple reasons, I decided it was time to own a self defense gun. Not having any experience with guns (ownership, how to shoot, safe gun behavior, etc.), I knew I would need training before I purchased a gun. I went in to a local shooting range and inquired about lessons. Within a week, I received my first private lesson, of just under 3 hours, from a retired former police officer, ex-Marine, and NRA certified instructor. It cost $125, certainly a reasonable fee. He was patient and thorough. But, when finished my lesson, I did not feel I was really ready and not sure of what type of gun to purchase. I did not want to go into gun ownership without feeling 100% ready. I understood that gun ownership was a big responsibility and should not be taken lightly.I found this set of DVDs on Amazon, and while initially thinking it was a lot of money, I realized just two more lessons from my instructor would be $250. So, this was not so expensive, relatively speaking, and would in all probability, be much more thorough. It is approximately 20 hours worth. I decided to try it and am very pleased I took the chance. This instruction was very thorough. As a teacher, I can say that the lessons were very well planned out, in logical step-by-step sequence, and very methodical. One can determine that much time went into planning the whole scope and sequence of the program. This is not haphazard; it is extremely planned out from the introduction to the final chapter. Mr. Kilcherman is a natural teacher with a good speaking voice. There are sufficient visuals to demonstrate each chapter, although more could have made the program a little stronger. I am sure the audience for this type of instructional program comes from all backgrounds and experiences, but I would have liked to have seen some of the lessons, particularly the chapters on the options of ways to conceal carry with various holsters and considerations of gun choice, to have included more information for women gun owners. (We don't wear the same types of clothes as men, particularly with not wearing belts on our pants, and our hands are not as large when making choices on which guns to purchase.) Other than that critique, I would recommend this program for all current and future gun owners, experienced or novice.

I've been an LEO for almost 30 years. No, that doesn't make me perfect or knowledgeable in all aspects of gun carry, but I have been through a lot of training and I have a lot of experience. Even so, I was very impressed with the information presented in The Armed American's Complete Concealed Carry DVD set. I highly recommend it to EVERYONE who plans to, or who is currently, carrying a concealed handgun. I took meticulous notes from watching every second of all the DVDs and I had only one disagreement in opinion, which is regarding why Patrick does not recommend that the Armed Citizen (you and me) not carry, in addition to a handgun, a less-than-lethal weapon. While Patrick contends that effective communication and avoidance skills eliminate the need for carrying a less-than-lethal weapon, I am not in total agreement with him. In reality, the plain truth is that there are just some types of people and situations in which rationalization and avoidance skills will not work. And whenever a physical confrontation does not justify the use of lethal force, I want to be sure that I have a less-than-lethal weapon at the ready to protect myself, my family, and my handgun. Personally, I carry a kubotan at all times. It is blunt at both ends, legal to carry (in my state), and I cannot see how any jury would conclude that it is anything other than a piece of defensive equipment. I would also like to add that the three books Patrick suggested to read are great. I think I liked The Gift of Fear best. I recommend reading The Law of Self Defense by Andrew Branca and Massad Ayoob. Thank you, Patrick.

It's almost hard to not sound like one of the fake reviews that heap a ridicules amount of praise on a mediocre product but here it goes. Unless you've been carrying for years and have been in multiple shootouts there's just no way this series wont provide you with invaluable information and training as to whats really going to happen during an actual self defense situation. The simple factual based approach to concealed carry and the dispersion of myths and popular albeit dangerously far fetched ideas like going out to the range and slowly squeezing out few round at a small circular target that was 25 yards away with a high power handgun like i was doing would make me effective at a situation requiring deadly force. If I had bought this series at the beginning of my concealed carry journey I would not only be a much more effective armed citizen due to the training laid out but also the reality is I would have saved a lot of money by simply not having wasted so much on gear and ammo that wasn't going to be as effective as I thought. If you are serious about concealed carry you really owe it to yourself and to those you may be forced to protect to check out this series. It may seem like a lot for some DVDs but in reality it could actually end up saving you money and when compared to the overall cost of concealed carry equipment it's really not that much...especially when your life and the life of those you care for may depend on it.