A cautionary tale from South Africa that you need to hear…

I want to share a story with you from a friend of mine from South Africa.

I can’t disclose his real name, but let’s call him “John.”

John and his wife, Mary, are in their 50s.  Mary’s a nurse and John works in an office.  They live in a nice middle class neighborhood, go to church once or twice a week, John carries concealed, and try to live relatively boring, safe lives.

What’s amazing is that John shot more people in self defense in 9 months than 99% of police officers ever will.

He wasn’t targeted in any of the cases.

He doesn’t drive a fancy car and he doesn’t wear flashy clothes.

Most of the incidents have involved vehicles…

In one case, one blocked the road and another rear-ended him and multiple guys got out of both cars and started shooting.  He walked away.

In another, he was run off the road and multiple guys got out to attack him.  He walked away.

Another attack happened in his driveway.  He walked away.

Another when he was stopped at an intersection.  He walked away.

The police have never arrived in time to help.

I said John’s neighborhood is nice…it used to be.

Then they started getting 5-10 armed home invasions per week with all of the worst home invasion stories you can imagine happening within a kilometer of where he and his wife slept.

Why did all of this happen?

In short, African refugees south of the Sahara fled to South Africa.  They didn’t have jobs, food, water, or the support of their government so they snuck into South Africa.

Only when they got to South Africa, most didn’t have language skills, job skills, and they didn’t want to assimilate and become South Africans.

Out of desperation, many turned to crime when they felt they had no other option.  They knew the chances of getting caught were almost zero and it was simply a choice between dying of starvation or possibly dying while trying to rob someone.

And they created the very situation that they were trying to run from…only now they were the predators and someone else was the prey.

The situation in South Africa can best be described by a story John told me…

Former US Army Special Forces and Delta Force legend, Larry Vickers, taught a defensive pistol class in South Africa that John attended.

It was made up of civilians.

As is his custom, he asked how many people had used a firearm in a self-defense situation in the past.

Everyone raised their hands. He was taken aback.  That NEVER happens.

With hesitancy in his voice, he asked how many people had used a firearm in self-defense twice.

More than half the class raised their hands.

Finally, he asked how many people had used a firearm in self-defense 3 or more times.

About a quarter of the class raised their hands.

(John had used his firearm 3! times to stop attacks in the previous 9 months)

Larry had never taught a class, outside of VERY high tempo units, where he got this kind of response.

You see, the nature of theft and robbery changed with the influx of foreigners.

Before the influx, robbery was just robbery most of the time.

After the influx, robbery changed to include killing the victim & witnesses way more often.

Just letting the bad guy have your stuff was no longer an option.  Counter assault skills became a matter of life and death.

The wise got serious about safety, security, and effective defense.

And that’s why John uses our training.

Why do I tell you this?

Because we have more potential flashpoints in our country right now than we’ve had in a generation.

Some local…and some national.

Economically, we’ve got a calm before the inevitable storm.

Politically…all I can do is shake my head.  We are quite literally in the middle of a cold war for the survival of what we know as America in addition to cold wars on several fronts with both Russia and China, any of which could go kinetic.

Any one of a dozen factors could be the tipping point that pushes us into chaos…into the same chaos that John and Mary found themselves thrust into in South Africa in the blink of an eye.

The fact is, you probably need to be more prepared than you are.

I’m not talking about anything crazy.

No more crazy than teaching your kids to swim.

But I can guarantee 2 things.

  1. Your gun skills probably aren’t where they need to be to handle the most basic self-defense shooting situation.

It is the nature of man to overestimate our skill with a firearm.  Especially shooters who got an award, medal, or ribbon a decade or more ago.  Shooting is a perishable skill and what you were able to do 5-10 years ago doesn’t mean anything in a self-defense shooting situation today.  It’s not like riding a bike.

For the vast majority of shooters, their carry permit did little more than give them some head knowledge, a plastic card, and a false sense of confidence and ability.

  1. With the right training, it’s WAY quicker, easier, and cheaper than you think to develop gun handling skills that are better than 90% of all shooters in the world.

And it’s been proven by 10s of thousands of shooters who have gone before you.  Shooters like John in South Africa who have stared death in the face and still sleep soundly in their bed at night.

I wish I could tell you if and when you were going to need to have your gun skills up to snuff, but I can’t.  You can’t either.

You may never have a need to use a gun between today and the day you die peacefully in your bed of old age, surrounded by loved ones.

The reality is that violence may happen next month…on the day after the election or on Black Friday.

It could happen next week.

You roll the dice every day, and you don’t get to choose the time and place for a surprise attack.

Which is why the time to prepare is right now.  Not tomorrow.  Not next month.  Right now.

So, if you’ve been waffling about getting started with our training, it’s time to get off the fence and take action.

If you’re just starting out, a great entry point is 21 Day Alpha Shooter & Dry Fire Training Cards and you can get the details on the training and the $141 in bonuses by clicking >HERE<

But if you are interested in the most neurologically advanced gunfight training available today, you need to check out the workshop I’m holding on Thursday by clicking >HERE< now.  There are a couple of instructors with big lists sending their students to sign up for it this week and spots are limited, so please act fast to reserve your spot…there’s no cost, but we have to do the spots by reservation.

 

 

 

 

 

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5 Comments

  • Norman Silva

    Reply Reply April 23, 2020

    Just looking at this story once again, it seems your friend “John” was be-ssing you from watching too much TV or having an overactive imagination. Sounds like a wannabe.

    In all the years I lived in South Africa, I never met anyone that was involved in a shooting, let alone three incidents.

    It seems his story was “made for TV”.

    Americans get starry-eyed with anything to do with “Africa”.

    Too much “Hollywood” in the story.

    • Ox

      Reply Reply April 23, 2020

      Neither “John” nor Larry were B.S.ing. If you will re-read the article, you will see that the events were driven by unique circumstances that happened after a large influx of refugees. “John” and his wife had a very peaceful existence for the 40+ years that they lived in SA before those events happened and never had a need for a firearm or self-defense skills of any kind. So, if “all the years” that you lived in South Africa happened to be before the huge uptick in violence, it would make perfect sense that you had a completely different experience than my friends have had in recent years.

      • Norman Silva

        Reply Reply May 1, 2020

        I was born in Durban, South Africa and am now 69, and living in the States for 21 years. I am an ex-Policeman and ex-military who was involved in the bush war. The crime wasn’t due to a “huge influx of refugees” – the blacks in SA have always been bad when it comes to crime. When Mandela came into power, the crime rate went through the roof. When I left in 1999, SA was the rape capital of the world with a rape every 23 seconds. Today there are something like 57 murders a day. See my previous post on the crime. From the time Mandela took over to the time we left in 1999, there were hijackings and home invasions daily, just in the Johannesburg and Pretoria area. The events were always on the news but we never witnessed any of these crimes taking place and never knew anyone that it had happened to so that is why I said that “John” has an over active imagination – especially in the line “he walked away” – definitely made for TV.

        • Ox

          Reply Reply May 1, 2020

          Norman, it’s amazing how much changed in the decade+ between when you left and when drought, famine, and starvation caused 100,000+ known refugees to relocate to South Africa in addition to the 1+ million asylum seekers. I can see how the realities of today would not match what you experienced up to 1999. It would be like someone being underground for the last 6 months being told what the new reality is like post-COVID…there would be no reason for them to believe it based on their past experiences.

          I wish you the best.

  • Norman Silva

    Reply Reply November 19, 2018

    I am from South Africa and have lived in the States since 1999.

    Before we left, crime was rampant in SA. There was a rape every 23 seconds and hijackings and home invasions were an everyday occurrence.

    From your article, you seem to say there wasn’t much crime until there was an influx of blacks from the North. This is incorrect. The local blacks were committing 99.9% of the crimes when we left and things have just got worse.

    Now there are the murders of farmers going on – hundreds have been killed and the Government is doing nothing about it.

    Since the blacks took over SA, crime has skyrocketed and they didn’t need any help from their Northern brothers.

    Regards,

    Norman Silva.

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