It isn't often that a politician admits he was wrong. It is even less often that a politician acts on his new convictions so immediately and publicly as has Rep. Michael DeBose (D - Cleveland) in the weeks since he was made victim by armed criminals in an attempted mugging last month.

Buckeye Firearms Association is pleased to report that on June 8th and 9th, Rep. Debose, his wife and 10 neighbors/members of his church attended
firearms training.

Click 'Read More' for the entire story.

The classroom portion of the
training was held at the Commence Firearms Training Academy in
Brooklyn, OH. The range time was held at the historic Gray's Armory near
Jacob's Field in downtown Cleveland.

Commence Firearms Training Academy donated the class
room space, the range time, eye and ear protection and two instructors
present at most times to help with the instruction. Buckeye Firearms
Association donated the organization and legwork needed to set up the
class; class materials, consisting of the NRA program
materials and the The Ohio Guide to Firearm Laws; two instructors; targets
and .22 caliber ammunition. CorBon ammunition donated cases of ammo in
.38 special, 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. Mark Walters, a.k.a the Ordinary guy, of USCCA Magazine secured the ammo donation and was also a huge help in coordinating this event. All instructors donated the use of
firearms from their personal collections.

Class began Friday night at 6 p.m. and concluded at 10 p.m. Jim Wilson
was the lead instructor, and the Commence Fire instructors assisted as
all the guns and their parts were covered - sight picture, stance, safety,
dry fire, loading, unloading etc.

Saturday class began at 12:30 with Jim and the Commence Fire
instructors conducting a review, and then the NRA Personal Protection In The Home video was shown. At the end of the movie, Buckeye Firearms Association Legislative Chair Ken Hanson covered the mindset, physical reactions, physiological
reactions, levels of awareness and moral issues related to self-defense. Jim then conducted his
test review and gave the test and evaluation. After the test Hanson did two hours of legal instruction. The class then adjourned to the range for two hours of shooting instruction.

The class began with the .22 calibers, moved up to .38 spl, then to 9mm, then graduated to shooter's choice. (For those who enjoy a bit of historical ambience - the range at Gray's Armory is a very neat old building). Class concluded at 9 p.m. After cleanup, students and instructors left for home after 9:30.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer sent a photographer to the range for the whole two hours and we are told the newspaper will be doing a feature
story on it. The photographer was a young man who was quite gracious and open-minded. He opened up
towards the end, and was taking candid photos for people, getting email
addresses, promising to send copies, helping ladies climb the stairs, etc.

This was a group of students who have lived in dangerous
neighborhoods. They have
supported gun bans, gun registration etc. because that is what they were
expected to do. But get them talking about it, and they are scared and want
to defend themselves. Like most students who take a concealed carry course, they became outraged with Ohio's inane laws after receiving the instruction. Like most new students, they had no idea. At several points someone would ask, "wait a minute, you mean I can get sued for shooting
someone in self defense/I can get arrested for just trying to transport an unloaded
gun/we are the only state that does this?"

This group of students understands mindset, because they know their neighborhood's "thug culture", as the Plain Dealer's Regina Brett has termed it, has the predator mindset. They understand
that their attacker already has the will to live and do whatever it takes.
They understand they do not have that same advantage, and need to look
to change how they think in order to survive.

During the class, Rep. DeBose shared the details of his encounter, which have been covered
elsewhere. The instructors used it as a case study. He was in condition
yellow/aware, because he was walking and saw the car pull up and knew
this was potentially a problem. He went to condition
orange/alert, because they got out of the car and were coming
towards him. He initially talked to them, but when they crossed over
his action threshold, by starting to pull a gun, he went to alarm/red
and implemented his plan, which was running away. His tearful wife had to leave
the classroom during this discussion because she found it too emotionally stressful to
re-live it. Instructors pointed out how Rep. DeBose,
without even being trained, already had the proper mindset, and now they
were just putting a few more tools in his toolbox to use in the future,
and that at some point in the future running away still might be the
appropriate response.

Just as he has been with the media, Rep. DeBose was very forthcoming, saying he did not ever
want to be in a position again where he had no alternatives available to
him. He said he feels "strange" saying that he wants to be able to react
in those situations, kind of like he is advocating violence. There was continued discussion about how wanting to protect yourself is not violent, and then discussion
about how the the warrior mentality is becoming endangered. The class instructors talked about how
aggression was not the goal, but rather that we should be somewhere between aggression and
submission. (You can live your life normally and be part of a community,
but flip a switch and become the baddest dog in the fight if forced to defend yourself,
then try to go back to normal). The instructors pointed out that today's children are not
learning this mindset, and we are
in essence raising a generation of victims. Finally, the instructors encouraged them that it was
OK and normal to think and feel the way they did, and to talk to their
community about it and the choices they have decided to make.

At several points Rep. DeBose and others expressed their thanks to
everyone for doing this class, and relaying how much they learned, how interesting they found it to be, how eye-opening it was, etc. At one point Rep. DeBose noted that he had 25 people in his
community who thought the way he did, but he couldn't get them all in the
class. Mr. Hanson told him that it was a problem with training in general - that in addition to having one of the most time-consuming training requirements in the nation, instructors are constrained by their facilities and time, most instructors have full time jobs and teach because they believe in it, not because they make money.

This was a tremendous outreach endeavor. This was a group of individuals that the pro-gun community would have never, in a million years
and a million dollars of mailings, have reached. Twelve-plus hours of instruction, and they are
now ambassadors for self-defense in their community forever. The next time they are at
a function and someone spouts some anti-self-defense Toby Hoover-style nonsense, it will be no surprise if several from this group call them on it. They really do think a lot like us, they've just been afraid to express it.

Not anymore.

Look for further updates on this story in Concealed Carry magazine. Subscribe today to continue following this important and interesting story.