It’s date night, the SHTF, but it’s okay, you’re both armed. What now?

It is no longer uncommon for both partners in a relationship to carry a firearm, but the questions that need to be asked are: will they act as a team during a crisis? Do they know what to expect from the other person in a home invasion, carjacking, attempted robbery, or a mass shooting? Do they know how to communicate during a self-defense situation? Can they both deploy and fire their weapons safely without shooting their partner? Have they run through drills for each of these scenarios? Have they even talked about it? I don’t know…have you?

Who is in charge during a crisis?

If you’re my age (don’t ask) the assumption is it will be the man…you know…the BIG guy. The only problem with that strategy is the big guy will be the primary target the perps focus on taking out. Uh oh! The good news is they probably won’t be paying as close attention to the “fairer sex”, giving her an opportunity to deploy her firearm unnoticed. Sounds good, but what does she do then? Where does she stand? Have you practiced defensive positioning, what about tactical movement out of a danger zone?

“Oh man, I just bought the little woman a pistol to shut her up!”

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Boy, that’s a mistake. By not making her an equal self-defense partner you just cut your crisis response resources in half. When you’re lying on the ground bleeding, instead of hearing well-placed fire coming from her handgun, you’ll die knowing you left her alone and vulnerable.

“To be honest, I have no idea what to do.”

Yep, that’s pretty honest, and few people do. There aren’t a lot of couple’s self-defense classes out there, and the ones that do crop up don’t seem to stay in business very long. They can be found using internet searches, but sometimes you have to travel across several states to get to one, and then sell two weapons out of your gun safe to afford them.

There is an alternative…look for information online by searching for couple’s self-defense. I found several good articles in just a few minutes; one was a series by the NRA. And you can use this information to put together a safe training program for you and your’s. You might have older children with firearms training living at home. Instead of a couple, you might end up with a fireteam!

First of all, take each crisis category listed in the first paragraph, and plan a defense strategy. Spend extra time at the range until you are both completely comfortable with whatever you carry. Practice safely deploying your firearms, including in the tight confines of your vehicle with seatbelts fastened.

Whatever you do, do more than you’ve been doing!