"2 is 1 and 1 is none" - Clint Smith

That saying is a famous "Clintism" from Clint Smith at Thunder Ranch. Clint Smith is considered by many to be the top firearms instructor in the country. This particular "Clintism" though has always made a great deal of sense to me. Basically, what he is saying is that any tool you use (be it a gun, knife, flashlight, etc...) is a man made thing and can fail. If you don't have a backup, you having nothing when it fails.

This is one of many reasons I believe anyone who owns a gun for self defense should own more than one gun for self defense. Many years ago, I worked part-time in a very large gun shop. I was talking to one of the other sales staff during a slow period. This guy also worked there part time and his full time job was as a law enforcement officer. He told me a story he had heard from a fellow officer he had met in NYC.

For those of you that don't know, the gun laws in NYC are ridiculously strict. It is very difficult to get a permit to own a handgun, and the process can take many months even if you are finally approved. There was an owner of a small jewelry shop who apparently had been robbed by some gang members on several occasions. He got fed up and applied for a permit to buy a handgun. After about 6 months of red tape, he finally got his permit and bought a handgun. Not long after, a couple of gang bangers tried to rob him again, but this time they got lead instead of gold. It was a perfectly legal, self defense shooting. The gang bangers had him at gun point and he prevailed by pure luck. When the police took his statment, they took the gun as evidence. He pleaded with them that those gang bangers had friends and that was his only gun. It would take months to get another permit and he'd never survive that long. The police had no choice but to take the gun until the DA ruled that it was a self defense shooting. Sure enough, a couple of weeks later, friends of the original robbers showed up and killed ths shop keeper in his store. Think how much different that story would have ended if he had owned more than one gun.

You don't just need a second gun though for an unlikely event like that. What if it is something much less dramatic like one of them breaks. What if one is stolen? What if you find yourself in a fight and your primary gun is wrestled away from you? If you don't have a backup gun, I hope you have your affairs in order.

Here's another scenario to consider... You buy a gun for home protection. You have practiced with it and you feel confident you know how to use it. One night you and your wife and sleeping the sleep of the righteous when you are awoke by the sound of broken glass. You do what most people would do. You tell your wife to dial 911, you grab your gun and you go see where the noise came from. Now, if it was just a limb breaking a window in a storm, you will be fine. If it is a bad guy who flees when he sees you, you will be fine. If it is a bad guy that you manage to defeat in a gun fight, you will be less fine but you will be fine. However, what if you lose? What if the bad guy is faster than you and he kills you or at least injures you badly enough to take you out of the fight? What about your wife now? What about your kids now? If you had the only gun, you just left her unarmed with a pissed off bad guy in the house. If you had two guns, you could have left one with her. Better yet, you shouldn't go clearing a house anyway unless you are going to retrieve a kid, but that is another article.

The point of all this is... there are many many scenarios where one gun is not enough. Since none of us can know what circumstance we will be faced with, we have to prepare for as many of them as we can. You will be much better prepared with at least two guns in your arsenal than you were with one. Remember, 2 is 1 and 1 is none. Thanks for your wisdom Clint.

Stay safe out there... and watch your six.