Craig Douglas served in law enforcement for 21 years, with 11 years in narcotics and two spent as an undercover officer. During his career, Craig had countless encounters with dangerous criminals. While some of those encounters resulted in the use of force, most others ended without violence. Last week, we shared how Craig deploys verbal skills to manage unknown contacts and de-escalate potentially violent encounters – but it doesn’t matter much what you say as a concealed carrier if you aren’t able to say it with confidence.
“If you don’t want to sound panicked,” Craig says, “you can’t be panicked, and you actually have to be in control. Generally, the only way to connote that is if it’s real, and it’s only going to be real if you’ve prepared yourself.”
In a recent podcast, Craig told us that during his career, he’s had violence meted out on him, and he’s meted violence out on other people. “I’ve had enough violence in my life to where I don’t sweat a confrontation,” Craig says. Most concealed carriers don’t have the kind of personal experience with violence that Craig has, but there are ways to develop confidence in your ability to handle violence without getting into street fights with criminals. “The first time to feel that viscerality and that kind of terror is in a safe supportive training environment where it’s a simulation,” Craig says. Becoming a student of the martial arts is a good way to begin...cont'd