Customer Reviews

Thank God I Had a Gun: True Accounts of Self-Defense

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a well written book. It reveals much about the criminal attitude, self defense preparedness, the psychological impact of shooting incidents, the aftermath of the incidents, and critical examination of
these incidents. Your mind and body must be prepared if you want to protect yourself from violent
crime. Certain decisions need to be made before you are attacked. You won't have time to engage in
philosophy when only seconds remain for you to act. The incidents reported here are varied enough
to give you some important things to think about. If you are on a search to obtain critical knowledge
about protecting yourself and/or your loved ones and also being a responsible citizen, then this book
is for you. Thanks Chris Bird. Job well done !

In this relatively short (307 pages) book, author Chris Bird has done what the news media has failed to do with all of its massive resources - tell the truth about the incredible effectiveness of firearms for self defense.

Rather than revealing the amazing positive statistics and stories of these encounters, the establishment reporters have done just the opposite. They have portrayed a totally one sided picture of the relatively few misuses of guns and ignored the literally millions of protective uses of these weapons by American citizens.

As Mr. Bird states: 'According to various academic studies, each year at least a couple of million ordinary citizens use firearms in response to criminal attack or threat. In only a very small percentage of cases is the gun actually fired.' That is incredible. It is a travesty that this is not broadcast wide and far.

In this volume, the author chronicles the stories of fourteen of these average people who protected themselves and/or others with firearms. The situations and outcomes are vastly different, but there is a common thread: Ordinary people effectively warding off criminal attacks.

Most people in this country have been conditioned to believe that they should simply call the police when in danger and all will be well. This book will help dispel that notion. I highly recommend it. Another one that everyone should read is Dial 911 and Die. This is certainly not for men only. Mr. Bird also cites the research showing that women actually have much more to gain in safety than men by keeping and/or carrying a firearm.

This is a must read for anyone who is concerned about improving his/her own safety as well as that of family members.

This book was recommended by a shooting instructor and it was exactly as he described. This books tells of people that showed/used a gun to diffuse different situations and had very different outcomes. Like most books it has ordinary citizens getting through situations just by brandishing a gun. Unlike other books it also shows some of the places where bad things happen to good people. This book was a real eye opener.

Chris Bird has done an excellent! I could not put this book down, very informative, as a female who carry's for protection I was made aware of a few things I had not considered. I would suggest anyone considering having a firearm for protection to read this book, any doubts they may have will be quashed after this read. Overall this book is a definate learning experience, very well researched, excellent!

Thank God I Had a Gun by Chris Bird is a must read for people that think "that only happens to other people." Chris did an outstanding job telling the real life stories of 14 ordinary people that had no idea their day or night would begin or end the way it did. It shows the preparedness of lawabiding citizens to resolve a life threatening situation when as usual, the police are minutes away when seconds count. Budget cuts in city and county governments short staff city police and county sheriff departments. As lawabiding citizens, we must be responsible for our own safety. Chris does an excellent job in pointing that fact out in the book. Great book. I give it 5 stars.

The true accounts presented in "THANK GOD I HAD A GUN" give the reader a keen awareness of the need for self-reliance in a violent confrontation. This type of threat can come so quickly that one has no time to call 911 or wait for a policeman to show up. An attacker can deliver a fatal wound in the time it takes you to grab your cell phone.
Also, read what happens when law enforcement authorities loose control in a city during a natural disaster. What would you do if your home was about to be overrun by thieves while you were still in it? One man tells his story.

Should you own a gun and know how to use it?
Should you get a permit to carry a concealed gun?
This book may help you answer these questions.

I really enjoyed this book and have had several people at my office borrow it and give it rave reviews as well. Chris Bird has done a great job in presenting each of the 14 case studies of real life people whose lives depended on their ability to defend themselves or others in immediate peril.

I like the way Chris presents each case study. You get background on the individual, the community and the area where the incident takes place. As you read this, you get a real sense of what it would have been like to be there. This is helpful to me in thinking through how I might have chosen to respond in a similar situation.

While there is a brief follow-up after each chapter highlighting the legal outcome and evaluating the incident, I would have liked a little more analysis / education.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book. Easy to pick up - hard to put down.

In "Thank God I Had A Gun" author Chris Bird follows up on his highly successful "The Concealed Handgun Manual" and both are must reads for the lawful concealed firearm carrier. In the earlier effort, Bird started many of his chapters with a real life incident which I thought was a captivating technique.

This new narrative was equally riveting with 14 case studies of concealed carry incidents. Bird takes the reader through a brief background of the concealed carrier, a full recount of the details of the incident itself, followed by the aftermath and reflections of those actions.

The recount of the heroic efforts of the Algiers Point neighborhood of New Orleans against the lawlessness following Katrina alone was worth the price of the book.

A five-star effort and I strongly recommend it.

This book opens one's mind to what can happen. Mental preparation is a good thing.

"Thank God I Had a Gun" is the kind of book every patriot should keep on a shelf between his "Red Dawn" DVD and his emergency pants. It's a great collection of stories about how very terrified real-Americans overcame their inbred fear of their swarthy neighbors by shooting them. Some of the tales are heartwarming, like that of pizza deliveryman Ron Honeycutt who stopped a potential mugger with 15 well placed shots to the torso, pausing only to reload once. Others are empowering, like that told by Barbara Thompson who ended after-hour burglaries at her plant nursery by ambushing the burglar and blowing his head clean off.

But, unfortunately, by focusing only on killing potential criminals, this book completely ignores a more common way firearms are used for defense: the impromptu administration of justice against those who've wronged you.

You've heard about these cases. A wife cheats on a fine NRA-supporting gun show enthusiast or he loses his job for engaging in so-called "hate speech" and the patriot attempts to regain his honor by shooting everyone who has even the slightest connection to the source of his shame. There have been at least a dozen incidents of this nature in the last two months alone--more if you look at those resulting in three or less deaths. That's twelve more chapters for the book, and at least two more if you add talk radio/cable news junkies who ambush cops because they are afraid they'll take their guns.

Another piece this book lacks is a how-to section. I mean, hey, there are a lot of us who haven't bagged us a perp yet. Most of our friends have shot at least one person, some, two or three, and we're still waiting for a chance to exercise our Second Amendment rights to the fullest extent. It's embarrassing. We're called "cherry boys" and are the objects of jokes about the hitting power of our loads. We want to be NRA heroes too, but we need a little help getting there. A short, last chapter would have provided that.

Again, although it was a great book, it was also deeply flawed. I'll give it five stars but only because I fear my masculinity would be questioned if i gave it fewer.