Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright seems like a pretty levelheaded man and honestly I wish more police officers adopted his way of thinking. Instead of being a self-righteous authoritarian who believes only himself and his selected employees are competent enough to protect the populace Sheriff Write is discussing self-defense with those who don’t carry badges:
Hundreds of people packed a meeting room Monday night to listen to Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright, teachers and officials discuss protection tips, including everything from cutting back bushes around homes to carrying guns.
When Brenda Thornton walked up to a meeting room at the Spartanburg County government office building Monday night, she had to stand outside of the door.
“When I got in here, we couldn’t get in,” she said.
She and others stood outside, but they listened closely to tips about protecting themselves.
“I have always really wanted to have a gun in my car because I travel a lot by myself,” she said.
And when Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright walked in, the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
“I still believe women get your CWP, if that’s what you choose to do, but train yourselves with it,” Wright said.
I’m giving him points not just for recommending people get carry permits but also emphasizing the necessity to train with a the firearm you plan to carry. While carrying a firearm is smart it won’t serve much use if you don’t know how to properly utilize the weapon. Propert utilization requires a great deal of training so that all operations with the firearm are muscle memory. Being in a high-stress situation where your life is on the line is not the time to wonder how to reload the firearm or disengage the manual safety.
More police officers need to follow Sheriff Wright’s lead and properly education people on self-defense. Too many officers seem to believe only trained cops have the ability to defend a life and that attitude needs to be extinguished.