Here we go again...

Here we go again...

In a recent Washington Post article, Meg Stone, executive director of IMPACT Boston, took it upon herself to pick on the NRA and our efforts to provide individuals with a platform to do more than just defend their constitutional rights, but to protect themselves from unwanted situations that happen more often than none. That program...Refuse To Be A Victim®

From the very first words of her article, "Morbid Curiosity", it's transparent that Miss Stone holds a biased opinion of the NRA and that she had one agenda - attack the proven and tested methods of a program that has been in existence for over 20 years.

Let's take a look at what the program actually entails...

Refuse To Be A Victim® seminars are taught all over the country by over 7,000 certified instructors. In fact, hundreds of federal, state, and local law enforcement officials across the country have implemented Refuse To Be A Victim® into their crime prevention and community policing initiatives. They've gone through the program, and believe in the program, so they choose to share and spread a safety message as a way to help others, refuse to be a victim. Seminar locations vary depending on the instructor. It certainly was Miss Stone's prerogative to choose a location held at a "firearms school", considering the seminars do not touch upon firearms as a preventative measure for personal safety. 

"The NRA's approach to personal safety assumes crime can be prevented by ever-present fear. The instruction suggest that threats are everywhere beyond our front door, making the advice impractical for anyone interested in leaving her home." 

The real world is a daunting place, and anyone who says otherwise is not accepting of the realities of life. It is not about instilling fear, it's about equipping individuals, men and women, with the knowledge necessary to develop a personal safety strategy and be prepared for any type of situation that may arise. Refuse To Be A Victim® is a positive tool for helping the public be more aware of their surroundings and inform them of situations where they could be victimized. Meg ignored that.

Refuse To Be A Victim® isn't a self-defense course. The fact is made perfectly clear before and during the course. But Miss Stone said it herself, "if we want to prevent the majority of violent crime, we need to equip people with practical self-defense skills rather than irrational paranoia."

Providing people with practical safety skills is what Refuse To Be A Victim® does. Clearly Meg chose to propagate the latter.