The way of the gun is for those who wish to do more than "just shoot." It is for those who wish to be able to survive modern conflict. It is the modern "martial art" of armed conflict.
1. Realize you are a martial artist. If the Samurai class still existed they would use modern day firearms. The largest Samurai battle (Sekigahara 1600) was decided by firearms. It was firearms that were the deciding factor and allowed a decisive victory that unified Japan under a single ruler, the Shogun, ending almost 500 years of civil war.
2. Train as a martial artist. The person who buys a gun and puts it in the nightstand or glove compartment and "believes" he is prepared for personal defense is as naive as a person who buys a book on "karate" and commits a few moves to memory and thinks they can now fight. The martial artist is the person who raises his personal level of skill above those who would normally prevail by training harder than they do. Only in this way can you hope to defeat a superior adversary.
3. Realize the odds. Survival in armed combat is NOT a 50/50 situation. Your odds are 1:3 that you will NOT survive. There are 3 basic outcomes: 1. You kill your attacker, 2. Your attacker kills you or 3. You both die. Only superior levels of skill and training will increase your chances of survival. To win you must train to win. To defeat stronger ooponents you must train to defeat stronger opponnents.
4. There is no "one way." Just as their is no "correct path" to the top of the mountain there is more than one method of armed combat. While there may be some methods that are "more practical" or "more efficient" they are usually still subject to circumstances which are almost always a variable. A martial artist should seek to know "many ways" so as to be adaptable.
5. Learn what is useful and make it your own. Experts and their methods vary almost from man to man. This does NOT make anyone necessarily "more expert" than the next. One should be mindful that a practical method which is NOT suited to you is NOT useful to you. Your goal should be to learn the best methods that work for you. However, be careful of adopting methods that may be particularly suited to you that ARE NOT practical or effective.
6. Practiced basics defeat advanced technique. While advanced training and skill are valuable and desired a strong foundation of practiced basics is preferred. The basic elements of drawing a weapon, sighting your target and basic reloading skills are far more important than cover to cover drills and ninja rolls with reloads. The most important thing in armed combat is to get your weapon on target and eliminate the threat. Everything else is secondary or auxillary to those skills.
7. Train the body not the mind. Most students will understand a skill the first time it is explained to them. They will comprehend and grasp what is trying to be accomplished with a given technique or manuever. The martial artists realizes this is simply not enough. The body must be trained through excessive repetition to perform the skill WITHOUT the mind. The skills must be repeated constantly until they become conditioned response performed with acquired muscle memory. Only in this way will the mind be free to let a martial artist adapt to a situation and perform unencumbered.
8. Realize armed conflict is usually brief and terrible. Few things happen as expected and predictions are almost impossible. Only superior levels of training, with a strong foundation of basics, will let a fighter encounter the unexpected, adapt and prevail. There simply won't be time to adopt a Beta mindset and go "Zen" in most conflicts. Also the deciding factors that separate winning from losing an armed engagement are often fractions of a second (much like Olympic performances) and small errors change everything. Armed conflict is usually not terribly forgiving.
9. The weapons you have NOW are more important than the ones you hope to obtain "one day." If armed conflict happened NOW you will be fighting with what you have so learn to use it. Also remember that name brands won't save you. A person who is well trained and skilled with a Springfield XD will generally always prevail against a person who simply "carries" a HK, SIG or Kimber. Just as swords made by famous smiths were no guarantee for ancient Samurai in the past, your gear alone is no guarantee of victory today. It is skill and training that decides life and death.
First primary skill training: Learn to draw your weapon, acquire your target and put rounds on your target. Do this above all else. Thousands and thousands of rounds. If this is not practiced, efficient and effortless you have nothing.
This is your most important basic skill. It should occupy all your time.
O yasumi nasai.