By John Corriea
Hi everybody. Today at Active Self-Protection Extra on John's briefs. We are going to finish up our series. We've talked about being a good, sane, sober and moral person, and now it's time to talk about prudent firearms. Legal protection is who I trust to help me after a use of force incident. If you're a firearms legal protection member, I will also be on your team as a consulting expert and you can attend our monthly active self protection training seminars for free. Check out all they offer to their members at the link below. I really appreciate you hanging in there with me for this series. I sure have had a good time kind of talking through some of these issues with you. I think we might have one more after this because I'm going to talk about the difference between this and legal and why that's not part of my definitions.
But we have talked already about how a good person has a heart oriented towards the best of the world around them, towards being a helper and towards engaging other people and ourselves towards the good. We have talked about sane and the ability to connect cause to effect, and the ability to have our views align with reality. Sober we've talked about, and again, sober doesn't mean lack of alcohol. It means thoughtful and it means well encouraged and completely discussed and have thought through moral, of course, living according to the standard of behavior that is the virtues as it were. Now, let's talk about where we are talking now about prudence. And here again, we're not talking about a legal standard that our laws hold us to. Once again, thanks to firearms legal protection for letting me get away from the law here for a little while on this and instead talk about the high standard that I want us to go to. Got a couple definitions here because again, the legal standard is not a prudent person. The legal standard is a reasonable person, and there's a contrast here between reasonable and prudent. So let's talk about what the Black's law dictionary, that's like the old school standard dictionary of legal terms is Black's law dictionary defines reasonable as ordinary or usual average.
Really a great definition here is what is fair, proper, or moderate under the circumstances. When we say what would a reasonable person do? This isn't a person of high caliber, this is kind of your average Joe or Jane. This is the kind of average person with the average amount of care, with an average ability, what would they do then that's reasonable. Whereas if you look at black's law's definition of prudent, it says to use good judgment to be wise, sensible, and reasonably cautious. I think it's kind of interesting there that kind of the reasonable definition sneaks in just a little bit because it's to be cautious but only reasonably cautious, not like hugely cautious. It's not someone who is afraid of their own shadow, but someone who is reasonably cautious, someone who uses good judgment is wise and sensible. So you see those two are quite a bit difference of definition.
Now, of course, we're going to look at definitions. We probably ought to look at Miriam Webster. It's the standard definition and dictionary kind of worldwide. I mean, you could use Cambridge of course too, but Miriam Webster's has a couple of great definitions that I think actually line up with the black's definition very, very well. Number one, that prudence is conduct marked by wisdom or circumspection or discretion. Lemme say that again, marked by wisdom or judiciousness marked by circumspection or discreet. So when someone is prudent, they don't rush out and blow up and share everything that exists in the world there instead, discreet rather than brash. They are wise and judicious rather than foolish. So that's kind of that opposite side. Prudence really I think is a term that can get interchanged a lot for the word wisdom. And now, okay, I'm going to take you where this comes from in our culture.
I'm going to take you back to where this kind of shows up from and for my friends who have any frustration with religion whatsoever and don't want to hear about it, you're going to struggle with this just a little bit because I'm going to take us back to the book of Proverbs. And the book of Proverbs is ancient wisdom, general wisdom, and quite frankly, I don't really care how religious you are. You read the book of Proverbs, you're going to find wisdom there for living. They're not lock solid like unimpeachable promises, but they are general wisdom for everyday life, for good and wise living. That's what Proverbs is. And if you look for the word prudence in the English standard version of the Bible, you're going to actually find it in the entire scriptures. 16 times of those 13 of the 16 are in the book of Proverbs.
Then of course, if you look up the word wisdom in the book of Proverbs, you'll find it 45 times. Now, they're not the same term, they're not the same Hebrew word there. Generally wisdom is Homa. There's several words that get kind of translated prudent, but by those same definitions. So this is where language can get us a little bit because you might have one word in one language, it could translate three or four different semantic ranges in a different language or three or four words in this one language that'll get translated into a single word in the receptor language. This is ology now, so just you're going to have to bear with me on that, but I want to see a couple of instances that I think the concept from self-defense of prudence comes into play, and then we'll talk about applications from there. Number one, Proverbs 22, 3, Proverbs chapter 22, verse three is one that I wish that every self defender would adopt.
And again, this isn't the standard of just reasonableness. This is prudence. It says the prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. So that idea, there's some sanity here, right? Because you see danger, you go, there's something coming in the future. I connect cause and effect, so I'm going to go a different way. However, again, prudence says, Hmm, there is something coming. I'm going to make the smart decision rather than the dumb one here, the simple go on. Even when they see danger, well, yeah, that's danger, but that's not my problem, or it won't happen to me. That's foolish, right? And instead they see, hmm, it's not prudent for me to take that risk and they hide themselves from the danger. If I go back in Proverbs to chapter 10, verse 19, it says, when words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.
You've heard me say many times, A commitment to deescalation, escape and avoidance is prudent. Now, is that reasonable? Do you have to deescalate conflict? Now, I always say in reasonableness, you cannot escalate conflicts, but you don't necessarily have to deescalate a conflict to be justified in the eyes of the law. However, prudent says that if I restrain my lips, if I deescalate a conflict, if possible, right? As much as depends on you, then I am prudent, and that is a better thing. Proverbs 1415, the last one I will get you. The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. So the simple just goes, oh, kind of takes a pollyannish approach, a foolish approach that whatever somebody says, I believe it, and it'll be okay. Hey, this is honestly where the rules of stupid come in, that you don't go stupid places with stupid people at stupid times and do stupid things.
And when you believe you're stupid buddy that everything's going to be okay, well guess what? That's doing stupid things and it is not prudent. So we use the word prudence there. Now, why would we use prudence instead of wisdom? Well, I think they're interchangeable terms in many senses here, and so I wouldn't have any problem using the word wise except for I kind of like that prudent takes that standard above reasonable and also connects our causes and effects, and I think wise does too. I just chose the word prudent. I could just as easily have chosen the word wise, okay? I just chose not to. I like the word prudent. It sounds better. So what does it mean then in our sense to be prudent and how can we apply that into our life? Well, I think a couple of particular instances that come to mind, number one is the rules of stupid.
When we say we don't go stupid places at stupid times with stupid people and do stupid things, and I get pushback on that sometimes, John, I can be out anytime I want and that's not a problem, and I have a right to do that. A hundred percent true. But is it prudent to do that? Is it, is it wise? Is it the right thing to do at that time? And you go, well, I like to go to the club because a club is where all the fun is, but there's a lot of stupid there. Is it prudent to go to the club? Now you might say, Hey, the juice is worth the squeeze. I would just encourage you to think through that. Is it wise and is it prudent for you to be there? Is the juice worth the squeeze in some real sense? Here's another, for instance, I get asked all the time when people ask me about carrying in an environment where they're not supposed to say, for instance, at work, your employee handbook says, no firearms allowed or no weapons allowed something on that line.
And what should I do, John? To me, I always say, listen, this is not a matter of morality in my opinion. You could say it's an issue of morality because you agreed to something in order to take the job. And if you break that knowingly, then you've lied. I think you could say that, but I don't think it's a matter of good evil or sanity, I don't think when you really do need to think soberly through this stuff, I don't know that it's a moral issue, but it's an issue of prudence. And when you look through this issue, you got to say, wait a minute, what's the chances of me getting caught? What's the chances of that ending badly? What's the likely consequence of that ending badly? And what will that mean for my present and my future? Balancing that with, okay, what's the risk and likelihood of me needing that firearm in that particular job?
And if I don't have it on that day, what's the risk? What's the likely outcome? How likely is that to happen? What will happen to my present and my future if I don't have it on that day? All of this then is a risk benefit analysis, and in the end, you make a wise or prudent decision about what's best for you and your family. I could tell you I had a job that didn't have anything in our employee handbook, but there was kind of a couple in senior management that weren't real fans of firearms, and so I knew it could cause me some problems if I carried, but we were in a place and in a time I was in retail management that I felt like I needed to, and so I did, even though I didn't have permission from the company. I did that as a college professor for nine years with permission.
And again, some people would be like, wow, there's young students around and all these things, but it was totally prudent for me to carry there. So that issue definitely comes up. Now, the further issue is breaking the law, right? And of course, I would never in any public forum for sure, encourage you to break the law or to ignore the law because it would be very prudent of me to do so because that could open me up to liability even if I believed that you should. So even if I did believe that you should break the law, I wouldn't certainly tell you to do that. And there is an idea that says, wait a minute, is the juice worth the squeeze in me carrying? That's an issue of prudence now. Now you might say, okay, wait a minute, it's a felony for me to carry in this particular place.
I go to prison for five years and the chances of that happening is much higher than me needing the firearm, and so I'm not going to take the risk. It's a matter of prudence, you might say. On the other hand, huh? Carrying a loaded firearm on my person in this state is a misdemeanor, and if I use my firearm and it's justified conduct, my Supreme Court has said there's no reason to ask a question where the gun came from. And so the juice is kind of worth the squeeze to me, and so I'm going to carry even though it's a misdemeanor for me to do. So that's again, a matter for prudence. I think there is also matters of prudence in terms of is it wise? Is it smart? Is it the best thing to do for me to have a less lethal tool on me?
The answer to that is yes, right? It's the prudent thing to do if you're going to carry a gun four times more likely to have a simple assault come your way rather than an aggravated assault where the use of deadly force would be justified. And therefore, even if you are big strong strapping, you've got good fighting skills, good ground skills and all that stuff, having a long range, I poke like an OC spray is a really good idea. So that's a matter of prudence. Is it wise to have first aid, at least in your car with you? Man, I think in your car is a no-brainer, in my opinion on your person if you can. So you get my point, right? And so there's plenty of things. Wait a minute. I could say we could have prudence to the place even of which gun might I carry?
Which one is going to meet my needs the best? And that need is always going to be met with a trade-off between capacity and capability and portability and concealability. So we're always going to have a trade-off for that, and your situation may be different than my situation. So what's best for you to do with your family, with your particular carry setup, with your particular way of doing business is a matter for prudence. I have my calculus there. You should have your calculus there and how that affects you is different than how it will affect me. So at the end of the day, prudence means that our conduct and our thoughts are marked by wisdom and and discretion. So this is where prudence dictates wisdom of living. Dictates that we follow the rules of stupid wisdom, dictates that we follow a life of deescalation, escape and avoidance, that we avoid stupidity like road rage and stuff like that.
It demands that we really think through and personalize the concepts of where are we willing to carry and what risks are we willing to accept, both pro and con. When will we carry, when will we not? It means that we really think through these issues and we make the best decision, not the decision that maybe we want to, that our emotions say we really want to, but the one that's wise and best in a non self-defense way. I can tell you something like this. Okay, so here's the joke. How do you know somebody's a pilot? They'll tell you, right? So I got my pilot's license last year as part of the pandemic stuff. I just have wanted it for years. I went and got it private pilot, and I've looked at buying an airplane. Well, wait a minute, it's an issue of goodness to buy an airplane.
No. Is it an issue of sanity? It depends on who you ask, right? I connect reality and okay, fine. I don't think it is. Is it an issue that I have flippantly thought of? You can't. It's too expensive. Is it an issue of morality to own an airplane? I don't think so. I mean, you got to get from A to B. It's really, it's a mode of transportation. No different, especially in the small general aviation market than a car. It's just like a fast car that I don't have to worry about driving north and south. I can cut the corners as it were, and I'm traveling for business a lot and all those things. Okay, fine, but is it prudent right now? So in looking at an airplane, almost bought an airplane actually in October, and then when really thinking about it in my worldview again, I do me you do you?
I prayed about it, talked to my mentors about it, and I said, man, I can't borrow money to buy an airplane right now because it wouldn't be prudent in today's world to do so. Airplanes are expensive as all get out. Anything that I want anyways, four seats and relatively quick. And so I didn't buy one and I still don't own one because it's not prudent. Is that a question of morality? No, it's a question of wisdom. Same thing in your self-defense. So here's the thing I want you to do. I want you to think through when you carry and when you don't. From a position of prudence, what does the prudent think for you to do? I want you to absolutely think through and leave me a comment about less lethal tools like an OC spray, a taser, or something like that. Do you carry one? And why your medical equipment? What do you carry and why? When you think all those through, here's the big one, think through the rules of stupid and why have you broken it in the past and whether or not that was prudent. Hope this discussion really helps you.
YouTube Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6xDi-cgzko&list=PLkjkKbdZgxVDVyMvzKn27k3rT7dL25j5D&index=7
Credit: John Corriea, Active Self Protection Extra