Rick’s Firearm Academy of Detroit trains Motown residents to deal with the nation’s third highest crime rate. Rick Ector reckons Black Friday marks the “start of the holiday robbing season.” “People are walking around with large amounts of cash, over-burdened with packages,” Ector tells TTAG. “They’re in the holiday spirit but they’ve lost their situational awareness . . . There are robbers out there staking out the parking lots, just waiting to follow shoppers home.” Rick’s not all that happy about stores that start their Black Friday sales at night, or let them run on long after dark. He trains his concealed carry students to avoid inherently dangerous situations, and deal with them if they arise. “I don’t expect them to master all that ninja stuff: running for cover, shooting while running. But I do believe that a citizen with a gun who trains regularly is much better able to defend themselves from predators. I’d much rather they have a gun than not.”
