Concealed Carry Report

A few months ago, I attended a conference where I was hoping to learn a thing or two about business, and maybe pass on a few tips of my own.

While there, I met a lot of really great people, but one guy (named Josh) was particularly special.

We were talking over lunch about each of our interests, and I was just fascinated in what he was talking about- mastering social interactions, and reading people’s body-language.

He was talking about using the skills to help people find and be successful with their partners, but as an Armed Citizen, I think you know what my first thoughts were: How these skills could benefit all of us who carry weapons for self-defense.

Imagine being able to read someone’s intentions as they approach you? I think all humans have a certain level of these skills engrained in them from birth- as a survival instinct- but especially for us, it makes a lot of sense to fine-tune them as much as possible.

I asked Josh if he would be willing to share a tip or two with you, and to my delight, he obliged. Josh is a busy, busy guy, but he still took the time to write up a little something, and I’m very pleased to share it with you here today.

Here goes!

The Art of Reading People Like a Book
by Joshua Pellicer

You’re either a future concealed carrier or you currently carry concealed so I already know one thing about you… You feel the most vulnerable right before you fall asleep… Just like I do.

I believe that there are two types of people: people who are either unaware of their own true vulnerability and the people who know that it takes one tiny mistake to end their life or the lives of the people that they love. If you’re in the later, then you’ve done (and still do) everything in your power to recognize, disarm, and otherwise protect yourself and the people around you from threats… But the scariest and most dangerous threats are the ones you never see coming.

About three years after I started studying Kung Fu I noticed that I could only sleep with my feet facing the door… And a knife under my bed. As time went by I’d see the (seemingly harmless) people walking down the street in the middle of the day and I’d image them doing horrible things. The most prominent thing I would imagine would be them attacking me and I would immediately go through a hundred scenarios in my head of exactly how I’d get out of each situation. I had a backup plan for everything…

But the interesting thing was that, when I started imagining people moving in a certain way (when they were ‘attacking’ me in my head) it was eerily accurate when I saw them move later in real life. From the face they made when they were angry down to the way they swung their arms around when they were scared… I imagined it all and everything was perfect.

I knew I didn’t have some super power so I started trying to figure out why I could see this. That’s when I began studying Psychology and Social Dynamics both in and out of college. Everyday. I wanted to know how I do this and, of course, I wanted to know how to do it BETTER.

Who am I?

I’m Joshua Pellicer. I’ve heard that I ‘cracked the code’ of rapport, love, and attraction. I’m a Relationship Expert and I teach how to read and ‘speak’ body language for a living. And having this skill has gotten me in some interesting situations (and, more importantly, out of some serious ones).

So fast forward to a little less than a year ago. I’m teaching courses on Attraction and Rapport in New York City. I’m with my girlfriend at a roof party with a bunch of investment bankers and their friends (incase you don’t know any iBankers, they are probably the mildest people in the universe).

I had honed my body language reading skills to a razor sharp point by now and I was meeting people and being generally social. But there was one guy… I’ll never forget his face… He looked like a man who had seen too much… I could tell that he tried to trust people and he tried to forget something… I could tell because of his eyes.

We have something called “eye accessing cues” that basically, to the trained eye, project out what we are thinking to each and every person who sees us. Most people will look down every once in a while during conversation to access their emotions. It helps them bring forth feelings associated with certain topics. You can try it now actually. Try looking up and thinking of something or someone from your childhood… Make sure you KEEP LOOKING UP. You’ll feel a pull to look down. Then look down and only down… You’ll immediately start feeling all of the associated emotions with that person.

So what does it mean when someone never accesses their emotions or looks down? It either means they’ve been trained not to or they have no emotions associated with people… In other words… They are dissociated and potentially dangerous. These are the kinds of dangerous people that we really fear… Because they seem trust worthy… And you find out they aren’t when they have you tied up in your basement… Which is obviously too late. So I continued with caution.

Now I used to play a game every once in a while where I’d introduce someone that I just met to someone else that I just met and I’d give them both fake jobs… It seems harmless, right? It is, unless you know what you’re doing with it.

So I introduced this guy with no emotions (let’s call him “Jim”) to another guy who was actually completely harmless and I said “Hey man, I want you to meet my friend Jim. Jim’s an FBI agent.” Jim’s eyes widened… He shook the other guy’s hand but he never looked at him. He just stared at me like he had just seen a ghost…

“Here it comes…” I thought. I braced myself in case he decided to do something nuts and just smiled and played dumb. The other guy was still talking to Jim but it was like only Jim and I existed… I knew better than to show him that I was aware of what I did. I just smiled back pleasantly. Then he blinked and, very slightly, under his eye lids, he looked down for a split second…

Gotcha…

He looked up and he said, “Who are you…” I said, “My name is Joshua. Nice to meet you.” I was still playing dumb… Luckily I’m very very good at it

Then he said, “I don’t know how you did that but…” He pulls out his badge and shows me his gun… “I’m an FBI agent. I’ve went undercover for 7 years and infiltrated every drug smuggling, arms dealing, people trafficking, and money laundering circle from Canada to Mexico and from the Atlantic to the Pacific… And no one… HAS EVER… Caught me. I’m responsible for taking over 200 criminals to jail and I was fighting next to them right up until the point when I handed them over. They trusted me with their lives, secrets, everything. And you met me and in 2 minutes you pegged me… In a party… On a roof deck.”

Phew! That was a relief… So he wasn’t a psycho. Now I could relax and drink, sort of. He talked my ear off for the next few hours about things he’s seen and places he’s been. He invited me to come to some training missions with him and some of his Navy Seal buddies… I kindly declined.

It wasn’t eye accessing cues alone that gave me all of the information that I needed to know that this guys was working for the FBI. But with the complete knowledge and understanding of body language and Social Dynamics, you can learn to basically Read the Minds of the people around you.

Knowing this information won’t help with your unexplainable need to sit in the chair that faces the door at every restaurant… But it will help to clear that feeling of helplessness and the fear of naivete about what goes on in the minds of other people.

An armed public is hopeless… But an informed and armed public is unstoppable.

Best,
Joshua Pellicer
joshuapellicer.com

PS. If you want to read a book that helped shape a lot of my knowledge then check out “blink” by Malcolm Gladwell. You can grab a copy of it here:

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

……………………………………………………………….

VERY Interesting stuff- and a BIG thank-you to Josh for writing that up.

–
Tim Schmidt
USCCA Founder

P.S. - Do you know anybody who would JUDGE you for carrying a concealed weapon?

I do… nearly the entire world.

When I first began carrying, I heard a story about someone who had the cops called on him because his gun showed.

I’ve come to learn that this is pretty rare, but it’s such a shame that we have to live in fear of being judged instantly this way.

Here’s what got me thinking about this:

On the USCCA forum today, I saw a thread where someone asked “How many spare magazines is it normal to carry“.

When I read this (and all the kind replies) , I realized that there is no “normal” here, and we don’t judge.

We don’t think you’re weird for carrying one, two, or three guns, and you can carry as many spare magazines as you want.

We understand the armed mentality.

Our community would be a better place with you in it, friend. I hope you’ll join as a full USCCA member today!

Please use the link below to find out more about how to become a member of this family:

=> Become a Member of our Community…

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