Quotations of Clint Smith

Clint Smith, President and Director of Thunder Ranch®, is a Marine Corps veteran of two infantry and Combined Action Platoon tours in Vietnam. His experience includes seven years as a police officer during which he served as head of the Firearms Training Division as well as being a S.W.A.T. member and precision rifleman.

Mr. Smith is noted for his common sense quotations about guns and personal defense. If you know of a gun quote from Mr. Smith not listed here, send it to us. (But make SURE it's not already listed. Okay?)

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"Beware the man who only has one gun. He probably knows how to use it!"

"An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity."

"A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him 'Why do you carry a 45?' The Ranger responded, 'Because they don't make a 46.'"

"When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away."

"I carry a gun cause a cop is too heavy."

"The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental."

"You cannot save the planet. You may be able to save yourself and your family."

"You have the rest of your life to solve your problems. How long you live depends on how well you do it."

"You can say 'stop' or 'alto' or use any other word you think will work but I've found that a large bore muzzle pointed at someone's head is pretty much the universal language."

"Don't shoot fast, shoot good."

"If you carry a gun, people will call you paranoid. That's ridiculous. If I have a gun, what in the hell do I have to be paranoid for."

"If you're not shootin', you should be loadin'. If you're not loadin, you should be movin', if you're not movin', someone's gonna cut your head off and put it on a stick."

"Make your attacker advance through a wall of bullets. I may get killed with my own gun, but he's gonna have to beat me to death with it, cause it's gonna be empty."

"Don't forget, incoming fire has the right of way."

"Every time I teach a class, I discover I don't know something."

"The two most important rules in a gunfight are: always cheat and always win."

"The handgun would not be my choice of weapon if I knew I was going to a fight. ...I'd choose a rifle, a shotgun, an RPG or an atomic bomb instead."