There are many jobs out there that are hazardous. The obvious like being a police officer, fire fighter, or working construction/around heavy machinery. Different jobs and occupations have different hazards. There’s one thing I’ve learned, you don’t have to be heading down into the coal mines to have a dangerous job. Jobs like taxi or ride share drivers are pretty dangerous.   How about working at a convenience or liquor store? That comes with its perils. But what about other types of jobs like being a real estate agent? Super hazardous actually.

The safety related issues that those in the real estate and property management business face are countless. We can go on and catalog the many ways and circumstances which are hazardous to those in the industry; from private night time showings of vacant properties, to property managers that have to collect late rent payments. No, real estate professionals are not actively working around bulldozers or having to rush into burning buildings, but their business is that of dealing with the public, and in very real, intimate, and personal ways.

I recently caught wind of a class that a colleague of mine said she was going to be teaching on a national level. Fellow United States Concealed Carry Association instructor Amy Lucas announced on social media that she’s been asked to give a nation-wide webinar on safety for real estate professionals. The organization hosting her is the Institute of Real Estate Management and will be offering her class to their membership.

Lucas is no stranger to public safety. She’s a veteran of the Michigan Department of Corrections as both an officer and a trainer. When we chatted the other day she told me it was her time instructing on firearms that she enjoyed the most while with corrections. What she did after her time there made sense, given her zeal for both firearms and training she started her own firearm training company called Steel and Stilettos.

I asked her the how and why of getting into teaching safety to real estate agents. It’s not like her side hustle was selling houses or she had some sort of special interest in the industry. In fact, her side hustle is that of being a private contractor for the US Marshals, attaining serious power-ups in the badassary category. She politely snickered at my comment about being a badass and said in thanking me for the compliment “Oh, I’m so sweet, you wouldn’t even believe it.” I still affirmed that “I don’t want to tangle with you”, as I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t be a formidable opponent to her.

Lucas said she was given an opportunity that she could not turn away. The owner of a real estate office approached her after attending a chamber of commerce meeting.

Look, you know, I have an amazing training room. And it is five stars, we’re talking plush couches and you know, really great desks and tables. I got a huge big screen TV. I’ve got a separate kitchen for you guys to use. I will not charge you anything for this place at any time on the weekends. But would you mind if my agents attend your CPL [Concealed Pistol License] class? At no charge?

From there Lucas started to develop classes that were geared for members of that industry. The real estate game is not known for being overly “pro gun”, not that every industry has to take a stance on every topic (as much as the progressive left convinces us they do). Like most professions your agents, property managers, superintendents, etc. represent the same cross-section of politics and beliefs that our American culture has. Given that, Lucas put together classes that were exclusive of firearm material, as well as having the “gun stuff” available for that audience if requested. She told me:

Now, the real estate industry really doesn’t want you to get involved with the gun portion. So I created the program based on all of the other things except for that. Right? So we can still talk about pepper spray, we can still talk about these different applications or apps that you can use on your phone to track people, to know where your relatives are at all times. They have jewelry that they make now where, well this could be for anybody, but particularly on the real estate [web] sites…they were showing these different pieces of jewelry that you could wear that look very nice, but if you press a button, it alerts 911 and sends them the location. I thought that was amazing. I just did a lot of research and just found, like the best apps that would have worked for realtors, creating that safety plan. And also just building that foundation of the mindset.

The other nuts and bolts behind what Lucas covers she told me revolves around general awareness. Things like Cooper’s Color Code of Awareness. There are so many concepts from the “gun world” that translate easily to the non-gun world which can be applied seamlessly.

From the event flier put out by the Institute of Real Estate Management:

Property Management Professional Safety and Awareness

Date: March 30, 2022 Time: 1:00 PM CST

Best practices for safety

In this presentation, Amy Lucas will walk us through best practices regarding safety protocol while walking our residential and commercial properties. This webinar is intended to bring safety and awareness practices into the forefront of the property management professional’s mind, while allowing them to understand how to avoid or react to threatening situations so that they may stay safe.

Learning Objectives:

• Conflict avoidance
• Understanding situational awareness
• Fight or flight response
• Body language
• Safety tips
• And more

If you’re a member of the real estate industry or know someone that is, more information about the class can be found HERE. It’s crime awareness programs like the one Lucas has created that can act as a gateway drug to the world of firearm use. People not traditionally seeking lethal options may open their eyes a bit more when they’re briefed on using what’s the actual weapon…the human brain. Everything else is just a tool.

What’s Lucas up to next? Hard telling. Or is it? In finishing our conversation, she told me about all kinds of exciting things that are going on and some of which we’ll just have to see how they all pan out. However she did tell me about a recent exciting bit of news. Lucas was brought on by Swanson Media Group as an original contributor and collaborator to their new free online magazine Armed Lifestyle. In the inaugural issue, Lucas covered several awareness related topics (including the Cooper Color Code), proper mentality, what it means to live an “armed lifestyle”, what our body language communicates, and clearly has put her extensive training and knowledge to the page for all to benefit. I imagine she’ll be touching on the real estate safety subject there specifically. Although what she’s already written just in the first issue is pretty universal and not just for “gun people”.

The cross pollination between worlds is what helps win over the hearts and minds of the assuming public. Lucas is another bridge connecting people with the correct mentality and that’s more than half the battle when it comes to the Second Amendment.

Stay safe out there and think before you do!

Check out this video of Lucas talking about her real estate industry centered classes HERE or in the embed below.