Paul Harrell, a well-known firearm instructor and U.S. Army and Marine Corps vet, has died of pancreatic cancer. The announcement came via a video titled “I’m Dead.” It was filmed in early winter 2023; Harrell’s death didn’t arrive until early September 2024.
The video is moving: a middle-aged man sitting in the midst of the austere American West sharing the details of his now-certain mortality. He knew his killer’s face, and it was only the date of their meeting that was still to be determined. For a man who’d trained his whole adult life to defend himself and others against external threats as well as the internal dangers of inattentiveness and complacency, there was an additional layer of betrayal. Discussing the video with a coworker, we wondered at the humility it would take to produce such a thing — how he could publicly acknowledge that the world would continue on without him amidst the personal tragedy of an abrogated future.
We’ve lost that rare teacher who mastered his craft and found it a joy to share what he had learned in a format digestible for the novice and compelling for the experienced. Harrell was the man that Second Amendment advocates hope all firearm owners will aspire to be: practical, good-natured, and, if needs be, deadly.
R.I.P., Mr. Harrell.