You
are not an operator
Operator-speak has become the lingua
franca of the shooting community, and it’s annoying. Here’s the thing: Special
Forces, Delta, Navy SEALs, etc are all super rad dudes – our nation is well
served by this group of steely-eyed killing machines. I sleep quite well at
night knowing that there are some truly scary people out there willing to kill
our nation’s enemies.
But we need to get over the notion
that someone who has spent years kicking down doors is an expert on civilian
concealed carry or home defense simply because they have combat experience.
Yes, that person is quite likely an expert on how to effectively employ deadly
force against a willing and determined foe, but the sort of tactics you’d use
in Afghanistan may not be appropriate in Fishers, IN.
Of course, the civilian shooting
community is ultimately responsible for feeding the frenzy. The concealed carry
explosion has created a massive glut of students looking for someone to teach
them how to use these new tool they’ve acquired, and to be perfectly frank, no
one wants to go to a pistol class called “Effective Use of 911 while hiding
behind your bed.” But if you call that same class “Dynamic Home Security
Solutions” and pad the range time with room clearing drills and unorthodox
shooting positions, it’ll fill right up. Especially if you get a sexy Youtube
video of your students yelling “THREAT” and then pieing a corner while firing
blindly into a room.
Of course, this causes a problem for
me, because I want people to get training. I want everyone who makes the
decision to carry a gun or who owns a gun for home defense to be well versed
and skilled in its use. Because if you someday do need that gun, I want you to
win the fight. No question in my mind that’s what I want. But I also want us to
spend our time and money wisely, and stop using words that don’t make sense.
Your Kel-Tec .32 ACP isn’t a “weapons system”, in fact in Kel-Tec’s case it’s
barely a gun. Your holster and belt isn’t kit, and you probably don’t need to
learn counter vehicle ambush techniques.
I’m not saying don’t do those thing,
because Operator Fantasy Camps are totally rad and quite a bit of fun, but I
don’t want someone to spend $1,000 on one of those courses learning to kick
doors when he’d be better off taking a course that focuses on practical
concealed carry applications. Hence my dilemma – if we accept that in general
training is good, where do we draw the line between “good” and “bad?” Let me
know your thoughts in the comments.
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