Good read from , The Wire

Single Officer Response in Active Shooter Events

 

Our guest author back when he wrote this piece in 2008

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Editor’s Note: As The Tactical Wire approaches our 10th Anniversary of service, we look back in light of recent revelations regarding the Parkland Fla. School shooting. Our own Chuck Haggard was one of the first of our guest commentators when he penned this for our July 3, 2008 edition. We reprint it here for your thought and discussion.

A recent article by law enforcement trainer Ron Borsch sent out via the Force Science Research Center's e-newsletter has generated a great deal of controversy among law enforcement officers and trainers. In the newsletter Borsch advocates a single officer response to active-shooter incidents as being appropriate. Although many trainers feel that a single officer response to an active-shooter incident is never appropriate due to officer safety considerations, I have to strongly disagree.

To help readers evaluate my opinion I should give a bit of my back-ground; I am a police officer with 21 years of service, who has served over 18 years on a busy tactical team, as well as being a firearms and defensive tactics instructor. I'm affiliated with two different training organizations which provide law enforcement use of force and tactical training (including active-shooter response instructor training) to a national and international audience. More importantly, I have responded to active-shooter situations on two occasions in my career; on one of those occasions I was forced by circumstance to go after the shooter by myself.

We as law enforcement officers need to have a clear idea of what the hierarchy of safety needs really is. Officer safety is NOT our first concern, if it were we would either hide out at the police station all day or, better yet, just stay home and not go to work. Police work is not about risk avoidance, it is about risk mitigation while also doing the job we have sworn to do. The hierarchy of needs is, and has always been, that the people we protect come first. We place ourselves in the line of fire to protect the citizens we serve, thus the victims of any crime and the bystanders on scene are the first and second priority of any police response. The safety of the officer is almost always the third place consideration.

With that philosophy in mind, I am a strong advocate for the single officer response as being a valid tactical response in some active-shooter situations. The history of modern active-shooters in the U.S. shows us that the shooter(s) will be killed by the responders, will give up, or will kill themselves when the first hint of tactical pressure is placed upon them. Although not all "shooter" incidents have worked out this way, the vast majority have fallen into one of the three typical end results.

Since response to an active-shooter incident is a race, a race between the responder(s) stopping the shooter and the shooter racking up a greater and greater body count, I strongly advocate that officers should move to contact as quickly as possible, and by themselves if need be, to expedite stopping the shooter from killing more victims.

Is this always a good idea? A resounding "No" would be the answer. In the tactical world there is no tactic that is always appropriate, but few tactics have the word "never" attached to them.

The history of active-shooter incidents is filled with successful examples of single officer (either off-duty or on) or citizen response to a shooter, I will list just a few off the top of my head;

Mall shooting in Kansas City Mo.
Church shooting in Colorado Springs
Trolley Square Mall shooting in Salt Lake City
School shooting at high school in Pearl Miss.
Santee California High School shooting
Fairchild Air Force Base shooting
El Cajon California high school shooting
Dimebag Darrell concert shooting, Columbus Ohio
Topeka KS domestic violence shooter incident

In each of the noted cases, either the shooter was captured or gunned down by the first responding officer or citizen, or the first responder placed enough tactical pressure on the shooter to both stop the killing and allow other officers to finish the job.

Although I have no firsthand experience, I can only imagine that gunning down numerous unarmed people to exact revenge for some perceived slight, and thus fulfilling one's personal revenge fantasy, is a very exciting event. Exciting events tend to bring with them the same baggage to the shooter that officers and armed citizens have to deal with.

Everyone who carries a gun for duty or protection should be aware of the physical and mental aspects of responding to critical incidents. It should suffice to say that such aspects of the human condition as fight or flight response, adrenalin stress, tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, etc. should be well known to any serious student of preparation for combat or self defense.

This knowledge and training can be a very solid advantage to the first responder who is going after an active-shooter as the shooter will very likely not be educated and trained to deal with these aspects of armed conflict. In my opinion, the shooter will very likely never see the first responder coming.

In one of the two active shooter incidents in my town during my career I was part of a very large response to a shooter who had invaded the Federal Building. He was both an active-shooter and an active-bomber as he had built numerous impact detonated pipe bombs.

In this incident the shooter eventually fired from an upper story window at responding officers, then killed himself with a head shot after setting one of the bombs on his body to explode. Note; shooter yet again kills himself as soon as his plan falls apart due to tactical pressure placed on him my first responders.

In my own single officer response, the incident played out as follows:

I was assigned to uniform patrol and was serving as an FTO. I was riding with a rookie partner who had been with me only a few days. My partner had been an EMT and worked for the local ambulance service before being hired by my department. We received a dispatch call reference a domestic incident where the estranged ex was trying to kick in the front door to the residence. The female half had moved in with her parents to get away from the male half. We were about four blocks away when this call came out.

As we pulled up, dispatch advised that they had shots fired on 911. As I bailed out of the car I saw the female half's mother running down the front porch steps. She was holding the right side of her neck with her hands and blood was squirting out from between her fingers. As she ran towards me she was yelling "He's killing the babies, he's killing the babies!"

Any officer placed in this situation has no choice; you have to go, you have to go with the gear you are carrying on your person, and you have to go right now.

As I ran for the front door of the house I yelled at my rookie to render aid as I knew she would bleed out in minutes if not seconds. I knew he could handle the medical issue. I bolted up the steps, pistol in hand, moving as fast as I thought I could engage.

At that time I had been a SWAT team member for several years. I was carrying a brand new high capacity "wonder 9" with another smaller version as a back-up gun, as well as wearing my vest. I shot a lot of IPSC matches and I practiced quite a bit on the side. With my SWAT team experience and firearms skills I hoped for a best case scenario; to catch up to the shooter quickly and gun him down before he saw me coming.

I figured in the worst case I was picking a 50/50 gunfight, an event for which I was hoping to be better prepared and equipped than he was.

As I crossed the porch I could see the shooter through the front door, I went "guns up" on him as I moved forward. He saw me at the same time and ducked to my left, the door frame blocking my view of him. He saw me so quickly as he had been scanning, I believe for the female's sister who had gone into a closet and was hiding. I pushed hard and fast, "pieing" the door as I went, hoping to get a slice of the shooter and to open fire as soon as I had a piece of him available to shoot. I did not need to as the shooter fired a shot into his own head.

The female half and her father were dead, they had suffered head shots. Mom survived as the shooter had pulled the attempted head shot on her and my partner was able to control the bleeding. The female's little sister and the two babies were unharmed.

I have absolutely no doubt at all that if I had not pressured the shooter when I did that he would have killed the babies and the little sister, then finished off mom, before killing himself.

In my case I would have loved to have had a patrol rifle with me, but this was well before patrol rifles were cool, well before Columbine was part of our vocabulary. Even then, if the rifle had not been immediately available to me from a rack in the car it would have been left behind, I did not have time to dig a carbine out of a bag in my patrol car trunk.

We are all colored by our education, training and life experiences. Mine tells me that sometimes a first responder has to act alone to save lives, that there is no time to wait for help, and that this is the only tactical and morally correct thing to do.

I have seen reference to the Beslan incident as an example of how a single officer response is a bad idea. Well, I'm here to tell you that SEALTeam 6 would have been in trouble at Beslan. Even in this extreme example, a single responder quickly laying down fire on the bad guys before then can get their target victims and scene secure would serve to put a monkey wrench in their plan.

In less extreme examples, I have read concern that officer could be ambushed by the shooter. I have two problems with that train of thought; 1. It's never happened (although I know that doesn't mean it could someday) 2. Lying in wait for first responders is NOT active shooting.

If the first responder has no idea where the shooter is and will have to search to find them then a single officer response would not be appropriate. However I strongly feel that if a single officer can see the shooter, or can hear the shots close by, that they should immediately move to contact and engage the shooter. This has been successfully accomplished too many times for anyone to say that it is not a valid tactic.

Chuck Haggard has been a full time law enforcement officer for around three decades, and served his previous department as a firearms and defensive tactics instructor since the late 1980s.  Chuck also served as member of that agency’s tactical team for 17 years.  Chuck is an instructor-trainer for the National Law Enforcement Training Center and an active IDPA and USPSA competitor. After retiring from full time law enforcement, Chuck took on public safety duties at an airport and started his own training company, Agile Training and Consulting.

The Delta Force - "Land Of Wolves" (2018 ᴴᴰ)

Firearm Safety! Get it Right!....Tiger McKee

Skill Set: Get It Right

A mistake with firearms is embarrassing at best, but often times tragic.  As owner of a firearm it’s your responsibility to ensure every action you perform is done safely.  Safety is the result of always using proper technique and when a problem is discovered, correcting it immediately.
In the beginning, when these actions may be new, you should think about how to do something before ever starting.  Go over in your mind what you need to do, visualizing yourself performing the necessary actions.  Before touching the weapon decide where is a safe direction in which to keep the muzzle directed.
“If I did have a negligent discharge what will stop or trap the bullet,” you ask, preventing it from causing any injury.  Look around, taking note where other people are so you don’t muzzle them.  Most rounds will easily punch through interior walls, so this includes people that might be in the same structure as you but not in the same room.  Once you’ve decided what you need to do and calculated how to perform those actions, visualizing them, then you act.
While working with the firearm don’t get into a hurry or be distracted.  Fast will get you into trouble with the opposite gender, motorcycles and guns.  Going slow decreases the chances you’ll make a mistake.  Avoid letting your mind become involved in anything else.  When that firearm is in hand, your sole purpose in life is safety.  If there is something else that needs to be done, secure the weapon first.
When you do make a mistake, stop and make a correction.  Not correcting a mistake immediately increases the chances you’ll do it again.  We tend to get locked into behavior patterns.  It becomes “O.K,” and eventually forms a habit.  You cannot afford bad habits with firearms.  Applying an immediate correction – to yourself or someone else – disrupts the action, both physically and mentally.
When I make a mistake not only is it corrected immediately, but I’ll also perform the corrected action several times – right then and there.  Otherwise it gets planted into my miniature brain as a right or acceptable action.  Don’t let a wrong thought or action go uncorrected, and the best time to correct it is right then and there.
Finally, every time there are firearms present – whether it’s you or someone else handling them – stay serious.  This is not the time to be joking around.  You make sure everyone maintains the proper attitude.  If there is a problem you can’t correct, you should leave, moving to a safe area.  Firearms are lethal weapons, and must be treated accordingly.
The ability to handle a firearm properly is a skill.  It’s developed over time, always using correct techniques, which ensures safety.  Get instruction in how to operate your firearm safely.  Always stay focused, never allowing yourself to become distracted.  Watch yourself, and keep an eye on others. When a mistake is identified correct the problem immediately.  And when you get it right, always congratulate yourself, creating confidence and a positive self-image.
Tiger McKee is director of Shootrite Firearms Academy, 

Concealed Carry

Concealed Carry: Appendix Inside the Waist Band, Trigger Control and Situational Awareness

February 17, 2018 by Robert Johnson 0 Comments

Appendix Inside the Waist Band (AIWB) Carry has become more and more popular as internet personalities use and promote it. The ability to carry concealed is at an all time high, for us good guys, at least. Bad Guys have been doing this forever, and they usually carry stolen guns, which is likely one reason among many that they’re called Bad Guys. Anyway, a lot of good people are actually carrying, and that’s a good thing.

To be cliche, life is short, and we should embrace every day as favorably as we can, and pursue what we enjoy. However, there are days when perhaps, through some twisted, masochistic trait of my own generation, I force myself to watch the trials of the elite out there in Internet Land. Typically, it’s some tool bag with a clever screen name, whining about some microscopic thing that invites his fellow cretins of a similar stripe (also with clever screen names).

My job, at its base level, is to train people to overcome dilemmas when firearms usage is unavoidable, and all avenues exhausted. The pivotal time is at hand, and we must stop the miscreant(s) from harming ourselves, others, and/or the public at large.

Of course, since everyone is not inculcated in a constant bath of high stress, this is when the brain tends to “go Caveman’, and we’re reduced to very base behavior sets. Thus, watching/listening to these people could be considered homework, of a sort. So far, I’ve placated myself into this belief.

Since my state allowed its residents to carry concealed, I’ve had my permit. It’s utterly amazing how many people are at loggerheads about just HOW to carry, WHAT to carry, and so on. I have to be adult enough to recognize that not everyone carries a pistol as part of their daily routine, and then, with bated breath, wade into the nonsense.

One of the carry modes taking up a lot of space is the AIWB. If you don’t know- AIWB is an acronym for Appendix, Inside the Waist Band. Doesn’t that sound tacticool? Anyway, the dilemma of a LOT of these people is about potentially shooting ones self in the Femoral Artery, which turns into a soliloquy to rival Hamlet. They go back and forth, talking themselves into, and out of, this mode of carry. Usually, along the way, the second dilemma rears its ugly head, and that is, to carry chamber hot, or not? Following are one guys observations about things like these. This should be fun.

Let’s start with facts. Each of us is shaped differently, by degrees. Women are shaped differently than men.Each of us will have ideas that others won’t like. The trouble starts when people get a little, shall we say, AGGRESSIVE, about why their way is best, and then make a self inflicted video of themselves perhaps being rather silly about a debate they started themselves.

To carry inside the waistband is a life changing decision- let’s face it. All of your clothing has to be increased in size to accommodate a pistol hiding in the pants…somewhere. Common motions like rapidly squatting, bending, etc. can be challenged by the introduction of this foreign object we’ve decided to tuck into our dungarees.

AIWB people, at least out there in Internet Land, seem fixated on using full size duty pistols, and a few of these pistols are also sporting lights. As a holster maker, I’ve done a few of these, and cringe each time I do.

Let’s realize that not everyone is svelte enough to put a 2 pound gun into our Levi’s- it’s a question of Tactical Girth. I’ve tried it several times, and don’t like it. I prefer Strong Side Hip Carry, just like I carry my duty pistol- economy of motion. To be caught flat footed rooting deeply/semi-controllably with both hands in my pants,trying to access a firearm while keeping a dirtbag from ventilating me seems rather silly at least, and fatal, at most.

Also, look at the majority of these people going on, pouring their hearts out to Internet Land, and you’ll see that by and large, they are of a type. They’re typically blessed with good genetics, a lot of them appear to be physically fit, and it makes me wonder if they had enough attention as children in their formative years. The good news is, thanks to everyone having a palm sized computer now, they can extol the virtues of themselves whenever they want to.

These people need to understand that the clock is ticking for all of us, and that with life comes changes. After the age of 40, the old body just starts to degrade, and trying to keep things going smoothly takes a lot more work. Perhaps the AIWB mode won’t be so groovy then, who knows? If you’re over 40, and still rocking the AIWB carry, hats off to you. If you get the chance, check out the old Western photos of how people concealed revolvers back in the day.

I’ve written like 3 articles for this forum now, so I’m a  Bona Fide pro. This is a silly presumption, is it not? However, just as easily, I could get on my phone and do all sorts of matriculation to post video in Internet Land saying I was indeed a pro of … whatever. In my spastic way, I’m striving for analogy of what chafes my cheeks about this whole AIWB “issue”, whether real or imagined. A lot of these Logo Lovers are toting Glocks when they decry the turbulence that is their life, and their maudlin indecision to make decisions. This greatly offends me, and here are some reasons why.

These guys treat Glocks like the Hot Psycho Girlfriend- that means- hey, this gun is The Stuff, but I’m not sure where I want to hide it, and how I want to feed it- chamber hot, or not? Alas, poor Hamlet! I DO NOT get paid by Glock, I’ve just used and maintained a few hundred of them for the better part of a quarter century.

One of our poor Hamlets was explaining to the world how he had reverted from carrying a striker fired pistol (i.e. Glock), and went back to a Double Action/Single Action trigger set up, as if anyone cared. He was carrying both pistol types AIWB, and had great concern for his Femorals, and the possibility that he could take his family bloodline out of the picture if he got Froggy  Finger on the Bang Switch.

This may be a time for a teaching point, if you don’t know what a DA/SA trigger arrangement is. The idea in a nutshell is that the chamber has a round in it, and things are going wrong. You get the Roscoe out of your pants (in this particular carry choice) and come to bear on the target that has the ability to end your life, or someone elses.

That first trigger press will break the shot at say, 12 pounds. Provided you have presence of mind to ride trigger reset (a skill that takes practice, but is very doable) your follow up shots will break at say 8 pounds. Basically, the first shot takes more poundage, follow up shots, less poundage. Is everyone clear, now? Good.

The DA/SA set up has been around for decades, and you typically find it in service pistols of the military/police flavors. I can say to you that I had this arrangement for a few years in the form of the HK USP 40 caliber arrangement. I could make it work, quite effectively. I can also say to you that for the average person off the street, it’s a flaming nightmare from a teaching /learning perspective -and this is only one guys perspective.

Here is why,whether you want to admit this or not, this type of trigger set up allows you to believe (at some level) that you can have the finger on the trigger, pressing out slack, and if you don’t have to fire, you could save yourself from firing , due to heavy poundage, and, perhaps you target saw the error of his ways, and dropped his gun.This is a foolhardy thought process, at its core. I’ll also step out onto a thin, trembling limb and say this, have you ever noticed the amounts paid in lawsuits versus the dollar amounts spent on training?

Now, let’s introduce the second portion of the nightmare- we know that the brain “goes Caveman” when things start to unravel. We drop into Isosceles- not Frickin Weaver, for Petes sakes, we have blood flooding to our core, yada yada yada. If you feel that the physiological aspects of high stress are worthy of further exploration, leave editorial comments, and we could delve deeper into that. Let’s carry on with nightmare , part Deux, shall we?

Admit to yourself this fact- from a uniformed carry capacity, you don’t exactly over train (typically), and if you carry as a private person….you probably don’t train, either. Not when there are A.D.D. inducing things to do, like watching (insert sport of choice here), spending thousands of dollars on a hobby like golf (nonsense), or thousands more outwitting a crafty creature…like a fish.Or, maybe you’re too busy self-decrying your plethora of problems with your phone, and sharing it with the world out there in Internet Land.

So, you have your DA/SA trigger arrangement, you got the gist of it however long ago, and managed to shoot a qualifying score of whatever dubious demand, and you’ve now convinced yourself that you are the Pistolero of the Tri County Area. Since you’ve got that rocking 6 pack o abs,(carefully concealed by just a light coat of Tactical Girth) you’ve also got the latest/greatest kydex holsterthat is capable of making you 50% better just by sticking it in your pants.

You killed the absolute HELL out of a paper target at 15 feet two years ago (granted, it was paper, and it couldn’t move, because it was stapled down real good). You hit that 3×2 foot piece of paper nearly every time- now granted, the sights are a little bit off, because nearly all of your shots went low left (you’re an awesome Righty, after all), and you’ve got that kick ass DA/SA trigger set up that the (Insert police department/military unit here) uses, and it’s All Good.Besides, we had to get home early that day, because watching cars go around in the same circle, really fast, is utterly rapture-inducing.

If it were possible for both of my triggeer fingers to develop nausea from pecking out this type of hogwash, both would be vomiting, but this is how a LOT of people equate their abilities-part time average shooter (at best) with an over abundance of self inflected Bad Assery.Dangerous.

Back to Hamlet. He’d had a DA/SA trigger- most likely from a former profession. He got on the CCW/Poly pistol bandwagon, and rode it all the way to town. At some point, the festering thoughts of Femoral piercing, and junk shooting started to foment rebellion in his mind, and he said to himself “Self, we should go BACK to that other kind of trigger, you know, that one that absolutely prevents me hurting my little self, while releasing the hounds on these Bad Guys I’m fantasizing of. Both he and Himself were content with that, and he felt that through his epiphany, it should be shared with all who chose to read his tale of convoluted logic.

Back to reality, and Glocks. They have changed the game. If you choose to deny that, fine. I’m a trained, certified Armorer for Glocks, and feel it prudent to share a few truths.Striker fired pistols now appear in many formats by various makers, and what they do, and how they make their bits/pieces work is stunning, I’m sure, but I’m sticking to Glock, because that’s who certifies me. I’ve been an Armorer for other platforms of pistols as well, but, that’s not germane right now.We’re going to show you something through a display that you will perform.

Step 1- take your Glock, and empty it. Visually, verbally,physically verify the damned thing is empty. We need to be absolutely certain the firearm is EMPTY. If you screw this up, someone could die. Things get no simpler than that-no margin for error here.Even better yet- divest yourself of all external factors that might distract you from what is about to happen. That means get rid of the damned phone (no one wants to see you pursing your lips as you gush on about whatever you ate- no one cares. By the way, those photos are not SELFIES- they are LONELIES. If you are so out of touch that you have to take pictures of yourself, or food, reconsider carrying a firearm, at all.

Step 2- We have an empty Glock. Now, really look at the trigger- and note there’s a “tab” in the center. Do NOT touch the tab, and charge the slide- that means , pull the slide to the rear, as if you were chambering a round, which you do not have, because you have no bullets or magazines at all. We are in Learning Mode. We have an empty, charged pistol at this point, and we’ve noticed there’s a “tab” inside the trigger shell. This is our Trigger Safety. While still not touching the Trigger Safety, put both trigger fingers on either side of the Trigger Safety, and pull to the rear as hard as you can. Pull that damn thing back until you feel light headed, and the pistol is shaking in your palsied hands, and what happens?

NOTHING! this is Exhibit A- if you don’t put your booger hook on the Bang Switch until you’re ready to engage, the gun CANNOT fire. Simple. Now, if you get Froggy Fingered (a.k.a. stupid) and initiate the firing sequence, well, the 3 safeties of the Glock will work as designed, and the round will detonate. The gun is an inanimate object, and to function, it needs a stimulus.

You are exactly that- your finger is the  stimulus. If the target is “your junk” when you suffer from mental flatulence, well, hopefully you can diall 911 as you leak out. By the way, you’ve got about 120 seconds. Maybe the Bad Guy won’t rob you as you fade out. (You probably don’t carry a tourniquet, anyway- that pocket is for carrying your phone, after all.) Ergo, it is logical to NOT put the finger on the trigger until you are ready to fire. Maybe someone should make that a rule, or something, and put it out there to the shooting community at large, to get everyone into the proper frame of mind…

Glocks are DAO- the BATF says so. DAO means Double Action Only, and they come from the factory with 5.5 pound triggers. This is good enough, leave it alone. Perhaps you have some other flavor of striker fired pistol, like a Springfield XD-these are considered SAO-or, Single Action Only. It’s really fun to listen to “experts” pontificate about how the XD trigger is “smoother than Glock”.

Well, since it’s a SAO, and a Glock is DAO, it damn well ought to have a smoother trigger. Geez…If you want to see if the same exercise works with your XD,try it. The caveat remains the same, make sure the gun is unloaded, chamber empty,no magazines in the area, and Rock On, Willie.

Back to our Hamlet- ah, the lamentation. I wonder if Hamlet knew any of this, or if he just drank the kool-aid from wherever he’d first came across the DA/SA flavored pistol. His “logic” was first, carry the DA/SA (likely because it was mandated), switch to poly striker (was this a band in the 80’s? Poly Striker? I might have seen them in concert) and somewhere along the line, he had his Epiphany (which he shared, remember?) and went back to DA/SA to preserve “his junk”.

Arguably, he now is carrying a more complicated pistol, and he has to remember that reset thingy to get a lighter series of follow up shots(under excruciating stress). Isn’t it great to live in America, where you can own multiple pistols, and you can fumble around and buy pretty much any trigger set up your little misinformed heart desires? Isn’t this a polite way of saying “do what you want”?

No aggression here, just thought invoking statements designed to spur you into making educated decisions, rather than the rants of a guy who perhaps is missing some pretty pivotal points.But hey, he’s skinny enough to carry his gun AIWB, so that’s awesome, just ask him-never mind, he’ll TELL you.

If you go into concealed carry, you owe it to everyone (those around you too, not just yourself) to explore the various facets of each carry type. This can get expensive, or, you can borrow stuff from peers to try in the name of science. Make your own decisions, and don’t drink the kool-aid of the person you may be borrowing gear from. They may have valuable insights, but, you are the alleged adult who has opted into this very serious endeavor, that carries enormous gravity.Each carry mode has virtues, as well as pitfalls.

Regardless of which mode you choose- there is one constant that you cannot purchase- Situational Awareness.I can say to you that I’ve carried a sidearm to protect myself and others for nearly 3 decades, and a lot of these “experts” who work themselves into a lather with their “tutorials” on the You Tube would definitely have my antennae up, if we occupied  the same space and time. I’m a passionate guy, and I get the concept, but some of these people carry on vociferously, and their eyes are open a little too wide. Some of you understand what that means.

Has Situational Awareness ever really changed? Granted, the tools we use in tandem with it have indeed changed. Holsters only came in leather, once upon a time. Then, nylon was going to save the world. Some embrace change, while others claw against it. Kydex has revolutionized things, and yet there are those who resist it. Are they wrong? I can encourage you to have Awareness, but can I truly teach it? I can have you tell yourself to “watch for things”, but the damned phone will trump my words, nearly every time.

The sad truth is that the phone has become the bubble of the Grass Eater. The analogy of Sheep, Wolves, and Sheep Dogs is at an all time high, and the frickin Sheep Dogs are getting obsessed with the phones, as well. If you’re really invested in the kydex wave, get yourself a holster for your phone, and keep it there.

The flock truly needs you, as now they tend to pay their bills with the phone, and their whole little life is sunk into that collection of parts as they go about their “day” , rapt and absorbed. Who knows, maybe they’re watching a video put out by a misinformed “expert” on how to carry the pistol they’re paying no attention to.

So, what did we learn?

Lots of people are legally carrying today

Lots of these people may not have Situational Awareness

You cannot purchase Situational Awareness (even on your phone, and there’s no app for it)

Everyone is unique, and carry options vary

Tactical Girth, physical size, body shape, age, and potential physical infirmities will dictate what works for you

Your carry mode means Absolute Squat if you do not practice the necessary manipulations dry at home, and hot on a range

If you find yourself in a true gunfight, don’t over analyze shooting your Femorals, or “junk”, (if toting AIWB style)- that’s where training comes into play. If you DO over analyze, it’s okay, because maybe the Bad Guy will shoot either of those areas for you

Being passionate about a topic is fine- with proper knowledge of the topic. Attempted Coercion through hostility is NOT passion

Lots of people carry striker fired pistols, and all stripes of trigger set ups in between

If you don’t press the trigger, the gun won’t go “BANG”

Bonus Item, Number 11- Was Poly Striker really a band? Are you sure?

Featured image courtesy of NightHawk Custom

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Johnson Robert has nearly 3 decades of service in the private security sector and firearms training. His depth experience with firearms includes work as an instructor, armorer, and hobbyist. An avid fan of bending kydex, and building performance firearms, he has a heavy leaning toward the designs of Stoner and Glock.

A Study of Vioence....By Aaron Haskins

Studying Violence | If You Don’t Want to Get Your Ass Kicked…

There are a few things you might ought to do.

Aaron Haskins

Some conversations I’ve been in recently on social media have brought up the question of what’re the most important things to study and train in order to become a proficient civilian combatant—in other words, what should people prioritize if they want to avoid getting their asses kicked in the event of a fight. After some thought, I came up with the following list of seven items. I’ve ordered them deliberately, to some extent the order I’d recommend someone brand new to the field approach and prioritize them. Of course, there’s plenty of room for debate on that subject, and I don’t at all claim this is the definitive list. For example, I left off medical training, which I do consider essential to being a good armed citizen, specifically because that’s for dealing with the effects of a fight rather than helping you during the fight itself. But the list was designed to spark thought and conversation.

So without further ado:

1. If You Don’t Want To Get Your Ass Kicked | Fitness

Three components to this. First, you need a decent enough conditioning level so you’re not gassing out 10 seconds into a fight. Whether or not you can keep going is one of the most decisive factors in an entangled engagement of any sort. Plus it helps when you decide discretion is the better part of valor and it’s time to run away.

Second, you don’t have to be the strongest guy/gal in the world, but stronger is better, especially relative to your opponent. Yes, technique is a thing, but strength can overcome a LOT of shortcomings in technique so long as you’ve got at least SOME technique. A recent article at jiujitsubrotherhood.com pointed out what the author called “the biggest lie in jiu jitsu,” the idea that technique overcomes everything. In fact, a strong fighter with decent technique will generally overcome a weak fighter with excellent technique.

The truth is a strong fighter with decent technique is probably going to beat a weak fighter with excellent technique.

Sure, excellent technique will often beat awful technique regardless of strength, but if you’re in an entangled fight against someone with even a basic level of training strength makes a huge difference. Plus many violent criminal actors are generally looking for a payday and are less likely to target people who don’t look like an easy mark—muscles help you avoid the fight in the first place.

So if you don’t want to get your ass kicked, get in the gym.

How not to get your ass kicked – cardio and strength training is important. You’ve likely heard that before.

2. How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked |Decision-Making and Judgement

The ability to a) recognize indicators that shit is about to go down and b) make good decisions to either avoid the shit in the first place or set yourself up for success when it does go down, is absolutely essential to avoiding getting your ass kicked. The easiest way to win the fight is to not be in the fight. Any time you engage in combat, there is a non-zero possibility you will lose. Any time you’re caught unaware and start at a disadvantage, that possibility goes up dramatically. Learn to recognize pre-violence cues and respond appropriately. ECQC and similar force-on-force scenario training is great for this, supplemented by watching videos of others doing it right and wrong with proper analysis (such as that offered by John Correia at the Active Self Protection channel on YouTube).

So if you don’t want to get your ass kicked, make decisions to avoid it — and pay attention to what is going around you.

Officer Michelle Jeter of the Carthage, TX Police Dept. did not pick up several non-verbal cues of an impending attack during a traffic stop that left her beaten nearly to death on the side of the road. We can learn from this, and other lessons, to pay better attention and to make better decisions.

3. How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked | Aggression and “Violence of Action”

This wins an awful lot of fights even in the absence of any skill whatsoever: The mindset that you WILL win. You don’t want to fight unless you absolutely have to. But if it becomes necessary, you want to win, and to win as quickly as possible. You need to train that mental switch to go from “nice guy” to “turbomurder” the instant you decide there’s no way to avoid this fight (though I’d avoid that phrasing if you have to explain yourself to the authorities).

Hesitation and vacillation can get your ass kicked, or even get you killed.

Be ready to flip the switch if it’s time to flip the switch.

It’s not a natural thing. No one goes from Joe Schmoe to Viking Berserker without planning to do so beforehand. The idea that you’ll just “see red” and become an unstoppable fighting monster is bullshit, and you should feel free to point and laugh at anyone who claims that’s what they do in a fight.

“Be nice, until it’s time not to be nice.” James Dalton

Such a response requires mental preparation well in advance of the fight. Get your mind right and your body will follow. In the immortal words of James Dalton, “Be nice, until it’s time to not be nice.”

So if you don’t want to get your ass kicked, get your mind ready to make that switch.

Tuco may not rank among the great philosophers of the world, but he has this right – don’t posture or pontificate. If it’s time to do work, then get to work.

4. How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked |Unarmed Skills

While the majority of self-defense fights aren’t entangled engagements, a significant number are. There’s no really good dataset, but I’ve heard estimates from multiple experts ranging from 15-35% of fights ending up in extreme close quarters (that is, within arm’s reach, if not actively entangled), if not higher. As Craig Douglas likes to point out, a mugger by necessity has to approach to conversational distance to take your stuff. If it’s a bar fight, you’re likely to be standing really close before the fists and bottles start swinging. At such distances, you can’t rely on the magical talisman of your weapon(s) unless you can effectively deploy and apply it/them. You’d be well advised learning how to deal with the entangled fight, unless you want to roll the dice and hope you’ll get lucky. I’m a gambling man and I know I wouldn’t take those odds. If you choose to study unarmed combat, there are many options.

While I’ll avoid recommending any specific art over others, I’ll say this: I’ve studied martial arts for over 20 years. I’ve got black belts or other advanced rank in styles ranging from Tae Kwon Do and Karate to multiple forms of Kung Fu. I’ve studied Krav Maga and Kali and boxing even a little Muay Thai. And I still got my shit pushed in by a girl 2/3rds my size at ECQC. Why?  Because she was better at grappling than I was.

If you look at successful MMA fighters, you’ll see they’ve all got a couple things in common. Damn near every single one of them uses some form of kickboxing for striking, either western or Thai for the most part, though a couple branch out with things like Sambo. And every single one of them uses some form of grappling for entanglements, generally BJJ, Judo, or western wrestling (or, again, Sambo). Virtually none use fancy traditional martial arts like TKD, Karate, or Kung Fu. This is what is commonly called a clue.

So if you don’t want to get your ass kicked, learn to grapple.

5. How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked | Non-lethal Options

It doesn’t matter how justified you are in killing someone in self-defense, if it happens, you’re going to have a bad day. Potential psychological trauma aside, think about the legal fight: possible criminal charges, possible civil lawsuit. Even if you were fully justified, there’s a chance you go to jail anyway. How it looks, how the cops respond, and how the prosecutor frames it to the jury will all play a part.

Even if you don’t to to jail, odds are very good you’re going to be out a shitload of money after paying your lawyer to make sure you don’t. And depending on your community, there’s the possibility of social repercussions for your actions, too—again, no matter how justified. So try to avoid killing anyone you don’t absolutely have to kill. Understanding what your nonlethal options are—pepper spray, tasers and stun guns, even a flashlight or an impact weapon—and how to use them properly can help you both avoid an asskicking AND murder charges.

So if you don’t want to get your ass kicked, learn ways to beat the other guys besides killing them.

Do you routinely carry a less lethal option, should violence be called for? Are you at least aware of such options that might be around you?

6. How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked | Bladed Weapons

Anyone studying violence will quickly see that a significant number of fights become close quarters entangled engagements. Often it’s difficult to access and use a gun in that kind of environment. An alternative is a blade. But while many people carry knives, they often have zero training on how to use them.

How many of you reading this carry a folding pocket knife for self defense, but have never practiced drawing, opening, and establishing a useful grip on it under the pressure of someone charging you down intent on murder?

From personal experience, I can promise you that it’s not easy, even with practice.  Force on force training is invaluable here, because it will expose the flaws in your current thinking: if you carry a small fixed blade on your belt angled up, you might discover that it’s a lot harder to draw that way when someone is fighting your arm to keep you from succeeding, while angled down is harder to conceal but more accessible. Or if you carry a pocket knife on your right side, what happens when your right arm is pinned or busy doing something essential and you can only use your left to access a weapon?

Things like this must be considered. This also goes back to judgement: when are you legally allowed to use a knife, given that it’s potentially lethal force? If you ARE allowed to use it, when and how will it be effective versus when will it just be a waste of time and effort? Do you know whether slashing or stabbing is a better option in a given situation? Where should you target?

So if you don’t want to get your ass kicked, don’t just carry the knife, learn when and how to use it.

How not to get your ass kicked. Let’s not forget, any weapon can be taken away and used against you.

7. How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked | Firearms

There’s a reason I left this one for last.

How not to get your ass kicked: guns are not some magic talisman that solve all your defensive problems.

It’s not because I think knives are more effective than guns and should be prioritized over guns. It’s because too many people fixate on the gun as a talisman that wards off all evil. “I don’t need to worry–I’ve got a gun.”

Bullshit.

Unless you’ve trained in using it, and (like any other weapon) know when and how to use it properly, congratulations, you’re carrying a cool-looking highly dangerous paperweight. It’s as potentially deadly to you as to anyone else, and there are ALL SORTS of considerations that most concealed carriers never even think about. You don’t know what you don’t know. So if you’re going to carry a gun, GET TRAINING. GOOD training, not a bullshit four hour concealed carry permit course from some random jackass at the local gun range.

Find people who know what they’re talking about and study. Read articles and blogs from famous trainers and gunfighters. Attend high quality shooting and force on force training. Do the dry fire practice. Go to the range and practice the stuff you suck at until you suck less at them, using the drills you learned in training courses. Learn the laws of self defense inside and out in your jurisdiction.

So if you don’t want to get your ass kicked, carry a gun AND KNOW HOW AND WHEN TO USE IT EFFECTIVELY.

Studying Violence : If You Don’t Want To Get Your Ass Kicked

If you aren’t comfortable carrying and using lethal weapons, that’s fine. You do you. The first five will get you an awful long way along the road to not getting your ass kicked. As Tom Givens put it in a recent class I attended, “I’d rather face a doofus with a $3000 Wilson pistol than a hard man with a sharp stick.” But if you ARE going to carry weapons with the intention of possibly using them if necessary, then learn how to do so well.

Guns and knives aren’t talismans. They’re tools. Owning a tablesaw does not a master woodworker make.

Some of my friends have taken to referring to this concept as “The Study of Applied Violence.” We need a better name for it, but it’s not a casual pastime. It’s very much a comprehensive martial art, with distinct yet interrelated components of unarmed fighting, nonlethal weapons, and lethal weapons, unified by a common understanding and mindset. It deserves as much devotion as any other martial art, because a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. If you don’t want to get your ass kicked, do the work ahead of time so you’re ready when and if that day ever comes.

Skill Set: Foundations....Tiger McKee

Skill Set: Foundations

?Foundations are an essential part of self-defense.  There are physical foundations, such as stance and grip, mental foundations to ground the physical actions, and moral foundations that serve as the base for all.
If you start from the ground up the first thing to examine is your physical stance.  The proper stance provides stability.  The stance is incredibly important, especially in the beginning when you’re learning how to shoot accurately.  A good stance allows you to use proper footwork so you can shoot accurately while moving, index efficiently to engage multiple targets or work around cover and clear corners.  It all starts with the proper foundation – the stance.  For fighting – defending against a violent attack – an aggressive fighting stance is mandatory.
The firing grip - whether it’s with one or two hands - is also another physical foundation.  The ability to operate the pistol properly – shooting accurately and manipulating the weapon efficiently - starts with the grip.  A solid grip allows you to press smoothly and straight to the rear to fire accurately, and then reset the trigger to fire the next shot.  If you have to reposition the support hand between each shot you’re not starting with the correct grip.  Having a pistol that fits your hands is important; a pistol that’s too small or too big makes it difficult to acquire and maintain the correct grip.  Practice until you can acquire and maintain the proper grip, providing a solid foundation for the pistol.
The stance is a physical foundation, but it also plays into the mental part of the equation.  The mind tells the body what to do, but your stance – the physical –influences the mental - how you’re thinking.  Assuming a fighting stance puts you in a fighting frame of mind, mentally preparing you for what’s to come.
Having the right mental foundation will also show in your physical actions.  Watch some one who is sure of what they are doing.  Their mental attitude will be displayed in their physical actions.  This is important, because ninety percent or more of our communication is body language.  Most threats are not looking for a fight; the right body language – a fighting stance that flow from the proper mental foundation - may change their mind about what they thought they were going to do.
The proper moral foundations are mandatory.  You have to ask yourself the hard questions before becoming involved in a confrontation.   What are you ready, willing and morally prepared to fight for?  Given a choice we would avoid all confrontations, but there are times when avoidance or escape are not options.  In a fight you may injured or worse.  You may be forced to physically injure another person, and they could die as a result of your actions.  Are you ready to accept this and the consequences of your actions?  Get your moral foundations established well in advance of the need.
There are physical foundations that support all your skills.  Skill is important, but all your techniques rely on having a solid mental foundation.  Ultimately, all relies on the moral base.  Make sure when the time comes you’re doing the right thing for the right reasons.  In other words, you’re standing on a solid foundation.
Tiger McKee is director of Shootrite Firearms Academy

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Shadow System LLC, Slide

HI FOLKS, Just wanted to share a little information with you.  Just got back from the range where I had to qualify a RPO, (Retired Police Officer).  While I was there I had a little time to run a new Glock that I put together.  Shot 50 rounds of Speer 124 gr. factory and 15 rounds of my 115 gr. reloads.  Distances were from 3 to 12 yards, slow and rapid fire.  Very satisfied with the initial results of this build.  I have attached a couple of pics.

So if you are interested here is the make-up on this gun;
Glock OEM factory frame
Apex flat, thin blue line trigger and trigger bar
3.5 Glock connector
Mag Pul, enhanced mag well
Shadow Systems LLC, Enhanced Carry Slide, this is a beautifully milled slide
Scott Warren, Dave Sivigny competition sights, fiber optic front, plain black rear
Lone Wolf LLC, fluted, flush cut, signature series barrel
You can see from the pic that the barrel does not extend beyond the front of the slide
All other parts are all Glock OEM