Skill Set: Do It Right....Tiger McKee

Skill Set: Do It Right

With firearms there is a proper technique for everything you need to do.  You “do it right” every time.  This ensures safety – always our number one concern – and efficiency, which is mandatory for self-defense.
The attention you give when handling firearms must be constant.  It takes a fraction of a second for a mistake to occur.  Mistakes with firearms are embarrassing at best, but often tragic.  The devil is in the details, and how you do anything is critical for several reasons.
Safety is mandatory when handling firearms.  Always using the proper techniques reduces the chances of you making a mistake.  It starts when you pick up the firearm.  Acquire the proper grip on the pistol, as opposed to picking it up just any ol’ way like it’s a book.  The finger is off the trigger and clear of the trigger guard.  The only time your finger is on the trigger is when the sights are on target.  At all times you’re thinking about what is a safe direction to point the muzzle, and keeping it indexed.  You check to confirm it’s empty and clear; you use the right technique.
You do it right every time because each time is a training repetition.  We learn through repetition.  Any time you handle a firearm it’s a learning opportunity.  The brain does not have a filter to funnel or separate out the “bad” repetitions.  Your goal is to make every one a “good” one.  If you get bored with the process, or haphazard in how you perform – even with the small tasks – you become unsafe, and you’re learning the wrong way to do it.  You shouldn’t have to think to determine which is the proper technique.  It becomes a religion – with a little “r.”
Consistency in your techniques is mandatory to ensure you’ll do it right when lives depend on your performance.  Using firearms is a serious matter, and should be approached accordingly.  For example, this thought should be in your mind every time you press the trigger:  “Lives depend on this shot.”  Remember, for our application firearms are weapons.  This principle applies to anything you do with a firearm.
You must also approach any and every task with a happy heart.  “I’m glad I get to shoot another group,” you think.  As opposed to, “Oh man, the instructor is making us shoot again.”  Anything you approach with dread will not be done right.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re cleaning your weapon – a task I’m not fond of – or dealing with a threat.  Attitude is everything.
As for the big picture, it’s all the same.  It takes discipline and focus to do things right; being human we tend to take the easy route, which normally isn’t the best one.  As Martin Luther King, Jr. said:  “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry.  He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, “Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”  Regardless of the task you must be focused, disciplined and take joy in doing it right.
Tiger McKee is director of Shootrite Firearms Academy