FIRE AWAY!

Before we get started it is important to state that the following information applies to individuals who have taken a lesson or two from a qualified experience instructor.  If you haven't, than that should be your first step and this post is not for you!

As a firearm trainer/instructor I am often asked by my students this question, "How and what do I need to do to become a better and more advanced shooter?"  The question should be More Efficient and Effective shooter!  My answer is always the same, PRACTICE!  Now let me explain what I mean by PRACTICE.  Practice does not make perfect.  Practice makes habit.  Only perfect practice makes perfect!  In essence what I am talking about is this, just doing something over and over does not perfect the skill that you are trying to develop.  If you are not doing it the right way you are perfecting training scares that will become very difficult to correct.  When you are trying to perfect a skill you need to practice it over and over, doing it the correct way so as to eventually make it what is called a, unconsciously competent movement.  This only happens by doing an enormous amount of repetitions.  By doing these repetitions you are conditioning your mind and body to function as one unit.  I call this a marriage between you physiological and your neurological systems.  You probably have heard it called or referred to as muscle memory.  It is not just enough to do and practice the skill that you are trying to develop you must also have an understanding of why it needs to be done that way.  Understanding the Nuts and Bolts and how and why they apply to the skill.  You see being proficient with a firearm is 90% mental and 10% physical.  Ok, I could go on with this conversations for a few more hours, but I won't!  The purpose for this post is about practicing, Dry Fire Practice and the benefits of it!  I just needed to lay down some facts first.  Remember the key is to do it slow and deliberate (ROBTICLY SLOW) so as to make sure that you are going through each step and not missing anything that applies to the skill or technique, ie, a b c & d not a b & d .  Once the skill/technique has properly been programed into your subconscious you should start increasing the time that it takes to do it.  A shot timer is a very effective tool to help you increase your efficiency  during your D F Practice.  

As most of you know the shooting sports have really gotten expensive.  Ammunition prices are high and have really skyrocketed and so has shooting club memberships and range fees.  One of the ranges that I shoot at has doubled their membership price.  Hum, may not be shooting there any longer! These cost factors have contributed to most people not being able to afford to practice and when they do practice shortens and limits the amount of time they can spend on live fire drills .  Unless you reload your own ammunition, and that has gotten more expensive also, or you have deep pockets, you know what I am talking about.  So how do you maintain and keep you skill level constant so that you don't start to lose it and more importantly your confidences in being able to efficiently and accurately hit your target. Because, after all isn't that the reason you are practicing!

So, let's get started.  First make sure that you have a good understanding of the "Four Cardinal Rules" of firearm safety and that you follow them to the tee.   Second, make sure that there is absolutely NO LIVE AMMUNITION in the room or area that you are conducting the Dry Fire Practice.  Three, make sure that you have cleared the firearm and that you have checked it at least two times, checking the chamber and the magazine well.  Fourth, make sure that the area, (TARGET) that you are aiming at can sustain and capture the bullet should you have a brain fart and get a BANG when you should have gotten a CLICK.  Fifth, if you can not devote 100% of your attention to this 15 minute practice session than hold off until you can.  If for any reason you are interrupted during your practice sessions end it immediately and resume it at another time.   

The three most important objectives and this applies to new and inexperienced shooters as well as to experienced shooters are, Grip, Sight Alignment/Sight Picture and the most important aspect proper Trigger manipulation.  The purpose of Dry Fire practice is to supplement your live fire practice.  With Dry fire practice you can focus on exactly what you will need to do when firing a live firearm.  But, you will not have that conscience concern of the gun going BANG!  That conscience concern is what causes you to anticipate.  Which is a big problem in being able to hit your target accurately.

What you are trying to achieve is Consistency through Repetitions so that you become more Efficient which will make your actions more Effective.  Remember your final goal is to hit what you are shooting at. 

If you are a Glock or a S&W, M&P shooter I would suggest that you look at and invest in one of the Next Level Training SIRT PISTOL (Shot Indicating Re-setting Trigger).  They are a little expensive but you will benefit from the investment.  The biggest advantage with these types of training tools is that you know that when you are conducting your DRY FIRE exercises that there is no possible way you are going to have a ND. 

                                                              

More to follow on this topic in the next post.

Around the Water Cooler: Relative Safety

Good Article, by Rick Grassi, (Tactical Wire)






In response to a piece written here, I was asked about the propriety of buying, carrying, issuing any pistol that requires a pull of the trigger for disassembly. I responded that it was beyond the scope of our operation; I don't care what you buy, carry, issue. The requirement to use a bit of sense when doing so is primary regardless if it's that type of gun or "the safest gun on Earth." This presumes that a machine can be safe. The answer is a bit complicated and goes beyond concepts of faith or some presumption that safety in humans is possible.

We're aware that people make mistakes and sometimes those mistakes have grave consequences. I've made mistakes. If you haven't, there's a good chance you simply haven't lived long enough. If you live a lifetime as long as mine or longer and you don't fall prey to errors in judgment and gunhandling, we'll run your name up to the Vatican in nomination.

I'm not in the running.

There's a story about a Russian member of service (described variously as an NCO and an officer), doing a show-and-tell of Combloc military weapons back in the day. When a Western (some say U.S.) member of service questioned the safety of a particular Soviet practice, the Russian is said to have answered, "Is gun, is NOT safe!"

Whether or not that happened, it reinforces the concept – the gun has to be predictable. If you press the trigger you should expect the hammer/striker to fly forward and, if a cartridge is present, to fire. If it doesn't act predictably in that reasonable, logical way, its utility is suspect.

Ruger makes fine guns. I'm a fan of the company and like every member of the organization that I've met. The SR9, likewise, is a good pistol. It's got enough safety features to make one wonder the purpose of the gun – to be "safe" (non-firing) or to save your life in a fight. The manual safety is fine, the mudflap chamber-loaded indicator is okay, the magazine disconnector less so. Forget the inanity of all gadgets and gizmos. Remember Rule 1: All Guns Are Loaded.

If you act in accordance with Rule 1, those "safety" features are superfluous. The magazine disconnector may or may not be functional and you must visually and physically check the piece. Relying on the magazine disconnector is unwise. Also the mudflap up top is not to be trusted. If it's up, there could potentially -- however unlikely -- be a reason other than a cartridge. If it's not up, I'm still cracking the slide open to affirmatively check. That California bureaucrats liked the "loaded chamber indicator fails to bring cheer – I trust them less than mechanical devices.

You see, like I know people are prone to mistakes I know that mechanical and electronic devices will at some time fail. The more numerous and complicated, the greater the chance of failure.

Guns aren't cars. Decockers, heavy triggers, magazine disconnectors aren't anti-lock braking systems. Even if they were, you still need to know how to brake on slick roads if there is no ABS. Maybe the "99% who shoot and disassemble once per year" need to get a bit of refresher before shooting and disassembling – if they're cops and they shoot only once a year, that's a management issue that will likely lead to tragedy operationally and otherwise – as well as setting the stage for civil liability.

I can't tell agencies not to buy Glocks – and I wouldn't tell them if they'd listen. Likewise, I'll tell agencies that a pattern of failure to train, manage and supervise is fraught with peril. They likely won't listen to that either.

Don't point guns at yourself or others. Lock the slide to the rear, check by sight & feel. Remember "SOS" – remove the SOURCE of ammunition - the magazine. Remove it from the gun and put it aside - in a pocket, on the table, anywhere but in your hands. Next, lock the slide OPEN. Take that opportunity to check the chamber visually and physically. Lower the slide and ensure that the muzzle is in a SAFE direction - a safe direction is one in which an unintended discharge will result in no physical injury and only minor property damage. Once that's completed, it's okay to press the trigger.

If you have or are issued a handgun that requires the slide to be locked open over an empty magazine well to take the gun apart, all the better. If you don't, you can still realize it's a time of some peril – follow the rules you should have been following every time you handled that gun.

-- Rich Grassi 

Good Explanation of the Tueller Principal

THE “21 FOOT RULE”

POSTED ON 03/21/2016 BY JERRY JONES

I try not to allow sarcasm into my writings.  I will try not to today, but can make no promises.  Sometimes, you read things that are just so dumb, the sarcasm writes itself.

Recently, I have read some writings from police administrators, police trainers, and musings in the media in reference to the “21 Foot Rule”.  To put everyone in the readership on a level playing field in our readership, this “21 Foot Rule” is what most of us also know as the Tueller Drill.  In the early 1980’s, Sgt Dennis Tueller conducted studies involving how quickly a subject armed with a knife could cover a given distance, before an officer could react, draw and fire effectively at the knife wielding attacker.

Now, I have been exposed to this drill for most of my career.  The crux of what I carried from it was an attacker can cover that 21 foot pretty quickly, so when dealing with non-compliant suspects, it is wise to have the gun in your hand, and a plan in your head.

Apparently, according to reading some of these “writings”, the “21 foot rule” now has been expanded to shooting everyone with a knife within 21 feet.  At least that is the media portrayal of it at this point.  Many of the writings I have seen by people that I would figure that should know better is that the “21 foot rule” is somehow a magical justification to shoot anyone armed with a knife within that distance.  Strangely, that was never how it was taught to me, and certainly never how I have taught it.

The “21 foot rule” teaches us in my opinion the dangers of edged weapons at closer distances.  It teaches us to that the quickest draw in that situation is to have the gun already in your hand.  But, at least in my exposure to the drill, it has never taught us that you should shoot anyone and everyone that you come into contact with that is armed with an edged weapon at 21 feet or less.  With most police officers skill level, the distance is most likely around 30 feet before it becomes an even playing field.

Good article by Paul Howe

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING AND TRAINERS: A few thoughts… By Paul Howe I finished up a Shoot House Instructor course earlier this past year and wanted to share a few thoughts and observations. Over the past 35 years I have watched old and new techniques used by both young and seasoned professionals. Some move fast, some move slow, some move efficiently. I want to write about being efficient in tactical training/response and selecting the proper instructor. History I started full time training over 20 years ago in Special Operation and then started my Training Company CSAT, once I retired from the military. This is not a plug for my business, but rather my observations over the past two decades. When I first started training LE, I researched their missions: · Hostage Rescue · High Risk Warrant · Search Warrant · Barricaded Person · Miscellaneous missions (Vehicle Assaults, Bus Assaults, etc.) With the research on LE missions, I broke down written and unwritten techniques that I have used on operations into written guidelines with right and left boundaries. I taught how to safely set up scenarios using live ammunition. I went further and broke tactics down into areas or “parts of a target.” · Movement to Breach Point · Breach point · Hallways and T Intersections · Rooms · Consolidation I used Hostage Rescue as my base because if I can teach you to “push through” or treat a threat as a “speed bump,” then I can easily show you how to hold and fortify on a High Risk Warrant when the offender chooses to shoot at you. Special Ops generally differs in solving High Risk Warrants in that they are paid to bring the subject back at all costs. Law Enforcement officers are subject to numerous legal restraints that the spec ops soldier is not. Some cannot understand the option of “holding” on a high risk warrant. They don’t understand the concept of “not rescuing dope.” With the flood gates open and the numerous special operations commandos coming back from overseas and the conflicts winding down, everyone wants to teach and make a buck. I say make a buck as many do not invest the time and energy to make it a profession. Many officers feel they do not have the background or knowledge to question these soldier trainers and take what they say as Gospel. Extensive combat experience does not directly relate to many Law Enforcement missions. A healthy training environment and confident instructor will encourage questions and ensure he answers all questions students bring up. This is part of being a competent instructor. LE Cultivating Their Own When I started my LE training career, most tactical teams were that in name only. They were out of shape, could not shoot and their tactics were less than stellar. Training accidents and deaths were common and LE were injuring or killing more of their own through poor training and tactics than bad guys were. One long time tactical officer I know mentioned that he does not know how they did not get anyone killed or shoot any innocents in the 90’s when he first started. Many teams were lucky. Unfortunately, many teams were not. Over time, things changed as the tactical community evolved. Tactical LE has gotten on board with physical fitness and are now in better shape than I have seen before. They can shoot. They have refined their tactics and know when to push and when to hold. They are evolving to meet the growing threats and violence in the world. I applaud them. SWAT teams are becoming more and more team players and teaching their shifts and fellow patrol officer’s techniques and work ethics to help them survive the hazards of their professions. SWAT set the standard with physical fitness and push for higher weapon qualifications. This has had a trickle-down effect which helps bring patrol to a higher standard. Having said this, SWAT teams must understand that they are not Delta Operators and cannot require their team or patrol officers to maintain the same standards. Special Operations can select from a talent pool of hundreds of thousands for physical fitness and work ethic. Once in, Spec Ops soldiers can train 24/7 with generally unlimited ammo budgets and training facilities. The average patrol/SWAT officer cannot. A competent instructor must understand this and tailor their training and physical to allow for this. I know some instructors that routinely hurt students in their training due to unrealistic physical expectations and training events. This is unacceptable. You must teach them how to get to those levels first and have a mechanism to cull them from the training before they get hurt. Training Choices For years LE/SWAT have looked to special operations/operators for tactics and techniques. This should continue, but you must vet your training choices. · Training dollars and time are precious · Undoing a training scar that a poor instructor puts on you is even more costly. Recently I went to a region and ran a Shoot House Instructor class. The class was filled with professional and great officers I have worked with in the past. About three years elapsed since I was in the region. Some of the new tactics they were using set me back a bit,- both safety wise and common sense. One drill we executed and videoed was a two person entry in an “L” shaped room with two threat targets in opposite corners and a hostage target in the middle. Fifteen two-person teams entered and executed the drills. Out of the 15, 10 teams did it right and five did it incorrectly, in my opinion. Most officers locked on the first target and the number one person did not see the second until either prompted to look at his corner or until the number one person saw and engaged it. We actually practiced it prior to the run in the shoot house next door. One-third of the teams could not do a simple two person entry. Most locked down on the first target and the number two did not check his corner and engage the other threat, protecting his partner. I questioned students and many were confused as they have had other instructors come in and preach running the walls and other “high-speed” tactics. Instead of shooting the first obvious bad guy with the gun first, many times officers would check a corner first and then shoot him. In my mind, reaction time has started and you are giving up a known threat to look at an unknown. That is what your number two person is for when doing dynamic entries. He is there to clear the opposite corner and protect you. When you cannot master the basics, you are not “high speed.” What is “High Speed” for SWAT. Waking up at 0300 and then executing a hostage rescue using simple techniques and making the shot that counts. Vetting Tactical Instructors I see a great deal of former special ops guys wanting to teach (and make money). Unfortunately they may not have the credentials. They may be one hell of an operator, but a piss poor instructor. We had many like that in my era. Many have not broken the code and fail to research LE missions and adapt. Many want to lean on what unit they served in did and how many months they served overseas. War stories are great, but they do not equate to sound tactics and techniques. Flashy range fire techniques are generally one-dimensional and work in limited situations and not across the tactical spectrum that law enforcement faces. Simple Questions to ask: · Is your safety/techniques on the flat range the same as in CQB or Exterior Movement? · Do they understand the different LE missions? Ask them what a BP (Barricaded Person) is and if you get blank stare, you know the deal. · Do they understand use of force? These veterans are great guys and I appreciate their service. The problem is you may take two steps back to go a step forward in your training. Many times their “latest and greatest” tactics only confuse the team and it also trickles down to patrol officers should your SWAT officers train them. If you want to find out if an instructor is worth spending your money on, send two of your mature tactical instructors to one of his classes. This way if he is unsound, you have not wasted an entire year’s budget and created a massive training scar on your group. Physical Fitness High Intensity Programs (HIP) have come on the scene since I left special ops and my personal opinion is still out on them. An Orthopedic Surgeon said that if it were not for Kettle Bells, Cross-Fit and old men trying to do young man sports, he would not be in business. A major LE agency in the U.S. has been doing one of these fitness programs for 15 plus years and they are starting to see the long term negative results of some of this type training. My opinion is that human nature wants to shortcut the learning curve and physical curve and get maximum results in a short time. We want to be efficient in training, but sometimes sacrifice safety and our bodies in this pursuit. Some of these training systems were designed to work with individuals in an advanced level of fitness for short periods of time or “fillers” for when they cannot perform their routine workouts due to the locations they are in. I don’t believe HIP program designers reverse engineered the systems for the beginning user. With that, instructors were not properly trained and vetted and that people want to go fast and strong before their bodies were ready. Next, the workout structures don’t appear to complement the next session and simply tear down vs. rest and build. Chronic back problems have plagued young officers in their 30’s and 40’s as a result of these programs. I personally don’t believe you should train at your maximum every day. It is like driving your car as fast as it can go in the city and on the open road all the time. It will wear out/break in short order. A simple stair-stepped weight and cardio program will get you what you need and keep your body functioning well into your end game of life. Physical training should be a life-long goal. If you wreck your car along the way, it is difficult to get it fixed and get to your destination. Remember, five-toed running shoes were all the rage at one time…. Cultivating your own cadres I would like to see more LE trainers out there. SWAT types with patrol backgrounds have incredible experience and knowledge that can speak with confidence to the patrol officer and the SWAT officer. This includes all the various missions and situations they can encounter and how to safely respond. These types can also educate the constantly evolving chains of commands. Also, you are constantly in a people business where the special ops type trainer can solve most problems with a bullet or a muzzle strike. Law enforcement officers must respond to chaotic situations, using their judgement, discretion and tools at hand to bring order. Law Enforcement is as much of a profession as it is a science. The state academy I went through was 345 hours and I did not have a clue as to what I was doing by today’s standards. I was lucky when I was in a small town. I would have survived a bigger city with my positive mindset, but I would have needed a great FTO to set me straight. My learning curve would have been much steeper and I would have screwed up more often. Today’s training methods, classroom teaching techniques and information collection and distribution are light years ahead of what I remember. The other thing that has increased in 40 years is the levels of violence. Violent confrontations and lack of respect for law enforcement in general have grown with the political winds of hate and liberalism. With the growing level of violence, more and more police candidates are selected for their college degrees with no background in dealing with people or violent situations. The learning curve with this type of candidate is extremely steep and some don’t survive as they cannot make the transition. When I started my path, Vietnam Veterans were heavily seeded in Law Enforcement and violence was no stranger to them. Now we have more violence and more “polished” recruits without the ability to “flip the switch” in high risk confrontations and professionally solve the problem at hand. Pitfall and Professional Hazards The LE profession is a deadly serious business. Young officers eager for action will get it one day and they need to be ready. They also need to be mentored in how to pick and choose their battles. If you get in enough fights and have your nose broken enough and have to get more dental work than you care to, you will learn. I believe older and more tactically mature officers need to pass these lessons learned to younger officers. As for SWAT officers, if you push the fight enough, you will find it. Make sure the fight is a worthy and just one. Hostage rescue is a noble and just cause, just be smart about it and train for it. If you push the fight on missions doing dynamic where a surround and call out is the best option, you may learn the hard way. Use tactical maturity and pick and choose your battles. It is easy for a tactical team to push on and kill a mental person who is only threat is to themselves. The smart and patient thing is to wait them out and exhaust all your options. A west coast team pushed a hit and lost two officers to a suspect firing a .380 pistol on a hostage rescue at close quarters. One officer was killed and the other moved on due to his injuries. Make sure that you use multiple breach points when you can. Remember even an untrained individual willing to fight can kill you with an unzeroed weapon. The job is dangerous, so be smart. Leave your ego aside. Use all the brain power at hand to solve the tactical problems you encounter. Sanity checks from other team members and leaders are must. Instructing Civilians Some of these former Spec Ops guys develop a “cult” following and teach civilians. No problem, but the same issues that apply to Law Enforcement training, applies to civilians. Civilians have no way of knowing if this instructor was good or bad in his military service. There are plenty of bad ones. Many good ones get out because they were injured and they naturally want to give back. I applaud their motivation Look at the instructor’s credentials and see how long they spent in Special Ops or LE. Why did they move or get out? If they were only there a year or so and got out, they were probably pushed out unless they were injured. The problem with Spec Ops is that they do not air their dirty laundry and allow unsatisfactory individuals to migrate without putting a black mark in their record, demoting them or separating them from service. They allow their problems to go to the outside and become bigger problems in the training community. Still no one steps up and says, this guy is a turd. It is an unwritten rule that you don’t call someone out. I personally think it is bullshit, especially when someone is dangerous or puts out dreamed up tactics or techniques that have not been validated. Training scars can be hard to erase and are sometimes unforgiving. Panteao Productions and the civilian learning curve I became involved with Panteao years ago with the intent not to make money, but to produce a DVD that would help people pass my Rifle/Pistol Instructor class. It is six-days and many shooters would come not prepared to pass the standards. They wanted me to teach them how to shoot in that week and that consumed much of the important “How to Instruct” time. Now future Instructor Students can watch the DVD, practice, come pass the standards and focus on how to develop shooters, timers, verbiage, running a line, problem solving, etc. By doing this, my life as an instructor has become much easier and the quality of students has increased. The students who do not come prepared are now shooter development tools in the class. I was one of the starting instructors with Panteao and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with them. Part of Panteao’s learning curve was dealing with mostly proven instructors, but also instructors wanting to make a video, believing it to be a spring board for their careers. Some were downright dangerous. After filming over 34 instructors, the film crew got good at spotting who was competent and safe and who was not. They also got to see who brought applicable content to the table and who did not. Two of the 34 have been discontinued. They also “deselected” instructors who were not as talented as they claimed to be and were unsafe. This was a steep learning curve on their behalf. They learned fast after seeing the entire field. With that, instructors were still recommended to them by clients and customers and it took time and vetting to figure out who was solid and who was not. Still, people were hesitant to call it the way it was as they did not want to be known as the guy that dropped a dime. I see this as weak character. I walked away from Special Ops because during a time when weak leadership was in control and they were not going anywhere any time soon. I decided to change my life and work with folks that would listen, namely American Law Enforcement (LE). I was frowned on by a few who thought I should not speak out. When Americans lives are on the line, I feel you have a duty to speak out. That or you let a situation repeat itself and more people needlessly die. Too many hide behind secrecy to protect their ego and careers. After training in the civilian sector for over 16 years, I have found that if you can train LE and they call you back, you have something. They are the most cynical group I have found as they are lied to by the public much of the time and their leadership is sometimes no better. Further, tactical teams are running missions every day in the U.S. They can generally spot BS tactics. In short, if an instructor is successful at training LE, he will be a good civilian trainer. It generally does not work the other way around. CONCLUSION: To sum up the reason for this article is simple. A patrol officer in Garland, Texas used a pistol to take down two well-armed terrorists. I know little of the incident, but he used basic skills and a combat mindset to put two bad guys down. The precedence has been set. He used skills learned in his career and enhanced by trickle down training from SWAT officers that worked with him, to terminate two threats. It worked and worked well. Simple proven technical skills learned from vetted instructors were handed down. This simple and heroic act should sent a wave of confidence through the law enforcement training community that instills the knowledge that you have what it takes to get the job done, in the most extreme and dangerous circumstances. It is simply how you train to get there and how you cultivate your combat mindset along the way. This mindset can spill over into the civilian community as well. This is a true force multiplier for good. Finally check out your trainer(s) and ensure they are who and what they claim. Training scars are hard to undo. Life is short. Train hard and efficient. About the Author Paul R. Howe is a 20-year veteran and former Special Operations soldier and instructor. He owns Combat Shooting and Tactics (CSAT), where he consults with, trains and evaluates law enforcement and government agencies in technical and tactical techniques throughout the special operations spectrum. See combatshootingandtactics.com for details.

STAY AWAY!

EDC....DO YOU CARRY A GUN EVERYDAY?

THIS WAS POSTED ON FB BY DAVE SPAULDING.  I THOUGHT IT WAS INTERESTING INFORMATION.  WHAT DO THINK?

WHAT DO YOU NEED? SOME THOUGHTS ON MINDSET AND EDC…

In this post, I want to talk about what is REALLY needed by the average person that carries a concealed weapon every day, and I want to do so against the backdrop of the ubiquitous “Every Day Carry” (EDC) discussion.

I can actually summarize it in one sentence, and I’m not being flippant. Abide by the 4S Rule, carry your gun, and be careful in parking lots!

Everybody that carries a gun should be familiar with John Farnam’s classic 4S rule. For those that don’t know it, the rule is, “don’t go to stupid places, at stupid times, to do stupid things, with stupid people,” or some similar variation thereof. Following the above guideline eliminates a lot of potential hassle in life. Instill the concept into your children at an early age! Just to reiterate, if you wouldn’t go somewhere unarmed, you certainly shouldn’t go there armed!

Every week on the “Polite Society Podcast,” the hosts discuss defensive gun use (DGU) stories. These all seem to have a common theme in that the intended victim either is carrying a gun or is able to retrieve a gun and fight back. The lesson from these stories is to always carry your gun on your person or have it readily available in your home. Often, when the subjects of these stories are injured in their encounters, it is because they had to fight their way to a gun, rather than having it immediately available.

While anecdotes do not equal data, we are fortunate to have a valuable resource in the form of Tom Givens and his students. Givens has compiled real data with real numbers on civilian defensive gun usage, and without fail, his students that were armed prevailed in their conflicts. Those that were unarmed did not. So far, nobody needed a flashlight, and no one needed to reload.

Regarding my above admonition about parking lots, this is because the parking lot represents a very common transition zone where you may often be distracted and therefore vulnerable to attack. Simply looking around can alert potential aggressors to your heightened awareness and cause them to seek easier prey.

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Now, let me switch gears to gear (no pun intended) and outline my own EDC ensemble. There are some items that I ALWAYS have with me where legally permitted. This is my EDC, and not necessarily germane to the discussion of what is absolutely NEEDED. I always carry a compact auto loading pistol, one reload for the pistol, a small flashlight, a folding knife, and a cellphone. I am tempted to carry a small IFAK kit such as this one from ITS Tactical, but I’m not quite there yet.

(Ironically, when I’m working on the ambulance and can’t carry my gun, I actually do carry an IFAK from Dark Angel Medical in my right cargo pocket that I reserve for use on myself, my partner, or law enforcement… I do this because of the potentially violent situations that I occasionally find myself in. Despite the theory that EMS doesn’t enter the scene before it’s safe, in my experience things don’t always work out that way!)

When I’m off-duty, I typically dress casually with an untucked shirt and either jeans or cargo pants. I wear hiking boots almost everywhere. I don’t think this really makes me stand out in a crowd, as I’m hardly the only one sporting Keen or Merrill boots. Obviously, I will be dressed appropriately for conditions, whether it is hot, cold, snowing, raining, etc. Unless I’m specifically going to a gun friendly environment or event, I typically eschew branded clothing with conspicuous logos that would highlight my ideology like a neon sign. I’m sure I may look the part to others in the know, but that’s okay with me, because we’re usually on the same side. Whether it’s a backyard BBQ, a formal wedding, or a business casual meeting, I simply dress according to the occasion and try not to stand out to casual observers.

Specifically, for my EDC, I favor a Glock 19 carried in the appendix position, one reload in a magazine pouch on my belt, with a Streamlight Protac 1L flashlight, aSpyderco Manix 2 folding knife, and my cellphone, wallet, and keys in my pockets. Much like an IFAK, I also sometimes carry a small centerline fixed blade knife on my belt and I should probably consider carrying some sort of OC spray as a less lethal option. With the exception of the second knife, short of committing to always wearing cargo pants, I have no idea where I would add in these extra items, as my pockets are pretty much occupied by this point with what I already carry and I’m running out of real estate on my belt.

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Now, let’s combine mindset with EDC in order to establish what you absolutely NEED as opposed to what I personally carry and recommend. What follows (and this post in general) is just my humble opinion. Take it for what it’s worth. My opinion is predicated on the fact that you have made the decision to carry a firearm for self-defense, acknowledging that a firearm is the best tool for the purpose. With that said…

·         You NEED to carry a gun that is reliable, that you can shoot accurately, and that is carried in such a manner that you can access it quickly while under physical and emotional duress.

·         You NEED to have a modicum of physical fitness in accordance with your age and medical conditions. Some disabilities are not negotiable, but most can be improved with diet and exercise.

·         You NEED to cultivate the appropriate mindset, and this encompasses not only the wherewithal to fight back when offered violence, but also thesituational awareness to preemptively avoid violent encounters.

·         You NEED some basic first aid knowledge, if only to control life-threatening bleeding from injuries incurred in a fight for your life.

·         Finally, I think you NEED to have some good self-defense training classesbeyond that required to obtain your concealed carry permit. The information covered in a required concealed carry class is invaluable, but often has very little to do with actually fighting with a firearm.

That’s it… everything else is pretty much optional. The bullet points above represent the minimum of what you should have. Ask yourself what is possible AND probable in your daily activities and plan accordingly. Carrying more or different stuff certainly isn’t wrong, but also realize that the more you add to your Bat-belt, the closer you approach a point of diminishing returns. If you’re going to carry everything but the kitchen sink, perhaps you should invest in a “Kitchen Sink” to carry it all!

Moving beyond minimums, I think carrying a spare magazine or reload is a good idea for a number of reasons, but I must relegate it to “optional” status based on statistical probability. A flashlight is eminently useful as well, but truthfully; it is not often employed in gunfights involving civilian concealed carriers. Similarly, I use my pocket knife for mundane tasks almost daily, but it is not necessarily mandatory. Having said that, if you can’t carry a gun, at least carry a knife. If you can’t carry a knife, at least carry an improvised weapon of some sort! The possibilities are endless.

Ultimately, if you are going to do nothing else, at the minimum carry your gun, know how to use it, and keep your eyes and ears open when out in public! Note that all but one of five mandatory items that I identify above, while not without cost, are nonetheless intangibles that are based on acquiring knowledge and skills. As the old saying goes, knowledge is power.

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Good Advice....Posted by Dave Spaulding

Dave Spaulding

During the 1950's and 60's American manufacturing employed Ergonomic Engineers to conduct human motion studies. What they were looking for was the best ways for humans to move as they built America's products. It was before automation when assembly lines of humans built products by hand, performing the same motion(s) thousands of times a day. By looking for ways to eliminate unnecessary motion they speeded up the manufacturing process and eliminated ergonomic waste.

My Grandfather was involved in these studies and he told me what we now call "muscle memory" was known as "familiar task transference" or the ability to move without conscious thought. I have tried to incorporate the lessons learned from these motion studies into my training programs. What was known as "physiological efficiency" in the 1970's is now called "biomechanical efficiency" but its basically the same thing and it comes down to this...if you want to go fast, move less! Unfortunately, this flies in the face of many of the tacti-cool looking techniques currently taught...

I’m sure we’ve all seen the videos of instructors shooting an AR-15 extremely fast at three stationary targets in the 1,2,3,4,5 sequence, and it looks pretty impressive.  As cool as it looks and sounds, I find a few issues with some of the videos I’ve seen in the past.  The first issue being, the drill has everything to do with speed and not accuracy.  Speed can be a good thing at times, but if you’re shooting a million rounds a second and don’t hit what you intend to hit, what is the point.  The second falls in line with the first issue.  Just simply hitting the IPSC target should not satisfy the shooter. Sure, you did it extremely fast, but the hits on paper were nothing more than a “flesh wound”.

Having both speed and accuracy is a great tool to have in your toolbox, but it takes lots of  time and practice.  The good thing is that you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on ammo!  Getting a skill like this comes with hours and hours of DRY FIRE!  Dry fire isn’t the coolest thing in the world, and nothing to write home about, but it does and will pay off in the long run, I guarantee it. Dry fire does a lot for us, one of the most beneficial things that I have come to find is muscle memory.  If you’re ever on the range and you find yourself “looking for the sights”, you need to dry fire.  What I mean by “looking for the sights” is taking that split second or half a second to adjust your head, move your head to align the sights, etc.  Once you raise your rifle, pistol or shotgun, your sights should “naturally” fall into place at what you intend on shooting with no searching whatsoever.

Take the time with all of your weapon systems and dry fire them starting from a no threat stance. Place a target 10 feet away on a door or wall. Once you raise the weapon, take note of where the sights lay, without having to adjust your head, the weapon and sights should come to you, not the other way around.  Continuing the repetition correctly until it is burned into your mind and becomes muscle memory is the end goal.  Once it is burned into your mind, continue to do it until your brain explodes!  It is a perishable skill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdESo3v6L8w

Nick Irving is a former U.S. Army Ranger with multiple combat deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan. During his service within the 75th Ranger Regiment, Nicholas served as an Assaulter, Heavy and Light Machine Gunner, and Designated Marksman.