The Oscar Slap
The timeline of the Oscar Slap has much value in the study of Personal Protection and Self-Defense. It has been preserved for posterity and study on video. The Guardian provides a short clip that shows it.
- Chris Rock makes his joke about “GI Jane 2.” = O second
- Will Smith laughs = +1 second
- Jada Pickett Smyth rolls her eyes = +3 seconds
- Chris Rock says, “Uh oh,” meaning Will Smith was already on his feet = +10 seconds
- Will Smith slaps Rock = +15 seconds
From the first indication something was going to happen, five or at most six seconds transpired.
Note the distances involved. Smith and Rock were no more than 25 feet (Near Phase of Public Space) apart.
Note also that Smith didn’t do a “Tueller Drill” on Rock. He walked purposefully but not even at a rapid pace to cover the 20 to 25 feet of ground.
Dr. Phil says “What bothers me? No one – no security or anybody came on the stage to protect Chris, and no one in Will’s camp – nobody stepped up to save him from himself.”
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/dr-phil-reveals-bothers-him-080152453.html
Dr. Phil’s guest Exavier Pope, an attorney, legal analyst, and host of the podcast SuitUp, common tated, “He had a whole runway. That’s a lot of cooling time, not just for Will Smith but for anyone to have stopped him.”
Five seconds is NOT “a lot of time,” especially for something as unexpected as a Battery (Cal. Penal Code § § 242, 243) during a high profile televised Black Tie event.
Also observe that it took less than 10 seconds for Will Smith’s laughter at the joke to turn into violent action. The term “trigger” is appropriate.
When it’s least expected, you’re elected.
–John Farnam
For anyone who thinks this was staged, look at Will Smith’s face when he shouts “Keep my wife’s name out your f**king mouth” near the end of the clip. That’s genuine anger. BOLO for it and keep your distance.
CCW Safe Podcast – Encountering Home Intruders
CCW Safe interviewed me about my Five Year Analysis of the Armed Citizen for a podcast recently. The emphasis of this interview was incidents in the home. It is now available to read and listen to.
In Self Defense – Episode 97: Claude Werner on Encountering Home Intruders – CCW Safe National … https://ccwsafe.com/blog/in-self-defense–episode-97-claude-werner-on-encountering-home-intruders
Significant points for me in the interview were:
- Timing of the incidents
- Misapplication of the Tueller Principle
- Distinction between self-defense and personal protection
- Accessibility of weapons
Here are some Home Defense examples that have occurred more recently. As always, there are Positives and Negatives.
- Positive outcome
- https://www.cleveland19.com/2021/09/20/69-year-old-woman-shoots-kills-home-intruder-north-olmsted/ This was what I call a “Downrange event” where the defender had to shoot an intruder with an innocent party downrange of the shooter.
- Negative outcome
- https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/911-caller-says-canal-winchester-husband-shot-16-year-old-daughter-because-he-thought-she-was-an-intruder-12-29-2021 Yet another sad incident where a father inadvertently shot and killed his daughter because of a failure to identify the target prior to pressing the trigger. Practicing to say, “Who’s there?” could save a lot of grief.
- Unprepared for the event Negative outcome
- https://www.koin.com/news/crime/husband-stabbed-killed-confronting-intruder-in-rural-marion-county/ Couple attacked at home; husband killed, wife injured, attacker still at large. Months later, no announcement has been made that a suspect has even been identified much less apprehended.
It is was an interesting interview and worth listening to.
Priorities in Personal Protection
#mindsetmonday
Another excellent video featuring Ken Hackathorn has been posted on the Wilson Combat YouTube Channel. In it, he discusses what the real priorities are for Personal Protection.
Ken gives his view on priorities in this way:
But the most important thing you need to have is a proper mindset. And proper mindset; the way I explain it, is really broken down into three categories of importance.
- Number one, importance wise, is situational awareness.
- Second most important thing is decision making skills.
- The third one we all fall back on is combat marksmanship.
In 1759, the French philosopher Voltaire published his satirical novel Candide: or, All for the Best. From it the following ‘quote’ has often been derived.
Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her; but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.
Ken distills this into “Life sometimes deals you a bad card and you may be faced with combat marksmanship.”
My ebook Thinking Clearly about Self-Defense and Personal Protection goes deeply into the topics of awareness and decision-making. If you would like to purchase it, click on the image below.
This coming Thursday evening, March 24, 2022, those who want to develop and enhance their decision-making skills will have a unique opportunity. The Complete Combatant will be conducting an online evening class from 7-9:30 PM using Image Based Decisional Drills. IBDD was developed with a bit of input from me and I will be attending this particular session to observe, refresh, and learn. If you would like to join us, please click on the Reactionary Zones image below.
Setting Boundaries and Communication
One of the most important personal protection skills we can develop is to set boundaries and clearly communicate them. Simply saying NO! in a firm voice is the most concise method of doing it.
Although the comment has been made that I give my clients permission to be rude, that has evolved in my mind to simply giving permission to say NO! As a society, we have placed so much emphasis on consensus and negotiation that our ability to firmly set boundaries and communicate them has become sadly neglected.
When someone refuses to respect a boundary that you have set very clearly, their intent becomes immediately clear. That clarity allows us to make definitive decisions about our own course of action.
Practice saying NO! every day in your normal daily activities. You don’t have to be mean or discourteous about it, simply say it firmly and with conviction. Often, when you say it, the other party will physically react and rock back on their heels. You have utterly reset their OODA Loop at that point.
Historical Lessons – Gunpointing
Some lessons stand the test of time. Being prudent about whom guns are pointed at is one.
This is the first in a series of short videos that recall worthy lessons from historical films.
If you would like to purchase my ebook Real Shootouts of the LAPD, click on the image below.
ETA: This was posted on my Facebook page and it’s too good to not share.
Denny’s Shootings and Fights
My colleague Caleb Causey https://www.lonestarmedics.com/ posted the following meme on Instagram.
This made me curious so I did a little research. The following incidents turned up. 🙂
El Paso -January 23rd 2022 fight followed by shooting https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/man-is-chased-out-of-dennys-in-a-fight
Monzell Brocks of Wichita. – Nov. 10, 2021 https://www.kwch.com/2021/11/10/shooting-dennys-leaves-man-critical-condition/ – Update victim deceased, suspect arrested. https://www.kake.com/story/45325687/police-arrest-suspect-in-fatal-shooting-outside-dennys-in-southeast-wichita
Woman shot Kansas City, MO. – Jul 7, 2021 https://www.kmbc.com/article/kansas-city-missouri-police-department-says-woman-shot-at-dennys-restaurant-off-blue-ridge-cutoff/36648838
Man shot in Spartanburg, SC – Apr 3, 2021 https://www.wspa.com/news/developing-large-deputy-presence-at-dennys-in-spartanburg/
On April 30, 2019, 36-year-old Crest Hill resident Gregory G. Brown Jr. was gunned down in the parking lot of Denny’s on Plainfield Road. Joliet IL https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/05/03/joliet-police-dennys-shooting Plea agreement https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/joliet-murder-defendant-pleads-guilty-armed-robbery / It’s unclear what her complicity was but she may have set the victim up to be robbed.
Salinas California – 9:45 p.m. February 19, 2021, two persons shot at the North Main Street Denny’s, located at the corner of two of Salinas’ busiest streets. https://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/2021/02/20/salinas-police-2-shot-1-critical-after-gunfire-north-salinas-california-dennys-restaurant/4523869001/
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – Officers were called to Denny’s on 13th Ave. S., at 2:59 a.m. December 5, 2021 https://www.valleynewslive.com/2021/12/06/man-arrested-threatening-shoot-people-dennys/ Note: arrested man was from Oxford, MS
Plano TX Dec 14, 2021 Fight with officers https://starlocalmedia.com/planocourier/man-arrested-following-alleged-altercation-at-a-dennys-in-plano/article_f6166aea-5d20-11ec-a357-9b9e3b6c3633.html Note: Police say amid Walker’s struggle with police, a firearm fell out of his boot. Authorities allege that the firearm was stolen from Raytown, Missouri. No search would be complete without including a stolen firearm.
FRIDAY 01/05/21 6:57 p.m. OREM, Utah (ABC4) – Officers are on the scene of a stabbing at a Denny’s in Orem. Officers say they responded to reports of a stabbing and got to the scene to find three victims who were wounded. https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/three-people-stabbed-at-dennys-in-orem-police-investigating/
Sep. 7, 2021 at 10:05 AM EDT RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – At least two people are in custody in Placer County after an early-morning shooting led to a chase. According to Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong, the incident appears to have started near Bellevue Road Tuesday morning and later moved to the Denny’s on North Carson Street. Furlong says that’s where multiple shots were fired and a car was hit; however, no injuries have been reported. https://www.kolotv.com/2021/09/07/two-suspects-custody-after-early-morning-shooting-carson-city/
Of course, no search for shootings would fail to find at least one Unintentional Discharge in a car. NASHUA, N.H. — A man was critically wounded in an accidental shooting early Tuesday morning in Nashua, police said. The 35-year-old man was alone when the incident happened at about 2 a.m. Feb 17, 2021 in the parking lot of the Denny’s restaurant on Gusabel Avenue. https://www.wmur.com/article/heavy-police-presence-reported-in-nashua/35516185#
Delivery Driver Killed in Shooting at Virginia Denny’s. DoorDash driver and father of two Yusuf Ozgur was shot and killed after he “unknowingly held the door for the suspects as they exited”. December 26, 2019 https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/customer-at-dennys-slain-another-shot-during-armed-robbery-in-manassas/2192475/
Man Pulls Gun on Denny’s Employee. A man pulled a gun on an employee in the restroom of Denny’s Roscoe Boulevard location in Van Nuys early Monday morning. Jun 22, 2021 https://roundtable.io/keynewsnetwork/california/man-pulls-gun-on-dennys-employee
Argument over chicken tenders leads to late-night Grand Slam in Bryant restaurant. Mar 25, 2021 / 03:40 PM CDT The officer said he ran both of their IDs to find that both men had multiple warrants out of different jurisdictions. https://www.fox16.com/news/local-news/argument-over-chicken-tenders-leads-to-late-night-grand-slam-in-bryant-restaurant/
Man Withdraws Stand Your Ground Request in Denny’s Shooting. Published August 10, 2016. Police say he shot [his girlfriend] in the face inside the Denny’s women’s bathroom. The victim survived the shooting. https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/man-withdraws-stand-your-ground-request-in-dennys-shooting/65746/ Update: He was convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
These incidents also popped up but I didn’t investigate them further.
When you go out to eat, especially late at night, don’t assume that the only heaters are in the kitchen. It’s always best to bring your own also and know how to use it.
Special Forces – The Big Picture
#throwbackthursday
February’s weekly episodes of The Big Picture will feature the role of Special Forces during the Cold War. https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-history
Guest Narrator for the first episode is Mr. Henry Fonda, the famed screen actor.
This man wears the uniform of the Special Forces. To use the word special in describing him is no mistake as you’ll see during the next half hour. He’s a mature, dedicated, and skillful professional and his line of work is demanding. It takes in a full scope of unconventional or guerrilla operations.
Special Warfare involves three types of activity; unconventional warfare, psychological warfare, and counterinsurgency operations. This last includes the complete range of military, political, economic, and sociological action. New emphasis is being placed on unconventional warfare and the reason isn’t hard to see.
Today, the threat of war takes three forms; general nuclear war, conventional war, and guerrilla or unconventional war. Fortunately, the world has never yet seen a general nuclear war. Conventional warfare, the regular forces of two or more nations in combat but without using nuclear weapons we know all too well but at the moment no such traditional war is going on. Unconventional warfare is a different story.
In a number of key spots around the world intense guerrilla operations are underway right now. It makes little difference to the people of a country whether they lose their freedom to an invading army of regulars or through the action of guerrilla forces sponsored by an outside power.
My book Shooting Your Black Rifle seems appropriate to this series of films. If you would like to purchase it, click on the image below.
Fundamentals of Pistol Shooting (Part 8)
#fridayfundamentals
My friend and colleague Shelley Hill of Image Based Decisional Drills https://www.imagebaseddecisionaldrills.com/ has generously contributed the following post about the importance of the Use of Force decisional process and training for it. We’ve been slapped in the face by the news about good and bad Use of Force decision making. It is the most important, consequential, and least practiced aspect of the Fundamentals.
Decisions Come Before Technique
by Shelley Hill
In the process of Personal Protection, from the time that a bad guy chooses you, you will have a limited amount of time to make a decision. THEY choose how and when. YOU have to respond to their actions. YOUR reactions need to be confident, quick, and decisive.
Seeing, recognizing, and believing danger is the first task. Having a plan for avoidance, deselection and escalation is second. If these fail, the fight is on, and it must be won. The first time you have to use the different levels of force, with everything on the line, should not be the first time you practice your skills. A wide variety of options are available for responding to an attempted attack. The choices you have include:
- Non-lethal (mindset, verbal, walk away, flashlight, etc.),
- Less than lethal (OC/pepper spray, Combatives, etc.) and
- Lethal options (firearm, knife, advanced Combatives, etc.).
Your decision or decisions will come first, ideally before the incident ever begins. After deciding what to do, you will apply a technique to implement your decision. We must commit to a course of action and take advantage of making decisions ahead of time. Our instinctive responses to danger are fight, flight, or freeze. If we have thought about and practiced our decisions before the incident takes place, we have a better chance of expanding our instinctual reactions to something more effective or appropriate. When pre-need decisions have already been made, the techniques we have practiced will usually fall into place.
Recognition -primed decision making (RPD) is a model of how people make quick, effective decisions when faced with complex situations. In this model, the decision maker is assumed to generate a possible course of action, compare it to the constraints imposed by the situation, and select the first course of action that is not rejected. RPD has been useful for diverse groups including medical professionals, fire ground-commanders, chess players, and stock market traders.
It functions well in conditions of time pressure, and in which information is partial and goals defined only in a limited way. It appears, as discussed by Gary A. Klein in Sources of Power, to be a valid model for how human decision-makers make decisions. The result of pre-need decision-making is a decision that may not be perfect but is good enough to help keep you, or a loved one, safe.
With the help of Brian Hill and Claude Werner, I produced a decision learning system called Image Based Decisional Drills (IBDD). It is an evolution of the technique of visualization that has been used successfully for decades to help athletes, competitive shooters, and others make their decisions ahead of time and then carry them out as a programmed response instead of improvising decisions as they go.
It is called it IBDD because you are learning to quickly make ONE good FIRST decision based on visual stimuli. The word “decisional” means “having the power or authority to make decisions”, and drills means practicing. Image Based Decisional Drills is a system that can be used in either dry practice or live fire. It consists of a deck of 21 Image Cards that provide IMAGES that will help you to recognize danger and to make smart decisions ahead of time.
There are benefits to practicing good FIRST decisions through IBDD and then following up with GOOD techniques.
- Visual cueing and pre-need decision making.
- Learning distance management through “Reactionary Zones.”
- Tool cycling and strategy changes that can be practiced repeatedly.
- Pressure testing decisions under realistic time constraints with feedback for improvement.
- The ability to practice your skills whether you are ON or OFF the range. The actual mechanics of shooting can be practiced separately while the IBDD drills will help with tool handling and selection.
Whatever system you use to practice your decision making skills, it’s important to keep an important concept in mind. It is easier to adapt a plan you made ahead of time to the situation than it is to improvise a plan on the spot. Make a plan, practice your plan, and then work your plan if the need arises.
Part 1 https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/11/05/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-1/
Part 2 https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/11/12/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-2/
Part 3 https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/11/22/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-3/
Part 4 https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/12/03/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-4/
Part 5 https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/12/10/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-5/
Part 6 https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/12/17/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-6/
Part 7 https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/12/24/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-7/
Tactical Professor books (all PDF)
- Indoor Range Practice Sessions http://indoorrangepracticesessions.com
- Concealed Carry Skills and Drills http://concealedcarryskillsanddrills.com
- Advanced Pistol Practice http://bit.ly/advancedpistolpractice
- Real Shootouts of the LAPD https://realshootoutsofthelapd.com/
- Thinking Clearly about Self-defense and Personal Protection https://www.payloadz.com/go?id=3377208
- Serious Mistakes Gunowners Make http://seriousgunownermistakes.com
- Shooting Your Black Rifle http://shootingyourblackrifle.com
- Package deal of Thinking Clearly about Self-defense and Personal Protection, Serious Mistakes, Indoor Sessions, Concealed Carry, and Shooting Your Black Rifle (50% off) https://store.payloadz.com/details/2644448-ebooks-sports-shooting-drills-package.html
Purchase of any book includes Serious Mistakes Gunowners Make.
Strategies, Tactics, and Options for Personal Protection presentation at Rangemaster Tactical Conference
100 percent standards
‘Tragic’: Teen apparently killed by stray police bullet in LA Burlington dressing room identified
https://abcnews.go.com/US/14-year-girl-dressing-room-killed-stray-bullet/story?id=81919639
This is an example of why I believe in 100 percent standards, not 70, 80, or anything less. My guess is that those officers will not last long on the LAPD and it’s not because they will get fired.
They will leave because the overwhelming majority of cops are decent people who want to do the right thing in life. That poor girl’s killing will haunt those officers forever. Whenever they put on their duty weapons, it will remind them of the consequences of the incident. No decent person wants to be reminded of that every day.
I’ll be following the investigation of this one closely.
Fundamentals of Pistol Shooting (Part 7)
#fridayfundamentals
My friend and colleague Brian Hill of The Complete Combatant http://www.thecompletecombatant.com/ has a unique perspective on one of the decision-making aspects of the Fundamentals. It was touched on in Part 1 of this series https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/11/05/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-1/. He has generously contributed the following post to expand and explain his viewpoint.
The Three Choices
The act of drawing from concealment to the first shot is the essential skill for the armed citizen, whether we are practicing, competing, or protecting ourselves. To improve the probability of success, the action requires a “recognition primed decision,” to use Gary Klein’s phrase. There are only three possible courses of action for the shooter once the decision to shoot has been reached. The need for a mental model which is conducive to quick decisions can be explained as follows.
1-Shoot
If the shooter can perform a clean draw, align the sights or index the pistol relative to the target, then the decision should be primed that the pattern is correct and to execute the process of shooting. This decision will be compressed to a short period of time; therefore, the intuition will recognize the correctness with feedback from both vision and feel. This observation will be based on the feeling of fluidity and efficiency of the movement with a visual confirmation of alignment allowing the pattern to be recognized as “good enough” relative to the size of the target. The shooter is not using a comparative analysis but a recognition of previous successes.
2-Correct and then shoot
Often pressure or lack of skill will alter this process; therefore, the shooter will have to correct either the physical index or visual alignment of the sight and target, or both. The pattern will be recognized as not “good enough,” and a correction will be applied. This correction cost the shooter a quarter of a second to make a correction which is much faster than firing another shot which may be no better than the previous one. Of course, the other possibility is looking to the target for indication of success or failure, and the minimum amount of time for this type of correction is .75 to 1.5 seconds. The more we practice the correct pattern, the faster the recognition primed decision happens. Experts gain an advantage in processing speed and a significant probability of making the right decision sooner, hence the need for practice.
3-Assess new information
Finally, as the shooter commits to the shooting process, something changes, the target disappears, changes, or stops needing to be engaged; therefore, the shooter needs to assess a possible new course of action, such as stopping the process of shooting, going to a ready position and taking the finger off the trigger, or moving away. Using the previous two steps, if there is not a “good enough” solution and no correction can be made, requires the shooter to reevaluate the situation. If there is any doubt then the answer is no, and the shooter needs to adjust or stop.
Shooting happens in highly compressed time periods, but the properly prepared mind will be able to perform efficiently and consistently. The key is repeated exposure to both success and failure, allowing the priming of the process. Practice with this style of immediate feedback will allow progress rapidly and is the key to competency under pressure.
The Complete Combatant http://www.thecompletecombatant.com/
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
–Marcus Aurelius
In addition to the alignment process of the pistol to the target Brian mentions, the smoothness of the trigger press necessary will influence the success of the shot. Shooters are often victims of “urgency bias” with regard to trigger press. This is akin to the common human tendency to feel “I have to do something NOW.” Urgency bias can lead to “El Snatcho” and can negate the alignment of the pistol with the target. So, the necessary smoothness is also a decision that the shooter must make. What will suffice at two yards will probably not lead to good results at 10 yards. It is also a recognition primed decision that is only learned through practice.
The final part of the series will focus on the most important, consequential, and least practiced aspect of the Fundamentals, DON’T SHOOT/SHOOT.
Part I https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/11/05/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-1/
Part 2 https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/11/12/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-2/
Part 3 https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/11/22/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-3/
Part 4 https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/12/03/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-4/
Part 5 https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/12/10/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-5/
Part 6 https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/12/17/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-6/
Tactical Professor books (all PDF)
- Indoor Range Practice Sessions http://indoorrangepracticesessions.com
- Concealed Carry Skills and Drills http://concealedcarryskillsanddrills.com
- Advanced Pistol Practice http://bit.ly/advancedpistolpractice
- Real Shootouts of the LAPD https://realshootoutsofthelapd.com/
- Thinking Clearly about Self-defense and Personal Protection https://www.payloadz.com/go?id=3377208
- Serious Mistakes Gunowners Make http://seriousgunownermistakes.com
- Shooting Your Black Rifle http://shootingyourblackrifle.com
- Package deal of Thinking Clearly about Self-defense and Personal Protection, Serious Mistakes, Indoor Sessions, Concealed Carry, and Shooting Your Black Rifle (50% off) https://store.payloadz.com/details/2644448-ebooks-sports-shooting-drills-package.html
Purchase of any book includes Serious Mistakes Gunowners Make.
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