Gun Safety 2022 – Part V
#mindsetmonday
In addition to the Four Rules, store firearms and other weapons where they are not accessible to unauthorized persons. Guns are not boxes of Kleenex and require a higher level of security for their storage.
My personal ongoing data gathering indicates that every single day, on average, a child gains access to an improperly stored firearm and then incurs or causes a gunshot wound. While this is small number compared to some other types of ‘accidents,’ the other types don’t generally result in large amounts of blood that has to be cleaned up. The level of psychological trauma to the responsible parties cannot be imagined by the rest of us.
The saddest aspect of these incidents is how preventable they are. Numerous easy and inexpensive ways to secure firearms either at home or in a vehicle are readily available. There’s no excuse for not using them.
The balance of the post is on my Patreon page and is publicly available.
Why I Like to Measure Things
#measurementmonday
Why do I like to measure things? Because until I do, I don’t really know what’s inside.
I dislike soupy oatmeal. Although I followed the package instructions, it still turned out like soup. When I used the package measurement, it didn’t. Measuring the actual amount of water from the package’s marker doesn’t hold as much water as it says and which the directions specify. One half a cup is quite a bit less than two-thirds of a cup.
What does soupy oatmeal have to do with personal protection? How would we know whether we’re “good shooters” https://youtu.be/qB7NKXEKewM?t=599 unless we measure our own level of competency?
There has been debate within the training community for a long time about standards of competency. Those arguments will probably never be settled. One possible starting point could be the level of marksmanship necessary to pass the NRA Basics of Pistol Shooting Course. To pass the Course, a shooter needs to be able to make five hits inside a 4 inch circle four times at 10 feet, no time limit.
The NRA doesn’t require that a shooter make the standard in four consecutive attempts. Someone keeping or carrying a pistol for personal protection probably should consider being able to do it every single time. Shooting the BOPS test would at least give you an idea of where your competency is. Here is a target for you to use.
My Fundamentals of Pistol Shooting Tier https://www.patreon.com/TacticalProfessor?fan_landing=true is $1 a month on Patreon. The kickoff post, Dry Practice Circle Drill, is available to the public without subscribing. https://www.patreon.com/posts/64582173
Friday Fundamentals
To kick off my new Fundamentals of Pistol Shooting Tier https://www.patreon.com/TacticalProfessor?fan_landing=true on Patreon, I’ve chosen to use the Dry Practice Circle Drill.
The kickoff post is available to the public without subscribing. https://www.patreon.com/posts/64582173
I’m excited to offer this Tier so that for $1 a month people can learn how to shoot better than this and it won’t take years to do.
Armed Citizen® Podcast – February 2022
Incident #1
Defense related tasks
- Retrieve from Storage (handgun)
- Shoot with handgun
- Engage multiple adversaries
Original news reports
sandiegouniontribune.com, https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2021-08-06/police-searching-for-two-burglars-involved-in-la-mesa-home-invasion
timesofsandiego.com, https://timesofsandiego.com/crime/2021/11/10/one-person-dead-another-wounded-in-early-morning-shooting-in-oceanside/
Incident #2
Defense related tasks
- Retrieve from Storage (handgun)
- Shoot with handgun
- Shoot in midst of others
- Shoot with non-threats downrange
- Engage multiple adversaries
Original news reports
komonews.com, https://komonews.com/news/local/employee-reportedly-shoots-suspects-in-armed-robbery-at-cannabis-store-in-spanaway
thenewstribune.com, https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/crime/article255990047.html
Incident #3
Defense related tasks
- Retrieve from Storage (handgun) or
- Draw to Challenge (verbalize)
- Hold at gunpoint until POlice arrive
- Maintain trigger finger discipline to preclude Unintentional Discharge during gunpoint
- Comply with POlice commands
Original news reports
humboldtgov.org, https://humboldtgov.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=4341
Incident #4
Defense related tasks
- Draw from seated position (car)
- Shoot from seated position (car)
- Reholster safely
Original news reports
chicago.cbslocal.com, https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/11/29/ccw-holder-fires-gun-attempted-carjacker-roseland/
abc7chicago.com, https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-shooting-roseland-foid-card-concealed-carry-license/11284993/
Incident #5
Defense related tasks
- Retrieve from Storage (handgun)
- Shoot with handgun
- Shoot in midst of others
Original news reports
newstalkkzrg.com; https://newstalkkzrg.com/2021/11/30/homeowner-shoots-wounds-alleged-intruder-in-baxter/
Incident #6
Defense related tasks
- Retrieve from Storage (handgun)
- Shoot with handgun
- Shoot in midst of others
- Engage multiple adversaries
Original news report
q13fox.com, https://www.q13fox.com/news/deputies-homeowner-shoots-kills-intruder-in-spanaway
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.
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.
Commence Firing – The Big Picture
#throwbackthursday
“Since the earliest days in American history, marksmanship has played a vital role in the growth and development of our country. The rifle was essential to those pioneers who marched westward, often the means of survival. Marksmanship continues to be fundamental right down to this day. Weapons change, tactics change but being able to hit the mark has never lost its importance. Sometimes it means the difference between life and death. From colonial days, marksmanship has been an American tradition. The right to bear arms was one of the basic freedoms demanded by the Continental Army and rifles and the spirit of the man who manned them were decisive factors in our country’s initial fight for independence.”
To Keep and Bear Arms – The Big Picture
#throwbackthursday
The Big Picture was a long running weekly TV series produced by the United States Army. This episode is a co-presentation of the US Army and the National Rifle Association. It is partially narrated by Craig Stevens, who played Peter Gunn on the TV detective series of the same name. The program also contains scenes from the National Championship at Camp Perry.
For those unfamiliar with Peter Gunn, the series is available on YouTube. The theme song, played by Henry Mancini, has been described as perhaps the coolest and most suave of any TV theme.
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
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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