By R.K. Campbell | Contributing Editor
There are plenty of types of offenses; offense against God, liberty, and law have been dealt with in my life.
Some of the offenders I dealt with required nothing more than a warning, while others got a summons. Some went to prison, a few are still there. There were serious injuries on both sides over the decades. By virtue of their lifestyle very few lived to my age.
Some of my friends went home before dark and did not see retirement. They say that those touched by tragedy become its student. I have studied interpersonal combat and crime all of my life it seems. As a trainer I dealt with different types of offenses. These are training offenses. Some are a result of poor planning. Others are a result of simple laziness. Complacency plays its part. You don’t earn a pass by paying for the instruction. A certain percentage of my students fail.
Let’s look over some of the worst mistakes people make. Don’t think that those with their life on the line every day are not also guilty but we will concentrate on civilian training.
Get Training
You cannot train to a high level solo. My money is always on the shooter with a few thousand hours of practice behind him over the enlightened soul who thinks he will rise to the occasion. You may gain proficiency with constant practice but it must begin with instruction: formal, certified good quality training. (Gunsite, Front Sight, Rangemaster, Massad Ayoob Group and other very good trainers.) Without this training behind you your survival in a lethal confrontation may simply be a matter of luck of the draw (which I don’t believe in) or divine intervention (which I have seen firsthand). If you have a very good relationship with the All Mighty then well, you know the line about God and Fools. Best to meet providence halfway and train.
It takes all kinds in life. Some spend the money for a training school and then don’t apply their classes and don’t practice as they should. The point is that many shooters simply do not have the essentials or primary principles in place to be a good defensive shooter. If you think you are very good at defensive pistol shooting you are probably not. Opinions of what is good vary and not all opinions are of equal value. You should try a local match such as 3Gun. It will be a humbling experience. In the past year I have studied results in gunfights; some were recorded by body cams others by video in public businesses. It was enlightening. It is simple enough to practice enough to get good results in a static range on paper targets. But that isn’t what we are talking about. A self-defense course covers many things.
The instructor will teach safety. The NRA basic course is good and should be taken before you advance any further. Grandpa may have given you good safety lessons but he probably did not teach you to load and unload your Glock or 1911. Next come basic gun handling and marksmanship and a test called the one shot qualifier. That is, getting a hit with one shot not a flurry of shots. One carefully aimed shot.
When you get the one at a time shot, next proceed to firing two shots. Control these shots. Then comes multiple targets. A shortcoming of students is absolute familiarity with the handgun. Malfunction drills and speed loading drills must be addressed. Some students fumble loading the firearm! That is unacceptable.
In all of these drills the instructor times the student. Only timed drills are beneficial to gauge progress. The ego must be nullified as you progress. You never know as much as your ego tells you. Structured training results in a growth to proficiency and taking training a few steps up the ladder at a time is the only means of achieving proficiency. Draw and point is ridiculous. You must aim and be in control of the firearm. Tension techniques and trails come together in training. Controlling recoil and making hits is essential. The instructor will help you get into a stance that works for you.
Without training, a poor grip and stance is OK for a shot or two. Recoil adds up and after a few rounds you will be off target. Without a proper grip and trigger press you will begin jerking the trigger. The instructor is sharing the collective experience of every school he has attended and all who have attended the class.
At this point someone may point out an autodidact they think learned to shoot well on their own. There is no short cut and you cannot earn a Black Belt at home can you? Instruction is needed. Mastering the basics of trigger press, sight picture, slight alignment, grip, and follow through allows the shooter to proceed to other skills such as firing around cover and firing with one hand and in difficult positions. Oddly enough- I find much more humility in martial arts. Everyone seems to know exactly where they are physically and in their skill level and respect the others ability. In shooting- there seems a personal ego investment warranted or not.
Other offenses
You may have the handgun squared away to the best of your ability. But there are attitudes as common as a cold but more difficult to get rid of. One I often see is underestimating the threat.
The bad guys I dealt with were not in the genius category. But that doesn’t mean some are not shrewd. The depth of their mind is a place we cannot go. The ones motivated by profit aren’t as dangerous but they will fight to escape. Fear is as good a motivation for violence as any. Those who enjoy causing human suffering are not rare. I have dealt with many hardened by their life. There are good shots among our protein fed ex-con criminal class. As for the bad shots they press the trigger quickly and fill the air with lead. They are good at that and occasionally they hit someone. Don’t underestimate the adversary. Don’t underestimate danger. While the odds or percentage of being engaged in a gunfight are low the possibilities are endless.
Sometimes an armed citizen will sneer at the criminal’s Jennings, Bryco, High Point, .32 revolver, or whatever they envision. This is very far from true. At the least it is outdated.
Last year I studied over fifty shoot outs caught by surveillance cameras and police body cams. Bad guys don’t carry poorly made, underpowered guns. It is the good guys that make that mistake. The bad guys favorite gun is the Glock 9mm sometimes with a selector switch and extended magazine. Others have an AR rifle or some type of 9mm carbine. In one local arrest the shooters had AR pistols they had never bothered to mount sights on. Some of the bad guys are very poor shots; 126 rounds were fired in a local gang battle without a single hit on either side. No wonder so many innocent children are hit. But good guys miss a lot too.
Bad guys kill a lot of people every year. They shove a gun toward you and yank a trigger. Don’t think you are well armed with a snub .38 or .380 auto. Or a ridiculous choice such as a derringer or .22 mini gun. You are in the position of being armed with a deadly weapon but unable to defend yourself. If you take at face value flights of imagination without any basis in science called Stopping Power Studies then you may as well consult a palm reader.
The 9mm Luger and .38 Special +P are realistic minimums. Once you master the 9mm you may move to a heavier caliber if you feel limited, but not before. Choose good quality ammunition not a trick load from an unknown. What ammunition passed institutional test programs? The choice of the FBI after extensive testing? State police load?
An offense against personal safety is to choose a poor quality handgun. There have always been more cheap guns than good guns. Today there are standards of reliability once unheard of. The Glock is a baseline. If the pistol is cheaper than the Glock, corners have been cut. If it costs more be certain what you are getting. The Glock, S&W M&P or Walther PDP are excellent choices. Get good gear squared away and train.
Another offense against personal defense is a poor concealed carry holster. An inside the shirt (Tuckable) requiring several motions to draw the handgun is a death trap. A standard of personal defense is to draw from concealed carry and get a hit on a man sized target at ten yards distance in 1.5 seconds. Be certain your gear passes this test. A floppy ill-fitting nylon fabric holster or tuckable just isn’t suitable for daily use when all requirements are considered.
There are standards in place to guide everyone in choosing their handgun ammunition and holsters. In training there are valid standards in place for gauging the effectiveness of training and training drills. To ignore this basis for procedure isn’t very wise.
