Book Review: "Street Focused Handgun Training - Volume 3: Tactics" by Ralph Mroz

Book: Street Focused Handgun Training - Volume 3: Tactics by Ralph Mroz (114 pages) ($4.49 on Kindle).

Notice: I am not being paid for this review, but I did receive a copy of the book for free for purposes of review.

    This book is part of a three volume set of books. I have also reviewed Volume 1: Equipment and Volume 2: Training. Like the other books, this book is derived from blog posts and articles from shooting magazines that Mroz has written over the years.

    The main topics covered are:

• Five habits of responsible gun owners.
• How to get crappy, but easy and cheap, advice on legal gun use.
• Diminished fighter theory and shot placement.
• Stop the silly silliness about not having to know the law!
• Double taps: please, no!
• Experience, training, and critical thinking: evaluating instructors.
• Don't Point When You Challenge!
• When to walk out of a class.
• Nix the high ready.
• Why martial arts teachers suck...but on a positive note can get you free room and board.
• My four principles.
• Aim for the upper chest? Five reasons not to.
• Color codes mapped to OODA loop.
• CCW for non-sissies.
• Everything there is to know about knife fights (almost).
• What's "tactical" about the tactical reload?
• The answers to everything.
• The bad guy with body armor problem.
• Gun to empty-hand de-escalation.
• If there's enough light to ID the target there's enough light to see the sights - not!
• Don't provide first aid to someone you just shot (usually).
• Detaining suspects - a good way to go to the hospital or jail.
• To intervene or not.
• Open carry - really, for jackasses.
• Slice the pie? Quick peek? For civilians? Both. Maybe.
• Everything you need to know about empty hands knife defense.
• Policing needs reform; don't blame the police.
• Career physical fitness standards.
• Dynamic entries no good?

Yeah, that's a lot of stuff. But it is the type of tips and insights you might get from an instructor as you visit over a drink or hang out after class. And, as you can probably guess, he attacks some commonly held or taught tactics or beliefs. Most of the advice is directed at the civilian carrying a weapon for self-defense. A few topics are directed at law enforcement, but even then the advise covers something worth thinking about in a civilian context. 

    One thing you will notice with the experienced trainers is that they place a great deal of importance on knowing the law of self-defense, and Mroz is no exception. That is because the law of self-defense provides the "rules of engagement", so to speak, of dealing with a threat. One thing that people need to read is Mroz's list and discussion of sources of crappy advice on legal gun use. Yes, we all should know that advice from an internet forum should be taken with a large grain of salt, but Mroz goes on to talk about other poor sources of advice, including cops, websites, state officials (e.g., a prosecutor), NRA instructors, and, perhaps to the surprise of some of you, lawyers. 

    We always hear the mantra "consult with a local attorney" about self-defense laws in your particular jurisdiction. However, even that advice is deficient because of the fact that very few attorneys have an experience in criminal defense--most work in other areas, and may, in fact, be very specialized in their practice. For instance, the ERISA attorney you know through your church, the estate attorney that prepared your will, or the nice young man that your insurer hired to defend you after an auto accident, is probably not going to know squat about criminal law (other than maybe a few general principles from a law school class years ago) let alone the law of self-defense. Another thing to keep in mind is that even many criminal defense attorney's won't know how to defend you in a case of civil defense. The bread and butter of most criminal defense attorney's are representing people charged with drunk driving and/or possession charges. They likely know no more about self-defense law than the hypothetical ERISA attorney mentioned above. And, unfortunately for you, the local prosecutor may not know (or care) either, and charge you when you shouldn't be charged. 

    I'm not trying to disparage attorneys. It is just a fact of life that people tend to specialize. To give an example using another profession, you wouldn't expect an eye surgeon, an orthopedist or dermatologist to be able to treat your heart condition even though they all have M.D. degrees hanging on their walls. I remember an occasion when I was discussing a youth activity with my church's bishop and one of his counselors. The issue was having someone along with the group that could provide first aid if necessary. Our ward had several doctors, including the bishop who was an emergency room doctor who had also trained in wilderness medicine. When I brought up a couple other doctors in the ward as possibilities, he was dismissive about their ability to even know how to set a broken leg because it was something so far out of their specialty. 

    Another issue he brought up, which I had never thought about, was his advice to train to shoot center of mass (of whatever was visible) rather than training to only shoot at a specific area of the body, like high center chest (which many instructors teach). Apparently, some people, if they cannot see the area they have trained to shoot, won't actually take a shot. For example, not shooting the perp in the leg if you can't see the torso but can see the leg. I don't know if this is the result of narrow mindedness brought on by training, or lack of aggression, but definitely something to keep in mind.

    It is from this book that I picked up the idea of shooting faster than you are processing data, because you have to be able to justify every shot you fire. Mroz discusses this, but also writes:

I defer to Paul Howe, retired from the finest unit of combat shooters in the world, and a man who as seen the real deal more than a bunch of times. MSGT Howe's position is that you get a sight picture for every shot. If this is true for overseas combat missions conducted by the best-trained shooters in the world, then it's true in spades for state-side defensive shootings performed by less well-trained persons.

This might seem to put you at a disadvantage against a bad guy who is spraying bullets, but it doesn't really because it is the hits that count. As Mroz explains, "[r]emember that every round you place on person will have an effect. It may not stop them, but it will all but certainly slow them down for a little bit"--about a half-second for each hit Mroz estimates. You might remember a recent citation I had to an article about training Israeli shooters to deal with terrorists with suicide vests where it was recommended that you keep shooting because each strike would buy another bit of time when the terrorist couldn't react and set off his bomb. Same principle. 

    Another good piece of advice he gives is to not point your weapon at a bad guy when you challenge them. If drawing your weapon is justified but shooting is not, pointing a weapon at a threat turns your action from being prudent to aggravated assault (or assault with a deadly weapon). He recommends keeping the muzzle depressed, such as a low-ready position. He discusses this topic at length, and notes his experiments showing that the time difference for taking your first shot is not enough to matter.

    Since winter is fast approaching, one section in his book--"CCW for non-sissies"--covers some important considerations and concepts for carrying in places that actually have winter where both you and perp are going to be bundled up. That section was mostly contributed by Marcus Wynne, who lives in Minneapolis and knows real winters, with Mroz adding additional commentary. Probably worth the cost of the book just for this section for those in places with four seasons. 

    I'm going to conclude this review with another quote from his section on "The answers to everything" just because I think it is funny and helpful:

The answers to the 10 most commonly asked questions about defensive handguns

1)  It doesn't matter. They all perform adequately, and they all suck compared to a rifle. But really, 9 mm.

2)  Glock

3)  6-8 pounds. 5 pounds is too light for the street, although it's OK for matches.

4) Only a good gunsmith, and that's not your friend in his basement.

4a)  No, parts changers are not gunsmiths (but they can swap out parts).

5)  5 inches at 25 yards max.

6)  Contact distance to 25 yards regularly, out to 100 on gongs and pepper-poppers occasionally.

7)  An 8-inch circle at whatever speed you can master.

8) It's an expert's gun. Jeff Cooper was an expert, so he could carry it. Are you?

9)  Yes, you need training.

10)  Yes, you absolutely must know the law.

In short, it is a good book and probably addresses a lot of questions or issues not covered in training classes. Get it.