If you haven't done so already, make sure to read the latest "Weekend Knowledge Dump" from Active Response Training. I first want to thank Greg Ellifritz for linking to my article on why it is recommended not to use your own handloads for self-defense, particularly how it might be used against you by a dishonest prosecutor. In that vein, Greg links to an article entitled "Beating the ‘Rambo’ Rap: How to Explain a Self-Defense Shooting in Court," which discusses how a prosecutor can and will attempt to portray you as a "Rambo" intent on violence by looking at things such as "tough guy" sayings on T-shirts, multiple firearms, carrying spare ammo/reloads, and so on.
Another article well worth your time is "Lessons from South Africa for Americans Preparing for South Africanization," with special relevance to anyone living in blue cities. The author begins by noting that firearms are simply tools and not a total home security solution. So the author looks at how whites in South Africa have responded to the constant, endemic crime and corruption: avoidance (i.e., moving away from high crime areas where possible but at least moving to a place with conservative law enforcement and prosecutors); hiring private security; fortified dwellings; and community mobilization (e.g., an active community watch).
There are lots of other good articles to which he links, but I would suggest you read at least the two foregoing articles.
Also be sure check out the latest Defensive Pistolcraft newsletter. One topic that Jon Low addresses is using shooting matches to help your self-defense skills. Jon writes:
If you're shooting an IDPA match or a USPSA match in a tactically correct manner, you're going to come in dead last. Well, you'll place in front of the DNF (did not fire) guys who failed to show up. Because tactically correct is slow. Because thinking takes time.
All the gamers are shooting much faster than they can think. Because they have choreographed the stage and rehearsed the stage in their mind. They have adjusted their magazines to run out of ammo when they want to, to allow them to do their mag changes between sets of targets, etc. They are not making any decisions when they run the stage. Hick's Law says that without decisions the automatic motor operations are going to go very fast.
Of course, you should have cleaned the stage. No safety violations. No muzzling of any no-shoot targets. No crowding cover. Etc.
Tactically correct means you are thinking your way through the stage, not racing through the stage.
Massad Ayoob has commented about the value of shooting under a time pressure to prepare for shooting under different types of pressure.
Some other advice:
At this past weekend's Bullets & Bibles, several of the instructors were teaching, "Support side thumb pointing forward." In order to point one's support side thumb forward, one has to bend one's wrist. I was repeatedly told that this was the "correct" way and that all of the top instructors teach this technique.
This is false. This is why you must attend many different conferences / schools. Diversity of opinion only becomes evident when you expose yourself to a diversity of instructors.
Tom Givens teaches thumbs up, not thumbs forward. John Farnam teaches thumbs up, not thumbs forward. The list is quite long, but you get the idea.
Why? Because the straight wrist gives you a much stronger grip than a bent wrist. And grip strength is essential for stability / accuracy. A stronger grip makes it harder for the bad guy to take your pistol from you.
You don't believe me? Go to your physical therapist and ask to use the grip strength gauge. With a straight wrist, grip. With a bent wrist (as used in a thumbs forward grip), grip.
Lots more so be sure to check out the whole thing.
I caution my students (NRA Basic Pistol through both the other various courses up to both the Personal Protection Iniside/Outside the Home courses) that IPSC/IDPA/ICORE are very useful for learning "running the gun" but are not "self defense preparation" centers. Here's why:
ReplyDelete1) There is no time in any of the "gamer' contests where the shooter does not immediately draw and fire after the start beep. In Real Life that's a prescription for long prison terms because, first, do you really need to draw your gun, and second, is the best solution immediately shooting at someone? In 2004 Falluja, maybe, in 2025 Indianapolis, quite probably not. But that Decision Cycle is omitted from The Gun Games because that's not why The Games exist, and the structure of The Games cannot accommodate it. To accommodate it requires a higher, and greatly more complex, target layout, target equipment, and rules structure, and no matter how it is incorporated it will penalize Thought and Evaluation.
Second, at the end of each stage the RO will order "Unload and Show Clear." The shooter wil drop the magazine and cycle the slide to extract any cartridge in the chamber, then either locking the slide back or holding it open show it to the RO. The shooter will then, using a firing grip, the exact same grip used when actually thooting the gun point the gun at the berm and press the trigger to produce the "click" that will satisfy the RO before the "holster now" command can be issued and the stage pronounced "safe" for scoring and pasting.
"Muscle Memory" being what it is, someday, somewhere, there's a greater-than-zero possibility that that same shooter will do the exact same thing to confirm a gun is unloaded and it won't be, potentially producing a hole in something valuable. (My recommendation, and the technique I use, it to shift the gun to the support hand, hold it upside down and press the trigger with the back of the strong hand thumb, an act so unnatural it's highly unlikely to be used in any other circumstance.)
As long as one recognizes IPSC/IDPA/ICORE/3GUN as a game, and a tool for learning/improving the mechanical skills associated with "running the gun,"and respects it for that, I see no great negative to participation.
Great points. Thank you.
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