Training is the one area in which most gun
owners are sorely lacking. This is just human nature, and is not
limited to firearms skills. In most any sport, there are those
who are serious enough to put in the time, effort, and money
required for good training, but there are many more who will not
do so. A golfer seems to always think that buying that better
set of clubs will knock a few strokes off his score. A
basketball player wants those cool shoes that will let him jump
higher. Yet neither of these fellows will put in the time and
effort get the training to develop the skills of a top-notch
player, instead trying to buy their way into the winner’s
circle. Lacking the necessary skills in a silly game will cost
you the game, but lacking the skills to defend yourself and your
loved ones carries a much greater penalty.
Many folks these days are choosing to go
heeled, carrying a firearm as they go about their daily lives.
This is a good thing, but if they lack the necessary skills to
use that weapon when needed, it is money, and blood, wasted. The
first rule of a gunfight is to have a gun. The gun needs to be
within reach when needed. This means having a gun that can
ALWAYS be with you. If you drive a truck for a living, you can
probably keep a short shotgun beside the seat. If you are cursed
with having to wear a business suit, you can, with the proper
holster, carry an effective fighting handgun well-hidden from
view. If you are a swimsuit model, you will likely have to
choose something smaller than a full-sized Glock, but whatever
you carry, you must know how to use it, or you have wasted your
money on a weapon that will never leave its holster when you
need it the most.
If you are a law enforcement officer, you
have an advantage over most of us. You were, hopefully, given at
least a minimum amount of training before being issued a badge
and a cruiser. If you think you might be in a dangerous
situation, you can have your weapon in hand. However, for most
of us, we will lose our carry license and our freedom if we pull
a gun without an imminent threat of danger, so we must keep the
weapon hidden until needed.
We carry a gun to resolve the gravest of
social conflicts. We carry a gun to protect ourselves and those
whom we are obligated to protect. Bear in mind that the police
are not obligated to protect you. The police in our nation do a
good job, but in most cases, they arrive after the crime has
either been committed or thwarted. If you are the target of a
violent attack for which you are not prepared, if you are lucky,
the police will take a report from you. If you are not so lucky,
they will draw a chalk line around your lifeless corpse. You are
obligated to take care of you.
If the above is distasteful to you, that is
good. No sane person wants to have to take a human life, but in
reality, that is why we carry a concealed weapon. If we can use
that weapon to prevent a violent attack, that is perfectly fine.
Report the crime, and let the police chase down the attacker.
However, we load the magazine with the best ammunition that we
can buy for a reason.
Be sure that if you are the victim of an
attack, your response must be swift and violent, if you are to
have a chance of survival. Your attacker has had plenty of time
to plan the attack, to choose the time, to choose the place, and
to select the victim. He will do everything possible to catch
you off your guard. Your response will only be a reaction to his
action. He has every advantage, and sometimes even has the
advantage of numbers.
Most who carry a firearm for defense have so
little training that it is pretty much useless. Even if you had
to “show proficiency” to get your carry license, you
probably only had to make a few holes in the target, standing
squarely on a well-lighted range shooting at a target from seven
to twenty-one yards. If some goober-smoocher is standing twenty
yards away holding a knife and waiting for us to make a move,
most of us could handle the situation. However, that is not how
it works in the real world. Your attacker has likely done this
before, and the stupidest ones are eliminated early in their
careers. It is much more likely that you will be grabbed from
behind and a knife be thrust into your torso. How would you
handle that situation? What if you are knocked onto the ground?
What if your attacker is beating the life out of you with a ball
bat? Shooting at a paper target at twenty yards on a
brightly-lit indoor range will not prepare you for a real world
fight. If you are going to carry in the real world, you must
prepare to fight in the real world.
There are several good training facilities
around our nation and world, but there are many others which
greatly fall short. The facility featured here is one of only a
few that I would recommend. It is Tactical Response in Camden,
Tennessee. James Yeager and his associates give real-world
training, both at the home location and at remote locations
around the world. On the day that we visited Tactical Response
to shoot this video, Dave Biggers was training students in his
“Red Zone” class. Biggers does adjunct training classes, and
his Red Zone class stressed up close and personal fighting with
a handgun. His associate, Gary Cooper, taught the students the
anatomy of a gunfight, stressing the importance of knowing the
angle of the bullet’s path to the vital organs, and the real
location of those organs. Biggers’ Red Zone class also placed
a lot of emphasis upon the real-world environment in which one
might be forced to shoot. Dave’s range is three-dimensional,
with “shoot” and “no-shoot” targets interspaced on the
range. This stresses the importance of knowing what is both in
front of and behind the target, as once the bullet leaves the
gun, you can’t call it back. The bullet does not discriminate
between a crazed killer and a baby in a stroller. You own every
bullet that leaves the muzzle of your gun, and are gravely
responsible for where it lands.
I am not a trainer. Different trainers teach
different methods. No one method is “the best”, with others
being useless. However, it is as ridiculous to think that owning
a gun gives you the ability to use it as it is to think that
owning a scalpel makes you a surgeon. The gun and the scalpel
are merely tools. The training that is received on the use of
those tools are what makes them useful. The video that we shot
at Tactical Response shows only a glimpse of the level of
training offered. Biggers’ Red Zone class was a full day, with
most of it spent on the range. Tactical Response offers classes
in the use of handgun, rifle, and shotgun, with classes running
from one to five days.
Choosing the right weapon, the right ammo,
and the right holster are good steps on the way to being
prepared for the most unpleasant of social conflicts. However,
without good, effective, expert training, you are severely
lacking in the skills necessary to defend your life.