A. Safety.
B. Familiarization of Firearms.
C. Marksmanship.
D. All of the above.
Obviously, it’s “D” all of the above. Most of the time when we think of firearms safety we think of safety rules or the way in which the handgun is carried or stored. But what about safety training to prevent making the ultimate mistake and shooting someone that you know or shooting an innocent person?
Yes, it lies in the manner that you train. Target identification is a critical yet often overlooked aspect of firearms training. When most of us think about training we focus on marksmanship by using bullseye targets and dot targets. Then, we augment this with maybe a stop clock, a shot timer or a turning target system and focus on speed. But how often are you training to identify a target first and THEN raising a handgun to engage it? In your goal to be fast and efficient are you just lowering the handgun slightly prior to aiming? Although it’s fun and challenging, if you are training for just marksmanship and speed, you could be setting yourself up for a catastrophic failure. The Colonel Jeff Cooper said it best when he stated, “Never let your muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy”.
For those of you who have a concealed carry permit in NJ, you should have been trained in the Use of Force concept of pointing a firearm at another person. I hope you completely understand the concept found under the definition of Deadly Force wherein; “A threat to cause death or serious bodily harm, by the production of a weapon or otherwise, so long as the actor’s purpose is limited to creating an apprehension that he will use deadly force if necessary, does not constitute deadly force.” (NJ 2C:3-11b). This allows the CCW holder to point a firearm at another, and it does not constitute deadly force. However, what if in the moment of threat identification your firearm was pointed at the threat and you had an unintentional discharge? This leads us to the important skill sets of carry positions and trigger finger disciple. Just because NJ law MAY allow us to cover the threat doesn’t mean that you HAVE to. You, as the handler of said firearm are responsible for where the bullet may go with each and every trigger press, intentional or not.
Just because you have a handgun in your hand, you should not automatically develop a conditioned response to shoot. A proper conditioned response should be to identify the target then shoot. In fact, your shooting should start with an assessment of the condition of the handgun as you prepare your handgun for shooting. This is done by proper loading and if carrying, proper holstering. When identifying a threat your conditioned response should be target identification, THEN think about shooting, based upon the actions of the threat. Remember, this is a reactionary process when using a firearm in self-defense.
In reality, the thought process should be:
1. Locate the source of the threat, determine if you are justified in shooting.
2. Initiate the shooting process to shoot, without hurting an innocent person who may be behind or near to the threat. This is a complex task but must be considered and incorporated into your individual training program.
3. Incorporate firearm handling positions that allow you to maintain proper muzzle discipline, such as a low ready, compressed low ready and Soule. Incorporate proper trigger finger discipline by indexing the trigger on the frame of the firearm, and incorporate the use of the firearm safety, if so equipped.
4. Train for low-light firearm mounted lights, a great piece of kit, but locating and determining friend or threat can’t always be done with a weapon mounted light. Learn to use and shoot with a handheld light.
There are simple drills that you can use with a partner. Put up a target with different shapes, colors, numbers or letter, many targets have this. One person shoots and the other calls out a color shape or number. This is a foundational step to target identification. In advanced classes, we use targets that have a human shape and are armed. This should ultimately progress to force on force training with some type of firearm simulator, with a return to classes that include movement and target identification.
In a practical sense, there is another component to this. We, as humans, routinely identify another human by movement, sound and observation. That is fine, but focusing on a threat’s face prevents us from looking at what can really hurt us, which is the human hands. Scanning for a threat from a high ready position may occlude the hands of the threat and cause us to engage when not warranted. When evaluating a threat we should scan the hands, both of them, the waistband and then the wingspan. We can then evaluate any speech from the threat as well as their demeanor. Their facial expression won’t hurt us, but the hands can. Try a simple experiment by looking at people’s hands when you are out in public sometime, you might be surprised to see what people are holding onto.
The primary purpose of this blog is to get each and every one of you who may use a firearm for self-defense to think. Every time you put your hand on a firearm, there must be a legal objective. Defense of one’s self is “thinking person’s game”, it’s not the weapon, it’s mind that will save you.