Survival (positive) mindset, attitude - win not lose:
More than bullet placement, more than marksmanship, more than caliber. The thought process required to win, comes from Attitude and Realistic practice under stress! Successful practice will allow you to "feel and act" correctly under similar circumstances and relates to a winning attitude in real life encounters. Practicing in a range, shooting at paper targets, limits your ability to face a true life-threatening situation. Furthermore, bad habits learned on the firing line can cost you your life! With shooting skills, it takes thousands of holster draws to form muscle memory that can, and will, save your life. Hitting the target, under stress conditions, has to be learned. It requires conditioned reflexes. Split-seconds do make a difference.
Fighting Stance: ( Psychological Preparation )
If you find yourself in a real altercation, you'll quickly find yourself crouching… the same as if you were facing someone in a fist fight, or wrestling match. It's just human nature. We instinctively bend our knees and crouch to reduce our size (think as a target), and it's also a natural stance where we are able to spring forward into battle to defend ourselves. So, why not practice shooting from a crouched position ?
Rate of Fire: ( One Shot Drops )
For many years the FBI has taught their agents, and advised police departments, to use the strategy of two shot taps. That is until just recently. At the end of 2004 the FBI finally began to advocate the "three tap" sequence that most military special teams and private protection companies have been using for some time.
The "Mozambique" style of two taps to the body and a third to the head may be a good strategy if you expect your enemy to be drug-crazed or wearing body armor. For most civilians facing a carjacker or an armed robber, our best bet is to try placing all three rounds in the attackers body (think triangle - nipple to nipple to Adam's apple). The hope is that at least two of the three will make serious contact with a major organ or the spine.
A gunshot will cause trauma in about a five inch circle, depending on the caliber and grain of the bullet, and of course placement. Once we have placed a round on target, the next bullet needs to be a few inches away from the first so as to create another separate wound with it's own muscle and organ damage, as well as a new loss of blood.
To be realistic - we cannot expect our assailant to stand still like a paper target. So our second or third bullet cannot be expected to impact the same spot as the first, regardless of our marksmanship abilities. The point being made is to help you understand that target practice at flat paper targets is necessary, but at the same time has limited benefits. Three dimensional targets are utilized in our tactical course.
Shooting Distance: ( Reality )
Don't waste your time and bullets practicing shooting targets at the back of the range. If you're that far away from your assailant, you'd better be running in the opposite direction instead of shooting. At least you'll wish you had once you get in court and the prosecutor is pressing charges against you for murder.
Self-defense with a deadly weapon (in most cases) is permissible only when you have absolutely no chance of escape.
Practice at a realistic distance, seven yards (21 feet) at the maximum. The truth is, about two-thirds of your practice time should be at a range of no more than three yards (9 feet), in other words, up close and personal!
Recent FBI statistics relate that over 80 % of all gunfights are at a distance of no more than 21 feet, over half of those are at less than five feet!
SNS: ( Physical Reactions )
Much touted today by many instructors are the words Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS). What this adds up to in laymen's terms, is how tension (adrenalin/nerves) affects our ability to perform simple tasks under stress. It's a physical change brought about by the "autonomic nervous system" and it produces fear! Some men are able to overcome the natural tendency to flee easier than others, this doesn't mean that they don't feel fear in it's many forms, it's just that some are better able to control it than others. This almost always comes from hard won experience.
When faced with danger, as in the case where someone points a gun at us, nature has given us the natural ability to respond, and we immediately make the choice to stay and "fight", or "flee". There is a third "F" option, and it usually gets you hurt or killed since it is represented by non-action, it's "freeze", as in too scared to do anything.
The adrenaline that comes with (actually what causes) the fight or flight response triggers a faster heartbeat, higher blood pressure, tunnel vision, even trembling of the hands and a loss of fine motor skills (motor function). All this starts with the nerve endings along our spinal cord. Is it any wonder then that man refers to someone having "backbone" when we discuss bravery?
There's also the "parasympathetic" condition, but that is used to relax and save energy. This is what's known as the digestive mode or "rest and digest" response, when we relax and let our body concentrate on breaking down consumed foodstuffs. But, we can alter our breathing pattern…(more on this in the shooting range).
Actually, there's a third part here and it's called the "enteric nervous system". It is of even less importance to us because it deals with how our system of nerve fibers relate to the function of our lungs, pancreas, gall bladder, etc.
Obviously, what we should be concerned with is how we function under stress when faced with a life or death situation. Adrenalin is good for us, it helps us focus on the threat at hand but it can also cause problems. This is where we have to realize that little things, like the safety on our pistol, are just that, small things we have to be able to put into play to save our butts. Adrenaline may be the good stuff when it gives us increased strength, speed and even the ability to not notice pain until the action is over. But, it also wrecks havoc with our ability to settle down and function as we normally do. (Here again is where training can help).
Our conscious thought process is much too restricted during such confrontations. Having to spend even a split-second releasing a safety on your firearm, or a holster retention strap on a concealed holster, is time that could end your life. Concerning holster retention straps…they are needed when the holster and the gun it cradles are in plain sight where anyone who chooses to do so might try to relieve you of your weapon.
The point is, we are creatures of habit, make sure when you have to reach for your pistola it's where you expect it to be, ready to do what you need it to do! Training is great, but (correct) continued practice is even more important! Repetition is how we turn lessons into habits.
Safety: ( Lethal Consequences )
Not the one on your gun…just as important, maybe more so, is the safety and well being of others. To carry a gun for self-defense brings with it an obligation for the concern of others. Throwing lead downstream in a confined area such as a gun range is relatively safe if we follow the rules and wear the required safety equipment. Outside, in the real world, where a bullet can travel much further than our assailant is, that's where we have to really be vigilant.
Surviving a gunfight is a high priority, but killing or seriously wounding an innocent bystander would be unforgivable. Each of us must realize the responsibility that comes with gun ownership and their use.
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