Competition shooting vs. Defensive Training
- Thread starter Talyn
- Start date
Good article.
Around '87, the agency from which I'm retired retrained every single one of us. Our defensive firearms instructors told us to purge all prior defensive handgun training from our noggins. Gone were the Weaver stand and aimed fire. In was the dominant criterion of survival. We were taught shoot and move and shoot while moving (get the heck outta a bad guy's sight picture), strong hand hip point, shoulder point, weak hand hip point and shoulder point, instinctively scan for barriers (objects that would prevent penetration of bad guys' rounds), weak hand shooting, and when to disengage, seek cover (barriers), and await arrival of overwhelming back up cops. The objective changed to good guys going home to their families and bad guys going to jail. If bad guys were to choose poorly and become property of the coroner, it would be their choices, for cops react to bad guys' threats upon their lives.
Drilled into our noggins was that regardless of whether we had taken rounds, we were to never, ever give up. We were to never think of dying. We were to focus upon survival.
Tactical handgun training incorporates officer survival techniques. Survival became the dominant criterion by which gunfights were assessed.
To assure survival, one has to continually think, plan, and adjust plans as necessary. A good guy's shooting skills are nowhere are crucial to his survival as his bad guy round avoidance skills. A good guy can never take rounds.
Any hit on a bad guy is a good hit. Some hits are better than others, but any hit is a good hit.
A gunfight is not judged by number of rounds fired. Whether cops fire one round or hundreds is immaterial. The only criterion that matters is survival. If cops were to fire 200 rounds and hit nothing, it would be insignificant. What is significant is that good guys survive.
We were retrained to never die with live rounds in our weapons.
Suppressive fire is a valuable tactic. Good guys must prevent bad guys from putting rounds on them.
Our handgun qualification course was amended to reflect scientific reality. Our last six rounds were aimed fire at 15 yards. Most of our qualification course was 5 yards and less, all point shooting.
Never confuse target shooting with tactical training. Competition shooting (IDPA), which is superior to target shooting, is not a substitute for tactical defensive handgun training.
This book: https://www.calibrepress.com/shop/books/street-survival-ii-hardcover/ should be in every survivor's library.
Always remember that two dominant rules of gun fighting:
Rule One: The only known way of surviving a gunfight is to not get in one (thinking, tactical knowledge)
Rule Two: If Rule One is not an option, DO NOT GET SHOT (get outta a bad guy's sight picture)
One last yet extremely crucial fact that survivors should know: bad guys train. Many bad guys are US and foreign military trained killers.
Rule One of gun fighting is my dominant guide. Situational awareness is crucial. I will not knowingly go into high crime areas. If I were 5-star dining and a guy walked, I'd leave.
Avoid, avoid, avoid, and avoid some more.
Around '87, the agency from which I'm retired retrained every single one of us. Our defensive firearms instructors told us to purge all prior defensive handgun training from our noggins. Gone were the Weaver stand and aimed fire. In was the dominant criterion of survival. We were taught shoot and move and shoot while moving (get the heck outta a bad guy's sight picture), strong hand hip point, shoulder point, weak hand hip point and shoulder point, instinctively scan for barriers (objects that would prevent penetration of bad guys' rounds), weak hand shooting, and when to disengage, seek cover (barriers), and await arrival of overwhelming back up cops. The objective changed to good guys going home to their families and bad guys going to jail. If bad guys were to choose poorly and become property of the coroner, it would be their choices, for cops react to bad guys' threats upon their lives.
Drilled into our noggins was that regardless of whether we had taken rounds, we were to never, ever give up. We were to never think of dying. We were to focus upon survival.
Tactical handgun training incorporates officer survival techniques. Survival became the dominant criterion by which gunfights were assessed.
To assure survival, one has to continually think, plan, and adjust plans as necessary. A good guy's shooting skills are nowhere are crucial to his survival as his bad guy round avoidance skills. A good guy can never take rounds.
Any hit on a bad guy is a good hit. Some hits are better than others, but any hit is a good hit.
A gunfight is not judged by number of rounds fired. Whether cops fire one round or hundreds is immaterial. The only criterion that matters is survival. If cops were to fire 200 rounds and hit nothing, it would be insignificant. What is significant is that good guys survive.
We were retrained to never die with live rounds in our weapons.
Suppressive fire is a valuable tactic. Good guys must prevent bad guys from putting rounds on them.
Our handgun qualification course was amended to reflect scientific reality. Our last six rounds were aimed fire at 15 yards. Most of our qualification course was 5 yards and less, all point shooting.
Never confuse target shooting with tactical training. Competition shooting (IDPA), which is superior to target shooting, is not a substitute for tactical defensive handgun training.
This book: https://www.calibrepress.com/shop/books/street-survival-ii-hardcover/ should be in every survivor's library.
Always remember that two dominant rules of gun fighting:
Rule One: The only known way of surviving a gunfight is to not get in one (thinking, tactical knowledge)
Rule Two: If Rule One is not an option, DO NOT GET SHOT (get outta a bad guy's sight picture)
One last yet extremely crucial fact that survivors should know: bad guys train. Many bad guys are US and foreign military trained killers.
Rule One of gun fighting is my dominant guide. Situational awareness is crucial. I will not knowingly go into high crime areas. If I were 5-star dining and a guy walked, I'd leave.
Avoid, avoid, avoid, and avoid some more.