Last week, we sent an email discussing how and why you should get involved in the local gun rights fight.
This week we’re going to look at video of a wild shootout that happened in a retail store in California this week.
There are a number of lessons from this video that are stark examples of what we teach in our Free Concealed Carry Classes and our Defensive Shooting Courses.
Lesson 1 – Defensive shootings tend to be DIFFICULT. In this case, our bad guy was outnumbered, outgunned, surrounded and confined to a small space with no easy means of escape, cover or concealment. The bad guys pick the terms of the fight. This cannot be stressed enough. The shooting you do at the Range is the exact opposite of a situation like this. At the range, all of the environmental factors are chosen and or artificial.: distance to target, speed of the fight, direction of target, etc. In the real world, almost none of these factors will be up to you. Our good guy in this situation started out the fight with a gun in his face. Once he began his draw, he was immediately shot in the face/neck. These fights are far from easy.
Lesson 2 – Speed of draw. Our good guy was open carrying, but the bad guy had the drop on him. When the good guy made the decision to draw, he had about 1 second to successfully draw and fire before the bad guy would be able to respond by pulling the trigger. The mistake our good guy made was to hesitate in his decision. His hand went to his gun and almost a whole second went by as he made the decision as to whether he would shoot or not. In that moment, he lost any chance he had to shoot first. A fast draw is not simply about getting the gun out of the holster and on target. It also includes the decision to act.
A fast draw is not simply about getting the gun out of the holster and on target. It also includes the decision to act.
Now once our good guy did draw the gun, he was actually extremely fast. The problem was the interval between when his hand went to his gun, and his decision to draw. This interval gave the bad guys time to act. I’d like to add a fantastic resource to this discussion on how training for that decision should really look in the real world.
Lesson 3 – The will to win the fight. Our good guy was shot twice in this fight, at near point blank range. He initially went into a flight/freeze response as he dropped to the ground and curled into a fetal position. However he did not stay down as the bullets continued to fly. He got back up, with bullet holes in his head, and continued to fight, and FIGHT EFFECTIVELY. He maintained continuous movement and continuous fire towards his threats. This is incredibly important, the fight is not over just because you are shot.
These are just a few lessons, and there are more. I strongly encourage you to take the chance to train for actual defensive scenarios. Join us for an upcoming class and build the skills that may save your life!
