“Perceived Penalty for a Miss” is a psychological factor that may affect your balance of speed & precision. That is how we at I.C.E. Training Company talk about the psychological factor that could cause you to hesitate to take a shot that you absolutely can make in a defensive shooting situation. Worrying about missing might also (appropriately) cause you to slow your shooting down or chose not to take a shot at all if the penalty for missing is high enough.
After you successfully defend yourself, will your attacker be characterized as a victim in the aftermath of a defensive gun use? Legal and emotional issues are probably the most daunting aspects of the aftermath of a defensive gun use. The key to surviving any conflict is preparing ahead of time. Don’t let your training and planning stop at the trigger press… you’ll still have a lot to deal with in the immediate and long term aftermath of a defensive gun use.
A Negligent Discharge is often a result of a lack of education. Education about responsible carry of a defensive firearm means a lot more than just learning how to shoot or learning what the laws are in your area.
Last night on PDN Live I answered questions related to Home Security & Safety. This was a very different conversation than I would’ve had with the viewers if the topic hand been “Armed Home Defense”, although we did talk about that a bit.
I took a few minutes yesterday to really break down the viral “RSO Grabs Gun!” video from a training standpoint AND a political one. You can see the Video at my Youtube Channel. Things to Consider: Training: Should RSOs and Instructors be prepared to control shooters physically? Do you think they generally are? Politics: …
The Defensive Shooting Fundamentals program is completely developed, launched and reaching students all across the country.It’s been awhile since I have formally posted any type of update on the development and growth of the Defensive Shooting Fundamentals Program. The PDN Training Tour had me busy since March and there is always a lot going on… but, this seemed like a great time to share some information, with a large Instructor Development class being held this weekend in Wisconsin.
You don’t want to be a dog sitting on a porch who leaps off to chase a squirrel and gets hit by a car… there will always be instinctive reactions and emotional responses at the outset of an critical incident, by having a plan you can avoid getting sucked into a bad situation by executing an Intelligent Rational Response instead of just improvising in the heat of the moment.
It is not all that surprising then, that one of the best shooters in the world, my buddy Rob Leatham, recently posted a video (which bordered on a rant) extolling the importance of the 5th grade physical science fact: All other things being equal, a typical .45acp round delivers more energy on a target than a typical 9mm round. My own experience, experimentation and research has lead me to the conclusion that 9mm is a better choice despite its smaller diameter, lower mass and the generally lower levels of both force and momentum that it brings when compared to .40S&W and .45acp.
This event has been going on for the past week and has featured 31 Shooter Instructors, Experts in Armed Defense Topics, Competition Shooters, Shooting Community Influencers and Personal Defense Educators covering a wide variety of topics. It’s FREE! I get that this is a holiday weekend… you probably have a lot going on… but, take an hour or ten over the next couple of days to learn from some outstanding educators while you can. I have long been an advocate of training conferences for having a huge “Bang for your Buck” factor… and it doesn’t get much better than 12 Sessions for ZERO BUCKS.
Over time, the approach that I (and now many others) advocate has started to catch on. Safety is not simply a set of rules that you recite and then ignore when you need to or when it is convenient or when “everyone knows” they don’t apply. Safety with firearms is a Concept. That concept is best summed up as Balancing Risk and Benefit. Safety requires critical thinking and gun handling specifics need to be adapted to accommodate activity, location and context.
