Competitive Shooting — Dangerous Diversion or Practical Pastime?
Nothing says training can’t be fun. Action-based competitive shooting is both derided as the province of silk pajama-wearing game players, and praised as the single most important exercise you can do to improve your shooting. They’re damned as a superb way to ingrain habits that will most surely get you killed on the street. Yet, participation in them has been noted as a common characteristic of police officers who have won street gunfights by no [...]
REALITY CHECK II | Plastic Practice
Probably one of the biggest shortcomings of law enforcement is the lack of training or time in the area of firearms. Mainly, it’s due to budgets, manpower and lack of range facilities. Here, I won’t address the lack of interest from management or officers’ reticence for training on their own [...]
The Behavior Management Psychology Of Patrol
The vast majority of what we do as police officers is to interact with people. So it’s safe to say our inter-personal and communication skills will dictate our effectiveness. Any of us who’ve been on the job for any length of time know an officer who can come into almost [...]
SHOOTING WITH X-RAY VISION PART I | Vital Shot Placement In Dire Curcumstances
My partner and I just finished teaching an advanced pistol class. One of our students came over to me, frowning. “Doc, I feel a lot better about my shooting skills after this class,” he said quietly. “But I’m still unclear about one thing. Where should I be aiming to put [...]
ANOTHER ROUND OF LOW LIGHT CONSIDERATIONS
Low light. It seems either you enjoy working in that environment or you don't. I did, and I still miss the challenges. Anyway. Back when the world was flat and pterodactyls were our air support, flashlights were talked about in terms of candlepower. Then the SureFire 6P handheld, running on [...]
THE COVERED LOW READY
After several decades of managing thousands of people in front of a firearm in high-stress situations, I am a big fan of a hard Low Ready position. Using that traditional Low Ready, no part of the muzzle covers anyone. The position also allows for the operational application of Rule 2 [...]
LOW LIGHT CONCERNS | Part 1 – Lighting Conditions
Low light concerns get an awful lot of attention. A fair amount of that could be because of us fearing the unknown. And the dark is definitely an unknown. Also, let's face it, some flashlights are cool. Low light isn't just a time of day (or night). It is the [...]
CONCEALMENT GUT-CHECK
Carrying a gun off duty is a prudent practice, now more than ever. Cops should carry guns everywhere they are legally permitted to do so. Some thought, however, needs to go into executing the concept. Recently, I have witnessed several officers in my area carrying large handguns with weapon mounted [...]
COOL ON THE RANGE DEAD ON THE STREET | A Hard Look at Shooting Techniques
This first technique is one that seems to have, just in the last year or so, become very popular amongst; shall I say; “tactical youtubers”. (Those who make “how to” tactical shooting videos). Just in the last year I have noticed more and more in tactical shooting videos that [...]
INTEGRATED COMBATIVES | Why You Should Always Bring a Knife to a Gunfight
Although the primary reason law enforcement officers (and most people) carry knives is for their everyday utility applications, they have an important role to play in the defensive weapon toolbox, as well. We have all heard it said “never bring a knife to a gunfight.” While there’s certainly truth [...]
BOOTLEG TURNS | Escaping The Kill Zone
It’s not common for us to think of a vehicle as a defensive tool; at least it is far removed from mainstream thinking. We view our vehicles in many different ways, some utilitarian and others more lovingly. However, to my philosophical approach, when you are behind the wheel of [...]