Up Close & Too Personal
Retention Position Work Why Despite what some on the errornet opine, we do get into confrontations at very close distances, under 3-5 yards, and even arm’s length. Many of those end up going to the ground as well. Again, in spite of what some commentators have to say. A disproportionate number of L/E deaths occur in close because we must close with BadGuys to pat search, Terry frisk them, and handcuff them. It happens to [...]
Patrol Rifle Selection Standards & Stag Arms
Are there measurable standards for law enforcement equipment? Yes. Unfortunately, beyond body armor, their existence is not well known. Some exist only in draft form and are released for comment. One of those is the National Institute of Justice's Patrol Rifles for Law Enforcement. It was published in December 2018 [...]
Kneeling – One Knee or Two
Last month, we looked at the roll-over prone position. This month, we will take some time to discuss a couple of kneeling positions. Fundamentally, the single-knee and double-knee positions apply the spectrum of firearms. Why There are multiple reasons why one might kneel before or during a deadly force incident. [...]
Laying Down On The Job
I get it. Standing upright while shooting makes everything easier. You can move forward, backward, and sideways. Turn around. And lower yourself. Unfortunately, standing upright is not the most stable position. Nor does it radically lower your profile. Sometimes, though, you must go to the ground. As mentioned above, stability [...]
You’re Right, Tapping Is Dumb
Smash it instead. Last year, I heard Kelly McCann on a podcast. He said that something that has stuck with me – "We are prisoners of our experiences, but, at least, we have them." This magazine is just slightly out of place (we staged it). When drawn and [...]
ThunderStick Summit’s Q&A Session
The last weekend of September saw the fourth ThunderStick Summit out at the Staccato Vegas facility in Pahrump, NV. Thunderstick is a yearly three-day event focusing on the defensive use of shotguns. Four years ago, several instructors who teach the shotgun began a conversation about hosting an event focused on [...]
Cycle Interrupted
Semi-automatic firearms have an eight-step function cycle. Every time the firearm – handgun, shotgun, or rifle – is put in a ready condition, the cycle runs again. Steps Those steps are: Feed, Chamber, Lock, Fire, Unlock, Extract, Eject, and Cock. Feed occurs when the slide goes forward, moving the [...]
Solidifying Your Trigger Press
Dry practice is regularly discussed as “a way” to significantly improve one’s shooting. Those who advocate for it are right. Additionally, several people view your live fire work as validation of what you have been working on in your dry practice. I cannot argue with that view. One challenge when [...]
Firearms Transition Training
A recent project I worked on made me think about what firearms transition training is, or what it should be. Transition firearms training occurs when an agency or organization moves to a new or different firearm platform. Too often, with many agencies, this training is just a qualification course. This [...]
Trends in Police Training – Part 3
Here are parts One and Two covering the Law Enforcement Education Program presentation at this year's SHOT Show. Good Enough? How good do you have to be? No one will argue that you should not be as good as you can be. However, it is equally unrealistic to expect every [...]
Familiarity Breeds Contempt — We Must Do Better
I stopped at my local gun store recently to check what they had in inventory. There was a newly released pistol underneath the glass; the guy behind the counter asked if I wanted to handle it. I said yes, so he bent down and retrieved it. He locked the slide [...]