No matter how many runs through a shoot-house there is always something to improve. What I discovered was the importance of recognition and how quickly I could react correctly by thinking fast.
The Unknown, Unknowable Event
If you practice the art of gunfighting long enough you’ve heard arguments for and against speed a thousand times. The truth of the matter is they are both right and wrong. It’s more about context and the situation. Shooting fast has its place no doubt, but it is hard to quantify how fast is fast enough. The harsh reality is nobody knows. We are training for an unknown and unknowable event. Actually, that’s not entirely true. The only known will be the need to positively identify the target to ensure deadly force justification. Everything else is up in the air.
Fast is a By Product of the Situation
I’ve told the story several times about how I never had to worry about going “fast” when I was downrange. It was always a by product of the situation and good training. Things happen in real life quickly, thinking fast gives you an advantage. The best decisions were made when the operator was able to pick up on those cues well in advance, position themselves to be tactically advantageous then utilize the surgical violence to resolve our country’s problems. By that point speed was less of an issue at the micro level.
Being Purposeful
Granted, assaulting complex structures doesn’t apply too much to the armed citizen. Conducting too many runs to count a key take away was speed applied without conscious thought generally ended poorly. As the armed citizen another big difference is being reactionary as opposed to pro-actionary. We will be playing catch up most of the time. The ability to draw and deliver accurate and effective fire is the ever elusive goal. How many rounds will it take to stop the fight is the great unknown. How fast must you deliver the first shot is another great unknown. There is no known basis to support these uber fast draw times. The time it takes to recognize the stimulus to draw and fire is greater than the time it takes to draw and fire. There are a lot of variables in play that need to be considered.
Be Smooth
On top of that, we are going to be in a dynamic setting. Maybe the situation deescalate, accelerating decision making speed. Or maybe the situation was a surprise ambush with no warning. The latter is more common and about the only real justification for the super fast drawstroke. There was a complete unawareness of the looming threat. As a result there is an urgency to giddy-up. I find it far more valuable to have a smooth drawstroke that takes into consideration various scenarios. Such as drawing with the use of movement, from a seated or supine position, recovering to a kneeling position from our back and from behind cover. These to me represent a far more valuable perspective. Of course, I’d like each of these draw strokes to be fast, but precise or smooth is the key.
Critical Decision Making
As armed citizens we are responsible for the final resting place of every round we fire on top of deadly force justification. As we find ourselves in these different positions it strains our accuracy. Focusing our efforts in these conditions makes a lot more sense than any super fast drawstroke. The other consideration is the difference between a planned and unplanned event. When we conduct live fire training it is a planned event. Meaning, we are briefed at what distance under what conditions and the course of fire in advanced. This is a huge advantage. It literally removes the critical decision making from the equation. Critical decision making or thinking fast is one of the most overlooked skills in the gunfighting world. It is not something talked about because it is not sexy. The decision to go to guns versus to escape is a hard one for anyone to make, but if all we do is go to guns it makes it far more likely that will be the default setting. Completely removing the critical decision making and potentially putting ourselves in legal jeopardy. Also, if we are not trained to assess each round fired to determine if the attack stopped we again put ourselves in legal jeopardy. If the cue to stop firing completing a Bill drill or emptied the magazine it may be difficult to defend actions in court.
Draw to the Ready
Staying in control at all times is the ultimate goal. It starts by taking in as much available information to make good and timely decisions, what I reference as thinking fast. It’s great to have the super fast drawstroke with the lightening fast split times, but not at the sacrifice of thinking fast. We also see very little emphasis on drawing to a ready position. Granted many defensive gun uses are self explanatory as far as our response. But, what about a smooth draw to a ready position with voice commands. How often is the subject covered of quickly drawing to the ready and issuing commands. There is a tendency to override programming by always drawing and firing.
We are a byproduct of our training. We will never rise to the occasion, we will default to our level of training. Which is why it is so important to consider a more realistic approach towards training where critical decision making is the emphasis, followed by marksmanship and then speed. Discussing the various stimulus to deadly force threats on a more regular basis gives the end user not only the information, but it primes their radar. It puts them in the driver’s seat. Hitting what we are aiming out is the responsibility we bear when we exercise our constitutional rights. The consequences for missing could be property damage at best, personal injury or death at worst. Then moving with control to perform the above is what dictates the speed.
There’s more to gunfighting than shooting fast, thinking fast should be the priority.
