The other day, a member started a discussion of which handgun might serve him best for defensive carry.
That is likely the first question that comes to mind for most "gun people". We read about guns, we handle them in stores, we shoot them at the range....
Jeff White has said that any handgun of .38 caliber or larger that we know how to use is good enough.
The italicized part is key: in reality, carrying a firearm cannot and will not make us safe. To quote Alan Ladd's character in Shane (1953), "a gun is a tool...". Before we can use a tool effectively, we must master it--we're talking skillset, now.
When a shooter takes his new semiautomatic pistol or revolver to the square range, he or she will likely see other people shooting rather slowly at stationary targets, probably at a distance of seven yards or perhaps more, and follow suit. He or she will likely try for small group sizes, of the kind seen in bullseye shooting.
That can be a lot of fun, but it is not the skillset that one should try to master for self defense. Signing up for a good, realistic defensive shooting course will show our student that it is important to be able to shoot much more rapidly, that distances may be as close as or closer than ten feet, and that what is needed is a balance of speed and precision, with combat accuracy--hits, not small groups.
There are two main reasons for that: (1) we can expect to need several hits to effect a timely physical stop, and (2) an assailant may well be attacking at a speed of around 180 inches per second--that will not give much in the way of time.
Jeff White recommends the following: Become unconsciously competent with whatever you choose to carry, study defensive encounters and do force on force training with a good simulator of your carry weapon.
It is good to be able to master that skill, but that won't make us safe, either. Much more important than toolset and skillset is mindset.
That term can encompass a lot of things, but I think we should approach it this way: unlike what we have learned in defensive shooting training, our objective in self defense is not to shoot anyone--it is not even to draw our gun. Rather, it is to avoid ever having to do either. We should rely first on early observation, and then on avoidance, withdrawal, deescalation, evasion, retreat....
Shawn Dodson put it this way: "In any given situation, what would you do if you didn't have a gun?".
The gun is our last resort.
This post was inspired by recent posts by Armored Farmer, HSO, Shawn Dodson, Rexter, Jeff White, and others.
That is likely the first question that comes to mind for most "gun people". We read about guns, we handle them in stores, we shoot them at the range....
Jeff White has said that any handgun of .38 caliber or larger that we know how to use is good enough.
The italicized part is key: in reality, carrying a firearm cannot and will not make us safe. To quote Alan Ladd's character in Shane (1953), "a gun is a tool...". Before we can use a tool effectively, we must master it--we're talking skillset, now.
When a shooter takes his new semiautomatic pistol or revolver to the square range, he or she will likely see other people shooting rather slowly at stationary targets, probably at a distance of seven yards or perhaps more, and follow suit. He or she will likely try for small group sizes, of the kind seen in bullseye shooting.
That can be a lot of fun, but it is not the skillset that one should try to master for self defense. Signing up for a good, realistic defensive shooting course will show our student that it is important to be able to shoot much more rapidly, that distances may be as close as or closer than ten feet, and that what is needed is a balance of speed and precision, with combat accuracy--hits, not small groups.
There are two main reasons for that: (1) we can expect to need several hits to effect a timely physical stop, and (2) an assailant may well be attacking at a speed of around 180 inches per second--that will not give much in the way of time.
Jeff White recommends the following: Become unconsciously competent with whatever you choose to carry, study defensive encounters and do force on force training with a good simulator of your carry weapon.
It is good to be able to master that skill, but that won't make us safe, either. Much more important than toolset and skillset is mindset.
That term can encompass a lot of things, but I think we should approach it this way: unlike what we have learned in defensive shooting training, our objective in self defense is not to shoot anyone--it is not even to draw our gun. Rather, it is to avoid ever having to do either. We should rely first on early observation, and then on avoidance, withdrawal, deescalation, evasion, retreat....
Shawn Dodson put it this way: "In any given situation, what would you do if you didn't have a gun?".
The gun is our last resort.
This post was inspired by recent posts by Armored Farmer, HSO, Shawn Dodson, Rexter, Jeff White, and others.
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