Brian@ITC
Member
A common teaching in firearms training is that you will be able to get your gun out and use it and immediately stop the threat in their tracks. This type of training is based upon things going perfectly. Exactly how many times in your life has anything gone perfectly?
Even if you do land rounds (including multiple rounds) on the threat, do you really expect them to just fall down and die? A large number people die from the mental aspect of being shot as opposed to the physical aspect. According to Lt. Col Dave Grossman’s teachings, most people who are shot don’t know they are shot because the body shuts down all secondary senses such as pain. So, even if you are able to inflict one or more fatal gunshot wounds on the adversary doesn’t guarantee that they will drop on the spot. The reality of what this means is that more than likely the attacker is still going to be in the fight and possibly causing serious harm to you and or your loved ones.
The common teaching of you will be able to get your gun out and you will be able to shoot the attacker and they will fall down and die on the spot is something that is going to get people injured or killed because they are going to expect it to happen and when it doesn’t they haven’t trained for it, so their chances of survival are probably not good. You will react how you have trained to handle a situation whether or not you want to believe it—it is a proven fact and Grossman’s teachings back this up. If you don’t train on a regular basis, then your chances of pulling something off in a life or death situation are slim at best. And, if you spend most of your time training at the shoot ‘em to the ground (or dead) theory, then how do you think you will react in the real deal when things don’t go perfectly?
Personally, I feel the training mindset of shoot ‘em to the ground is more counterproductive than productive because it is placing high expectations in people’s minds. I don’t believe that most training should be negative training, but students should be placed in “no win” situations because this is reality. People learn more from mistakes than from success—it is just human nature. By placing students in no win situations they won’t always expect things to go as planned. Can you survive a “no win” situation in real life—absolutely.
If the shoot ‘em til they are down (or dead) theory actually worked as well as people would like to believe, then the murder rate and the number of people killed by guns in self-defense shootings would rise greatly. The numbers for attempted murder (with guns) and those injured as a result of someone using a firearm in self-defense would decrease significantly. The truth of the matter is that people (both victims and criminals) are living through multiple gunshot wounds by the numbers. To complicate statistics more, how many people who die from being shot die hours or days later?
What I am not saying is that it is impossible to shoot someone til they drop. I’m just saying that it is probably unlikely that it will happen and you shouldn’t expect to. HOPE for the best and TRAIN for the worst! That way you will be prepared when reality kicks in during a life threatening situation.
Just remember that in a fight that marksmanship is a hopeful skill, FIGHTING skills are a must!
How do you feel about the shoot ‘em til they drop theory?
__________________________
Brian K. LaMaster
Innovative Tactical Concepts
Modern Warrior Talk
Your mind is the weapon. Your body is simply the delivery system for the tool you choose to implement into the fight.
Marksmanship is a hopeful skill, FIGHTING skills are a must!
"What you don't know won't hurt you - it will KILL you!" General Gerry Prather, USAF, XOK (1982)
Even if you do land rounds (including multiple rounds) on the threat, do you really expect them to just fall down and die? A large number people die from the mental aspect of being shot as opposed to the physical aspect. According to Lt. Col Dave Grossman’s teachings, most people who are shot don’t know they are shot because the body shuts down all secondary senses such as pain. So, even if you are able to inflict one or more fatal gunshot wounds on the adversary doesn’t guarantee that they will drop on the spot. The reality of what this means is that more than likely the attacker is still going to be in the fight and possibly causing serious harm to you and or your loved ones.
The common teaching of you will be able to get your gun out and you will be able to shoot the attacker and they will fall down and die on the spot is something that is going to get people injured or killed because they are going to expect it to happen and when it doesn’t they haven’t trained for it, so their chances of survival are probably not good. You will react how you have trained to handle a situation whether or not you want to believe it—it is a proven fact and Grossman’s teachings back this up. If you don’t train on a regular basis, then your chances of pulling something off in a life or death situation are slim at best. And, if you spend most of your time training at the shoot ‘em to the ground (or dead) theory, then how do you think you will react in the real deal when things don’t go perfectly?
Personally, I feel the training mindset of shoot ‘em to the ground is more counterproductive than productive because it is placing high expectations in people’s minds. I don’t believe that most training should be negative training, but students should be placed in “no win” situations because this is reality. People learn more from mistakes than from success—it is just human nature. By placing students in no win situations they won’t always expect things to go as planned. Can you survive a “no win” situation in real life—absolutely.
If the shoot ‘em til they are down (or dead) theory actually worked as well as people would like to believe, then the murder rate and the number of people killed by guns in self-defense shootings would rise greatly. The numbers for attempted murder (with guns) and those injured as a result of someone using a firearm in self-defense would decrease significantly. The truth of the matter is that people (both victims and criminals) are living through multiple gunshot wounds by the numbers. To complicate statistics more, how many people who die from being shot die hours or days later?
What I am not saying is that it is impossible to shoot someone til they drop. I’m just saying that it is probably unlikely that it will happen and you shouldn’t expect to. HOPE for the best and TRAIN for the worst! That way you will be prepared when reality kicks in during a life threatening situation.
Just remember that in a fight that marksmanship is a hopeful skill, FIGHTING skills are a must!
How do you feel about the shoot ‘em til they drop theory?
__________________________
Brian K. LaMaster
Innovative Tactical Concepts
Modern Warrior Talk
Your mind is the weapon. Your body is simply the delivery system for the tool you choose to implement into the fight.
Marksmanship is a hopeful skill, FIGHTING skills are a must!
"What you don't know won't hurt you - it will KILL you!" General Gerry Prather, USAF, XOK (1982)