Posted: 10/20/2012 8:22:53 PM EDT
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Well......lots of things to talk about over the last month.
For starters, lets talk about how we train. Ideology is huge in the gun crowd, as is the practical application of what we have learned. Most who know me, have trained with me, or have been reading any of these topics of conversation by the month have probably become quite aware of my feelings on these things. The answer is pretty simple, as is the pursuit of knowledge in any topic we are seriously interested in.......find a SME (subject matter expert) who you agree with, train with them and put into practice what you have learned. Things seem to get clouded somewhere between finding a SME and putting the information into practical application for yourself. The bottom line here is the smell test. Humans by nature are interested in self preservation. We all seem to have a default to try and not do things that will harm ourselves........look at the 4 basic rules to handling a weapon; 1) Treat every weapon as if it were loaded, at least until you have verified it for yourself. 2) NEVER point a weapon at anything you do not wish to destroy......including yourself. 3) Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target......remember every round discharged from your weapon has a small lawyer attached......and the ones that do not find your attacker will be found later in court, 4) Always be aware of your target and what is beyond it.......I have actually seen people use sheets of plywood as a backstop thinking it will stop a rifle round from going into their neighbors house. I have seen several versions of these rules, but they all boil down to common sense when it comes to the use of firearms.....from know the status of your weapon ALWAYS than over simplification of any of the above. Lets break them down. Treating every weapon we come into contact with as a "live weapon", loaded, or whatever term you wish to use......... Luckily growing up in rural Iowa, I learned about guns at a very young age as well as how to respect them as the tool that they were intended to be. I have been very fortunate in my life to know some very talented and dedicated people at several different disciplines. I have known a farmers, carpenters, cabinet makers and the common thing I noticed is how they treated their tools. The ones that did a great job on whatever project they were working on usually treated their tools like I treat my guns, They used them for the intended purpose. Never did I ever see a craftsman worth his weight try to hammer a nail with a pipe wrench. After they were done they took care of their tools as they were the craftsman's livelihood. They all seemed to know when to replace something, or fix something before it became a bigger problem......as bigger problems can effect the outcome of their project. Never point a weapon at anything we do not wish to destroy........well unfortunately I do know a few carpenters who are short part of a finger or two, most of whom were not carpenters by trade. The major difference here is that if still working in the trades they learned something from the incident. Especially since God only gives us so many chances for mistakes. Never point a weapon at anything you do not wish to destroy. Pretty self explanatory.......ask anyone who has accidentally shot him/herself, or anyone they did not intend to. I have covered many accidental shootings, from two kids messing with a single shot shotgun who were playing "cool guy" slamming the weapon shut (with a round in the chamber) and ended up blowing one of the young men's male equipment off to children who were allowed (against Iowa law) access to loaded weapons and accidentally shot themselves or their little friends. Keeping your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target. I have seen this one in the news a lot over the years, from mistaking the taser for the handgun. Yes, under stress it is VERY easy to get confused, and believe it or not the sympathetic response from when you squeeze one hand/finger the other does as well.......especially under stress. Know your target and what is beyond. I have also been to several calls where rounds have either struck occupied structures or the people in them thought they did. Like I said above, I have seen people discharge weapons into garbage barrels, that were in direct line of their neighbors homes. Part of the problem here is A) hitting the target so the backstop actually works. B) Knowing the round/weapon you are shooting and understanding what it will penetrate.....obviously a .22 rifle will take less of a back stop than a 50 cal. Just understand what you are working with and what it takes to keep everyone safe. Why to I bring these things up? Quite simple, every time we as the gun owning/shooting community have an "incident" we attract the attention of the folks who wish to take our rights away. It gives them ammunition to prove their point that THEIR rights are more important than OUR rights. What can WE do to stop this? We as the gun community can learn from our own mistakes, instead of adding more crappola on top of things when they happen we MUST police ourselves and act accordingly. By accordingly I have even heard of people demonstrating their "cool guy skills" drawing a loaded weapon in a gun shop......in public. I consider myself about as pro gun as they come but how stupid is things like this? And how does it look to everyone outside of our community to have crap like this go on? Folks, lets not be our own worst enemy here. Use some common sense. R |
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Last paragraph, last sentence of the OP nails it on the head.....
USE SOME COMMON SENSE!! This is in very short supply. I see and work with it everyday, as I'm sure Romper does, as well as Strongarm has seen it in his former life, as well as several others here. Just follow the rules and use common sense, and you'll get along well in life. I'm not the smartest guy in the world, never claimed to be, but I sure as hell have a lot more common sense than a lot of people now-a-days... 
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Quoted:
I'd Ike to re-add know your targets foreground. No one thinks of it often at the range but outside of it it matters even more. I'd like to think it brings a level of situational awareness to the situation.[/quote Excellent point Michael. This all kind of falls into place with the lifestyle we choose.......know your surroundings and what is going on around you. There are generally many more variables to any conflict (armed or unarmed, or physical) than most folks care to think about. Knowing your surroundings, what and who is around you is as important as locating possible avenues of escape or locations of cover. Since you may already be behind the curve of action vs reaction at the onset of an attack, the more you are paying attention the less likely a bad guy will think of you as food. R |
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I think our last comments plays huge in what we just saw at the Black Hawk Park incident. Gotta pay attention to what's in front of the target.
Something I've never had an issue with is seeing my pistol lock back or using a non magnified optic the areas around me back but I see many shooters get serious tunnel vision where their mind blanks out everything but that front post. How do you break that tunnel vision effect? I know that accessing the area around you helps but I'm trying to find a way to help those who don't notice anything around them. |
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The four basic rules to firearms safety applied, along with common sense will keep most of us safe when working with and around firearms.
I guess I keep going back to paying attention to details, I try and burn this into my new SWAT kids every chance I get by ingraining it in their heads that the things that you don't see, or don't pay close enough attention to can seriously hurt you or a team mate. Before I go on, I would like to take a second and say that I can not stand armchair quarterbacking of a shooting incident......there are far to many "other" dynamics going on in a life or death fight involving firearms that more often than not the participants are not even aware of what is all going on. This is why people from the outside will come in and attempt to reconstruct what has happened from hard evidence. Yep, I said that right......most people who have been involved in a life or death struggle will need a few days for their mind to process what all took place in a very short time frame. I understand that this looks like getting your story straight before making a statement....and on the outside it may look poorly on the individual but in reality statements given right after the fact are usually inaccurate. I am not saying that people will lie, but that when rushed to relive the incident the human mind will fill in the blanks with information that you will believe to be correct but may very well not be.....or at least not be supported by hard physical evidence. This is why tell officers involved in such incidents to stay away from caffinated drinks or alcohol. Alcohol will lead to loss of short term memory and self questioning, and caffeine will not allow them to sleep, making it harder for the brain to process through the information of what all happened. Water is best. Ok, down off my soap box. Back to topic, I am sure most people will never get to hear the details of the bank robbery up in North West Iowa.....but it they could instead of second guessing the people who had boots on the ground in that incident we can look at the information we do get and attempt to work through the problem. Again, NOT ARMCHAIR QUARTERBACKING the incident, but learn as much from it as we can and start running the situation out in our own minds of what we would do in that specific situation. Also keep in mind that we can do this from the safety and security of our own home while no one is shooting back at you. As well as having all the time in the world to run through all the " what ifs", all while there is no other human being trying to kill you. These are ways that I teach people to try and get out of the flat range mentality and looking around to break their focus off the "pretty groups" they are shooting. No its not perfect, but after walking through the scenario or any other scenario you find in the news in our mind we can run through it on the range and see how we come out....... R |