The Cornered Cat
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The Modern Gun Instructor-er

…knows most of ’em. And if you ask for trainers’ names, it’s true that he knows most of ’em. And if you ask for trainers’ names, it’s true that he knows most of ’em. I can recite four rules, three rules, ten principles and big boy rules I talk about the shooting drills and standards from a bunch of schools. I’ve heard about Gunsite, Shootrite, Thunder Ranch, and F-A-S Rangemaster and Rogers, I-C-E… Continue reading

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I am the very model of …

…knows most of ’em. And if you ask for trainers’ names, it’s true that he knows most of ’em. And if you ask for trainers’ names, it’s true that he knows most of ’em. I can recite four rules, three rules, ten principles and big boy rules I talk about the shooting drills and standards from a bunch of schools. I’ve heard about Gunsite, Shootrite, Thunder Ranch, and F-A-S Rangemaster and Rogers, I-C-E… Continue reading

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Context Matters

…ictim, during a time when they are almost certainly caught off guard. That’s a very different thing from dealing with a crime from the standpoint of someone assigned, after the fact, to find out what happened and who did it. Rules of Engagement The rules of engagement are different. Military ROE: may easily include killing every human being in a given area. LE ROE: use of necessary force to bring the offender to justice. Citizen ROE: use of… Continue reading

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Trying On a Handgun

…by sight and by feel to be sure that the gun is unloaded. For semi-automatics, remove the magazine and run a finger into the magazine well to make sure it is empty. Lock the slide open and visually look in the chamber. Then run the tip of your pinky finger into the chamber to be sure that there’s a hole in there rather than a live round. Visually check the chamber again before you close the slide. For revolvers, roll the cylinder open and… Continue reading

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Running the Gun

Notes: Which it is, the vast majority of the time! ↩ It is important to note here that “check with your fingers” only applies to handguns. Rifles and shotguns get very much hotter than handguns, and will burn you if you reach into their chambers after firing. ↩ For defense work, it is generally accepted that the distal crease of the finger should be on the face of the trigger, or lined up with the trigger’s outside… Continue reading

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Annie, get your gear

…er garment. 6 This slow buildup to using a concealed holster is the equivalent of starting a beginning driver in the parking lot rather than on the freeway. So that leads us to equipment selection. Every trainer has specific rules about which holsters can come to class. Almost without exception, these rules are designed to reduce the likelihood of a student shooting herself during the class, or (in the worst case) to reduce the seriousness of… Continue reading

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Context matters

…of the skills he had used as a soldier operating in a war zone simply would not apply to the new task. Knowing how to launch a grenade at an enemy combatant isn’t going to help him when the task is to talk a confused drunk into complying with a roadside sobriety test; being well-practiced at transitions from a slung long gun to a handgun in a thigh holster doesn’t help him one bit when the rifle is either in his trunk or locked up… Continue reading

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“Train as you fight!”

…shed. Or at least, beginning to be accomplished. For most people, the very simple exercises we do in most classes won’t fully meet their mindset needs. It will, however, get them moving down the right path. In the long run, it takes repeated exposure to well-designed, well-run interactive scenarios before most people fully internalize some of those lessons, and I always encouraged my students to go on and get that additional experience…. Continue reading

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