Jim March said:
Like Maximus explained, your buddy is wrong - the Tueller drill is also about the time to draw the gun.
Sigh ...
No, it isn't. And it is ... sort of.
Dennis Tueller was the training officer for his department. He knew that experienced street cops develop a sort of sixth sense of when a situation is potentially dangerous, and he was looking for a way to help rookies speed up the acquisition of that sense of when to kick the level of readiness up a notch or two. The Tueller drill came out of that desire.
The idea was to teach the rookies a better awareness of how far away someone can be and still be a viable threat.
He
started by having a number of his officers draw and (dry) fire from their duty holster at a signal. The average time was 1.5 seconds. He then set up a scenario with a suspect armed with a rubber knife standing with his back to an officer, who had a duty weapon in a holster. At a signal, the suspect would turn, rush the officer, and stab him in the chest. The rush was timed. The drill was to see what distance the suspect could cover in the 1.5 seconds it took the average officer to draw and fire. The distance turned out to be 21 feet.
It is important to note that at NO time did the Tueller drill actually result in a rule that you must shoot a threat if he's less than 21 feet away, and it did NOT in any way establish that you have some mythical "right" to shoot anyone within 21 feet. This drill was developed ONLY for training uniformed patrol officers. The point he used it to drive home was simply that, if a potentially armed suspect is within 21 feet, you (the officer) are already behind the curve, so do SOMETHING to get back ahead of the curve. Put your hand on your weapon and release the retention device. Maybe draw the weapon and hold it at low ready. Maybe take a couple of steps back or sideways. but DO SOMETHING.
The Tueller drill had nothing to do with non-LEO (or even LEO) concealed carry, and since the time for a concealed carrier to draw and fire may be longer, the 21 feet may not be far enough. In fact, when the drill was designed Tueller's department used level 2 retention holsters. He himself has said that, because it takes more time to draw from a level 3 retention holster, the 21 foot distance is no longer adequate.
But the real reason he is upset about the way his drill has been perverted is that so many people (and instructors) have promoted it as a hard-and-fast "rule" that anyone within 21 feet is a fair target. And that wasn't what he intended to convey at all. All the Tueller Drill was intended to do was make officers aware of
threat potential within the time they need to react to an attack.
Next: Knives are always bad, but never overlook the humble little box cutter. That blade may only be about an inch long or so, but it is fully capable of inflicting bloody mayhem. I once responded to a "fight in progress" call. My response time was less than 3 minutes, but by the time my co-workers and I pulled up, it was over [which gives credence to the adage of the police being minutes away when seconds count]. Anyhow, the winner of the fight was long gone, and the loser of the fight was laying on the ground in a state of moaning delirium. He'd been punched, and had also suffered ONE swipe across the belly from a box cutter. His belly innards were lying in a heap next to him.