OldMarksman
Staff
"I am thinking about getting a gun for protection"
How many times have we heard that?
People who frequent this board undoubtedly realize immediately that while "getting a gun" may be a good idea, it will not be sufficient, by any means.
The next obvious concern is about whether a person will be able to use it effectively.
But there's more.
The words "mindset, skillset, toolset" are often used together in this context. I think they originated in the context of leadership, sales prowess, and other things, but no matter.
Let's briefly define those terms, for our purposes.
Mindset, for us, is a bit different from the classical definition. At least to my way of thinking, it has to do with whether a person is mentally prepared to do what is immediately necessary to stay safe, whether that involves avoidance, retreat, smiting the brigand, or just something to defuse or deter.
A person who fails to recognize the emergence of a rapidly developing threat timely, or who hesitates in responding, falls short in terms of "mindset".
Skillset obviously means, for our purposes, the skills required to perform the tasks at hand. Let's confine it to the use of firearms, and leave the subjects of edged weapons, martial arts, and my trusty ever-present 57 inch hickory walking stick for other discussions.
Developing and maintaining the skillset involves training, but that entails a lot more than learning and practicing marksmanship and gun handling. Most people who go to a range to shoot at a stationary target employ a rate of fire that is far too slow to effectively stop an assailant charging at, say, five meters per second at a distance of, say, three or four meters, when multiple hits will likely be needed.
But even training to shoot rapidly with combat accuracy after having drawn very quickly leaves some very important things undone. When we go to a range, or event to a pistol training facility, we go there expecting to shoot; in most, but not all, venues we know where the targets are (probably, right in front of us). We know wthat we will be shooting toward a safe backstop; and we know that there will be no innocent people moving between us and the target, or beyond the target in our direction of fire. And we will be given some kind of signal.
None of that applies in the real world. We have to prepare ourselves to address situations in which none of those little niceties are true.
We have to recognize the emergence of the unexpected, very quickly. We have to be able to react, very quickly. We have to hit the targets, without hitting anyone whom we do not want to shoot.
A good way to get an idea about how things can happen is to watch instant replays of the receiver getting creamed by that tackle that we did not see coming the first time.
And now, to toolset.
The first prerequisite is to be armed. Tom Givens has described some tragic incidents in which graduates of Rangemaster classes died, on days on which they had chosen to not be armed.
Even when you have it with you, that gun is not a talisman. It will not repel evildoers. And just because one may "feel comfortable" with his particular firearm does not mean for a moment that it will suffice, even if the carrier has trained with it. the defender has to score effective hits timely, and that will come down to ballistics, rate of fire, and in some cases, magazine capacity. An unskilled defender will not be much use to himself or to his surroundings with a 17 shot automatic; even a skilled and trained pistoleer may find his five-shot snub wanting if there are two or more assailants, which is not unlikely.
We often hear the term "shot placement". Do not confuse that with "marksmanship" in a defensive environment. You cannot see the critical internal parts of the attacker's body, let alone aim at them.
Ah yes, there's the little matter of penetration. Forget knock down power, energy transfer, and shock.
Any of the service calibers will do the trick, if you do your part. Just don't expect a one-shot stop.
This is probably a good time to point out that what you will end up needing to have in your hand when the balloon goes up will not be defined by the likelihood of the occurrence before it happened.
One last thing--learn everything that you can about use of force law, and forget everything that you have seen in screen fiction.
If you succeed in all of that, will you be sufficiently prepared for the gravest extreme?
Maybe. What we are discussing here is risk management. Let us hope that we manage our risks prudently and effectively,
How many times have we heard that?
People who frequent this board undoubtedly realize immediately that while "getting a gun" may be a good idea, it will not be sufficient, by any means.
The next obvious concern is about whether a person will be able to use it effectively.
But there's more.
The words "mindset, skillset, toolset" are often used together in this context. I think they originated in the context of leadership, sales prowess, and other things, but no matter.
Let's briefly define those terms, for our purposes.
Mindset, for us, is a bit different from the classical definition. At least to my way of thinking, it has to do with whether a person is mentally prepared to do what is immediately necessary to stay safe, whether that involves avoidance, retreat, smiting the brigand, or just something to defuse or deter.
A person who fails to recognize the emergence of a rapidly developing threat timely, or who hesitates in responding, falls short in terms of "mindset".
Skillset obviously means, for our purposes, the skills required to perform the tasks at hand. Let's confine it to the use of firearms, and leave the subjects of edged weapons, martial arts, and my trusty ever-present 57 inch hickory walking stick for other discussions.
Developing and maintaining the skillset involves training, but that entails a lot more than learning and practicing marksmanship and gun handling. Most people who go to a range to shoot at a stationary target employ a rate of fire that is far too slow to effectively stop an assailant charging at, say, five meters per second at a distance of, say, three or four meters, when multiple hits will likely be needed.
But even training to shoot rapidly with combat accuracy after having drawn very quickly leaves some very important things undone. When we go to a range, or event to a pistol training facility, we go there expecting to shoot; in most, but not all, venues we know where the targets are (probably, right in front of us). We know wthat we will be shooting toward a safe backstop; and we know that there will be no innocent people moving between us and the target, or beyond the target in our direction of fire. And we will be given some kind of signal.
None of that applies in the real world. We have to prepare ourselves to address situations in which none of those little niceties are true.
We have to recognize the emergence of the unexpected, very quickly. We have to be able to react, very quickly. We have to hit the targets, without hitting anyone whom we do not want to shoot.
A good way to get an idea about how things can happen is to watch instant replays of the receiver getting creamed by that tackle that we did not see coming the first time.
And now, to toolset.
The first prerequisite is to be armed. Tom Givens has described some tragic incidents in which graduates of Rangemaster classes died, on days on which they had chosen to not be armed.
Even when you have it with you, that gun is not a talisman. It will not repel evildoers. And just because one may "feel comfortable" with his particular firearm does not mean for a moment that it will suffice, even if the carrier has trained with it. the defender has to score effective hits timely, and that will come down to ballistics, rate of fire, and in some cases, magazine capacity. An unskilled defender will not be much use to himself or to his surroundings with a 17 shot automatic; even a skilled and trained pistoleer may find his five-shot snub wanting if there are two or more assailants, which is not unlikely.
We often hear the term "shot placement". Do not confuse that with "marksmanship" in a defensive environment. You cannot see the critical internal parts of the attacker's body, let alone aim at them.
Ah yes, there's the little matter of penetration. Forget knock down power, energy transfer, and shock.
Any of the service calibers will do the trick, if you do your part. Just don't expect a one-shot stop.
This is probably a good time to point out that what you will end up needing to have in your hand when the balloon goes up will not be defined by the likelihood of the occurrence before it happened.
One last thing--learn everything that you can about use of force law, and forget everything that you have seen in screen fiction.
If you succeed in all of that, will you be sufficiently prepared for the gravest extreme?
Maybe. What we are discussing here is risk management. Let us hope that we manage our risks prudently and effectively,