There are no magic bullets...or nothing works 100% of the time on everyone

IMHO, there is too much focus on equipment and not enough on fighting. The novice shooter is usually focused solely on equipment. Some people believe they will be "good-to-go" by purchasing the "right" equipment. What they fail to understand is the fact that firearms along with other weapons are simply force multipliers. The skill and willingness with which the firearm is deployed dictates the effectiveness of the tool. Not the tool itself.

In my opinion a high percentage of the gun owners in the country are not mentally or emotionally prepared to deal with the use of deadly force. They do not have the mind set in place to deal with extreme violence. While that comment may seem a bit aloft to some, I have spent the last 20 years managing a shooting range and can attest to the truth of that statement.

The combat mindset becomes the single most important aspect in self-defense. I can teach you how to shoot in a fairly short amount of time. Teaching you the WILLINGNESS to defend yourself is another matter. The concept is to become the weapon and that starts with the combat mind set and the heart of a Viking. The willingness to train up, maintain the skills, and explode in to violence of action if all other means have failed to de-escalate the immediate threat. Once the fight is on it's on. There no such thing as a low threat fight once the action begins. I tend to think of it as "flipping the switch." It's OK to be the most mild mannered person on the planet, but when push comes to shove, and your facing an adversary hell bent on your destruction it's not a 50% effort. It's a 100% effort. Any less and you may be 100% dead.

Sadly, too many shooters live in a state of denial. While the evening news is filled with daily carnage some still think that it really won't happen to them and the hardware the strap on daily is "just in case." Others view the hardware as a talisman that by it's mere presence alone will keep them safe from harm.

In the end the mind is the ultimate weapon. Be prepared to flip the switch.

AAYMMV.

www.wct.4t.com
 
Just in case anyone missed the meat of this thread, here it is again:

"The combat mindset becomes the single most important aspect in self-defense. I can teach you how to shoot in a fairly short amount of time. Teaching you the WILLINGNESS to defend yourself is another matter. The concept is to become the weapon and that starts with the combat mind set and the heart of a Viking. The willingness to train up, maintain the skills, and explode in to violence of action if all other means have failed to de-escalate the immediate threat. Once the fight is on it's on. There no such thing as a low threat fight once the action begins. I tend to think of it as "flipping the switch." It's OK to be the most mild mannered person on the planet, but when push comes to shove, and your facing an adversary hell bent on your destruction it's not a 50% effort. It's a 100% effort. Any less and you may be 100% dead."

I was trying to find the words when I reached your post, tackdrivr. Could not say it better, so I'll just leave.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
Some agreement with tackdrvr

Years ago, when I was heavily involved with the martial arts, my sensei asked me to teach a class on self defence for women. Now, bear in mind we weren't trying to teach them competitive fighting or the finer points of style. What we taught had one purpose, stop the BG, by any means necessary, and escape. So we taught a variety of fairly simple, disabling moves and practiced them, hopefully until they became second nature. But the one thing that sticks with me after all the years...One of the things we taught was to (if facing the attacker, with hands free) was to go for the eyeballs, HARD and with your thumbs/thumbnails....And the overwhelming reaction was Eeeewww!...gross. So, rather than employ a pretty sure method of stopping any attack (blind BGs are pretty unlikely to pursue you), these women would risk rape, beating or death. As you say, I fear many armed citizens fall into that same category...

I also remember, a long time ago, on some newsy show, they were interviewing an incarcerated criminal (house burglar, multiple murders, on death row)...When they asked him if he was afraid of people with guns in their homes shooting him, he replied that he was not...Because, he said "they will hesitate before pulling the trigger...and I won't"...
 
true, nothing works all the time, but there are some that work better than others, in a high percentage of cases. My money goes there, not on something that ,by the same numbers, has proven to be less effective.
 
A few years ago I was told that statistically 85% of persons who were shot lived to survive. I was also told that this could go as high as 95% if that individual actually fought back.

I don't know if these statistics are true, but even if the actual number is much lower (which I am inclined to believe), this is an incredible indication of how much of a compromise handguns really are.

This is why I like the concept of a Non Standard Response (NSR) - something which first I learned from Jeff Gonzales a couple of years ago. A lot of qualification courses and matches like to focus on the double tap. I fear that this has strained a whole generation of shooters to expect their first two shots to stop teh fight - a very deadly mindset.

Yup, there is no magic BB and there is no one effective technique/gun/tactic. Lethal encounters are very dynamic endeavors that require dynamic thinking. JM2CW.
 
I'm a radiographer at a local hospital and we often X-ray folks who have been shot but are still alive.

Usually they were wounded in an extremety or the lower torso by a single bullet (often they claim it was accidentally self-inflicted).

VERY seldom do we X-ray a LIVE patient with more than one bullet in them.
If they have been shot several times, we usually get our images in the morgue.

And, despite the one or two odd cases, headshots are usually fatal.

EasyG.
 
I must differ with your statement, Jeff. There is one weapon that works 100% of the time. In the British Army it was a punishment called:
"Being shot from a gun"
The convict was tied over the muzzle of a cannon, which was then fired. As the cannonball pierced his body, there was an instant, 100% one shot stop.

So, I have given up my 1911, and taken to towing a muzleloading cannon behind me 24/7. This way, I am assured of a single hit being enough. It is just a bit hard to conceal, but I'm off to the market to buy a bigger tarp. I am developing more muscle mass.

Now in development - the titainium short barreled 6 pounder for 'concealed carry, ...er, drag".

Good heavens, what if there are two BG's? Oh my, I'll need a full battery of guns!

Edited to add: Jeff, you are trying to change a fundemental American system: All problems can be solved by changing the hardware (guns), not the software (training).
 
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