This may be controversial but, here it goes anyway.
I've been thinking about training and about using a firearm in self-defense. Now I cannot and will never claim to be the guy one would turn to for answers to questions about training or tactics ect... Yes, I have my opinions, but I recognize that there are many out there who have forgotten more about guns and there use, than I will ever know.
Yet, I was struck by a thought, "ouch", that seems to me to be one of the most, if not the single most, important factor in using a firearm effectively in self-defense.
That is being willing to kill. I say kill, not stop, not being willing to use potential lethal force, but being willing to kill. In my admittedly limited experience I have talked with some who have killed in self-defense, and to a few who have murdered.
Now during that same time, I practised my shooting, and I read about all sorts of training techniques, from shooting schools of different philosophies, to realistic training, to practicing plinking, to the organnized shooting sports. I have read the famous to not so famous gun writers opine on the one hand how one must train intensively, realistically, and under stress in order to even stand a chance of defending yourself in a gun fight - to the opinion on the other hand that a basic familarity with a guns function and a few times shooting targets from 7 to 10 yards and one has a good chance of using a gun effectively in self-defense. Both can point to real life situations that tend to support their opinion. Personally, I've always leaned towards more training is better, though some would say that more of the wrong training can often be worse than too little training.
The thing is though - survivors of gun fights regardless of their training or lack there of have, in my humble opinion, overwelmingly one trait in common - they were willing, when push came to shove, to kill. I think that mindset is the single most important thing one can bring to a fight.
I believe this because the vast majority of human beings by their nature do not want to kill other humans and that they struggle with the thought of killing another person even if it is in self-defense. Even more than stress or any other single factor, I think this affects a persons ability to aim and to shoot. If we subconciously still rebel against the thought of killing another person, we will lose our focus, we will focus on other things instead of the task at hand -we will focus on our feelings, we will focus on our stress or our fears/anger/anxiety, we will find our focus on anything and everthing except our shooting, we will find ways to subconsciously sabotage our shooting. So to use a gun most effectivley in self-defense I would say the essentials are:
1. Be willing.
2. Have a gun.
3. Practice
The type or caliber of the gun and the nature and details of the practice, though not unimportant, are less important.
I've been thinking about training and about using a firearm in self-defense. Now I cannot and will never claim to be the guy one would turn to for answers to questions about training or tactics ect... Yes, I have my opinions, but I recognize that there are many out there who have forgotten more about guns and there use, than I will ever know.
Yet, I was struck by a thought, "ouch", that seems to me to be one of the most, if not the single most, important factor in using a firearm effectively in self-defense.
That is being willing to kill. I say kill, not stop, not being willing to use potential lethal force, but being willing to kill. In my admittedly limited experience I have talked with some who have killed in self-defense, and to a few who have murdered.
Now during that same time, I practised my shooting, and I read about all sorts of training techniques, from shooting schools of different philosophies, to realistic training, to practicing plinking, to the organnized shooting sports. I have read the famous to not so famous gun writers opine on the one hand how one must train intensively, realistically, and under stress in order to even stand a chance of defending yourself in a gun fight - to the opinion on the other hand that a basic familarity with a guns function and a few times shooting targets from 7 to 10 yards and one has a good chance of using a gun effectively in self-defense. Both can point to real life situations that tend to support their opinion. Personally, I've always leaned towards more training is better, though some would say that more of the wrong training can often be worse than too little training.
The thing is though - survivors of gun fights regardless of their training or lack there of have, in my humble opinion, overwelmingly one trait in common - they were willing, when push came to shove, to kill. I think that mindset is the single most important thing one can bring to a fight.
I believe this because the vast majority of human beings by their nature do not want to kill other humans and that they struggle with the thought of killing another person even if it is in self-defense. Even more than stress or any other single factor, I think this affects a persons ability to aim and to shoot. If we subconciously still rebel against the thought of killing another person, we will lose our focus, we will focus on other things instead of the task at hand -we will focus on our feelings, we will focus on our stress or our fears/anger/anxiety, we will find our focus on anything and everthing except our shooting, we will find ways to subconsciously sabotage our shooting. So to use a gun most effectivley in self-defense I would say the essentials are:
1. Be willing.
2. Have a gun.
3. Practice
The type or caliber of the gun and the nature and details of the practice, though not unimportant, are less important.