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How much time to spend sitting every day? How often do
you train drawing your gun and shooting while seated?
1. What type of gun will we use?
2. Will we know what and where the
target is just before we know we need to
shoot?
3. Will we know how many shots we
need to fire?
4. Will we need to assess our shots
while we are shooting?
5. Will we be on balance?
6. Will we have time to prepare?
7. Can we take a do over?
8. Are we in danger?
9. Will we have a set time to perform
our shooting?
Now go back and answer them again,
but replace defensive shooting with
hunting, practical competition shooting,
shooting to measure your skill, recreational
shooting, bull’s-eye competition
shooting and defensive competition
shooting. Did you get different answers?
I know that I do.
It is those different answers that lead
us to the conclusion that defensive
shooting is fundamentally different
from other types of shooting and should
be treated as such when we choose our
gear, techniques and practice methods.
The most important differences are
in questions 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9. These are
the major differences between defensive
shooting and shooting in typical training
environments or competition (even
so-called “defensive” competitions).
In those settings, you usually know the
answers to numbers 2 & 3. In competition,
you know that your top two shots
will be scored, so you need to fire two
good shots or you need to hit each piece
of steel once, for example. In training,
you will often be told how many shots
to fire in a string (though this is thankfully
becoming less and less standard as
private sector schools move to un-choreographed
strings of fire as a default).
In competition, you will usually be given
some type of briefing or be allowed to
see the course of fire prior to taking your
turn. In training, you will often be told
exactly what to shoot after a specific signal
and then given the signal to execute
the drill. Knowing the answers to these
two questions changes everything about
the way your brain executes the skills.
For many years, we have made comparisons
between defensive training
and sports science. There are very well
researched and established methods for
training physical skills that are used in
professional sports. Whether we are talking
about swinging a golf club, throwing
a ball or shooting a gun, we can very accurately
control our body in a precise
way under controlled conditions. We can
get into a “zone” and execute complex
motor skills on a signal or at our own
pace because we can practice in close
to the exact conditions and without any
anticipation of significant difference in
the conditions under which we will need
to execute those skills in a game or competition.
The problem is that without
the answers to questions #2 and #3, we
cannot practice exactly what we need to
practice prior to the moment we need to
execute the skill. Keep in mind, we can
always practice the skill at a higher level
than we are likely to need. In the training
world, this is the route that many
schools of thought have taken. Teach
people target shooting skills, demand
extreme levels of precision and proclaim
that skill degradation and the natural
urge to “go faster” under the circum-
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USCONCEALEDCARRY.COM n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n MAY/JUNE 2011