Over the last few days I have had some very interesting discussions with some very knowledgeable and very experienced operators and instructors around the subject of training. This was in relation to firearms training in the close protection industry, but the discussion also highlighted for me the training content and the training in relevant and effective skills with regards to members of the general public who train in self protection. This applies to some degree to unarmed police officers who are not firearms trained but who are either training in self protection or are trained in police defence tactics.
For this blog post you will have, I am sure, guessed that I am going to look at firearms training in the self protection world. For those of you who know me, know that I am all about relevant training, realistic training and training that has a direct impact on your actuality.
There are countless systems out there that include so called firearms training within their syllabus, some I have tried, some I haven't and some I wouldn't touch with a barge pole.
One of the systems I have trained in for a long time since its first course in the UK way back in the early 90s is Krav Maga. This is not to either recommend or denigrate that system, I only do that for and to instructors, not systems.
So back to firearms, well for a start in the UK there aren't any, well not legal ones anyway; so the chances of a member of the public who is not working with firearms will probably have never seen one, handled one or fired one. Remember I am not talking about military personnel, PSD operators, armed police officers or executive protection operators who either work with them or train with them for when needed. I am talking about your average member of the public training in a class for self protection.
Could you as a member of the public, not one of the above, name the firearms below, tell me about their working mechanisms, accuracy, rate of fire, effective ranges and most importantly their operating procedure (how you handle them)?
For this blog post you will have, I am sure, guessed that I am going to look at firearms training in the self protection world. For those of you who know me, know that I am all about relevant training, realistic training and training that has a direct impact on your actuality.
There are countless systems out there that include so called firearms training within their syllabus, some I have tried, some I haven't and some I wouldn't touch with a barge pole.
One of the systems I have trained in for a long time since its first course in the UK way back in the early 90s is Krav Maga. This is not to either recommend or denigrate that system, I only do that for and to instructors, not systems.
So back to firearms, well for a start in the UK there aren't any, well not legal ones anyway; so the chances of a member of the public who is not working with firearms will probably have never seen one, handled one or fired one. Remember I am not talking about military personnel, PSD operators, armed police officers or executive protection operators who either work with them or train with them for when needed. I am talking about your average member of the public training in a class for self protection.
Could you as a member of the public, not one of the above, name the firearms below, tell me about their working mechanisms, accuracy, rate of fire, effective ranges and most importantly their operating procedure (how you handle them)?
What is taught in your class is not firearms training, it is firearms disarming. This is obviously a huge difference and as you are reading this you are probably saying to yourself 'Well yes ok but so what'?. well the 'So what' part is what the hell do you do now if you are successful at taking a firearm off someone and no first clue as how to use it. In the picture above we are looking at short weapons, rifles that you train to take from people are a little bit more complicated.
OK so now you have an unfamiliar weapon in your hands, do you know the state of it, (I don't mean whether it is clean or dirty here either), how do you cock it, is the safety catch on or off? hell where is the safety catch and the list goes on.
We have all seen the excellent and not so excellent pistol disarming techniques on youtube, you get the weapon off the bad guy, step back, cock the weapon, tell him to kneel down, he does so because hey all bad guys do as they are told and yeeeaaah you win. REALISTIC, NOT! You have that unfamiliar weapon in your hand and because this is a bad guy, maybe on drugs, strung-out, drunk, wants to rape you or is just your average, everyday badass mentalist, he runs at you. Now what, close your eyes and pull the trigger not sure where you are aiming and turn your head because hey its going to go BANG. Guess what, too late he is on you. taken back the gun and GAME OVER!
Your classroom training with these weapons looks cool, movie star hero moves, cool, flashy, impressive even but firearms training it is not.
When was the last time you were held up with a gun? The percentage is going to be lower than low.
If this training is in your systems curriculum then do yourself a favour and train in the next bit, don't kid yourself and learn how to use the damn things.
Stay Dangerous
Rock
OK so now you have an unfamiliar weapon in your hands, do you know the state of it, (I don't mean whether it is clean or dirty here either), how do you cock it, is the safety catch on or off? hell where is the safety catch and the list goes on.
We have all seen the excellent and not so excellent pistol disarming techniques on youtube, you get the weapon off the bad guy, step back, cock the weapon, tell him to kneel down, he does so because hey all bad guys do as they are told and yeeeaaah you win. REALISTIC, NOT! You have that unfamiliar weapon in your hand and because this is a bad guy, maybe on drugs, strung-out, drunk, wants to rape you or is just your average, everyday badass mentalist, he runs at you. Now what, close your eyes and pull the trigger not sure where you are aiming and turn your head because hey its going to go BANG. Guess what, too late he is on you. taken back the gun and GAME OVER!
Your classroom training with these weapons looks cool, movie star hero moves, cool, flashy, impressive even but firearms training it is not.
When was the last time you were held up with a gun? The percentage is going to be lower than low.
If this training is in your systems curriculum then do yourself a favour and train in the next bit, don't kid yourself and learn how to use the damn things.
Stay Dangerous
Rock
RSS Feed
