Know Your Enemy
"We're not working with no marksmanship... We just putting it in your direction, you know... It don't matter... as long as it's gonna hit you…if it's up at your head or your chest, down at your legs, whatever... Once I squeeze and you fall, then... if I want to execute you, then I could go from there....." from Stoppingpower.net.
Chilling. Ruthless. It was wet, but I made it to the range today. As I trained shooting one handed, and weak handed, these words of a killer kept rumbling through my mind.
"The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable."
~Sun Tzu
Chilling. Ruthless. It was wet, but I made it to the range today. As I trained shooting one handed, and weak handed, these words of a killer kept rumbling through my mind.
"The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable."
~Sun Tzu
Labels: Mindset, Range Journal
posted by Xavier at 6:45 PM
9 Comments:
You inspired me to do the same, Xavier.
Some nice handguns. May I ask how long you have been shooting and what got you into it?
Suarez trains folks about the same way. He teaches a CQB battle class that involves students having a rifle but no ammo is involved.
Don't know if you get the newsletter and I'm no agent of his, hell--we disagree on both what rifles and pistols a person should own and use, but he's found it's easier to get people in the survival kill mode first and then add marksmanship than to teach well schooled competitive IPSC/PPC/IDPA whatever shooters to survive when in force on force.
The Range Shooters usually don't step far off the X in step off the X exercises and are utterly baffled when they get hosed down by the enemy with paintballs. They're the champions, right? On a range...not in life.
If you don't practice force on force, you're learning some things, but you aren't learning what you'll likely need in a fight.
I don't own my own school or frequent any of them in particular, though some I disliked, so I can only give outside observations and those of others.
My two pence 'cross the Sabine,
Tom
I've been shooting since 1976. I got into it in Boy Scouts. Go figure.
I got into it as an effective means of self defense in 1982.
Man that report scared the piss out of me. I forwarded that report to every shooter I know and my especially my brother a big city LEO.
Very informative link. Thanks,
Mike
Interesting in that it speaks to the difference between combat accuracy and target shooting accuracy. The felon's saying that it does not matter where he hits, but just that he hits, sounds alot like the combat shooting taught by Fairbain in the book "Shoot to Live". His point was the same. The first hit will be what matters and the once it is made the target is at your mercy. Truely cold blooded thinking.
I think one of the things that the quoted cop killer was noting was that after a hit or two, the other guy "goes down", regardless of the solidity of the hit.
This has to do with MINDSET on the part of the wounded individual. One of the most important parts of fighting mindset is to constantly focus on "win the fight". Remember the comment by Winston Churchill : "... Never give up. Never give up. Never, Never, never, never, never give up."
There are other concerns as well. The bad guy merely sees those around him as targets, as prey, or objects to controlled, used, and consumed. The bad guy has opted out of the normal social contract. He does not respond to an offer of mercy. He sees it as weakness. He may see it as insulting to his own manhood. This is a socio-pathology.
On the other hand, private citizens are not socialized to see others merely as "target" or "meat" or "consumable". Most normal preople, with normal moral and ethical understanding grant to other people "personhood", and are loath to look upon others, even violent felons, as "disposable". In short, normal citizens and peace officers are typically bound by a shared value of common decency and an understanding of basic morality, and that creation of society's sense of basic morality- the Law.
The bad guys, are not bound by decency, morality, concern for others; they are uninhibited by the social contract and that gives them a tactical advantage. Your decision - action cycle will almost always be REACTIVE.
The story about the Burger King Good Samaritan brings this home.
I doubt if the the Good Samaritan wanted to get shot, but he was attempting to be merciful, to allow the bad guy to give up and leave in handcuffs rather than in a body bag.
There is no doubt what the Good Guy could have done; the bad guy CLEARLY was subject to immediate application of deadly force- ie, BG had pointed a gun at someone and announced the commission of a felony- our citizen could have quite legally and MORALLY just shot him several times. He chose not to do so. That was a moral choice, and his willingness to do that shows even more, that he is indeed a good guy.
Telling the bad guy "Hands up" is morality in action. Is it bad tactics? Possibly. But it is what decent folks are tempted to do, simply because they are decent. Again we return to an examination of "mindset". Some people see presentation of the weapon as an escalation, but still reserve actual firing as the culmination of the response. Others see it differently - if the bad guy has presented a weapon, a "deadly force application" scenario has started, and when they draw, someone is going to be shot, immediately.
The key to a proper response is, I believe, NOT that we cultivate a "killer mindset" in our cops and armed private citizens, but that good guys of all stripes are reminded that the bad guys think differently. Good guys need to be trained to really SEE a threat before it materializes, and then be prepared for a very rapid and overwhelmingly violent response when the time comes. If the Good Guy can react ahead of the threat, then GG may have the option of shouting "hands up", of offering mercy to the Bad Guy, without GG giving up a tactical advantage. Or so we can hope.
And if all else fails, Never, never, never , never give up.
GKT
"My blog has become a combination gun, bicycle, and photo blog it seems."
like someone said, that leaves out the canine monologues. and then there's family, nursing, and military retrospective, and ...
better call it the renaissance-man blog; that's what it is. i don't know how the hell you fit it all in, plus write about it all so extensively, but i'm sure glad you do.
jtc
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