Concealed Carry Skills: Beginner

[PRESIDIO]

So, I wanted to start this thread that will hopefully be informative to my Christian brothers and sisters on the requisite skills needed when carrying a handgun for self defense. This thread is not meant to be a substitute for quality training its only meant to get the wheels turning so you will make that step to getting some good training.

• A common error made by folks who carry is believing that being "a good shot" is good enough. Folks go to a target range stand stationary with gun in hand and may fully understand sight alignment, sight picture, trigger control, breathing where they can get all shots in X ring; but marksmanship is only a small portion of defensive shooting. Bullseye accuracy is different than combat accuracy. Keeping your shots on a 8x11 sheet of paper with speed is better than holes touching each other when we are talking about combat shooting. If you take too long because you are trying to achieve those 1" groups, you lose.
• You dont get to walk around day to day with the gun in your hand. It must ride in the holster and drawing from concealment is a critical skill set. You can be a world champion marksman but if it takes you too long to deploy the gun from the holster, you lose.
• Shooting on the move is much different than shooting stationary. This is why I am generally not a fan of indoor ranges where rules prohibit shooting and moving, rapid fire, and drawing. Unfortunately, most indoor ranges only allow practicing skills that improve marksmanship. If you stand still in a gunfight, you lose.
• We usually like to shoot one target when at the range. However, real life will probably involve two or more targets and transitioning shots from target to target based on tactical priority is a critical skill set. If you only shoot the target with knife and fail to engage the target with the gun, you lose.
• Shooting multiple times (i.e. recoil and sight picture management) is a critical skill set as most handgun cartridges are inherently weak compared to rifle rounds. We get a lot of info from movies and based on that faulty mental conditioning believe that when someone is shot with a handgun they explode and fly backwards into the wall. Handgun cartridges are weak and many people shot with them survive and may in fact not even know they been shot until after the incident is over. Even contact distance fatal gunshot wounds which will result in death, may take 1-2 minutes before the body loses enough blood that the central nervous system shuts down. Engaging your target with one shot most probably will not neutralize and will require multiple shots. If you shoot once and assess as you target lunges at you with a knife, you lose.

Just to sum up here we have discussed five skills: combat marksmanship, drawing from concealment, shooting and moving, engaging multiple targets, recoil and sight picture management during rapid fire. Find a good trainer in your area, assess their credentials before signing up, talk to people who have taken their classes (a great shooter does not always translate into great teacher), and begin to learn the art of self defense with your handgun.

PRESIDIO

 

[ChavaK]

Excellent post, especially this statement: "A common error made by folks who carry is believing that being "a good shot" is good enough."

 

[chilehed]

A common error made by folks who carry is believing that being "a good shot" is good enough...

Absolutely. The discipline of good breathing, sight picture and trigger pull to achieve groups that are accurate and precise is merely an important first step. Self-defense scenarios are very dynamic and evolve very rapidly; you need to develop the far greater skill of having the shot automatically land on the thing you're looking at without having to consciously think about the mechanics of placing the shot, which allows you to pay better attention to what's going on around you.

 

[sylverpiano]

Training is key. Every kind of skill needs practice to develop and hone it, and shooting is no different. I shoot well because I train constantly.

 

[Servant68]

When I moved to AZ in 2006, they required a course for a concealed weapon permit. I was bothered since I considered myself well-versed in firearms handling and didn't see the point in having to sit through a course.

I was wrong. Very wrong.

I lived about a half an hour from the famous Gunsite Academy and took their course. The instruction I received on basic drawing and firing from concealment, updated state law information, and firing under pressure was priceless.

My brother is a Detective, SWAT team member, and firearms instructor for his department. Whenever somebody asks me to teach them how to shoot, I refer them to him, and then I tag along and watch. I always learn something...

I shoot out at my dad's range. It is set up only for long-range shooting and stationary pistol shooting since he is strictly a competitive rifle shooter. I need to make some changes and make it a little more friendly for defensive shooting drills.

 

[marineimaging]

When I was in uniform I qualified on the range as expert in both pistol and rifle. When I put on the uniform I was confident and capable. The first time I went on a felony warrant service I was covering the back door and windows because the man had been known to run. As I was watching the back intently, in the dark, a noise directly behind me and a loud bang! Right then and there I discovered I wasn't as ready as I thought I was. Only by the Grace of God did I not shoot the very innocent grandpa who had dropped his trash into the can behind me. After that night I went back to intense training and exercises that pushed the limits and tested me frequently.

You should know this if you carry. Policemen do not have a duty to carry a gun to protect you. They carry the gun to protect themselves and they train to protect themselves and their employer and their union and their reputations. And to NOT shoot the wrong person.

If you are on this forum you are most likely a loving and caring person, so be aware that if you carry a gun you have to be ready for the day you take a life from someone's children. He or she might be the worst excuse for a person that ever lived, a heathen by all rights. But within a few weeks you will begin to doubt yourself. Actually you will be blessed if it is weeks and not minutes when you begin to doubt. "What if I could have done something different?" "What if that person was at the point of turning their live over to Christ?" You will get to know the family through the courts and news and their faces will flash before you night after night.

I am not telling you NOT to carry to protect yourself and your family and innocent people. I am just saying that you can never get enough training nor can you ever be ready enough for what will come with that first shot. But that does not mean you should not try, and work at it, and dedicate yourself to practice and train at least equal to the seriousness of the condition you will ultimately create by carrying a gun today.

 

[GeorgeJ]

If you are on this forum you are most likely a loving Christian so be aware that if you carry a gun you have to be ready for the day you take a life from someone's children. He or she might be the worst excuse for a person that ever lived, a heathen by all rights. But within a few weeks you will begin to doubt yourself. Actually you will be blessed if it is weeks and not minutes when you begin to doubt. "What if I could have done something different?" The family faces will flash before you night after night and you will get to know the family. I am not telling you not to carry to protect yourself and your family and innocent people. I am just saying that you can never get enough training nor can you ever be ready enough for what will come with that first shot.

Loving, yes..........Christian, no..........why limit certain attributes and feelings to Christians?

 

[marineimaging]

Loving, yes..........Christian, no..........why limit certain attributes and feelings to Christians?

Because the name is Christian Forums??? Anyway, I was almost asleep when I wrote that - but seeing your question this morning over coffee made me think about what I really wanted to write. So thank you. I went back and did a little editing becasue you are right. It wasn't addressed just to Christians. And if our conversing helps someone else then Thank God in Heaven for the nudge. And then you reminded me of my Facebook post recently.

What a pity it is that so much youth is wasted on young people, who don’t know by experience how to make the best use of it.—Springfield Union, December 1931. You also frequently hear the expression, "Out of the mouth of babes...," and the next thing you know a group of adults are hiding behind a bunch of teenagers because they experienced a tragedy made by one of their own. This year, now that school is out, some of those from Parkland High in Florida are going on a whirlwind protest, going around the country trying to start the revolution of killing the 2nd Amendment.

("You are exaggerating. That is not what they are doing. They just want sane gun control.")

Friend, that is exactly what they are doing and here is my issue with it. If you can't trust them with a gun, why do you think you can trust them with something as important as the Constitution of the United States? You can't. Nor can you trust those adults paying for this trip and hiding behind these kids and their age. If you bring up something about it the first thing they want to say is that you don't care about the children that were hurt or killed.

Friend, I not only care about those children that were hurt and those that died, I care about something they don't know anything about and that is what this country will be like when their form of irresponsible socialism takes over if we don't stop it now.

Out of the mouth of babes are the words that should be out of your mouth. That you should be teaching them. And that is that responsible leadership is shown when you protect the Constitution and protect the schools at the same time. And the way to do that is to start the process of removing the fantasy of guns by removing the violent video games. It is by removing the allure by teaching children about guns, about safety, about responsibility. It is not teaching them to fear guns, but to understand them and reward responsible behavior by giving them more responsibility? Teach them the right way to handle and control guns and let them do it in the schools. There is nothing wrong with that and wasn't just a few years ago when we had classes like Olympic shooting as a electives.

Don't let the adults hide behind the teens. And certainly not those who expressed that they wanted to be a leader of a cause, no matter what it was.

 

[marineimaging]

Absolutely. The discipline of good breathing, sight picture and trigger pull to achieve groups that are accurate and precise is merely an important first step. Self-defense scenarios are very dynamic and evolve very rapidly; you need to develop the far greater skill of having the shot automatically land on the thing you're looking at without having to consciously think about the mechanics of placing the shot, which allows you to pay better attention to what's going on around you.

We were required to run about a hundred yards, then run up to the shooting spot yelling with the sirens on police cars and PA systems in the background, draw, and shoot without hesitating. That got our blood pumping and was more like what you were going to meet in a real life scenario.

 

[GeorgeJ]

Out of the mouth of babes are the words that should be out of your mouth. That you should be teaching them.

I did, and I am.........both of my adult children have been taught the responsible use of firearms, and now my grandson.