6 : : Circuit

Rule #1 in gun fighting is it is more important to not get shot, than it is to shoot, shoot-

ing is extra credit. A gun fight is nothing more than a fight; that involves a gun. In a hand to hand encounter (fist fight), whether you have combat skills or not, moving to not get hit, is typically instinctive. Then you look to hit your adversary as hard as you can as often as you can until you neutralise the threat.

The strategy in a gun fight is the same, whether moving to 1,3,5,7,9,11 o’clock to avoid getting hit. These encounters are dynamic and rarely predictable, effective fighters learn to go with the flow, and let the situation dictate their response. Very rarely, if at all do you stand in place, you move to get off the line of attack as you simultaneously or nearly simultaneously launch your counter-attack. Remember many of these encounters happen inside of 10 feet and most at bad breath distance.

“When a crisis occurs, we very rarely rise to meet the occasion in truth; we merely default to our training!” In a prior life, I often heard many amateur athletes say, I am a better game day player, than I am a practice player. Truth is if you don’t practice explod-ing in practice, you can’t explode in a game as your quick twitch muscles are not conditioned to respond that way. Shooting while moving is a learned skill, and if you don’t practice it, you won’t be able to call upon it in a tactical encounter. Therefore it is impera-tive we incorporate dynamic training into our practice.

Definitional Clarity1. Static – adjective2. Pertaining To Or Characterized By A Fixed Position3. Showing Little Or No Change4. Lacking Movement, Development Or Vitality

Static training is typically helpful in assisting you to build funda-mental firearm skills. This is the type of training most people do at most indoor and outdoor ranges. While this helps build basic skills it rarely simulates the environment most people face in personal protection situations (moving, getting off line, working from cover, working from concealment, presentation/the draw etc.), as most ranges restrict or severely limit that type of training for safety reasons.

Dynamic – adjective1. Pertaining To Or Characterized By Energy, Or Effective Action;

Vigorously Active Or Forceful; Energetic2. Physics

a. of or pertaining to force or powerb. of or pertaining to force related to motion

Dynamic training is designed to help you advance your firearm skills and better simulate the type of environment you might actually experience in a firearm encounter. Ask yourself when a gun is pointed at you or you point a weapon at someone else one of four things typically occurs:

We or they comply (either actual or faux compliance) with the com-mands of the person holding the gun or the one who got their gun in the fight first.

• We or they attempt to move (trying to move to cover or ex-ecute a tactical escape).

• We or they attempt to return fire while moving or drawing from concealment.

• Someone or both gets seriously injured or dies (I don’t like the idea of trading rounds).

So unlike the static training we do at most ranges, the target will probably be moving, we will probably be moving or some combina-tion of the above. So limiting your training to static range training will typically give you a false sense of your abilities. As an EP Agent, in addition to learning to shoot on the move, it is equally important to learn to draw from concealment as that is how most of us work every day. Going to the range and practicing from exposed carry is not how you go to work. Remember amateurs practice until they get it right, professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong. Professional criminals practice drawing from concealment every day, don’t let them out work you. Stay aware, stay focused and stay safe!

Mark “Six” James Executive Director /Founder Panther Protection Services www.pantherprotectionservices.com For firearms training contact info@pantherprotectionservices.com

THE IMPORTANCE OF

DYNAMIC FIREARMS TRAINING

by MARK “SIX” JAMES

Circuit :: OnTheJob

Circuit_Mag_2010-03.indd 6 16/09/2010 16:38:27