Last weekend I took a Texas Divas Concealed Handgun License class at American Firing Range. Although I am signed up to take the class from Chuck's Gun Shop at the end of the month, I thought it would be interesting to meet other women in the Rio Grande Valley that were shooters.
It was fun, we had a blast.
During the class we used a computer simulator to do a couple scenarios where you would have to use a gun in an emergency. Most of them were for police people, but they were interesting and really made you appreciate first hand all you have to do and think about in emergency situations that might entail shooting.
What we learned was that you don't need to be as fast on the draw as you do with fast, critical thinking.
We were doing one scenario in a school where a student shooter had shot other students and was holding a hostage in front of him. We were to decide when and where to shoot the gunman who was hidden behind his hostage. Our position was directly in front of him less than 15 feet away. He was against a window with the light coming at us making it more difficult to aim your shot. We had a good vantage point to shoot him, but his hostage was about the same size and height as he so there were very few opportunities to shoot him without endangering the hostige.
In Brownsville, we just experienced a very tragic incident where a student wielding a gun in school was shot and killed by our police people. The student's gun turned out to be a plastic replica, but that could not be determined until it was too late. The police chose to fire when he had turned toward a student who was backed into a corner; the officers had to Stop, Control and Neutralize. This lead to a community debate on what the police officers might have done. There was talk that the police persons should have wounded him rather than shoot at the cavity area that would stop him immediately.
During this video scenario one of the women in our class shouted, "Shoot him in the knee. Don't kill him." That was what some citizens said the police department should have done.
1. Look at the picture. (This image is from UTB's Second Life Scenario for parole officers.) Ask yourself, "What would be an easier target to stop, control and neutralize a shooter - the knee or the chest?" You would have to be a top notch shooter to hit someone in the knee, especially when he is bouncing around waving a gun.
2. If you miss his small bouncing knee, he will not miss the large target of his hostage.
3. If you manage to hit the knee, that may not be enough to stop and control him. It might just make him more frantic. It might also make him pull the trigger.
4. He had already killed and had no incentive to stop. Police have to shoot to stop, control, and neutralize.
So Divas, aim for the big chest. What may seem like a humane act would not stop, control and neutralize and actually may cause the death of more innocent people, yourself included.
Oh, and DO NOT try and do the polices people's job. They are trained and know what to do. It would be good for all concealed handgun license folks to spend time with the video scenarios to realize what is really required in skills, critical thinking, and laws in an emergency situation. Your brain, skills and mental preparedness will go much further towards handling the situation than just drawing a gun.
Also, do tournament shooting to see how hard it is to hit the body cavity or head even when there is not a real shooter coming at you. That really opens your eyes!
This summer I'm going to take a tactical defense class that gives training in these types of situations. Watch this YouTube video to see how these simulators work.
No comments:
Post a Comment