To keep and bear arms is an immense right, duty and responsibility. Expert training is mandatory if you wish to exercise that right safely and competently.
Though I attend a private shooting range several times a week, I knew that I did not possess the knowledge needed to use deadly force to protect myself or my loved ones should that terrible day arrive. Then, I heard about Front Sight Academy near Las Vegas and ordered their free DVD (www.frontsight.com ).
On October 5th, I arrived at Front Sight to attend a 4 day tactical handgun course with Dave Champion, host of American Radio Show (www.americanradioshow.us ) and 34 of his clients and listeners.
There were over 250 people attending the various 4 day courses, 25 police, 9 Sheriffs, 15 military and the rest civilians. Nevada is an “open carry state”, so we had our guns on all day. What a great feeling!
The first morning at the firing line, I partnered with the wife of a friend I met at the Larken Rose trial. Peggy was very nervous, but with individualized instruction, she was drawing her gun from the holster and shooting accurately by noon! Think it’s easy? It’s not. That’s why most ranges do not allow shooters to draw from the hip. Most people have not received that kind of training and could hurt themselves or others.
I learned the correct way to squeeze a trigger. Simple? Yes. Easy to do it wrong? Very. Could a bad trigger press get you killed in a gun fight? Absolutely.
Our average day was 12 hours long. One day was 14 hours because we did 2.5 hours of night shooting…yep, in the dark! Why? Because 85% of all gun fights happen after sundown. We were drilled on how to acquire our guns and our tactical flashlights into a battle stance and fire accurately into the chest and head area of our moving targets. We fired at 7,10, and 15 yards. It seems kind of close until you hear the statistics that most gun fights are within 21 feet, the majority being within 5 feet!
We were trained in simulated buildings, to search and clear, room by room. The instructor had a talon attached to the back of my belt and narrated a scenario, playing all the characters as I went through the building. Suddenly (and I do mean suddenly) my instructor would start screaming, “Honey, he’s got a gun”, “Help me” , “He’s going to kill me”, then a door flies open revealing a photo image of a bad guy holding a gun to the head of a woman. I draw and take the head shot. BOOM. Got him.
Instantly, another bad guy appears from nowhere, BOOOM, BOOOM. I delivered two clean shots to the chest cavity. “He’s not down”, He’s not down”!!!!! “Head Shot” !!!!!! BOOOOM. Right on.
This might seam a little sleepy reading it in the Lib Penn, but let me tell you, my heart was pounding out of my chest doing these scenarios. The instructors make it as real as they can, because they want us to know what the pressure can do to your shooting skills.
Everyday while we ate lunch in the main hall, we would attend a lecture and presentation dealing with all of the other important aspects of deciding whether to use deadly force or not. These lectures included graphic police footage of cops getting killed due to careless mistakes or mistakes made under fire. The clip that affected me most was of a cop that pumped 5 357 magnum slugs into an attacker, turned to radio for help, and the attacker was able to get a 22 caliber shot into the cop…and killed the cop. Moral of that lecture? Find cover!!!
In summary, I believe that if we are ever to reinstate the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, we must exercise our rights…use them. Talking about them won’t cut it. Hoping that we can elect someone that will “give” our rights back…won’t do it. A right is like a muscle. If you don’t use it, it will wither away. Exercising the right to use deadly force to protect yourself, requires the best training you can find. I found it at Front Sight.
Quince Eddens is the LPPa Eastern Vice Chair.
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