Training to End the Threat

Thinking of the Texas church shooting ... Have you heard of the "failure drill?" Basically, it's two shots to the body and one to the head. What's that about? Simple. If the shots to the body don't get the result you are looking for, do something different. Might be PCP. Might be that your body shots are not right where they should be. MIGHT BE BODY ARMOR! Move to the head. Or, do the "zipper drill," where you just stitch a line of holes up the torso, through the neck, and onto the head. Whatever it is, you need someone to train you on this, and you need to practice it all the time.

The key is to not shoot, and then assess your success or failure. Just go to the head. If it's there, shoot it. That's all you need to know. You have already made the decision to shoot this attacker. Do nothing else until he or she is no longer a threat. If he

falls down and does a snow angel, the threat is (probably) over (but keep the gun on him WITHOUT going forward to kick away his gun. SHEESH -- TV junk). If he runs away, the immediate threat is over. But stay plugged in. Wolves travel in packs. Might be another one around. If he is not impressed with being shot in the head, keep doing it until he is, in fact, impressed. TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN. Spend your hard-earned money for the best training you can find.

Look at your wife, or your husband, and look at your children. Do they not deserve your protection? Skip golf, or fishing, or whatever one Saturday each month to practice this stuff. Get a blue gun and practice moving through your home with your gun (after getting training). Devote two to three days per year for serious training (all day, 1,000 to 1,500 rounds, moving, shooting, reloading, clearing rooms, low light, etc.).

I created an acronym for what we and every trainer hears all the time. INTOT. I Never Thought Of That. Well, trainers do think of all those things, and that's a lot of what you pay for.

Put off the new car for a year. Hold off on that kitchen remodel. Put those funds to training for you and your spouse. Honestly, there's nothing more important. You don't need it until you do, and you won't see it coming. It will find you. At work. In a parking lot. In a school. At church. And it won't be what you paint in your mind. Your attacker might be male or female, old or young, yellow-black-brown-white or any other color, clothed or naked. Better get out of your mind any image of what he or she will look like, because that notion will delay your response as you try to recognize the threat.

As the Treasury Agent in "The Untouchables" said: What are you prepared to do?
~Tom

Tom Gresham
Author, outdoorsman, gun rights activist, and firearms enthusiast for more than five decades, Tom Gresham hosts Tom Gresham's Gun Talk, the first nationally-syndicated radio show about guns and the shooting sports, and is also the producer and co-host of the Guns & Gear, GunVenture and First Person Defender television series.

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