Too fast?

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Too fast?

By John Farnam

Not long ago, I attended the demonstration of a pneumatic target system designed for pistol training. A crowd of police officers also gathered to see this new device. 

We all watched as pneumatically-actuated steel plates  popped up and down from behind a steel sill. As you might imagine, this  system allowed the operator to pop targets up and down in sequence, and for  adjustable amounts of exposure time.

"Why is that important?" I asked.  "Well, don't you  want to be able to shoot fast?" was his exasperated reply. 

He went on by pointing out  that  his hired pretty-boy could consistently shoot plates which were exposed for a  mere three-quarters of a second, from a range of eight meters, all from the  ready
position.

"I'm not sure I'm making  myself  clear,"  I continued, "but  I need to point out that your exhibition shooter, although starting from the  ready position, has his finger in contact with the trigger all the time, even when he was not on target. Further, his signal to shoot is ANY movement of  the target. Again, this is all entertaining, but it is NOT  training."

I reminded him that, in all legitimate, defensive firearms training, we teach students to keep trigger fingers in register until (1) there is a legitimate threat, (2) the sights are aligned on the target, and (3) the shooter  has made the decision to fire.

I continued, "It's indeed dramatic to be able to hit a plate in under a  second from the ready position, but I DON'T THINK ANY OF US CAN EVEN ACCESS, MUCH LESS ACCURATELY EVALUATE, A THREAT THAT FAST, and training people to shoot things simply because they move, is not something that will be found in any legitimate defensive firearms training curriculum. Being able to neutralize a lethal threat quickly is surely an important skill, but  incorporating unsafe, indeed reckless, habits into one's protocol in an effort  to shoot 'really
fast' is an obvious misdeed."

Not surprisingly, the manufacturer ignored my comments and went on with his demonstration as if nothing had happened.

Lesson: SLOW DOWN AND HIT!  Don't be mesmerized, or even particularly impressed, by pajama-wearing trick/exhibition shooters. They are entertainers, not fighters. They know nothing about fighting and  don't even carry guns.

Our colleagues at the FBI recently re-discovered, painfully, that the  "fingers-on-triggers-at-inappropriate-times" syndrome is the source of no end of grief! 

How many catastrophes will it take for us to cement this lesson  into our being?

Legitimate training is more than just ego-massaging masturbation. We are preparing officers for the fight of their lives! There are two kinds of pain: the (1) Pain of Discipline, and the (2) Pain of Regret. 

You can avoid one, but not both!

"The grave is a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace."

In partnership with PoliceOne.com, POSA is offering free tactical training videos on subjects like tactical shotgun usage, crisis entry, disarming a suspect, and more. Click here to view the videos.

To learn more about POSA, visit www.posai.org

Police Officers Safety Association, Inc.
PO Box 685
Chepachet, RI 02814
Phone: 401.568.9951
Fax: 401.568.9677

David Kenik, Executive Director dkenik@posai.org
Ralph Mroz, Training Director rmroz@posai.org

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