What Does it Mean to Carry a Gun
Let’s start with asking the question of why you carry a firearm…no doubt among the many answers to that question would be, self-protection, protection of family and/or friends, and simply because we as citizens have a constitutional right.
All of the above reasons are valid, but do those reasons mean that you are trained and ready to meet a potential threat? The truth of the matter is that people seldom rise to their expectations…they generally only rise to their level of training.
Let me tell you the Charlie Mello philosophy of carrying a handgun.
Anytime a person picks up a handgun, loads it and puts a round in the chamber they need to live in the Cooper color code category of yellow.
To be in the yellow requires training and exercise. Carrying a gun without is like resolving to get in shape by going to the gym and working out but then only going once or twice a year. Expectation versus the reality of training.
There are many versions of Cooper’s color code, his original having only four colors, white through red. The addition of Black is, I think, a better representation of actuality. Black is like those days when you may have played some organized sport at the school or community level. During the most intensive part of sports play you may remember a total lack of visual or auditory stimuli outside the immediacy of the situation of play…the noise of the crowd just disappeared. The same is true in high stress and tactical situations and is why soldiers, especially special operations warfighters, train even the simplest of tasks. The bottom line here is that there is a very high probability that you will transition through the other colors of the awareness matrix going right into black. The more you prepare, by practicing with you gun as well as making yourself be aware of your environment, the more time you will give yourself before going into black to do things like go to cover, evacuating potential victims and formulate a plan of engagement.
Every person carrying a gun should be able to draw their weapon and fire two shots at someone with hostile intent that rises to the level of the need for lethality, in 2 to 2.5 seconds with rounds hitting center mass of a human silhouette at distance of 5, 10 15 and 20 feet. For anyone that is involved in a church security role, you should practice to a standard of 2 shots at 20 to 25 yards. Well…that’s my opinion, and it’s what I try to teach all of my clients.
A “bad guy” that intends to do you or whomever you are protecting, harm isn’t going to wait while to take your gun out and fire after taking careful aim.
Train dynamically…engagements are fluid, learn to move before, and during the engagement. Train and train often. And learn to index, shooting without aiming (that is creating a perfect sight alignment and sight picture), at close targets.
While I believe there is a benefit to participating in handgun shooting competitions, let me give a word of caution there…just because you can turn in a good time during IDPA[i] or USPSA[ii] competition doesn’t mean that you are necessarily ready to engage in a gun fight. I do believe that this type of training is far better than static training, however these shooting organizations develop habits that are not good practices in an actual gun fight.
Train to be in the defense as much as possible, regardless of where you are. Only go to the fight when it is absolutely necessary. It is commonly accepted in military engagements that troops in the defense have a 3-to-1 advantage over attacking troops, so you should always try to make the fight come to you. Barricade, that is find cover over concealment when you can, understanding the most walls, residential and commercial are just two sheets of drywall that a bullet will sail right through. Always…that is always try put something between you and a shooter that will stop a bullet, if at all possible. Make looking for cover one of the things of priority you do whenever you evaluate an environment you enter into or live in. In other words always have a plan.
Always try to dial up 911 whenever an engagement is likely to happen and leave the line open to allow the 911 operator to hear the fight. Only hang up after the police arrive and the situation is contained.
Learn what the signs of a possible engagement look and sound like. Apart from the obvious sound of a door to your house being busted in at 2 o’clock in the morning, train to pick up telltale signs of hostile intent by someone. Watch a person’s eyes and hands, they telegraph intent more often that any pother signal[iii]. Train yourself to constantly scan your surroundings and the people in those surroundings ready to move from Cooper’s color code of yellow to red and perhaps black.
[i] International Defensive Pistol Association - IDPA[ii] United State Practical Shooting Association - USPSA[iii] Gallagher, Robert T., “ Spotting a Hidden Handgun”