John Johnston, of Ballistic Radio, blogs the following:
IN MOST INSTANCES YOU DON’T NEED TRAINING TO SUCCESSFULLY DEFEND YOURSELF WITH A GUN. … You don’t need hundreds of hours of training to survive most self-defense encounters. Untrained people prevail, with varying degrees of success, against bad guys all the time.
The caps and red letters are his. Johnston goes on to say that he believes that the primary value of training is that it makes us “much less likely” to get involved in a shooting in the first place, and more likely to avoid the kind of situations that turn deadly.
I don’t disagree with much of what John said, and want to add one more important point to the discussion. My point … well, it’s a bit like touching the third rail of American gun culture, but I’m gonna do it anyway. It’s about safety. After 15 years of learning and teaching defensive handgun classes at the professional level, it’s my deeply held belief that people who have not had serious defensive handgun training are not as safe with a firearm as they believe they are.
Yes, this means you.
If you haven’t had at least one serious training class — over and above the state-required permit class — the chances are that your gunhandling isn’t as good as you believe it is. This is especially and particularly true if you grew up in a gun-owning family and have handled firearms throughout your entire life starting from childhood.
That’s not a sin, by the way. It’s simply a thing that’s likely to be true. It doesn’t make you a bad person or anything like that. If it’s something that bothers you, it’s also something you can change. No judgment here; everyone lives their own lives and ultimately makes their own choices about their priorities in life. It’s okay.
Emphasis added. There’s more. You should read it.
John Johnston’s piece is superlative as well.
Here’s another clip from it:
What has training done for me exactly? It’s allowed me to pressure test myself and my equipment with varying degrees of success. It’s also allowed me to practice making potentially life altering split second decisions under stress. At this point unless I’m having a particularly bad day I can even say I’m performing the physical mechanics of shooting on a relatively high level without having to think about it at all. I’ve learned how to recognize, avoid, and deescalate potential dangerous situations MUCH faster than I was able to 5 years ago. I’ve even pursued some basic medical training so I can be better prepared to deal with the aftermath of a defensive gun use, or the much more likely, car accident or other less tactical, trauma. Are any of those necessary for the common person to be able to successfully utilize a gun for self-defense? As I said earlier, not at all, as evidenced by the sheer number of people with zero training who fend off bad guys on a daily basis.
I’ve got a hypothesis however, that the higher the level of training you have received, the less likely you are to ever find yourself in a situation where you’ll need the gun. I’ve no real way to test it, but in discussing the concept with several very well known instructors I’ve yet to hear any compelling evidence to the contrary, and in fact most of them seem to agree with me. It is my deeply held belief that what training does for us, is make it much less likely that we’ll ever have a shooting in the first place. I’ve heard a plethora of answers when I ask industry people why training helps us avoid shootings: people become more aware of their surroundings, they dedicate themselves to avoidance after learning how bad a real fight can be, they appear more confident and are less likely to be selected as a victim, they make better decisions in general and are less confrontational etc…
Go get yourself some (additional) training. You’ll be a better person for it.
“I don’t disagree with much of what John said” I don’t agree with any of what John said but you said it best, “If you haven’t had at least one serious training class — over and above the state-required permit class — the chances are that your gunhandling isn’t as good as you believe it is”. This is where the NRA has gone wrong with all these years. Instead of defending every law would be a domino effect to take away our guns, how about every American citizen under the Second Amendment has the right to carry a firearm for protection. The NRA could provide training for millions “TWICE” a year just like laws enforcement for all who want to carry. Close the dam loophole of selling without a check and allow to carry who are properly trained in firearm safety, handling and use of force.
If the NRA wasn’t on point protecting our gun rights, we wouldn’t have to worry about getting training.
We wouldn’t have any guns to train with.
John
There is a difference between the requirements of the law and the “requirements” of personal responsibility.
I’ve been around many people who are very comfortable with firearms but have little or no training. In disturbingly many cases, untrained people have their fingers on the trigger and are not aware of where their muzzle is pointing. On the range, I’ve had more than one nimrod point a loaded pistol right at me because he/she had no muzzle awareness.
Should there be laws requiring training – hell no! The right to keep and bear arms is a constitutional right. Is it everyone’s responsibility to get training, act in a safe and responsible fashion and know the law? Hell yes!
I’m with DM on all counts – and the story.
I’ve had a gun pointed at me carelessly plenty of times over my lifetime.
I’ll even admit I was one of those people who weren’t as careful with guns as I should have been for many years. Most of my life in fact
It’s amazing what a little formal education does for you.
My wife and I are MUCH safer handling our guns and demand the same of those around us who handle guns. We’re also more aware and skilled in using our guns.
Thank you John & add the rest of the men and women of your training school.
Sam
Training is a good thing.
Should it be required to own a gun?
Not any more than it should be required before picking a church, writing a book, traveling between the states or holding an assembly, or voting.
However, if you want to be safer with guns, and able to rely on your training as opposed to dumb luck to overcome a violent criminal attack using your firearm, then a wise and prudent man would take training.
Those golf, guitar, piano, and other sports-related lessons you had won’t do jack for you when you see a bad guy locked onto you about to victimize you.
John
Yep!
Shameless plug…
If anyone is interested, the Cornered Cat: A Woman’s Guide to Concealed Carry is available as an audio book, narrated by my beautiful, talented, and most wonderful significant other.
Buy it! …and then buy it as a gift for everyone you know. 🙂
John,
Farnam was the first guy in the training world to introduce the concept of “living with your gun.” The most important thing you’ll learn with him is how to go about your day armed. How to correctly handle, load, unload, chamber check, holster, carry, store, use the bathroom with, etc., your gun every day.
We expanded the idea to be: We teach you how to LIVE with your gun, in every sense of the word.
ND avoidance is as important as prevailing in a violent encounter. Winning the fight is most certainly the goal, but as the article points out, our object should be to not get into a fight at all! And if we’re successful at that, it leaves us never having to fight with our guns, but still handling them every day.