Tactical Firearms Training: Professionals vs. Citizens

Now I'd like to cover some of my personal thoughts on the why and the rationale behind objective based measurement of skill, whether it's by group size or speed component. As an armed professional, it is important that you're able to demonstrate your competency in using and handling a firearm. Objective-based standards were designed to see if a person was qualified to actually carry that firearm on a mission, whether it's peacekeeping whether it's offensive, an offensive type mission, same thing with law enforcement. Before the institution can send you out onto the street and actually do your job, you must have met some objective based standard in order for them to support you in doing your job. Why group size and the speed component? My personal opinion, it could be, because of our limits. What we believe our limits are. So if you can imagine hitting a one-inch group at five yards, some would say, if you were standing at 10 yards, then you could hope to get a two or three inch group. For an armed professional, that's able to train, that has the resources, that has the time. That's actually directed to train a certain way and at certain periods of times, that skill may be viable for them. That objective standard will have to still be in place, regardless, because there needs to be some way that the institution can protect itself from liability. We can't just send people out on the street and in support that without knowing and having some standard that they've met in order to prove that they are able to handle that firearm, the safest way possible. The speed component. As we look at speed, how long it takes for you to respond to a threat. And that can be determined, that is solely determined on the speed of the threat. It seems that the faster you can employ your firearm, then the safer you will be and those around you. How does this all fit for the private citizen? Knowing that the private citizen has limited resources, knowing that the private citizen has a higher emotional value when the're training, but a less lifetime investment in the training, how does the speed component group size or even an objective based standard even apply to the personal citizen. Their abilities, such as their size, their strengths, their lack of co-ordination or coordination, their comfort with the firearm, the comfort with a coach screaming at them, the comfort with hearing the loud noise come out of the firearm, their comfort with recoil management. All these are going to play in a factor as to how fast they can can employ the firearm or their group size. At the end of the day, if we go back to the mission of the private citizen, which is personal defense, having an objective standard is only good enough for the day that they accomplished their objective standard. By that I mean, if you have a test that says you have to shoot a certain amount of rounds, in a certain amount of time, at a determined distance. If you accomplish that that day, the next day, when you come into a situation where you may have to defend yourself or your family, all that time, that you spent practicing for that objective standard and what you accomplished in that objective standard may go out the window, due to the environment. If it's rainy, now, your clothes are wet. Your hands may be wet, if you're carrying something in your hand If your child is clinging on to you, there is no way to create an objective standard that would apply to these various situations. So for the private citizen, it's important that they get customized training for their situation. And understanding that their competency is as objective in individual trait. They're only going to be as good as they can be that day on the range. And when they get in the real world they're only going to be as good as they can be that day. Some instructors may say, you should train the person for them to be the best shooter they can be on that day. Well, in training private citizens for personal defense, I understand that I either have two hours, anywhere from two hours to 16 hours to give them the best I can, so they can employ them. If they need to employ that skill right after they take that course, then they can. And they're only going to be as good as I can get them in that time, based off their abilities. At the end of the day, the private citizen can only hope to responsibly use their ability to respond appropriately to the given situation. Time, speed, is irrelevant as an objective standard in the street.