Marksmanship: The Myth of a Good Shooter

In this video, Rob Pincus contrasts simply being a “good shooter” with being prepared to defend yourself with a firearm. This video begins with a demonstration of typical choreographed, mechanical technique resulting in good hits on a target, but not representing the efficient use of a defensive firearm.

Simply being a good shooter is not enough if you are truly interested in personal defense. An emphasis on static shooting skill can result in an overconfidence in one’s ability to protect themselves or others. Along the same lines, spending inordinate amounts of training resources (time, budget, etc.) on developing high-level shooting skills can mean ignoring other aspects of personal defense training in the areas of unarmed defense, situational awareness, or emergency medicine which could be more useful than marksmanship skills in a variety of circumstances.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with being a good shooter, but it is a myth to think that having great marksmanship automatically means that you are prepared to defend yourself.