Shooting Stance Doesn’t Matter

You may have heard already that your shooting stance when it comes to defensive shooting really doesn't matter. And it's important to understand why that's true. But it also does matter that you not make your shooting stance matter when you're training and when you're practicing. That might all sound way more confusing, it needs to be. But here's the important point, a lot of people will quite rightfully point out that you may be standing with your left foot forward when you have to defend yourself, be in a position like this with the firearm in your hand.

Maybe I was moving through the environment, I need to shoot, my left foot's over here, I don't move, I don't laterally get myself from a better position, I drive out, I take a shot. Maybe I'm moving around this way, my right foot maybe out in front of me as I'm moving around then I see a target, I drive out, take that shot. Maybe my feet are perfectly squared off, relative to that target, my body weight is forward just like it's supposed to be. And am gonna need to drive out, take multiple shots. Maybe I'm in a situation where my body weight is backwards for some reason.

I've lost my balance, maybe I'm even pulling on to something and I drive out. I need to take a high level precision shot, take that shot, maybe a head shot. You think about the different positions you could be in. You think about the fact that you could be knocked down to the ground of course, sit down on your knees and needing to shoot. In this position, if I drive out, I need to shoot, I could get my shoulders behind my body, I could have my shoulders in front of my body.

Now the thing to remember here is that because of the variables of all the different realistic ways you may need to apply your defensive shooting skills, you need to also think about the fact that you need to be practicing in a way that lets you have your feet in a normal range of motion. Let you have your shoulders not always aggressively forward, certainly not always straight up and as little as we can leaning back. The reality is that your shooting stance doesn't matter in a fight, but it does matter that you're not conditioned yourself to always be standing in a bladed stance with your strong foot back or always standing exactly squared off perfectly to the target. Or certainly always standing perfectly upright squared off, which is a very unrealistic position in terms of your fight athletics, but might be the most comfortable way for you to shoot, especially if you're going to be transitioning from one target, over to another target, very quick. And the fact is, you saw me shooting in a lot of different ways.

Shooting in a lot of different positions, I'm able to hit the high center chest, I'm able to hit those circles and I'm able to take that headshot. Your shooting stance really doesn't matter when it comes to applying your skills in a defensive context, but it does matter that you vary your stance in your training and your practice.