"If I only had a gun" - Frontsight responds.

[beevul]

Ignatius Piazza: 20/20 Gun Story a Bit Blurry
April 20th, 2009

Diane Sawyer and ABC’s 20/20 aired a story last week entitled “If I Only Had a Gun…”

As a result, I have been flooded with requests from Front Sight’s hundreds of thousands of students to respond to Diane Sawyer and 20/20.

It seems my students feel that the story was a one-sided “set-up” by 20/20 to discourage people from thinking that having a gun would do them any good if ever confronted with an armed assailant bent on killing people.

Well here is what I have to say to Diane Sawyer and 20/20….

Diane, you are right! Yes, you are right about the fact that just because someone has a gun and some minimal training, they are NOT mentally or physically prepared to take down a dedicated killer or suicidal maniac by themselves with their concealed weapon.

(Stick with me and I will also tell Diane and 20/20 where they are totally wrong.)

More at: http://www.ignatius-piazza-front-sight.com/2009/04/20/ignatius-piazza-2020-gun-story-a-bit-blurry/

Interesting. I could swear I have seen frontsight banners hereabouts.

[dashrif]

1. You have to

train like you fight and train and train and train, then just pray you never have to use it but if you do you have a cool brain and confidence in yourself.

[east texas lib]

2. Interesting, indeed...

Mr Piazza is spot on in his appraisal of the "average" gun owner, IMHO. On my last CHL renewal, I
happened to test under an ex-DPS officer that did his absolute best to impart the proper mindset
to his students. He noticed me checking out a nasty scar on the front of his throat that ran down
to wards his left side. "Looks bad doesn't it?" he asked. "Yes." was all I could say, somewhat
embarrassed by my all too obvious curiosity. He told me that after retiring from the DPS, he had
saved enough money to open a couple of coin-op laundromats in Houston. Early one morning while
while doing his cleaning and collecting the previous days revenues, he was attacked by two men
and throat was slashed during the incident. He managed to push away, draw his weapon, kill one
of his attackers and severely wound the other. This all occurred within 100 YDS of a police station.
He stuffed clean floor sweep from one of the ashtrays he had just emptied into his neck wound and
made it to within a few yards of the cop shop before passing out. After relating this story to me
he said "If you're not sure you can kill another person to save your own life, you don't have
any business carrying a weapon." This guy was a deadly serious instructor, not like any other
I have had. But I'm damed glad I met him. He scared the shit out of me, but he also ramped up my
will to survive. And that IS the goal. To survive.

[spin]

3. The 20/20 episode was worth watching...

because it while it was set up to show the failure of the students selected to participate in a simulated college shooting, it pointed out mistakes made by those students. It also showed the changes the body undergoes during stressful situations which are not duplicated by shooting stationary paper targets on a range.

I enjoyed watching the episode and had my son in law and my daughter watch it. We all have concealed carry permits.

Training is essential. If you can afford it, a good school is a great idea.

[pipoman]

4. There are some great defensive

firearms classes offered as weekend training, etc. Not only do they improve shooting skills in general, they have varying ways of inducing stress into shooting situations. If near Missouri, Chapman Academy of Practical Shooting is outstanding and well worth the money. They are legendary in these parts, not johnny come lately with CCW, they have been around for 20+ years training LEOs and other security pros.

http://chapmanacademy.com/about.shtml

edit to add link

[RamboLiberal]

5. I'm with you on the classes

I wish I could afford more training. Any of the established schools & trainers are well worth the investment. But with class fees & ammo costs it is a heavy investment.

I also think while not a substitute for defensive training a shooting sport like IDPA is good since it allows you to try scenarios like shooting on the move, using cover, shooting from awkward positions, shooting moving targets, shooting targets partially covered by hard cover or non-shoots, shooting from retention and the all important learning to draw from your a cover garment, etc. Most areas of the country have a club not too far away that shoots for $10-$15 a match. http://www.idpa.com/default.asp to find clubs.

While certainly not the stress of a shit-hits-the-fan self-defense situation it still adds some stress to the shooter and like martial arts training I believe it helps train your muscle memory by the repitition.