Should he have shot this homeless man?

A close friend of mine is a police officer who recently took a second job as a security guard to earn extra money. He works for a large department store and last week was his very first day on the job. After his first shift he called me and said, “you’re never going to believe what happened to me tonight.”

Well, he proceeded to tell me that there are a lot of homeless people in the area he works. He said one of his security guard duties is to clear the homeless people off the benches in and around the store, which to me sounds like a full time job in itself.

He said that while he was attempting to clear one of the homeless people off of a bench, the guy pulled a knife on him. Before he could finish his story I interrupted him and asked, “did you draw your gun and how close did you come to shooting the guy?”

A drunken homeless man…

My friend said the guy was very drunk and slowly pulled out the knife and that he simply slapped it out of his hands and then called the police. He then told me that he didn’t feel his life was in danger at the time and he didn’t feel deadly force was necessary, which was why he hadn’t drawn his gun and used it.

In short, my friend gave the perfect answer to why he hadn’t shot the man. In a large majority of instances, if someone pulls a knife on you then using deadly force is justified. However, the key factor is that you have to believe your life is in immediate danger or that the person threatening you could cause seriously bodily injury.

Luckily…

My friend is well trained and understands the law. But imagine if he didn’t. Imagine if he had drawn his gun and shot and killed the homeless man. A few hours later, police would be watching the security surveillance tapes and they would see a drunken homeless man who slowly took out a knife and probably appeared to be no serious threat. My friend could have gone to jail for a “bad” shooting.

Of course, a good lawyer could have probably gotten him off because the homeless guy did have a knife, but my friend would have had to live with the guilt for the rest of his life knowing that he had killed someone who he knew he shouldn’t have.  

The bottom line is, every single shooting and deadly force incident is different and only you will know if you feel your life is in immediate danger. Also, if you’re walking around with a gun and you’re still not clear on your state’s deadly force laws, please look them up today. You and I know that carrying a gun is a big responsibility and knowing the deadly force laws is a major part of that.

Where to put your finger on the trigger?

Trigger control is without a doubt the toughest part of becoming an accurate shooter. Most people can easily align the sights and acquire a proper grip, but when it comes to pulling the trigger, that’s when things start to break down.

The thing is, many people don’t even start out correctly learning how to master the trigger. In other words, they don’t put their finger on the trigger in the proper place from the beginning and that obviously affects the rest of their shooting.

So where exactly should you put your finger on the trigger? Well, like most things when it comes to shooting, there is no correct answer. You see, the majority of instructors will tell you that you want to pull the trigger using the middle of the pad of your finger.

Use the crease?

And a small percentage of instructors will tell you that you want to pull the trigger using the crease of your first knuckle. So who’s right? As I just mentioned, nobody is.

Personally, I pull the trigger using the pad of my finger. However, because of the length of my fingers I don’t pull the trigger using exactly the middle of the pad. The trigger happens to be slightly off center, closer to the crease of my knuckle.

Of course, since I’m always looking for ways to improve my shooting, I have tried pulling the trigger using the crease of my first knuckle. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty. I’m a good shot using where I place my finger now, but when I tried the crease it might as well have been a blind man taking target practice.

What Massad Ayoob does…

However, nationally known firearms instructor Massad Ayoob is someone who uses the crease of the first knuckle and he’s an excellent shot. So here’s what I recommend you do the next time you go to the shooting range:

I recommend placing your finger in the middle of the pad, in the knuckle crease, and even off-center of the pad. You just might surprise yourself and you might be the small percentage of people who shoot better using the crease.

You also might be someone who’s been using the crease and realize that you’re a heck of a lot more accurate when you only use the pad and don’t put so much finger on the trigger.

Just remember to always do what works best for you when it comes to shooting and the fundamentals. Don’t let any instructor or any friend of yours try and tell you to do it one way if you know your way is what makes you more accurate and a better shooter overall.

My bullet proof laptop bag

I’m always looking for the slight edge when it comes to my safety…

And for a while now I’ve been looking into bullet proof products.  Of course, I could be ultra safe and wear a bullet proof vest every day but that’s not going to happen. As any police officer will tell you, wearing a bullet proof vest is not comfortable and in 90 degree weather it’s downright miserable.

I’d say that anybody who tells you they wear a vest on a daily basis is either lying to you or they’re probably on the verge of doing something illegal and they know they’re going to need it.

So instead of sweating to death in a vest I started looking at other options such as bullet proof backpacks and laptop bags. However, they were very expensive (usually $500 or more) and I didn’t see anything I liked.

Well, I contacted a fellow I know that makes bullet proof products for the military and police. I told him that I simply wanted a bullet proof panel that I could use in my laptop bag and transfer to other bags. I also wanted to use it for dry fire practice in my house and for unloading and loading my guns in my house.

I told him it had to be level IIIA armor.  Level IIIA armor is the highest level of protection that is made for concealable armor. It’s the stuff SWAT teams use and stops up to a .44 magnum.

I decided that a 10 x 14 size panel would be ideal and my friend kindly agreed to custom make one for me.  As soon as I picked it up from him I began using it in my laptop bag, which comes pretty much everywhere with me.  

I also used it when unloading and loading my guns and dry firing in my house. Plus, it comes in real handy when I have to clean my Glock since you have to pull the trigger to clean it.

The thing is, as soon as I got it I wanted to shoot the panel and test it out. However, I couldn’t bring myself to sacrifice the panel as body armor does cost a decent amount of money. However, before a pistol course this past weekend I decided to finally put it to the test.

Let’s just say I was pleased with what I saw and feel much better about having the panel around for dry fire and other uses. Now I just need to contact my friend and get a new one.

To see the video you can go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2ZA9IMAHak&feature=youtu.be

Perhaps it will encourage you to get a panel for yourself. Even if you don’t carry it around in your laptop bag, at least you have a safe backstop to point your gun in your house.

Also, if you do want a panel send an email to lisa@concealedcarryacademy.com. My friend gave me a very good deal on the panel so I can get you one for a good price.

Learning from the NYPD Shooting

You’ve probably heard about the shooting that took place last Friday in New York City. In short, a former employee killed his co-worker and was then killed by two New York City Police Officers.  One officer fired his gun 7 times and the other officer fired his gun 9 times.

During this hail of gunfire 9 innocent bystanders were wounded all from shots fired by the NYPD. Luckily for the police, nobody was seriously injured by the stray bullets and all of the rounds ended up in a persons leg or arm.

Now, as any shooter knows, the fourth rule of firearms safety is “know your backstop,” and don’t take the shot if you may end up hitting an innocent bystander. And although the police obviously violated this rule, it appears that nothing is going to happen to the officers’ and they’ve already been raised by both the Police Commissioner and the Mayor.

But here’s the thing…

You and I know that most police departments are still a “good ole’ boy network” and the police are able to get away with things that you and I never could. After all, just imagine if you or I had stopped a crazed gunman but in the process had wounded 9 people with stray bullets?

Just imagine the TV headlines… The same Mayor Bloomberg who is praising his officers would be calling for more gun control and talking about how Americans shouldn’t be allowed to have guns. 

Also, before I forget to mention this, there are two reasons I don’t really blame the officers for what they did. First, when you’re in that type of situation you get incredible tunnel vision and they most likely didn’t see any of the bystanders and only saw the shooter.

Secondly…

Most police officers are very poorly trained when it comes to shooting, and I doubt could tell you the 4 rules of firearms safety if you asked them. I know this as a fact because I was a police officer and most officers aren’t really into shooting and only go to the range every 6 months when they are forced to qualify with their duty weapon.

So the lessons that you need to learn from this incident are that you need to be aware of your surroundings in a shooting. It’s not easy because you’ll get tunnel vision like everyone, but if you end up hitting 9 bystanders you may be looking at jail time.

Also, this incident proves once again you do not want to rely on the police when your life is on the line. If you’ve ever taken any of my training courses or any of the other schools such as Gunsite, I can promise you that you’re better trained than the majority of police officers. It may not be the most comforting thing to hear, but you’re the only one who is truly responsible for your family’s safety, which is why you should train as often as time and money will allow.