Nonsense from a Utah PD

Over the weekend, I gave a private shooting lesson to a young man who’s looking to become a police officer. This kid is having trouble with the shooting portion of the academy and came to me because he’s not sure he’s going to be able to qualify.

The truth is, most police department qualifications are a joke. They don’t raise the bar very high because they want to be able to get as many officers through as possible (I can say this because I witnessed it myself when I was a police officer). However, when you move up to the Federal level, such as FBI, Secret Service, etc., the qualifications do become more challenging.

So, when I heard this kid was having trouble qualifying at first I thought he might just be a terrible shooter. But before I started training him I asked him how he had been taught to shoot, the grip he was using, and how he drew the gun from the holster, etc.

Well… it didn’t take me long to quickly realize the (Utah) academy this kid was attending has instructors who are giving him horrible advice and these instructors have obviously not been keeping up with modern firearms training.

First, the instructors are telling this kid that he should barely be holding the gun with his gun hand, and that the support hand should be providing all the pressure on the gun. They literally told him that they should be able to walk up to him on the firing line and be able to slap the gun out of his hand because he should be holding it with such little force.

Now, it doesn’t take a genius to see the lack of wisdom in this advice. If you draw your gun and somebody were to attempt to take it away from you, is it really a good idea to hold the gun so daintily that they could quickly strip it from your hand?

Unfortunately, it gets even worse…

These instructors are teaching the old “cup and saucer” shooting grip. If you’re not familiar with this “google” it and you’ll see why it’s a bad grip that hasn’t been taught in decades by reputable agencies.

The grip that I recommend and that the top shooters in the world use is the Thumbs Forward shooting grip. This allows you to put a lot of flesh on the gun and when new shooters try this grip it almost always improves their accuracy.

Of course, I showed the kid the Thumbs Forward grip and I told him be needed to grip the gun harder and I better never be able to slap the gun out of his hand. But guess what? The instructors at this academy will not allow him to use the grip I showed him. They have told him he has to do it the way they teach shooting and nothing else.

And that’s the real reason I wrote today’s article because that’s what really annoys me.

Like I just mentioned, I use the Thumbs Forward grip and so do the majority of good shooters. But the fact is, the most important thing in the world is if you can hit your target. So if you come to me and want to try another grip and with this other grip you shoot better, then by all means, as long as you’re still obeying the 4 safety rules then use that other grip.

It’s a shame to see law enforcement agencies who are 1) teaching terrible firearms training and 2) who are not open minded and not allowing their officers to grip the gun a different way if it’s what works for them.

Whether you’re in law enforcement or not, I always recommend keeping an open mind because you never know when you’re going to discover a new shooting method that works better for you. But, when you find something that doesn’t, no instructor (police or civilian) should force you to shoot their way and their way only.

A laser for your home defense gun?

While at SHOT show two weeks go, I had the chance to check out numerous lasers. These days, a ton of companies make them and they’re smaller than ever, but do you really need a laser on your home defense gun?

Well, here’s what I would do if I were you…

The first and most important thing you need is a light. Yes, you can use a handheld light, but if you want to get a weapon-mounted light then I would get a light/laser combo. Most of these combos allow you to have just the light on, just the laser on, or both the light and the laser on at the same time, (which is what you want.)

Remember, you still need to use your sights even if you have a laser on your gun. It drives me crazy when I hear people say they can shoot from the hip or they don’t have to use their sights because they have a laser on their gun. The laser is just like any other piece of equipment: it can break or run out of batteries at any time, so you always need to know how to properly line up your sights and should always train this way.

Also, if you put a laser on your gun you need to zero it so that your laser and your iron sights have the same point of aim, point of impact. If, heaven forbid, you do have to shoot from a strange position and aren’t able to line up your sights, then you obviously want to make sure the round hits the target when relying on just your laser.

If you are heading in the direction of getting a laser, I would also make sure and buy a quality one. There are “budget” lasers on the market, but I’m a big believer in buying once and buying right. Plus, if you’re going to use this laser for home defense it’s worth spending the money in case a worst-case scenario occurs.

On my own home defense gun, I have a laser/light combo from Viridian. I went with the green laser because green lasers are brighter and easier to see than red lasers. Green lasers typically cost more, but I plan on having my laser for the next several years so it’s worth it to me.

On a final note, to dispel another myth, remember that you need to be prepared to use your gun any time it comes out of your safe. I’ve heard some people say that they’re going to buy a laser because any burglar will flee once they see they have a laser pointed at their chest.

If a burglar does flee because of the laser then that is a huge bonus. However, I wouldn’t count on it. So, if you’ve got your gun and laser pointed at an intruder and he doesn’t stop then you need to be prepared to use the gun to defend yourself.

So, do you really need a laser? Of course, that’s all up to you, but the laser is yet another tool that can make it easier to protect yourself.