Active Self Protection Lessons Learned from Watching 25,000 Gunfights AAR
Some good takeaways:
In his observation, the average defensive encounter starts at 3 to 7 yards, often stretches further as the fight progresses, lasts around 7 seconds, and involves anywhere from zero to 20 shots.
In that fight, “being first is foremost” – the person who scores the first good hit almost always wins. From this, Correia asserts the gun should be carried ready to fire. He states the defender must be able to quickly retrieve it and deliver an anatomically-significant hit. For this, he suggests an 8” circle.
Speaking of that average fight, he estimates that roughly 1/3 of the encounters he watches involve multiple attackers. When asked, he responded that the largest group of attackers he has seen was 10. He also states that it is extremely rare for a defender to engage more than 2 or 3 out of a group. As Correia says, “kill the first one and word spreads.”
