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This is an excellent article from the "Tactical Wire" http://www.thetacticalwire.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Skill Set: Making History
by Tiger McKee

Once you choose to carry a weapon, especially a firearm, you assume the responsibilities that go along with making the decision to own, carry, and if necessary use that weapon. Firearms provide a means of defense against what might otherwise be overwhelming threats. An armed individual can control their environment and people it contains. A firearm can be used for good, it can be used with good intentions but create disastrous results, or it may be a tool employed by evil.

For those who lawfully carry a weapon one of the biggest decisions you'll likely be forced to make is when to press the trigger. There are times when the decision is obvious; you need to shoot now to stop the threat. But there are a many situations where there is a lot of gray between "don't shoot" and "shoot!" Your task is to decide where that line in the sand is, and when it is crossed you must commit fully with legal and moral right.

When you press that trigger that you are making history. There is no pause, stop or delete button. It's over and done, for good or bad. It's important to make sure it's good. A good shot is a hit that stops the threat, although we know it may take several good hits to stop them. A good shot is one that doesn't injure a bystander or team member. A good shot is one that doesn't bounce off cover and injure you. After the action, when you and others review what transpired, a good shot is one that you are proud of.

A good shot takes plenty of thought, making decisions when all kinds of hell are breaking loose around you. To make a good shot under stress requires making thousands of excellent shots during practice. When you press the trigger without practice, under realistic conditions, you're hoping you'll get lucky. You won't know what will be necessary to make the hit. Each situation is different. The problem is there is only one way to get a good hit, but there are a million ways to screw it up. During the fight is not the time to hope you get lucky, or try to remember the fundamentals of marksmanship.

"Accuracy is the base for a practical pistol education," states Plaxco in Shooting From Within. He adds that, "An inability to fire an accurate shot on demand will hold you back in mastering every other skill you need to acquire." While his book focuses on competition, the same thing is true of fighting.

Firing your weapon only requires a slight movement of your trigger finger, but it may be the most important action you'll ever perform. When you press the trigger, you're making history. Remember this for every shot you fire. Make sure you can get the hit, regardless of how it has to be done. You may only have one chance to get it right, and lives will depend on the execution of proper technique. The only option is to be ready.

Tiger McKee is director of Shootrite Firearms Academy, located in northern Alabama, author of The Book of Two Guns, a staff member of several firearms/tactical publications, and an adjunct instructor for the F.B.I. (256) 582-4777 http://www.shootrite.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good read and thanks. If you don't feel the weight of that responsibility each and every time you put your weapon on, I suggest you take it off and re-evaluate. My two cents.

Gary

Great post MoJo.

For me it takes me to a plane of humbleness, to know that we this right to protect ourselves and our families, and in so doing, we can (not by careless choice) take someone's life. Quite a responsibility for each of us, just as gwashorn stated.

Thanks for posting it, hopefully many of us will read it and re-affirm within themselves this responsibility and accountability and not take it lightly.

Hooyah!

Good read!

Having walked my mile in that very "grey area" I can honestly say that it will change your perspective on things and make you take a serious "internal inventory". My situation was one where I could have shot, many would have shot, it would have been totally justified....but good hit or not, I would not have "been proud" of that one. I employed a different means to an end, and it worked itself out in a way that I could sleep well with.

I didn't make history, but I did make some changes in my life.

Excellent article MoJo. Thanks for posting. The article should give us food for thought, and a need to reflect on what all of us have pondered.

Great post.

Humanphibian wrote:Good read!

Having walked my mile in that very "grey area" I can honestly say that it will change your perspective on things and make you take a serious "internal inventory". My situation was one where I could have shot, many would have shot, it would have been totally justified....but good hit or not, I would not have "been proud" of that one. I employed a different means to an end, and it worked itself out in a way that I could sleep well with.

I didn't make history, but I did make some changes in my life.

I agree. In my situation many of the people on this very board stated they would have shot, but I chose not to. That evening brought home to me the responsibility we all carry in a 3 lb piece of metal on our hip. My God, we each carry with us the power to take a life - to remove from this world the very existence of another human being. If that doesn't give you pause, and you're not willing to accept (or have not even thought about) the consequences of that action, which will be not only with you but everyone you know for the rest of your life, then you need to re-evaluate why you carry or even the fact that you carry at all.

By the way, I say "everyone you know" because everyone you know will look at you differently and regard you differently if you're ever forced to shoot.

I wonder how many of the members who say "I would shoot" really could or would.

We have all been programed by societal mores to respect life and protect it. 43 years ago in Army basic training I worked through my moral and ethical feelings about killing another human being. I'm not proud to say it but I honestly think I could coldly shoot and kill an attacker with little or no emotion. Sadly, a part of my being died when I resolved that question because I no longer have the innocent belief in the universal goodness of my fellow man.

MoJo wrote:43 years ago in Army basic training I worked through my moral and ethical feelings about killing another human being.

EVERYONE should make that decision NOW before they are faced with the danger.

Are those the new rules of engagement for the Marines set by Obama?

Sorry I am a former Marine had to go there.

Mojo didnt get to your post before I responded so I didnt want you to think I was making light of your post. Yes I too had to go through the moral and ethical quandries of whether or not to pull the trigger as a matter of fact there were times in the Marine Corp I was stunned at how horrible human beings can be, however, I have no doubt that when faced with a situation where my life was/in danger or my families life is in danger I would pull the trigger. Thanks for your service Mojo.

agreed...the ethical question being answered to ones self should be a given before every deciding to carry a weapon in public.

However the situational questions of could I, should I, DO I HAVE TOO to survive are all dynamic questions to a dynamic situation. These are questions that will have to be weighed and measured in the blink of an eye.

texas1234 wrote:Mojo didnt get to your post before I responded so I didnt want you to think I was making light of your post. Yes I too had to go through the moral and ethical quandries of whether or not to pull the trigger as a matter of fact there were times in the Marine Corp I was stunned at how horrible human beings can be, however, I have no doubt that when faced with a situation where my life was/in danger or my families life is in danger I would pull the trigger. Thanks for your service Mojo.

That's OK Tex - - - I am constantly appalled at the evil that is rampant in our world today. nk

Thank you for your service my brother.

MoJo wrote: 43 years ago in Army basic training I worked through my moral and ethical feelings about killing another human being. I'm not proud to say it but I honestly think I could coldly shoot and kill an attacker with little or no emotion.

Aim with your hand, shoot with your mind, kill with a heart like arctic ice......learned that one during my time in the infantry.

Yeah, I had the same dilemma during my time in basic training and spoke to the unit chaplain about it, about how I can be expected to kill a man when God Himself has commanded "Thou shalt not kill". He explained that the original Hebrew stated "Thou shalt not murder" and God makes a distinction between the two. In a self defense situation (which combat ultimately is when boiled down to its most basic component) a person is not committing murder when taking the life of a person who is trying to take yours.

I have been reading this thread with a lot of interest. I see particularly both men and women and the comments made about having to make the decision. If you had to shoot could you, would you, do you know and how that relates to the responsibility of carrying a weapon. There are other threads with similar discussions. It reminded me of when my wife decided she would get her CHL license. I have lived all my life around guns but she has not. When I started recollecting guns again in our marriage she was indifferent. When CHL became available in the late 90s I wanted to get mine and wanted her to consider it. Then a situation to one of her co-workers happened.

Lady friend from her work had recently gotten her CHL back then and she was a capable person. She went home one day as usual, let the dog out, door unlocked and went about her business. Next thing she knew a man was in the house, cornered her in her bedroom at the end of a long hall and put a pillow case over her head. Asked where the guns were and she told him on the other side of the bed in the stand. She lied it was on her side. As he was taking the cord off of the blinds, she pulled the cover off, got her gun from her side. He ran down the hall, no where to go for at least 20 feet but straight. She did not shoot. She was OK but when the police got there, they wanted to know why she did not shoot. She said she was afraid to get in trouble if she did. Problem is she was the third “victim to be” of a serial killer who killed all of his victims this way with a pillow case over their head and strangled them with the cord from the blinds and now she was the ONLY person who could identify him. They finally caught him but in the meantime for months, she was a wreck, would not go out at night, had to change her work time due to fear and was really damaged by it.

So I doubt any of us expect this to happen to us but I know it can. What would you do? Do you really know? I asked my wife that back then and then we both got our CHLs. I know what I am capable of and will do. I am very sure of my wife as well, but you have to really ask yourself that hard question. I do not wish to Make History, our friend did Make History but not the kind she wanted. Sometimes you have to make the hard decisions. Make sure you know if you can and own it. My two cents.

Gary