Dangers of Rushing Back to the Holster
March/08/2017 18:21
Dangers of Rushing Back to the Holster - by Jay Izienicki - Chief Instructor
Recently I was instructing for an Arizona Sheriff’s Office firearms academy and found myself in the middle of a class of students that were more eager to go back to the holster than they were to get out of it. In fact, there were so many of them doing it that I thought perhaps they had all failed to duck when they ran into the conex to get targets, bumped their heads, and forgotten the previous days instruction. All that I kept hearing in my head, while shaking it in disbelief, was mindset, mindset and mindset. Having the proper mindset is a cornerstone for Latent Force and the Prepared Defensive Action programs.
Ok, so what does rushing back to the holster really mean? Simple, once a string of fire is complete and the immediate threat is no longer present a student immediately goes from the contact or low ready position straight back to the holster and skips major fundamental steps that are critical in a gunfight.
"What’s the big deal?" It demonstrates that the students don’t have the right mindset. Having the proper mindset is critical to winning in a defensive encounter with a criminal threat, which is why so much time is dedicated to it in our courses. Remember, a gunfight is 90% mental and only 10% physical.
"Yeah, but the immediate threat is gone and there is no longer a reason to have your gun drawn so just go back to the holster, right?" Wrong, and here are a few reasons why.
First, repetition of perfect practice while training is critical to future success and survival. We can argue the validity of the muscle memory theory another time but the critical point in this case is the unintended creation of a training scar in the fundamentals that will likely influence future behavior in a critical encounter with a criminal threat.
Second, when a student rushes back to the holster they miss important steps:
Tactical Reload – this ensures that your weapon has the maximum amount of ammunition available to you in the magazine should another threat present itself to you.
Scan and Assess – this breaks the tunnel vision (a physiological response that causes you to focus on a threat to the exclusion of everything else around you) created by a dynamic encounter and makes you scan left and right for additional threats and assess your current environment to make sure it is safe prior to holstering your weapon.
Skipping major steps prior to holstering such as Look/Scan and Assess and a Tactical Reload is a training scar that can potentially cost you your life.
If you have been around guns for any period of time and taken some formal training you are likely to know who Colonel Jeff Copper is. His principles on combat gun skills are the foundation that every class you attend should be, and likely are, based on. At the core Colonel Cooper created The Triad - three interconnected principles that are critical to the success of a defensive shooter.
Gun Handling – The ability to safely and effectively use your firearm
Marksmanship – The ability to hit your target quickly and accurately
Marksmanship – The ability to hit your target quickly and accurately
So, what does this have to do with rushing back to the holster? Everything. The Triad is like a 3-legged stool. If any of the legs become shorter or weakened then the stability of the entire stool is compromised. Rushing to the holster and failing to do a tactical reload is a breakdown in Gun Handling and failing to Scan and Assess is a breakdown in Mindset. All 3 are necessary for your overall success in a deadly encounter.
If I was forced to prioritize between the Tactical Reload and the Scan and Assess in a dynamic encounter I would chooses to Scan and Assess. Why? Doing a Tactical Reload requires you to bring your weapon into your workspace, essentially off the threat, and leave only one round in your weapon while doing the exchange (the reason for recent increased debate on the Tactical Reload on-line and in the blogosphere). On the other hand, doing a Scan and Assess keeps your weapon at the ready and loaded while making sure your world is safe before holstering the tool you are using to protect yourself.
Here is an example of a practical and real application of the Scan and Assess. Remember, real learning comes from after action review of both successes and failures of actions taken by others.
On June 8, 2014 in North Las Vegas a true citizen hero and CCW permit holder, Joseph Wilcox, was killed when he attempted to stop a shooting rampage in a Wal-Mart store. Unbeknownst to Joseph Wilcox the criminal threat that presented itself in front of him, along with and accomplice, had just executed 2 Las Vegas Metro police officers Igor Soldo and Alyn Beck while seated in a restaurant on their lunch break.
It is critical to remember that most attacks by criminal threats come from behind. Scan and Assess is designed to break your tunnel vision and ensure that no one is closing behind you. This allows you to change the angle of attack or your relationship to the threat if it is there and engage from a position of advantage. This also will stop the threats forward momentum and force them to re-orientate (OODA Loop) and again declare their intentions that they are tracking or threatening you. Ultimately, this will get you off the “X” in case a surprise attack is underway and move you out of the “Kill Zone”.
Although this unfortunate event was not specific to rushing to the holster it demonstrates how important scanning for threats is to your survival before holstering. If you have already gone to the holster and a threat presents itself to you, by default you have increased your reactionary gap. Now you have to draw, orient towards and ultimately engage the threat. Time is life in these situations and you have just added unnecessary amounts of it for no reason by failing to Scan and Access before holstering.
I realize this article has come a long way from the academy class and students rushing to the holster but it was done to clarify why learning concepts correctly and performing them consistently, each and every time the opportunity presents itself, will allow things to become automatic. Many of the techniques that are taught have practical applications and provide you with lifesaving skills under pressure and when needed. The timeworn concept “We do not rise to the occasion, we drop to our lowest level of training” was never truer when we talk about rushing to the holster or reinforcing Cooper’s Triad of Gun handling, Marksmanship and Mindset.
Stay safe, train in reality and do it often. See you on the range.