If you had been in the same place Elisjsha Dicken was in July 2022 at the Indiana Mall. In case, you are not familiar, he stopped a man with an AR that was shooting in the mall. Elisjsha took 10 shots within 15 seconds at 40 yards. If you have not been pistol shooting, that was a hell of a good distance.

But if you had been there, what would you or could you have done? Do you have first aid training to help any victims? Do you carry a bleed out kit? Even just a tourniquet?

Even if you were armed, and did not feel you could have made the shot, maybe you could have gotten closer. Or wait for the opportunity to catch the attacker off guard, and then neutralize them.

Even if you are a concealed carry permitted person, you are not legally required to engage. But with the right training, you have the ability and the option to engage. If you are not a gun person, consider taking a first aid course and or stop the bleed course, and carrying a tourniquet in your pocket. But above all, don’t be a victim.

My perspective of a victim is someone who has no options. If you have options – self defense training, carry a knife or a gun and the willingness to use it, and or first aid training, you are never a victim. You get to choose when and to what level you get involved.

From a practical perspective, the odds of being in an active shooting situation are low. But it is a good drill to at least think through what your actions could or should be. Use this as a heads up, and plan. Some might choose to never leave there house, others might increase their training activities, but .. above all, consider the scenario, and consider what you could or should do. It is much easier in isolation to preplan than to just react to a situation.

Point being that the best of the best have a single focus and do something every day to further their goal. This reminds me a little bit of the movie City Slickers where the character Curly said the secret to happiness was one thing. Find your one thing and pursue it.

But what if we take these concepts and combine and expand on them. My proposal – and what I usually attempt to do – it to take some kind of action in pursuit of my goals. I have more than one goal. But by taking hopefully positive action towards your goals – martial arts (practicing or at mentally rehearsing), marksmanship drills, spiritual goals, etc, we improve who we are by becoming incrementally better. No one became a master of something the first time they did it. All skills are perishable and require practice

Also remember practice has a way of becoming permanent. So be deliberate with what you are hardwiring .

When practicing, your self-defense moves and/or your handgun techniques, do you utilize a full length mirror to see how your form and techniques looks? Do you ever use the camera on your phone as a feedback tool in your training?

Feedback is vital for learning and improving. It you do not have a full length mirror, consider getting one …for practicing your techniques. I also highly encourage you to use the video camera on your phone to get another perspective of how you look when practicing? Are you as smooth as you could be? Are you being precise with your movements? For handguns, when doing dry fire and drawing practice, do you see wasted motion or movement?

There is an old saying that practice makes perfect. That is not exactly true. Practice makes permanent. So they key is practicing good technique and reinforcing it. The more accurate expression is perfect practice make perfect. Part of the perfect practice is getting feedback so that you can

“Fast is fine, but accuracy is final. In a gun fight. You need to take your time in a hurry.” – Wyatt Earp

“Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast “ – Mark Divine

When training or practicing, have an objective in mind. When just starting out, do not worry about speed. The more you practice, the more you build the myelination pathway and the more automatic your motions will become.

By training slowly and methodically, you will create the pathway for speed.

Myelination is created through repetition. Ultimately that means practice. myelination is built through physical practice. But myelination is not the only thing to be concerned with.

Mental rehearsal is also vital. I was recently listening to a podcast with Tony Bauer https://www.coachblauer.com and he was discussing the need to visualize different scenarios. For example he was telling a story about having a law enforcement officer consider what he should do if he arrived at a restaurant early for a dinner and a gun fight broke out. After describing what he should do, he said that was one rep. He the. Did another example of getting to dinner late to meet his family for dinner and they were already seated, and a gun fight broke out.

Sadly we have to imagine scenarios so that we are more able to deal with real life. Perfect scenario training does not exist, but the process helps you create possible.

With all of that being said, to me, the ultimate goal of training in self-defense, martial arts, guns, and other weapons are to create options in not just how you deal with potential life threatening situations, but also to train yourself to see there is always more than one option.

The essential skill in self-defense revolves around one core principle – Survive.

So what is the one thing that can best keep you in alignment with the principle of survive.

As much as I would love to say it boils down to a magic technique taught by this style or that style, or using the weapon or whatever else may apply, in the final analysis it really boils down to very simplistic. Situational awareness.

If you have ever see any self defense anything, you have already heard this. The real problem is that simple does not equal easy.

Situational awareness really boils down to being almost hyper aware of everything going on around you and what could go wrong. The book The Gift of Fear talks – there are others but this one is most cited- about paying attention to your instincts.

I’ve believed for a long time that if I am doing my job properly – being situationally aware – none of the moves or techniques that I have been practicing for 20 years will ever be needed.

Self-Defense happens only after there has been some kind of breach in your situational awareness. Situational awareness in my mind includes knowing what parts of town to avoid or getting out of a place if you get the feeling that something is about to go wrong. In short, the best defense is not to be where the trouble is, and this is avoided by being aware.

I wish there was a magic silver bullet technique I could teach to get out of any situation. They didn’t exist because everyone is different. There are reports of people being shot in the head with a 357 magnum and it did not stop the attacker. Sad truth is that even situational awareness alone can not keep all that can harm you away, but it is where it all begins and once you since a problem, you can start taking action.

Many just starting in the martial arts and handgun training plateau as much as anything else from consistent practice or and proper practice. In the beginning of any new endeavor, fundamentals should be emphasized. The master of the martial arts or a master handgun competitor will regularly practice the basics. (Maybe there is a lesson for anyone starting something new there?)

So under the guidelines from the book Atomic Habits, to increase the likelihood of a new habit being adopted, we should strive to set a goal for something readily attainable consistent with your goal. For example, if handgun marksmanship is one of your goals, then you should establish a habit of doing one dry fire every day. If you are able to set something every day consistently, that would even better. If you are a martial artist or studying self-defense, you can decide to practice one move every day. By creating these easily attainable goals, it makes it easier for the new behavior to become part of who you are.

A good list of for the Tennessee gun laws is available at https://tennesseefirearms.com/laws/tennessee-laws-and-statutes/ but this is a private site and may not be always current. To access to laws of Tennessee, you need to go to the Lexis Link available for free.

Where I have seen people get into trouble is when they have been drinking. In at least two states, the law does not define what being impaired is when associated with a gun. What this means to you is if you even have a drop of blood in you, the officer or the state has the ability to prosecute you to a higher standard. In at at last one case I know of what would have been a misdemeanor became a felony charge.

So learn you laws, and know can get you in trouble. Also if you are planning on drinking, leave the gun at home or at least lock it in a gun same in your car.

For those of you that go to the range to practice your shooting skills, you may have noticed that ammunition is extremely expensive and often difficult to find. There is no actual substitute for live fire – putting rounds down range. There are many good alternatives. Dry firing is a common way to practice your your firearm fundamentals. There are a number of apps and video programs out there. I have found 2 that Iike and use. They are both from MantisX. I am an affiliate but used the tools before I ever considered. I use both the Mantis X (This is no longer offered and I plan on upgrading to a new one within the next 6 months) It has been replaced with the Mantis X2. Check out what else they are offering. The MantisX give you a way to practice firing your gun, and it provided feedback. The feedback is really quite good. The other Mantis Product I use in their Laser Academy Training Kit – Standard. This is very easy to use and provided a different kind of feedback. The Laser Academy and the MantisX tools provide a gamification of practicing your fundamentals!

The feedback on the Laser Academy is great. I was using it with one of my students and he said it was like the best video game ever! For the AR-15 Platform, they even have a auto-reset function for it. It is not cheap, but given the price of ammunition – If you can find it, it is not a bad exchange of value.

Finding alternative ways to accomplish training is one way to keep your economic power dry, and continue to train. Another avenue to practicing is to get an airsoft gun closest to your gun. It does not have the identical trigger feedback like you get with the MantisX System, but you can practice gripping your gun correctly, and see if you move as you pull the trigger. For a review below are fundamentals of Handgun Marksmanship.

Fundamentals of Handgun Marksmanship.

• Hand and Eye Dominance
• Grip
• Aiming
• Breath Control
• Hold Control
• Trigger Control
• Follow-Through

So how many of these can you practice without going to the range? It has been said that experts are only experts because they mastered the basics (fundamentals).

Any discussion about guns deserves a review of the safety rules.

The safety rules apply when dry firing as well.

NRA Gun Safety Rules

1. I will always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
2. I will always keep my finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
3. I will always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.

4 Universal Gun Safety Rules

1. Treat all guns as if the are loaded all the time
2. Never let the muzzle point at anything you do not wish to destroy.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you have made the decision to shoot.
4. Be sure of your target and what is behind it.

“Amateurs Practice Until They Get it Right; Professionals Practice Until They Can’t Get It Wrong”

Practice is the process of doing something – new or familiar – in order to increase the myelination (commonly incorrectly referred to as muscle memory). Myelination refers to an increase in the fatty sheath surrounding neuronal processes and fibers that increases the efficiency of electrical transmission. Ultimately, this is leads to the process being practiced being repeated easier, faster, and more predictably.

It has often been said that practice makes perfect. This is close. Perfect practice makes permanent.

In any new skill or old, the way you practice does make a difference. In Tim Larkin’s book When Violence Is The Answer, he discussed the value and concept of training slow.

By training slowly, we are deliberately focused on each element of our movement. If we move quickly, we rob ourself of the feedback our body is giving us. My Kempo Instructor David Fullen used to say that anyone can speed through a technique, but the real learning happens when we slow down and pay attention.

Ultimately training slowly is training with great intention and mindfulness. It a very good practice to use with martial arts practice, self-defense training, and even weapons training. As I write this, I have been practicing clean consistent trigger pulls on my handgun. I use MantisX training system for feedback. There are other training mechanisms that I will show you when you train with me in one of my handguns classes.

There is a quote that if often associated with the S.E.A.L.S. and other special forces team. “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.” I don’t know if it is actually a saying they use or not. Either way there is much power in this.

So when practicing, include slow practice to accentuate the process. My Kempo Instructor always said the speed will be there when you need it. Practice the fundaments. Practice slow. Practice like the professional that practices until they can not get it wrong.

Remember most skills are perishable. Practice regularly. Practice!