The Threat Landscape Is Changing, Are You Prepared?

The Threat Landscape Is Changing, But Handguns And Defensive Tactical Training Saves Innocent Lives

A dummy target will never shoot back, and a deer will never wrestle you and attempt to grab your firearm and use it against you.

While you could spend your entire life target practicing and honing your marksman skills, you could also spend your whole life living in a false sense of security - until the worst happens.

Marksmanship training and firearm safety training will be of little significance when facing a 300-pound proactive heavily-armed attacker at night. However, receiving self-defense training will bridge the gap between you and the well-prepared enemy. Receiving this skill is essential because your life and that of your family will one day depend on it.  

Meanwhile, most Americans prefer handguns for self-defense. Being the lightest to carry, handguns are likely to be used in most self-defense incidents compared to other weapons. However, many handguns, especially the very compact ones, pack limited ammunition.

Contrarily, your threat will always have the advantage, as they know when they will attack… and you will start to respond after they are in progress.  The time deficit is very difficult to beat.  The threat may also be armed with a deadlier weapon, say a semi-automatic rifle. Learning to use the pistol effectively for self-defense could save your life and those of other people who depend on you. Consequently, receiving handgun training becomes the most life-preserving decision one could take.

So… training is necessary to be a better defender, and yes, you do need to start with the basics… safety and basic marksmanship.  Gun training is like a pyramid, you need a good base to apply advanced techniques.  It is also a naturally depreciating skill – if not used, the skills will depreciate over time.  Simply, stop practicing and you become less accurate. 

Once you become reasonable at the basic skills, which all depends on practice, and this practice should include be dry-fire… where you practice with a training gun or unloaded, cleared gun (See our article on dry-fire), then you should naturally move on to defensive tactical training. This form of training equips you with the skills to avoid (if possible), counter, and overpower a deadly threat. Defensive tactical training is a combination of weapon mastery and mental skills to outmaneuver and land substantial damage to an attacker while trying to avoid sustaining debilitating injuries.

Defensive tactical training will equip you with the ability to make life-saving decisions within split seconds. These skills will allow you to acquire situational awareness skills to react faster, movement so you are not an easy target, and focus to maintain your thought process under stress. 

Mental and physical skills are necessary because many instances of self-defense involve close quarter combat and even direct physical fights. During such encounters, criminals are likely to attempt to grab your firearm and use it against you.

Additionally, you might find yourself wrestling for a gun from an armed criminal, who will try to incapacitate you using various forms of attacks. Given that criminals execute these forms of attacks frequently, they might have the upper hand against you if you lack adequate tactical defensive training.

Law enforcement and military officers receive this form of training to allow them to address various forms of threats they face in their line of duty. Similarly, elite private guards rely on these skills to save lives when required.

However, the same training is also available for civilians who wish to increase their chances of surviving a dangerous encounter - something highly encouraged for firearm owners. Civilians may opt not to receive training equivalent to navy seals or private security personnel, but having skills above the general public will increase your chances of survival tremendously.  

Instinctively, most people have some form of tactical defensive strategies, although the level of skills may vary depending on personal experiences of dealing with threats. The same subconscious, intuitive, defensive skills, when not harnessed with scientifically proven tactics, could get in the way of countering threats. Taking defensive tactical training courses allows you to become naturally ready to deal with surprise and sudden threats. 

Modern threats are evolving, and so should the skills of firearm owners. Similarly, gun owners should be aware that while general firearm skills are essential, using the same skills in life and death situations is a different matter altogether.

I encourage you to be a better defender… seek training.  Having a gun is a great responsibility, and although pulling the trigger of a loaded gun is fairly easy, a life and death situation is almost guaranteed not to be.  Defensive Tactical Training of Scottsdale has various courses from introductory base skill building to full on defensive tactical.  We train in very small classes (4-6) when live fire is a part of the class to maintain utmost safety and to provide proper instructor/student training time.  Private lessons are also available at reasonable costs, as DTT does not want there to be a monetary barrier preventing training.  Check out our courses.