You walk into the local convenience store to grab some gas and a sweet tea.
You’re back by the cooler, debating whether that bag of Corn Nuts that’s catching your eye would throw your diet over the cliff, when a patron in a black hoodie walks in.
He pulls out a gun and orders the clerk to “Get out the money!”.
Your heart jumps up into your throat. . . but your blood is tingling with “hero juice”.
You’re in the scumbag’s blindspot and know you have enough time to reach for that smoke wagon sitting concealed under your shirt.
You draw. . . have good line of sight. . . and order the thug to drop his weapon.
He turns. . .points his gun at you. . .
…and you FIRE!
He goes down – his own gun falling out of his hand – and he lays motionless on the ground – but…
Even Though Your Attacker Is Down, Your Fight Isn’t Over Yet!
Here’s The One Thing You Absolutely MUST Do (Immediately!) After You Shoot In Self-Defense…
A lot of “tactical schools” put their students through all kinds of mental gymnastics when training them in how to respond to an armed threat – and what to do immediately after a shooting.
For example, the legendary Chuck Taylor recommends asking yourself a series of questions:
- Did I hit him?
- Is he down?
- Is he out of the fight?
- Where are his friends?
The main point of all of these post-shooting “questions & answers” is to get you out of the mindset that you “fired a few shots… hit your target… the fight is over… and stuff ‘Ol Betsy back in her holster”.
These Mental Drills “Can” Be Super Helpful, But The Truth Is…
The Post-Shooting Actions Most Instructors Teach Can Actually Increase The Danger To You, The “Defender”!
Ok, let me explain…
While you do need to ask these questions in order to make sure the fight really is over, most instructors are unnecessarily complicating the process to the point that it’s not really practical.
For example…
1. You Simply CAN’T Use Too Many Questions
Your coconut can only retain so much information without a lot of repetition – and these questions aren’t something that a lot of us use for a morning affirmation in the bathroom mirror every day, right?
You shouldn’t need to possess an amazing memory to ensure your safety (now that I’m “over 50“, that seems to be an impossibility anyway).
2. Your Brain Will NOT Be Working With You
Even after it looks like your attacker is down and out of the fight, a gunfight is a very traumatic experience.
Your heart will be in your throat and your head will likely be overwhelmed with all the mental processing of the event that just took place.
Your ability to recall a string of questions when your brain and stress-related hormones are all working against you is not something you can confidently rely on.
3. You Can’t Mix Up “Yes”, “No”, and “Fill In The Blank” Questions
Complicated questions are one thing… but when you add in the need to also interpret these questions – back and forth – to come up with a mix of answers, you’ve just taken things to a whole new level of “Nope!”
Again, in a life-or-death encounter, your mental cognition takes a nosedive – so it’s key to keep the required answers as streamlined as possible as well.
4. Oh, And About Those Short “Tactical Acronyms”…
I just have to say it… I HATE acronyms to try to remember!
As I’ve said, your brain is already going to be trying to recover from the “shock and awe” of your life just being on the line.
If a long string of questions is hard to remember in that moment, can you imagine also trying to recall, “Now what did the instructor say the ‘S’ stood for again in his F.A.S.T. method?!”?
Too Long… Too Short… Too Much Adrenaline… Too Much To Remember… Too Much To Interpret…
So What DOES Work – And What SHOULD You Do To Ensure Your Safety Immediately After A Shooting?
Ok, me?
I prefer phrases. . .
. . .and NOT ones that mix up the “yes’s” with the “no’s”.
For example, the famous Chuck Taylor used, “Did I hit him? Is he down? Is he out of the fight?”
Now, someone will certainly want to slap my wee-wee for even DARING to contradict such a legendary tactical operator as Mr. Taylor.
But the answers to his questions – if your attacker is down on the ground but still fighting back – would be “yes, yes, no” – and of course, the proper response would be to continue your engagement of the target, right?
However, in the adrenaline-fueled fury of a real gunfight, you’re NOT likely going to have the mental capacity to de-code answers that mix-up the yes’s and no’s.
But even harder is, the word “no” subliminally means “stop” – and
When It Comes To The Need To Continue Firing To Stop A Threat, I Prefer To Be Triggered ONLY By A “YES” Answer!
Here’s what I mean…
When I’m training shooters, I tell them to use just 3 simple questions…
If the answer to ANY of these is “YES!”, you take fast, decisive action…
- “Can he kill me?”
If “yes”, – engage!
(Just because he’s down, doesn’t mean he’s “out”.)
- “Does he have friends?”
If “yes”, – engage!
“Tunnel vision” can keep you from seeing an ambush by his buddies.
You HAVE to make yourself look around you, keeping your weapon “at the ready” and pointed at the original threat while you check for other hostiles.
- “Is there cover?”
If “yes”, – get to it!
Studies show that the #1 survivability factor in a real gunfight is having effective cover to stop the bullets headed your way.
You never know when an attacker is going to pull a back-up gun or if his homies – the ones you may not have seen – are going to suddenly start shooting.
It’s better to assess your next steps, as well as reload, from a safe position.
Using Just These 3 Questions – All “Yeses” OR “Nos” – Can Save Your Life When You’re Attacked…
But These Same Questions Can Even Save Your Life Long After A Gun Battle…
You have to realize that stopping the threat in front of you is only ONE of the “fights” you need to survive.
Your NEXT fight may be the LEGAL battle in front of a jury as you’re forced to justify your actions.
Unfortunately, this is where a lot of armed citizens screw things up – EVEN when they were fully justified in pulling the trigger!
A jury isn’t going to want to hear about all the fancy tactics you’ve learned to defend yourself… so you need to be able to articulate exactly WHY you used the tactics you did.
These same 3 questions can act as a perfect framework for explaining your actions to a jury that wasn’t there – in your shoes – and may have no clue about how to interpret the conditions you were defending yourself in, and may understandably wonder “why” you fired your weapon “so many times”.
Your simple answer is better than a complicated string of questions that a jury will also have to interpret.
“I asked myself ‘Can he kill me?’ and I saw he still had his gun (legal equivalent of “Ability“) and he was still conscious (legal equivalent of “Immediacy“). Therefore, I shot him again to stop him from killing me.”
As you can see, it may only take one question… but explaining why you shot another threat… or even why you “ran away from the scene” could all come into play.
Yes, it’s a sad state of affairs that criminals don’t have to consider the “legality” of their actions. . . and yet YOU (the “victim”) may have to answer for your actions in a courtroom just for defending yourself.
But I’m afraid you do, Warrior.
2 Responses
1 Ability
2 Opportunity
3 Jeopardy
Advice from Tanto Paronto
in a shooting lesson.
It will keep you out of trouble. What a Great Instructor he is!
Personally, I think the article, and the strong suggestion that if you happen to be an armed individual ‘wandering around’ that you can/should routinely potentially be considering ‘intervening’, ‘judge and law enforcement-like’ in such situations coz you feel can/should/took a ‘bravery pill’, is very ill-advised in the first place, however skilled and experienced you think you might be, or actually are. Presumably, the excuse here – legitimacy, it would seem to be being claimed – to draw, point, then fire a weapon, was because attention and a perceived direct personal threat to their own life had been incurred by the intervenor, ie. by deliberately drawing attention to themselves and getting involved in the first place. Sorry if this is not ‘altruistic enough’ for y’all! But I do not view the carrying of a weapon as some sort of automatic permission to wade into, and potentially severely escalate, such situations you very likely know sufficient enough about in terms of additional threat and jeopardy that in reality could end up getting everybody injured or killed.