Gunshot Trauma: Reality of Shooting

 38 years ago, today I had my first combat experience.  I remember the day because it was my wife’s birthday. Great, huh?  The trauma has been minimized but the lessons have lived on.  We all have adversity in our lives.  We must ask God what He would have us learn from these experiences.  It helped me to mitigate the trauma.  One of the things I learned from this harrowing experience was how to manage gunshot wounds.  We experienced 200 to 300 against our 32.  We lost 4 but several were wounded.  It’s a miracle that many survived.  We had some top-notch medics that made a huge difference in minimizing lives lost. 

MARCH stands for Massive Hemorrhage, Airway, Respiration, Circulation and Hypothermia.

Remember this acronym to be able to assess the life-giving aid needed

Stay Calm and Assess the Situation

This is where the rubber meets the road.  Some people are not built for the gore and the emergency of a situation.  It does not have to be combat to be serious and life threatening.

Stay calm to assess the situation and make sure you and the injured person are in a safe place.

You can’t help if you’re in danger too. Once you’re sure it's safe, move quickly to the casualty.

Stop The Bleeding

Massive bleeding is the number one cause of preventable death in gunshot wounds. Your priority is to stop the bleeding, especially if it's from an arm or leg.

 

Related Medical Supplies:

• Tourniquet: If the bleeding is from a limb and it's severe, apply a tourniquet immediately. A good military gunshot wound kit will include a high-quality tourniquet which is ready to use and staged for fast application. Place it as high as possible and tighten as tight as possible.
• Compressed Gauze: If the wound is too high or too deep for a tourniquet (such as on the neck or torso), use compressed gauze to pack the wound. This helps stop internal

bleeding. Pack it tightly into the wound to put pressure on the bleeding vessel. After that, apply a trauma bandage to secure it in place.

·         Blood stoppers: Surgical pads are the best for stopping serious bleeding.  The pads that come in most first aid kits are woefully inadequate.  Several surgical pads have the thickness to stop bleeding.

Seal the Chest Wound

If the gunshot wound is in the chest, you need to act fast to seal the wound as soon as possible. Gunshot wounds to the chest can cause a condition called tension pneumothorax, air gets trapped in the chest cavity and collapses the lung.

 

Related Medical Supplies:

• Chest Seal for Gunshot Wound: Most gunshot wound first aid kits come with vented chest seals designed specifically for a chest open wound.

Apply the chest seal directly over the wound, making sure the edges are completely sealed to prevent air from getting in. There might be an exit wound on their back—so check and apply another chest seal if needed. The vented type is recommended because it lets air and blood escape through the channel while preventing air from re-entering.

Check Breathing and watch for Tension Pneumothorax

Once you’ve controlled the bleeding and sealed any chest wounds, it’s time to check the casualty's breath and look for signs of tension pneumothorax. If the Casualty is having increasing difficulty breathing, this might be what is happening.

• Signs of Tension Pneumothorax: Difficulty breathing, rapid shallow breaths, bluish skin (cyanosis), and chest pain.
• Action: Ensure the vented chest seal is functioning properly, allowing air to escape. If breathing becomes more difficult, you may need to perform a needle decompression (with proper training and equipment,) and prepare for rapid evacuation.

In many cases, the person who is injured won’t make it to the hospital without immediate care. That’s why having a gunshot wound first aid kit nearby is so important. Whether it’s in your vehicle, home, or on you during outdoor activities, being prepared means, you can provide lifesaving care.

 

 Gunshot Trauma Kit contents

· Bandage Scissors

· Curved Hemostat

· Venom Nitrile Gloves – No Latex

· Face Masks

· Alcohol Wipes

· Betadine Iodine

· Mylar Blanket – avoid shock

· Ammonia inhaler

· CPR Mask

· Red Marker

· Incident Report

· CAT Tourniquet

· H & H Dressing

· Adhesive Tape – Latex Free

· Israeli Bandage / Emergency Pressure Bandage

· #10 Scalpel

· Decompression Needle

· Roll Gauze

· Celox-A Sterile ABD Pads

· Double Chest Seal

 

• For Bleeding: Tourniquet, Compressed Gauze, Combat Gauze with Kaolin, gloves, trauma shears
• For Chest Wound: Chest Seal kit, gloves, trauma shears

 

It’s important to react quickly to a gunshot wound.  Some cases would be something that needs immediate attention even for a through-and-through or a nick.  Some may be minor blood loss but it’s not always clear what was hit inside the body.

It takes a little preparation in gear and learned skills that can mean the difference between life or death.  It’s not always that dire, until it is.  Get basic training and have the tools necessary to save a life if called upon.  I can tell you from personal experience that’s it’s not a good experience to watch someone die in front of you and feeling helpless.  Preparedness is the answer.  Be prepared!

Semper Paratus

Check6

Burn

How Much Ammo Should You Store?

 Whenever I get asked, “How much ammo should I have?”  I then start asking questions of my own.  How often do you shoot?  What are your shooting goals?  What types of shooting do you do?  Are you stockpiling for prepping?  How much space do you have?

These questions let me be better in my understanding of the shooter and their needs before recommending how much they should stockpile.

So, how much ammo should you have? The shooter in me says you can never have too much, but my penny-pincher side sees that as a problem. 1,000 rounds for each firearm you own is a good minimum in most instances.

Let’s get a little more specific.

Things to Have in Mind Before Stocking Up on Ammo

I've found it best to implement a restocking system. That keeps me from panic-buying when prices skyrocket during an ammo shortage and saves me a lot of money. Buying in bulk is a significant portion of my restocking system. It helps me save more money than I would by buying in smaller quantities.

Here's how much ammo I like to have for each gun.

Handguns        5,000 rounds per firearm

Battle rifles     5,000 rounds per firearm

Shotguns          1,000 rounds per firearm

Hunting Bolt action rifles 1,000 rounds per firearm

I've always been a fan of keeping things as simple as possible, and my stockpiling system is no exception. The initial cost stings the most because I like to get started by buying in and then slowly building toward my stockpiling goal. I'm also a fan of doubling up on the savings by catching ammo when it's on sale. But I never buy all the rounds at once, unless it's just a deal I can't pass up.

Start with 500 to 1,000 rounds of the ammo you use the most and gradually grow your stockpile over time. I prefer to use the oldest ammo first, just to ensure I have fresh ammo, but I've stored ammo in a cool, dry place and used it decades later. My father-in-law recently gave me some shotgun shells he had in storage for longer than I've been alive (30+ years). They still fire, but I don't recommend waiting that long to use them.

Having a restock threshold is a great idea. Once you hit a specified minimum number of rounds, it's time to buy more. Personally, I don't like to dip below 500 rounds for most of my guns. I'd ideally have no fewer than 1,000 rounds before I start looking for the best ammo deals. I stockpile less self-defense and hunting ammo, as I don't use those rounds as often, so I'm comfortable with only 100 to 250 rounds of either.

• Step 1: Buy 500 to 1,000 rounds of your most-used ammo.
• Step 2: Slowly build your stockpile by timing bulk purchases and ammo sales.
• Step 3: Restock as needed when you reach your minimum number of rounds.
• Step 4: Repeat the process for every type of ammo your firearms are chambered for.

You should have as much ammo as you can afford and have room for.  I suggest storing your ammo in a fire-resistant safe to protect it from the elements and thieves. At the very least, you should have 1,000 rounds for each firearm you own.

Having ammo on hand is slightly different than having long term ammo. I consider "ammo on hand" to be easily accessible: not locked in a safe or buried under boxes. Whether they're preloaded in magazines or still in their boxes, these rounds are intended to be quickly loaded into your firearm and used for practice etc.

I like to keep 50 to 100 rounds handy at all times. Ninety percent of those are home defense ammo for my pistols and shotguns.

Long term is another topic altogether. You would ideally have thousands of rounds of ammo during an end-of-the-world situation.  But the above goals are sufficient.

Self-defense ammo is much more expensive, and you're less likely to use it, so I don't see a need to have thousands of rounds.

I do like to keep a couple of hundred rounds on hand and purchase more whenever I see an unbeatable price, though. My home defense ammo consists of 20-gauge, and 9mm, though I could narrow it down to just shotgun shells and one of my pistol cartridges if needed.

Answering the question "How much ammo should I have?" is incredibly personal. A competitive shooter will go through thousands of rounds more per year than a hunter or someone training for self-defense.

For beginners, I recommend starting with 1,000 rounds and seeing how long that lasts for you. Then, based on how long that ammo lasts, begin building a stockpile that will last you one to two or more years.

Happy stocking!

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Burn

Target Identification and It's Importance

 Several years ago, I was on a military shooting range trying to qualify a young Air Force Captain so he could fly.  He had to qualify, or this pilot would not be on flying status.  This can be very stressful for someone who wants to fly but has a hard time shooting.  Finally, he was the last one, the others had already qualified and left the range.  It was one on one training now.  He was frustrated because he could not keep consistent and was hitting 18, 19, 17 rounds out of the 20 hits needed to qualify.  In his frustration he would wave his M16 around wildly and flag me.  I warned him about that, and he would calm down to try and qualify again.  After being flagged about 4 times I finally told him we needed to stop and come back the next day.

I felt for this guy.  He was trying so hard and barely missing it.  I almost told him when he missed it by one that I would sign off on that and to his credit, he would not “fudge” it.  We talked a bit in this process, and I got to know him better.  He talked about concealed-carry off duty.  As he was shooting, I mentioned target identification.  He asked about what I meant by that.  I told him a story I had read about a guy shooting his son by mistake because he thought he was an intruder.  A flashlight should be an integral part of your EDC so that target ID is not a problem. I’ve heard using a flashlight is a double-edged sword.  It gives away your position besides target ID. The notion that ‘the light draws fire’ or that criminals will wait in ambush for you if they hear you coming are nonsensical. Those are bad paradigms for us to insert in our thinking. If your background is such that having assassins waiting in ambush for you in your own home is a concern, you need to work on some serious hardening of access points to your home.  This thinking applies in combat or law enforcement where noise is your friend.  In a home invasion you want noise. Stealth is not your friend; it is your enemy.  In fact, you should train by speaking.  Next time you go to the range, take the flashlight with you. Instead of just blasting 50 holes in a silhouette, shoot two shots at the silhouette 25 times. Sequence is very important in how you do this.

• Have your gun in your shooting hand and your flashlight in your support hand. The gun is not pointing at the target and the light is off.
• Before each two-shot string, say out loud “Who’s there?”
• Wait and listen for an answer. If you go to the range with someone, have them stand behind you and sometimes respond with “it’s me, Daddy” or something similar.
• If they say that, immediately put your gun down on the bench and abort that sequence.
• Then illuminate the target without pointing the gun at it.
• Finally, bring the gun up and fire the two shots.

One of the things you will find when using this sequence is that the worthwhile two-handed shooting techniques don’t work well with it. It is both clumsy and dangerous to assume when you already have the light on the target and are keeping it illuminated while presenting the pistol. The Rogers/Surefire technique takes some time and manipulation skill to assume. What you will discover is that only the Cheek Technique or the FBI Technique work well in this context.

That means you must learn to:

• Speak while holding your gun.
• Abort the shooting sequence if there is not a threat.
• Do a dissimilar task with the other hand, i.e., orient the flashlight and work the switch, while keeping your gun off target and your finger off the trigger.
• Shoot with one hand only while continuing to perform the dissimilar task.
• Manipulate the safety or decock your weapon with one hand while holding something in the other.

For the final 5 repetitions (10 rounds), put up a clean silhouette target and shoot the LAPD Retired Officer Course (10 rounds at seven yards). Measure how well you do. You’re going to find it’s a lot harder than you think. From the LAPD manual:

“The starting position for this qualifying course of fire will begin at the 7 Yard Line. When the target faces, the shooter will draw and fire 10 rounds at a single silhouette target. A score of 70 percent is required to pass the qualification. All rounds impacting anywhere on the body and head will receive full value and rounds impacting upon the arms are half value.”

There is no time limit, so all you need to do is hit 7/10 shots in the torso or head of the target

That sequence is obviously rather involved; practice it before you must do it for real or you’ll forget to do it or get it wrong. Forgetting to do it is what leads to tragedies.

Some shooters may become overly anxious or excited, which can lead to careless behavior. They may fire at sounds, colors, movements, or unidentified shapes, or simply shoot too quickly. In the excitement after hitting their target, they may swing a loaded firearm toward their companions or run with the safety off toward the target.

Self-control is an essential aspect of safety. Only shoot when you know that no people, domestic animals, buildings, or equipment are in the zone-of-fire.

Slow, careful shooting is not only safer, but it also produces a higher degree of success.

Shooting accurately is a key safety factor. Some incidents, often deadly ones, have occurred when stray bullets have hit people out of the shooter's sight. Be sure you have a proper backstop before you shoot.

Being responsible for every bullet is the only way we as concealed carry or home defense participator can be.

Be safe and be deadly!

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Burn

Tactical Training for Your Family

Family Training

Broad & Inclusive Training

No one is safe at all if they only learn how to protect themselves in one type of situation. That is why even if you are focusing on one specific discipline of tactical training you will find that it is both broad and inclusive of a variety of potential scenarios. Any good tactical training course will provide you with multiple situations to overcome, preparing you for a variety of both physical and psychological tasks associated with your survival. Yes, you can learn to shoot the same menacing looking targets in different orders each time at the gun range, but this only covers one scenario and is not effective tactical training. True tactical training will also call on more than one level of physical and psychological needs at any given time, to ensure you are well rounded and prepared for any situation. A good tactical training session might even appear chaotic, but they are highly structured to call on multiple skills to test a trainee. If you can use your range of skills to make sense and survive the situation, the chaos melts away, which is exactly what you are hoping to be able to apply to a real-life scenario.

I had my family learn how to shoot, how to use pepper spray, and how to grapple.  We talked about tactical thinking and situational awareness all the time.  Try to be versatile. 

Drills

Remember you can help prepare your family with tactical training as well. There is a fine line between preparing and scaring your children, so always consider their age and understanding level in every training scenario. Drills, however, are important and can give you the lifesaving seconds you need in a disaster scenario. Many families have fire drills for instance, so considering a few potential events and outcomes that your loved ones can practice, increasing your chance of survival is a form of tactical training that can keep your whole family safe and better prepared.

Keys to Good Tactical Training

• Avoid highly specialized training classes and events. While it is good to practice in specific ways, broad range courses are best for beginners, so you can build a solid skill set. You can go on to more specialized training down the road.
• Look for a course with scenario-based training as it can help prepare you psychologically, as well as physically.
• Hone your instincts. One of the goals of tactical training is to take actions from being intellectual to instinctual. In high-stress situations, if you can rely on your instincts to help in your defense you have a higher chance of surviving a confrontation. Any few seconds you can spare in mental processing and decision making, due to effective, tactical training could be lifesaving.
• Self-defense is a lifelong journey. You must adopt it as part of your regular life and commit to continually practice if you want to truly become a master in the art of self-defense and be able to defend yourself no matter what the situation brings

·         One of the most popular forms of civilian tactical training  is with the use of firearms. Ranges offer tactical shooting courses that provide you situations that represent more realistic scenarios, rather than just standing at one end of a range and shooting at a stationary target. Classes are often the best course for many, however, if you do have the property, or can find a place where you can lawfully fire the rounds, you may consider setting up tactical training courses of your own. Remember that the element of surprise is a huge aspect of tactical training. If you do set up your own course, you will need a partner who can change the targets and situations to create a unique training experience every time.

 

Psychological Aspects of Tactical Training

·         Tactical training requires a level of psychological involvement that is simply not applied in ordinary self-defense training approaches. Of course, learning a specific technical skill for defense is extremely important. However, a technical skill that is only mastered in a controlled environment is only applicable to similar controlled environments, not to situations in the real world. In order to learn a technical skill that will be helpful in any situation, you must be conditioned psychologically as well as physically. With the psychological aspect of tactical training in mind, you will practice your technical skill in a variety of anticipated states, considering factors like stress or exhaustion.

·         Preparing your mind for the possibility of these stressful situations will enable you to perform with greater effectiveness when an actual disaster occurs.

 

Hoplology

·         Not all tactical training is physical in nature, and hoplology is a great place for many beginners to start. As with most things, research can be a huge asset to a person’s self-defense repertoire. Hoplology is the study of the development of human combative behavior and performance. It is in short, the relationship between different cultures in regards to how and why we fight. Becoming a student of hoplology opens you up to a slightly different tactical approach. Taking the knowledge of why and how we fight into consideration can give you a slight advantage when engaging in combat with a potential assailant. Studying other cultures and fighting techniques can also give you an advantage when approached with any self-defense situation as not only can you anticipate what might be coming, but you can take appropriate action to combat it as well.

There are many ways to improve your family’s training.  Tactical is just one of them.  Find a course, or person, who can teach tactical training in a simple way that is understandable to your entire family.  Develop or find drills that can be practiced easily.  Make it fun for the whole family and you will find that not only is your family prepared and safe, but healthy and happy.

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Burn

Spec Ops Truths You Can Use

 In the Special Operations world, there are many things to learn.  As civilians we can learn from these ideas and concepts too.

The five Special Operations Forces Truths:
1. Humans are more important than hardware.
2. Quality is better than quantity.
3. Special Operations Forces cannot be mass produced.
4. Competent Special Operations Forces cannot be created after emergencies occur.
5. Most special operations require non-SOF assistance.

John Collins, a retired Army colonel, authored truths. He enjoyed a second career in the Congressional Research Service, and in 1987 found himself writing a publication titled "United States and Soviet Special Operations" for a House Armed Services Committee.

Oddly enough, Colonel Collins was not a special operator. He wrote "had to do with what special operations are all about," he later said. The truths were born out of the "SOF Imperatives" and originally included a fifth truth: "Most special operations require non-SOF assistance." However, this truth was lost for about 20 years, until Adm. Eric Olsen, a former SOCOM Commander, resurrected it in September 2009. Ever since they were brought to light, the truths became the mantra for only our special forces teams and over time, the fundamental guidelines for all special operations forces from all the services to follow.

Humans are more important than hardware.

Sometimes we think that a new computer or a new tech system is the most important thing in the field, but it’s the humans we’re surrounded with that will accomplish the task regardless of the gear and equipment you give them. While the stringent selection process for special operations works to weed out the wrong people, the private sector doesn’t have the same safeguards. Most companies don’t have an intensive training regime that includes psychological evaluations and leadership tests for prospective candidates, so these values need to be cultivated in a different way. Simply put, it comes down to taking the time to select the right people for the job. One poor person, or whatever poor quality that he or she possesses, spoils it for everybody else.

Which leads to the second truth.

Quality is better than quantity.

You don’t need 12 people if two people can do it. Pick the right people, pick the right machinery, pick the right technology, get that quality that you need and the quality that you want. You might be paying more for it, but the added cost for performance is worth it every time. If you choose the right thing, and it maintains the standard that you’re looking for, you’re never going to go wrong with having the right quality person, or the right quality machinery, and technology. The thing about quality is that it’s a limited resource.

Special operations forces cannot be mass produced.

When you try a cookie cutter approach, you get cookies, you don’t always get the right thing. If you try to have unique thinkers, by that very definition it cannot be mass produced. When you try to mass produce things, typically you eliminate the uniqueness right out of it. Realizing you’ve got the wrong gear, or the wrong guy on your team when you’re already in a bad situation is too late so, you need to think ahead.

Competent special operations forces cannot be created after emergencies occur.

The word competent in the fourth truth is pretty telling. This means that you need to be looking toward anticipated needs, or in military parlance, you need to prepare for the next war, not the last one. You just must be proactive and not reactive. You’re always looking forward and learning lessons.

Most special operations require non-SOF support.

This is probably the most misunderstood of all the truths. The reason: Ego.  Ego comes into play quite a bit, and you get a lot of ego when you label something special or unconventional or different. Taking the ego out of play and saying, ‘Everybody stay true to what you can do.’ In the private sector, it comes down to putting the right people in the positions they're best suited for. Let your guys do what they’re best and most capable of doing and have other people do other stuff.

These truths are true for many things from military operations to business.  Many may find them a valuable tool.

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Burn

 

The "Move" Part of Shoot, Move, Communicate

 In 1989 I had the opportunity to train at a shoot house ran by the US Army outside San Antonio, Texas.  In the entrance to this shoot house there was a large sign.  It states: “No one is coming to save you.” I had some great training and some fantastic times.  I got to know an instructor at this facility, Sargeant Major Roland “Rolo” Steward. He was a proponent of “Shoot, Move, Communicate”

Shoot, Move, Communicate is not a slogan. It is a mental framework for operating in chaos. It captures the three core actions required to succeed when conditions are uncertain and pressure is high.

Shoot represents decisive action. It means addressing the problem in front of you with precision and intent. You do not wait for perfect information. You act to gain advantage and create momentum.

Move is about adaptability and progress. Staying still makes you vulnerable. Movement allows you to reposition, improve your situation, and stay ahead of changing conditions. Progress only happens when you are willing to move.

Communicate is what keeps the team aligned. Information shared at the right time keeps everyone effective. It ensures teammates understand what is happening, what is needed, and where the mission is going next. Without communication, even strong individual effort breaks down.

Remember this: The single most important thing you can do in a gunfight is get the gun between you and your opponent

You must be an active participant in your own rescue.

Movement Drills

Let’s consider the primary drill, and then I will explain the logic and finer details. The drill doesn’t require much, just your preferred handgun and holster, two targets and a stick. (You don’t really need the stick.) You can start at the 7- to 10-yard line and place the stick parallel with your target. Standing behind the stick, you simply need to draw and put two rounds on each target, then two more rounds on each target, all while simultaneously stepping over the stick. The effort should be one continuous movement. Your step should begin with the draw, and your finish position should look identical to your starting position. From here, you can do the same thing with a backwards step. Do this several times moving forward and backward over your stick. Once you get the hang of forward and backward movement, turn the stick 90 degrees to practice lateral movements. The same approach applies. You will fire a total of eight shots, all while moving. You should be shooting two shots while transitioning between both targets. The left-and-right, or “side-to-side,” movement drill over the stick is trickier than forward and backward, but once you get the hang of it, this drill will improve your movement for both competition and tactical shooting purposes.

This drill seems simple but it’s a lot like walking and chewing gum at the same time. Simple until you start thinking about it. What are the finer details of what we’re training for. Performing the drill successfully is about stance. A good fighting stance is similar across many disciplines. The point of the stance is to enable you to begin your attack or react to your adversary. Most people can quickly figure out how to get into a good starting stance, but it almost always falls apart during training once we move to a new location. The goal of this drill is to end your movement in your starting stance. Regardless of where you end up, the next time you move, it will be from your starting fighting stance. This leads us back to efficiency of motion.

As we move around and shoot between different positions, people tend to “coil up.” This leads to inefficiency of movement, which means slower times in a competition and potentially a worse outcome in a tactical situation. By ensuring you start and stop in the same position every time, you can prevent that “coiled up” feeling. This also allowed us to start moving to the next position faster, while also engaging targets accurately.  It is a common myth that has seeped into civilian training from the military and law enforcement sectors: Don’t cross your legs while moving tactically. I suspect the concept stems from martial arts, where crossing your legs could lead to being forced off balance and into a poor fighting position. If you lose your gun in a fight, you can worry about not crossing your legs then. Everyone successfully walks around, crossing their legs while walking every day, most of us without tripping at all. You’re not going to suddenly forget how to walk because you’re holding a rifle or pistol. After all, you can probably walk and chew gum at the same time.

Once everything starts to click with you mentally, the fundamentals of these drills will apply to any situation that calls you to shoot while moving, even when you’re simply moving to the next target. Efficiency of motion helps to beat the bad guy. There are a few more points to keep in mind as you practice these drills. Don’t forget to focus on the target. As you start training, you’ll instinctively want to slow down when it’s time to shoot to focus on the dot or to align the iron sights. Focusing on the sights may cause you to overshoot the target when transitioning, meaning that you will lose time and efficiency while trying to reposition the sights back on the target. Finally, consider the pace of fire when shooting.   For most of us, we would engage the first target with two shots, then there would be a slight pause during the transition to the second target. Then, another pause while moving back to the first target, and a final pause with the last two shots on the second target. In practice, it sounds incredibly fast, but it is not. With a continuous, steady pace of fire without pausing while transitioning between targets it was three-quarters of a second faster than if you allow even a slight pause. These movement drills are so practical because they can be done with minimal space, yet they have unlimited application to shooting scenarios.   

Learning to move while you shoot and continue to engage at target, or targets, is one of the most valuable skills you’ll learn for a firefight.  Moving gets you to cover, in position to engage, and helps in transition from cover to cover.  You may not need this skill for self-defense, or you may need it.  It’s better to learn it and not need it, than to need the skill and not have it.

Remember, no one is coming to save you.

 

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Burn  

Hoplophobia: That Dreaded Decease

 Hoplology isn’t exactly a household word, so before I get too far with this post I had better define my key term.  Hoplology– derived from “hoplos,” a type of Ancient Greek fighter– is essentially the study of human combative behavior.  Personally, I like to think of it as a quirky branch of anthropology.  Some anthropologists might visit a tribe in a remote corner of the world and study that tribe’s traditional forms of dance, trying to use the dance as a lens to better understand the tribe’s culture.  A hoplologist would want to learn more about the tribe by examining their fighting methods– what do the types of weapons that they use tell us about their culture?  Does the fact that their fighting techniques focus on wrestling tell us something about their society?  Can we learn something from the way that they conceptualize the act of combat?

I have a phobia for doctors.  That is not true, I have an aversion to doctors.  It’s not quite a phobia.  After my combat experience I saw a psychologist and he drove me crazy.  If you ask someone 2,342 times how violence makes them feel rest assured, they will commit violence on you.  I’m not completely knocking the mental health field, but sometimes they do more damage than the original trauma the patient experienced. 

“Hoplophobia is a mental disturbance characterized by irrational aversion to weapons, as opposed to justified apprehension about those who may wield them.”  Lt Col Jeff Cooper

This is the definition of the word that Jeff Cooper first coined.  I see it all the time.  I had a coworker tell me his wife would not let him get a gun even though both of them felt the need for a means to defend their young family.  I told him about hoplophobia and that it is an irrational worry.  Sadly, the bumper sticker is correct, “Guns don’t kill people, People do.”  I told him to find a afternoon when they could meet me at the range.

We found an afternoon and I was ready.  First, we talked about the logical reasons for her fear, which are not really logical but emotional.  I talked about her gun training.  She said she didn’t have any gun training.  I said, “Yes you do!”  Then we talked about the false training that comes for Hollywood and the media.  We were at the range so there was someone else there shooting but several bays away.  Every time there was a shot she jumped.  I gave her some headsets and that helped.  We talked about how guns are just inanimate objects and that they don’t just go off without human interaction.  I kept all the guns in cases on another table.  We talked about gun safety, and we used a “rubber” gun.  It was a natural conversation, and she was put at ease.

Then I showed her a .22 Long round.  Then I brought out a Ruger 10/22, and we talked about the rifle.  We practice rounds I showed her how to load the magazine.  Then, reminding her of the safety rules we talked about, I handed her the rifle, and she loaded the magazine and charged a round.  She then cycled the gun until the 5 rounds from the magazine were all out.

We then talked again about the safety rules, and I gave her some live rounds.  She loaded the magazine.  I handed her the rifle again and she chambered a round.  We talked about aiming and sight picture.  She took the rifle and sighted in on the target and squeezed the trigger.  I had her shoot the 5 rounds I had her load.  We made the gun safe and went to look at her shots.  She had an impressive group with one flyer.  We talked about those 5 shots and went back to the bench.  She loaded and shot 10 more shots.  Then there were 10 more and repeated the process.  I then had her make the gun safe, put the rifle aside, and then we talked.  We talked about her shots, aim, grip, trigger discipline, breathing, all over again.  We touched again on safety then talked about the experience.  I asked her if it was a frightening experience.  She said once she understood the safety rules and why we have them, and understood how to operate the gun, she was actually having fun!  I said it was what I said when we started, “Education changes everything.”  We did similar things with a handgun, and she even shot a 9mm and a .38.  The fear was gone. Replaced by education and fun!  The mystery and false teaching melted away, and she learned to safely control and use a firearm.  She suffered from Hoplophobia, the irrational fear of weapons. 

There are many that suffer from this.  But the media is the worst purveyor of misinformation and downright lies concerning guns.  The anti-gun people are not always bad about this, especially if they are taught truth and given good education.  Most people react like my coworkers wife.  Often many can be brought over to our side with the same type of experience.  So, if you witness some idiot that think it’s funny to give a 12 guage to a petite woman and watch her get beat because of inadequate training, and no safety education, stop the travesty.  And those who are guilty of this are usually not anti-gun.  We want more rational people in our corner and these dangerous, bad experiences just hurt our cause.  Also, stop doing stupid things with guns.  Learn and keep the rules.  Teach with patience and a real interest in making that first range time for the inexperienced person a good experience.  Remember the safety rules:

1.       All guns are always loaded

2.      Never point a gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy

3.      Keep your finger off the trigger and out of the trigger guard until your sights are on the target

4.      Know your target and beyond the target

We as gun advocates need to be calm and rational in a crazy irrational world.  Some anti-gun people are nuts.  Completely unapproachable and unwilling to learn.  But most people will learn and understand better.  It may not make them gun people, but at least they have a better understanding that the hype created by the media is not true.

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Burn