Gunfighting - Part 2: The Bad Guy Decides It’s Over

Bottom line up front, it is the aggressor that determines when a fight is over, not the defender. When the aggressor stops fighting either by choice or involuntarily, the defender can stop defending. You cannot count upon your power of persuasion convincing someone who has already decided to kill you to give up, you must make him. Whether it is politically correct to say or not, a gunfight is combat and no amount of terminology will change that fact. You may kill your aggressor trying to make him give up the fight and you must accept this possibility. It does not mean you intend or want to kill the aggressor; this is totally different and bears some examination in a later article to help reinforce the righteousness of your act. Every action you take should be driven by the specifics of the situation you are facing and your own training and capabilities. You will be judged later by the specifics and totality of this circumstance and no other.

There are no absolutes in a gunfight, there are too many variables and everything is situation dependent so, this article will address some of the realities of a gunfight and dispel some myths. In Gunfighting Part 1-Situational Awareness for Armed Individuals, we looked at how effective situational awareness can avoid a violent confrontation but, as noted in the article, you can do everything right and still end up in a gunfight. It also laid out the three steps of situational awareness and this article makes the following assumptions in line with those steps:

Step 1- The aggressor has demonstrated by his actions an intent to kill or cause serious injury and you have recognized this threat.

Step 2- You have made the decision to use lethal force in response to this threat.

Step 3- You are now engaged in a gunfight with the aggressor.

You must make your aggressor give up. As alluded to above, you cannot, in fact you must not, assume he will listen to reason and you may not have time to even try reasoning. You must take action to make him stop his threatening acts. This may be accomplished by a typical escalation of force in response to his threat. This escalation can range from voice commands to pointing your weapon all the way to shooting him. It is important to realize this escalation is not a set of sequential steps but can go from a simple shouted "STOP!" to full blown gunfight in a heartbeat.

Reality of Fairness. Fair does not apply. In the movies, the good guy never, ever shoots the bad guy in the back. The truth is, you do not have to wait for your aggressor to fire first, actually point his gun at you or even get his gun out first. One particular scenario in the FBI shoot or don't shoot judgment training requires the already wounded agent to shoot a suspect running away. This doesn't mean you have carte blanche to shoot someone running away from the fight, you don't. This is based on the agent's belief, supported by the facts, the suspect is seeking a position of tactical advantage from which to shoot the agent again. This potentially confusing scenario and the myriad of others, illustrates the need for realistic quality training. If the threat you perceive justifies the use lethal force, no sporting rules matter. The moment you perceive a threat to your life or of serious bodily injury, you can act. Don't fall into the traps anti-gunners and those opposed to self-defense have set, you are not required to give your aggressor a chance to kill you! In recent times, this reality has been skewed with many examples of ordinary, decent citizens falling into these traps such as arguing the predatory home-invaders' gun was not as powerful as the homeowners'! Give yourself every advantage you possibly can starting with a good firearm, good training and good situational awareness.

Reality of Accuracy. Hitting what you can see is hard. Again, in the movies, the good guy shoots only once or twice and can easily hit moving targets at a great distance but, the reality is even trained individuals don't have the skill needed to shoot as depicted. It is extremely difficult to accurately hit a target at distance with a handgun and even more difficult to hit a moving target. You may only see a portion of the body at which to aim and shoot. The only way you will improve your accuracy and therefore your ability to hit your aggressor, is to practice, practice, practice. Additionally, there is an old maxim in the gunfighting world; move fast, shoot slow. When moving to and from cover, move as fast as you possibly can so as to reduce the amount of time you are exposed and to make it harder for the aggressor to hit you. But when it comes to pulling the trigger, slow down, concentrate and make your shots count. Learn how to take your time in a hurry! This is why it's a good idea to practice shooting after physical exertion and shoot at small targets.

Reality of Cover. Identify cover and move to it immediately. Getting to cover is more of a priority than standing still, drawing your weapon and shooting. The simple rule of action versus reaction means you will never be faster than the guy who has already begun to act. Ideally, it is better to draw and move at the same time or, if proficient enough, draw, shoot and move at the same time. As noted in Firearms Training Versus Training to Fight, you must know what constitutes cover and most of what you probably think of as cover is just concealment. Know the difference. Cover is something thick and/or dense enough to protect you from bullets, at least for a while; all cover will deteriorate if it is shot enough. The more powerful and bigger the bullet, the thicker and the denser the cover must be to protect. Concealment only prevents the aggressor from seeing you and will not prevent a bullet from penetrating and killing you on the other side. Even the least powerful firearm with small bullets can penetrate concealment with enough force to kill. Some examples of Hollywood cover that are actually just concealment include car doors (in fact, almost no part of a car will protect against most bullets!), most walls and doors and almost all furniture. The last two examples are important to know if you're hiding from an active shooter! Cover will be useless if used incorrectly such as exposing too much body or hugging it too closely that the aggressor cannot be seen. Using cover correctly, keeping your body behind the cover, keeping the cover between you and the aggressor and keeping off the cover to be able to change position, is all a question of angles. Keep off the cover and narrow the angles as much as possible. Be ready to move to new cover and be able to turn and shoot if the aggressor moves or tries to flank you. Learn how to use cover effectively.

Reality of Stopping Power. No bullet possesses 'stopping power'. Much of the discussion about stopping power is a myth and, if Newton's third law of physics is true, if it picks him up and throws him against the wall, it will throw you against the opposite wall. The human body can take massive amounts of damage before it stops working. In fact, an assailant can still kill you after suffering a fatal wound as happened in the infamous Miami FBI shooting in 1986. If a gunfight starts, the only way to force your aggressor to stop is to cause an involuntary cessation of movement. Absent massive sectional trauma to the body, the only way to physically cause this involuntary cessation of movement is to interrupt the central nervous system or rapidly and significantly reduce the amount of circulating body fluid. This is a fancy way of saying cut the spinal cord or bleed him out, fast. Trying to do this with a piece of metal nine millimeters in diameter, at ten yards, while he's moving…well, I'll leave it there! The reality is you must penetrate the body to vital organs as quickly and as many times as you can. A trained, skilled sniper can, in some circumstances, achieve a single shot accurate enough to interrupt the central nervous system switching him off but, you would need a great deal of luck! Stay in the fight and don't stop too soon assuming it is over. Many examples of this also exist. Police officers have stopped fighting too soon and their adversaries have continued the fight and killed them. Some, conditioned by years of range conduct, even stopped to pick up spent casings before being killed by their aggressors, as happened in the tragic Newhall incident in California! Look for additional threats, your aggressor may not be alone. Check yourself for injuries. With adrenaline pumping and the mind and body focused on staying alive, many wounded individuals have no idea they have been hit until someone else tells them. As noted above, you can stay in the fight and triumph even with a serious wound. The Miami shooting mentioned above was finally ended when a seriously wounded FBI agent walked up to the wounded, still trying to escape, bad guys and shot them at close range. All of this means you need to aim at the center of the biggest part you can see and keep shooting it until he stops, don't stop too soon and look for additional threats.

Remember, responding police officers will not know who is the aggressor and who is the innocent defender. Do not present any perceived threat to them or other onlookers by waving your firearm around; it may be a good idea to put your weapon away just before or as they are pulling up. Be ready to comply with all commands immediately. Expect the officers to point their weapons at you and put you in handcuffs until they figure out what happened and who is who. This is not the time to get loud and protest your innocence.

When all of this is over and you have survived what will probably the most traumatic event of your life, you will now have to deal with the aftermath. This is almost as stressful as the event itself and will certainly last longer. As such, Gunfighting Part 3- The Aftermath will deal with this subject in a little more depth to ensure you continue standing tall well after the gunfight has ended.