BUCKEYE FIREARMS REPORT When the Criminal Doesn’t Obey Your Commands
It’s a rewarding thing to watch my firearms students as they learn and progress. They start with safe gun handling skills, the basics of marksmanship, and learning when it is legally appropriate to shoot someone. If they continue training, they might learn more “tactical” or combative shooting skills. As their abilities improve, they might move on to more scenariooriented classes using role players armed with Simunition or airsoft guns. During the scenario-oriented classes I teach, students often have the most problems with verbal interactions rather than physical skills. This holds true in both unarmed fighting classes
and classes focused on weapon use. Students’ physical skills (either shooting or fighting) are usually good enough that they can “win” the scenarios I create. Where they falter is in the area of verbal interaction. Students have three basic problems with verbal interaction during the pre-attack phase of a crime about to be committed: 1) They don’t have adequate experience communicating assertively or aggressively. Society rewards people who are compliant and go with the flow. Loud, aggressive, and dominant language is discouraged among civilized people. How many times have you
Our family of highly effective pro-gun organizations includes Buckeye Firearms Association, Buckeye Firearms Foundation, and Buckeye Firearms Association PAC. Buckeye Firearms Association (BFA) is a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization that serves as the flagship of our grassroots efforts to defend and advance the right of citizens to own and use firearms for all legal activities, including self-defense, hunting, competition, and recreation. BFA works to pass pro-gun legislation, educate the public through ongoing media relations, provide high-quality firearm classes, and make available a wide variety of resources for gun owners. While anti-gun groups get their funding and support from wealthy activists or big corporations, BFA gets its funding and support from citizens like you who value their Constitutional rights. buckeyefirearms.org 40 40
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heard a parent scold their child by saying “Use your INSIDE voice?" We just don’t get much practice being aggressive in our daily lives. 2) Auditory exclusion kicks in. Under most stressful circumstances, the brain has to prioritize the vast amount of data that it is processing. In most cases, priority will be given to information provided by our sight. Hearing things becomes more difficult as sight is prioritized. Students regularly report that they hear their attackers’ voices sounding like the “Wah Wah Wah” sounds of Charlie Brown’s teacher. They know the attacker is saying something but just don’t have the brain power to devote to listening. It’s hard to communicate assertively if you aren’t picking up the words your attacker may be using. 3) The student’s ego gets involved. This one happens primarily when the attacker either insults the defender or fails to obey the defender’s verbal commands. When either of these things happen, the student often becomes enraged. They stop thinking and get caught up in an ever-escalating yelling match with the criminal. Some criminals will even bait their victims into this escalation game. They know that if they can enrage the victim, he or she is less likely to think clearly. OHIO’S MOTORCYCLE MOTORCYCLE MAGAZINE MAGAZINE OHIO’S
