TRAINING

WHY A KNIFE?

• You can’t get to your firearm;

• You can’t carry a firearm;

• Need to create distance and time;

• Ran out of ammo;

• Techniques are applicable to improvised weapon;

• Very effective in extreme close range;

• Extremely concealable; talk about who or what the threat truly is. The threat is not a cardboard, paper or steel target; no, it is a living, breathing human being who is likely a seasoned repeat offender. Usually, these offenders are committing crimes with one or more partners. They are sometimes highly skilled and proficient with firearms and sometimes very hard to kill.

• And widespread accessibility of knives.

Here are some reminders: Emmett Dalton of the famed Dalton Gang was shot 23 times and lived. Cole Younger of the James-Younger Gang was shot 11 times and lived. And during the infamous 1986 FBI Miami shootout, William Matix was shot six times before dying and his partner Michael Platt was shot 12 times before dying (note: kill shots were head shots). Both were highly proficient with firearms and shot around 2,000 rounds a week.

Elishewitz fully understands that his students are training to defend themselves against hardened criminals and makes no bones about it when putting his students through realistic, high-pressure drills during firearms training.

The course consisted of a full day of intense firearms training in every conceivable form, including close-quarter shooting, man-onman competition and precision marksmanship competition, with all events being pushed to the limits. At the end of the day was a full debrief on what went on and why, and every participant’s confidence was much higher than when they started.

The final day covered shooting in and out of vehicles. While this type of training is usually done by trained bodyguards, Elishewitz conducted his course with a much more personal touch.

He spent time showing students how to properly slip the seatbelt out of position to bring the firearm into play inside the vehicle. He also demonstrated the proper way of getting out of the seatbelt to get into a fight outside the car. Why was so much time devoted to the vehicle? Most people might think that the home is the number one location where one