I have no social media accounts; all purported ones are fake.

Draw fast. Holster slow. That’s how to not shoot yourself.

Draw fast. Holster slow. That’s how to not shoot yourself.

Tam alerts us to a ND that happened at a Todd Green class. In his commendable reporting of the incident, Todd says “Never be in a rush to holster your pistol. We all know it, we say it, we teach it. Not all of us do it.” So true.

As instructors it’s easy for us to forget that reinforcement, and sometimes enforcement, are necessary parts of our job. Especially when we’re dealing with “advanced” students, we tend to go easy on the reinforcement of fundamentals for fear that we’ll be resented for belittling their ability or experience. We have to resist that tendency, and we need to do so consistently. When warranted, enforcement (up to and including ejection from class) has to happen.

One of the very few instructors I’ve ever seen who is absolutely consistent in this regard is my buddy Georges Rahbani. Even in his advanced rifle classes, which are invitation only and have stringent prerequisites, you will hear “safety on” and “finger in register” (index, if you prefer) commands at the end of a string of fire. He never wastes an opportunity for reinforcement at any level of training or ability.

When Georges encounters failures to heed commands or instruction, he has a way of bringing the point home to the student: he/she has to publicly deposit a dollar bill into a pot. (The students have a friendly shoot-off at the end of class to win the pot.) This has a non-confrontational, yet still very chastening, effect on both the offending person and the rest of the students; I’ve seen it work, though it’s not for me (largely because I don’t have time to do shoot-offs at the end of my classes.) I don’t know where the idea comes from, but I’m giving Georges the credit.

-=[ Grant ]=-

 

  • Posted by Grant Cunningham
  • On February 1, 2010

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