By Michael in GA
I watched the video of Pinch, West Virginia pharmacist Don Radcliff who successfully thwarted an armed robbery. I watch a lot of defensive shooting videos for more than entertainment value. I agree that “the best plan is to have a plan,” but what we have to have are instincts. Instincts and training to back up what your instincts are telling you to do in any variety of situations. Instincts that are not inherent are learned. The best way for me to learn instinctive reaction is to dissect accounts of actual DGUs . . .
Force-on-force training is probably the best way to train because your instincts can be tested. The drawbacks being the cost and the fact that the actual DGU likely will not be a situation you practiced. I still recommend it because you need to experience the elevated heart rate from the stress that a sim can provide.
Videos of actual DGUs, however, allow us to experience, vicariously, a multitude of tactics from aggressors and the actions, reactions, or inaction by the victims. We are able to see slow motion and freeze-frame and replay it over and over, hopefully in a resolution above 240p. Whether the DGU was successful or if the bad guy got away leaving carnage in his wake, I am going to insert myself in the moment from the point of view of the victims and observe my options.
This Monday morning quarterbacking is not without criticism from those among us who claim to carry just for such situations. Most of this criticism contains true statements. ‘You don’t know how you would react in the same situation under stress.’ ‘You have the benefit of hindsight.’ ‘You have a view from six camera positions.’ ‘The guy stopped the bad guy so it’s all good.’ These and many other comments, although factual, say one thing to me: it is not constructive to second guess the actions of the victim. I disagree.
Over at another gun blog, the author was praising the actions of the pharmacist in the above video. His successful crime-stopping was, no doubt, praiseworthy. But the author, I’ll call Bob. went beyond that when he gave an overly positive play by play of the event. He stated that the pharmacist didn’t hesitate but I counted four seconds to draw and fire. He admired the two-handed grip used by the pharmacist, but the improper grip was the first thing I noticed. His hand came off the gun on the first shot. His grip is to blame. One of the things I pointed out in the comments there article was that he should have followed up his first shot and it almost got himself killed.
Some of the replies to my comment were in agreement that this looked like an untrained concealed carrier did the right thing but was successful in staying alive due to a lot of luck. Others, not so much. One person said I was just being “mouthy.” My reply to that was, I would rather be mouthy now than be giving my last words on my death bed.
My point was that we have been given a gift in this video and to let a learning opportunity go to waste is not in the best interest of the concealed carrier. I used the analogy of a football coach pointing out a missed blocking assignment on a game winning touchdown run. If we can’t make serious critical comments to videos like this, then we are not doing everything possible to improve our chances for success, or more importantly, our survival.