Question of the Day: Where’s the Line Between “Prepared” and “Mall Ninja”?

TTAG reader ST writes:

The genesis of this question came about as I perused my gun collection and wondered which carry weapon to choose. Unfortunately, the decision isn’t the easiest one to make in the best of circumstances. In the past I’ve had to reach for my gun twice in criminal encounters. So in my case there’s ugly real world experience on top of the individual merits of the guns themselves. I came to some interesting conclusions . . .

In both of my incidents, the bad guy was no farther than five feet away. We commonly consider seven yards to be close range for shooting purposes, but the first time I reached for my carry pistol I had to RUN BACKWARDS during the draw, for my attacker was approximately two feet away when hostilities commenced.

The second time I was walking to my car and spotted a character making a beeline for my vehicle in the deserted parking lot with his right hand hidden in his sweater pocket. I exposed my carry weapon—legal in my state, by the way—which caused the guy to abruptly change direction. By that point he was on the other side of my car from me, at a distance of perhaps four feet.

Understand: I have nothing against training or seeking more knowledge on the safe and effective use of firearms. We cannot ignore the crucial role mindset poses in self defense. That said, I can’t help but wonder about the merits of expert training past a certain point for the “ordinary Joe.”

Military and police personnel have to confront deadly threats as a part of their jobs, whereas a typical guy such as myself probably won’t be facing down a terrorist. And if one does appear, dialing 911 and leaving the situation probably makes more sense, especially if family and spouse are around.

Reflecting back on my situations, I can’t think of how prone shooting or carbine-to-pistol transition skills would have done me any good. Nice techniques to know, and fun to employ. But that is not the same as practical is it?

I don’t want to kick off some tangential reference to 10-round magazine bans, as the government doesn’t have a right to tell you what bullets to use or how many of them you gun should hold. Looking at my close range cases, I again find myself mystified at the insistence of 17 round mags and multiple spares for general CCW. The bad guys were so close I could spit and hit them.

I wish not to brag about my skill, but at the distances mentioned hitting the bad guy(s) was a certainty , and a Mozambique drill wouldn’t be difficult at that close of a range. Seventeen rounds? Two reloads on the belt? Speed Reload training?

If it seems like im dogging professional instruction I apologize. That’s not what I’m trying to do at all. Its just that I’m seeing a major disconnect between real world practical skills for CCW and what some instructors and members of the AI believe is absolutely necessary. It doesn’t help that a discussion about this topic has a habit of devolving into mall-ninja demagoguery and SHTF exotica that goes nowhere.

What say you guys?