Reprinted by permission from LAW and ORDER

By:  Mason Williams

SHOT, STABBED AND AMBUSHED!

For or 50 years, I have been a capable and intelligent firearms handler. I have shot in handgun matches all over the country, attended many socalled handgun schools, and even taught at some.

When I look back at what I learned and experienced, I clearly see how pathetically hopeful handgun and shotgun shooting actually was. During the past 20-odd years I have come to evaluate training methods much more carefully and indepth, continually asking "Why?"

As a result, I have concluded there are two basic concepts to handgun training. The first is simply handgun handling. If a person cannot safely and intelligently handle a handgun, he has no business having one.

Probably the finest handgun handling training is IPSC and USPSA matches. These matches are strictly run, strictly controlled, and a lot of fun. Yes, FUN! But the problem is, what you learn in these matches is only the first half of being able to act intelligently with a handgun.

The second basic handgun training concept is Tactical. It has been only during the last few years, and much hand wringing that Tactical has been recognized as being important to law enforcement. More officers have been-and continue to be-shot at, killed and wounded than ever before. basically due to lack of tactical training.

Tactical training encourages the use of modem handgun design, reliability and ease of handling. Handgun safeties are getting more rare, and most modem designs do not incorporate safeties.

Firing pin locks and doubleaction mechanisms and superb workmanship are now so commonplace that police officers only have to grab, shove out, and fire their handguns without having to worry about safeties. Even grips are better designed to fit the human hand.

I attended the 1996 American Tactical Invitational (ATI) and talked to dozens of shooters: civilian, law enforcement and military. Some 150 shooters from all over the country attended. Not all were professionals, but most were experienced shooters.

The pistols? Glock, SIG Sauer, Heckler and Koch and similar handgun designs. Most of the shooters carried a basic service pistol plus a backup, and many of the backups were Glock 9mms.

But these sleek modern pistols could not keep all of the shooters alive (whether in real life or during the 10 scenarios that we shot) because the ATI staff kept just a bit ahead of the competitors. The staff placed each shooter into a real life situation-not some IPSC where the competitor can walk through each course-of-fire and instantly choreograph what he will do.

This was truly Tactical. A person must know handgun handling and use his knowledge instinctively so that he can meet the challenges with some chance of coming out alive.

I have considered myself a competent handgun handier for almost 50 years, yet I was killed, stabbed and ambushed because my mind concentrated on the wrong things, the wrong people, and my idea of the potentially lethal next move of the opposition, which never materialized. Tactical combines handgun handling with mental awareness. Neither one by itself can bring a competitor through alive any more than in real life.

But Tactical makes a competitor learn to use handgun handling instinctively so that his mind can concentrate on what could and what does abruptly take place around him. The ATI scenarios last less than three minutes and most are over within one minute. That is real life. Handgun handling backs up the mental approach and usually less than five shots are necessary to put down the opposition.

Tactical is not just shooting a lot of ammunition. It is firing a few, accurate and well-placed rounds at dangerous targets. Civilian casualties do happen, but not too often. I blew away a couple but there is seldom any doubt about whether the opposition is the good guy or the bad guy. But putting a shot into the bad guy is not always easy nor on time.

Range Officers brief the shooters in detail, laying out the basic concept of the scenario. The competitor is then asked, "Do you understand?" If the shooter says yes, he is told "go ahead."

When the shooter completes the scenario, the Range Officer takes him back through and explains what he did wrong. Veteran IPSC or USPSA shooters will not last long at ATI.

Three scenarios are fired with Simunition ammunition. Competitors are disarmed and their ammunition taken from them. If someone leaves the area-if only to get something from their vehicle-they must submit to another detailed personal search. The ATI staff run all stages with the tight enforcement of safe gun handling. Any deviation ends in instant dismissal.

Simunition is special ammunition in a caliber .38 special cartridge. Bullet velocity runs about 400 fps. The bullet is a light-jacketed plastic container for a thick red staining compound. I was shot twice and felt the impact through a jacket and shirt. The impact could break the skin, but there is no penetration. The shooter wears a neck protector and a helmet with large glass-covered openings for the eyes.

The three scenarios illustrate the difference between Handgun Handling and Tactical. Handgun Handling is a physical exercise, while Tactical is strictly mental.

We operated in groups of five shooters. At the Simunition stage my personal experience was as follows:

The Range Officer took my arm and said quietly, "You are returning from eating and your car is out there in the parking lot. You walk down this alley, turn to your right at the end and get into your car."

I nodded.

"Are you ready?"

I said,"Yes."

That was all. In my right hand I had a Smith and Wesson .38 special that had been handed to me loaded with six Simunition cartridges. I moved forward, looked to my left and saw the alley. I stepped into the alley and commenced walking. I noticed there was a window on my left and saw a panhandler sitting at the end of the alley shuffling coins in a shallow pan and crying, "Give me some money. Help me eat. Please. Please."

I stopped short of the window, checked it, moved, checked it again. Nothing. Inside the window was darkness. Nothing moved. Partially satisfied, I advanced slowly toward the panhandler still shuffling his pan. When I was about 20 feet from him a man burst out of the window behind me shouting something. I started to turn, realized I was being suckered, commenced to turn back to the panhandler and took two shots into my right chest just under my arm.

All I could do is raise both hands and wait for the Range Officer. Both shots if fired from a real handgun would have killed me.

The moral was; never become focused upon a single potential danger. After checking the window I concentrated too hard on the panhandler. Instead of shooting him, I turned to face an unknown problem that could have been nonlethal.

Scenario number two took me to another building: a cafe with windows around three sides, a counter at the rear, several tables, chairs and a single door. To the left of the counter was a window. A Range Officer stood me in front of the door to the cafe and said, "Open the door, go to the yellow chair and sit down. The man behind the counter is a friend."

I nodded.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

I drew the same revolver from my pocket, opened the door to the cafe and entered. I walked slowly to the yellow chair, keeping my eyes on the man behind the counter (I no longer believed all that was told to me).

The man wiped the counter, smiled and moved around. I eyed the window to the left of the counter. I was feeling rather pleased with myself, figuring that someone would leap through the window. The man behind the counter bent down to get something, came up, smiled and disappeared. A moment later he was firing at me from the floor at the end of the counter. I got off one shot before he disappeared. I leaned back in my chair, but kept my eyes on the window in front of me. Surprise! A man with a dagger came through the door - the same door I had entered the cafe through - and was on me with a dagger rammed into my neck.

Again I had concentrated on the window and failed to keep my mind open to anything else. Handgun handling was a minor problem as I realized that Tactical is definitely mental.

The final scenario took me to a third house and another Range Officer. "You have just been notified that a man with a handgun is threatening to kill two people in the back room of this house. Get him and clear the house."

I nodded.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Again no whistles, orders. Just go do it!

Gun in hand, I opened the door and stepped into a dark hallway. I heard screaming and cries for help. At the end of the hallway I turned and went down another hallway, also dimly lit. At the end of the hallway I turned left slowly, ready.

A man with a handgun faced two people sitting on the floor with their hands raised. The man with the handgun was to my left, about ten feet away. I immediately put a shot into him and he fell back shouting that I had killed him. I heard him strike the floor with a thud.

The others screamed, "He's got a gun. He wants to kill us. Get him away from us." Having been conned and double-crossed all morning, I shoved the revolver out and told the two people to get up.

"Go get him. He will kill us."

I did not move and ordered them to get up, slowly. "Hands up. Now move."

They obeyed but pointed down the hall. "He wants to kill us. Go get him."

"Move. Out. Fast," I ordered. Finally they did and I followed them down the hallway and out of the building.

At last I had done right. It had been set up for me to rush around and chase the man with the gun and let the other two nail me as soon as my back was turned. (I compliment the Arizona State Police on their choice of actors.)

No amount of handgun handling experience could have taken me through the three scenarios. Handgun handling proved strictly secondary to my mental ability to intelligently take over the situation. It is this type of training that should be used to train law enforcement personnel.

Can this be set up by the average department? That's a good question.

First, setting up the ATI requires months of planning, organization, dedicated men, time and a bit of money. Few departments have the area and physical capabilities necessary to put on a Tactical Match.

As for attempting to put on Simunition scenarios, I hesitate to recommend doing it without giving it a lot of thought and attending at least two ATI-type matches. The ATI staff customarily put on a few matches on a smaller scale than the one at Paulden. I suggest contacting Skip Gouchenour and discuss plans well ahead of time.

It goes without saying that any attempt to duplicate ATI scenarios must be made only with personnel well versed in handgun handling. These scenarios are not for the novice or recruit.

This ATI was held at the Gunsite Training Center at Paulden, AZ. The ATI has no connection with the Training Center which is run and owned by Richard Jee. The training center is independent of ATI. ATI merely takes over for the annual shoot.

I have never seen a finer shooting operation and concept than Gunsite, which covers 1,200 acres. It offers shooters a complete variety of training from handguns to full automatic submachine-guns. Ranges for rifles run out to five and six hundred yards with complete facilities. L&O

Skip Gouchenour is president of The American Tactical Shooting Association and questions can be referred to him at 2600 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA I7110; (717) 233-0402, FAX at(717)233-5340. The ATI is not open to the public and a person who wishes to fire in the annual ATI must be cleared by Gouchenour. Applications must be filed prior to January of each year.

Mason Williams, a recognized firearms expert, is a frequent contributor to Law and Order.

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