Target Identification

Here's another important video from the Personal Defense Network. One of the toughest parts about using a defensive firearm in public is going to be target identification. Making sure that we have properly identified the threat or even found a threat in a confusing environment like this. If we look at this scene behind me there is a clearly identifiable threat but even with mannequins that aren't moving it might be hard to see them. It's people trying to pay their bill. People trying to make cell phone calls. People with beverages in their hand. The first thing we're gonna have to do is find that threat. Even after we found the threat it may not be easy to address it. With bystanders, with movement someone might become a hostage. And of course the background behind that target makes it a lot more difficult. Imagine you walked into a crowded convenience store just as a violent encounter was taking place. Come into the store. You can see someone's been shot. You're looking for where the threat is. You see, cans people moving. Until you recognize the threat, you can't actually respond. Once you recognize the threat, respond, assess the environment, be sure that the threats been taken care of and handled and then you're going to address any other thing you need to. Contact law enforcement. Make sure everybody's okay. Make sure they know you're a good guy. You're not a threat. All the things you have to do once you've handled target identification and address the threat while you're using a defensive firearm in public. Let's look at another common situation. We're in a busy shopping district or a parking lot. We've just pulled in and all of a sudden there's a shot. There's an attack. We want to be able to identify that target figure out what's going on. Maybe the best choice is just to leave immediately put the car in reverse or put the car in drive and just get out. But what if you can't, what if you're pinned in other cars, maybe other cars have come to a halt to see what's going on. You're stuck in this seat. You've got to figure out what to do. First thing you've got to do is identify the threat. So as we're looking, as we're scanning as we're assessing our environment, we're going to notice that maybe only one person isn't looking at us. Everyone else is going to be looking at the threat. That's one great way to key in. We turn around, we see where the attention is focused. We see one guy looking at us. We know that's where the threat is. Once we identify it, we need to be able to react as efficiently and intuitively as possible. But in this situation that might mean an unorthodox shooting position. Finding and identifying threats in a realistic environment is not always easy. Target identification needs to be taken very seriously. Think about the entire environment you're in and how you're going to figure out where the bad guy is. Visual cues like focusing on the threat that the rest of the crowd is going to be doing could be an important way for you to identify where it is you need to focus your attention. But what if the environment is filled with real people? Now the situation is even harder to figure out and even more dynamic. In a dynamic critical incident even if your firearm doesn't work the first time you have to have trained at the fundamentals to react so that you can do a malfunction clear and still react fast enough to save yourself or others from harm. There are a lot of challenges to identifying a threat. You know, we've shown that in a realistic situation when there's movement that can often clue you in to what's going on, where people are moving and how people are moving. But the reality is that all sorts of unpredictable things can happen in a realistic environment. When you're dealing with people in places that you can't predict or control, it's not always easy to say, just because somebody jumps out at you they may actually be the bad guy. Someone could jump out of an alley, but they may have a beer bottle in their hands. That's not a threat. Somebody jumping out of an alley on the other hand with a gun well, that's completely different. The amount of accuracy dictated by the target affects your balance between speed and precision. But only after you've been able to identify a target. Recognizing if there's a threat and actually identifying what that threat is is only the first step. Then you have to respond efficiently and appropriately given the situation that you're in. Check out more videos just like this one at the Personal Defense Network.