GP TACTICAL
Tactical Handgun Instruction
Tactics and Training
Tactics:
The art and skill to employ a means to an end or desired result.
Training:
Skills acquired by instruction, thought, and practice.
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A firearm is just a tool. Your MIND is your only true weapon.
You use your mind to weaponize any tool you have available. You can only be effective with any tool if you have received training by others. A tool can only be employed if it is in a proper place and time to provide its desired effect.
What this academic talk means is you must understand how a firearm operates, what its limitations are, what results can be had by its use, and when it should be judiciously used. In the case of a firearm it is only effective if its employment puts a bullet on a target.
You need training on the use of a firearm and you absolutely need to know what makes it operate. You must develop the ability and skill to put a bullet where you intend for it to go when you need it to go there.
You also need training in where and when it is legal to use it. Way too many people buy a firearm and treat it as if it is some type of talisman that magically keeps evil away. NO! if you think this way then you might as well buy a piano and open for the MET. Having the tool doesn’t make you an artist. If you need a firearm I guarantee:
You will not rise to the occasion; You will sink to your lowest level of proficient training!
Let that sink in some. You must train routinely to be proficient. You must repetitively do an action for a muscle memory to be routed in your brain. Safe operation MUST be absolutely unconscious, second nature. If it isn’t, then tragedy is likely.
Firearms are very safe. They will sit on a table for a thousand years and hurt no one. They only become dangerous when there is an untrained operator. Far too many tragedies occur that are the direct result of negligent use of a firearm.
You must practice regularly. Practice not only the handling of a firearm but also practice the rules of safe operation, practice the repetition of presenting it appropriately, practice “what if” situations, practice tactically thinking through and planning for the most terrifying seconds of your life.
Have a plan, know what you will do, before the situation arises; because when the crisis comes there won’t be time for you to do anything but react as trained. Your plan should include knowledge of these essentials.
Your body can't go where your mind hasn't been.
I have seen this over and over again in my airline pilot days in the cockpit. We would run endless simulations of possible emergencies, practice how to handle them and then, if they were to happen we, the crew, would not have to think about what to do next because our minds had already been there and our bodies were trained for what needed to happen next. We just did the next step because it was part of the process.
Lesson 1
Awareness: Every aspect of your safety and security begins with being aware of your environment and what is happening in that environment. To realize danger you must be aware and cognizant of what is normal. Anything that doesn't appear to be normal to that environment represents danger and must be understood. If its 92 degrees and a strange guy enters your environment wearing a long coat and a hood up, that is not normal and needs to be understood.
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Try to understand what these norms are especially as you change environments. Changing environments requires we move through transition areas. These are the most critical to your security. Assessing the new norms for potential threats is the first line of defense in terms of your security. This assessment occurs in what is called an OODA loop. Below is a short video I did for our church security team. I hope you start applying the OODA loop in your day to day life.
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