The Ultimate Firearms Destination for the Gun Lifestyle

Learning NOT to shoot.

Sometimes training is about learning NOT to shoot. That frustrates some people.

Counterintuitive though it might be, not everyone realizes the importance of “shoot-don't shoot” scenarios and discussion in training. Grant Cunningham of the Personal Security Institute recently addresses this very issue recently in his blog.

“…you’re on the range and you spend a day or two (or three or four, depending on the school) drawing your gun and shooting the target every time you hear a beep or whistle. Whatever the stimulus is, whether a sound or a word, you’re there to shoot the target. Draw your gun and shoot…

As I said…that’s a necessary skill to learn. It’s just that it’s not always the skill you need, and no one seems to want to teach the alternative: not shooting.

Some of this non-shooting training comes in the form of legal education: when can you shoot? How does the justice system (and society at large) define self defense, and when can you use the lethal force at your disposal to protect yourself? Earlier I mentioned the cases where shots were fired but didn’t need to be; what I really meant to say was that shots were fired when they weren’t legally or morally justifiable. Not shooting when the circumstances don’t allow shooting is in fact a skill that needs to be learned: the skill of rational self control, aided and abetted by your knowledge of what’s lawful…

There’s still…the need to train in how you actually decide not to shoot and how to use your gun when shooting isn’t (yet) a justified act…

Teaching students not to shoot doesn’t sound sexy at all, but it may be the skill they learn which turns out to be the most important.”

Take the time to read the original article in its entirety right here.

You can learn more about the Personal Security Institute here online, here . Follow them on Twitter here, on Google + here or visit them on Facebook here. You can check out Grant Cunningham's YouTube channel here or his author page on Facebook here. If you want to check out his author page on Amazon you can do so here.

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