Audio vs Visual ques for training

[mercop]

Knowing when to, and being physically able to deploy the pistol is the missing link in the defensive use of the pistol. The main reason behind this is that far too many instructors and institutions are locked into believing that the best training to teach a shooter to use their pistol is found on the live fire range.

The truth is that once a student has become comfortable with the operation their pistol and marksmanship fundamentals much training can be done without firing a live round.

During our ongoing research we have been able to narrow down the failure of typical live fire range training when it comes to preparing for real life encounters into two very basic things-

Audible ques vs Visual ques- much of the training that takes place on the range has the shooter draw and fire his firearm in response to a buzzer or whistle. This has several implications. First in the real world we are often first alerted to danger by sound, but no sound exists that would justify us to fire a weapon. Another problem is that in the case of more than one person confronting a specific threat there is a phenomenon known as contagious fire. Contagious fire results when individuals fire on a target in reaction to someone else firing first, even if they do not perceive a threat. Because of these reasons MCS only uses visual ques to provoke shooter to draw and fire. Just as furtive movement is usually what draws fire on the street. Because noise is capable of being heard all around there is no lapse in perception. The interpretation of verbal ques is based on perception and angle so several people viewing the same exact thing may react at different times. They are forced to think independently.

The second part drawing from the first is that during 2D range training most of the time is spent shooting at a stationary target or maybe one running sideways. The shooter is spared the stress of drawing his pistol as someone closes in on him. The natural response when someone is rushing at you is to get your hands up to defend yourself. Even during a situation where an attacker is armed with an edged or impact weapon is can be hard to overcome this tendency. This is the minds way of telling us that we need to first deal with the threat in our face before drawing our firearm. For this reason shooters need open hand combatives to help them deal with these threats allowing them to create time and distance.