When an attack starts, after getting your defense gun in your hand the best thing you can do is to move. And the best movement is to cover. Cover being defined, for our purposes, as anything that will stop bullets.
I don’t care where you are right now, unless it’s in the middle of the Sahara Desert, look around you at all of the things that can be used as cover. In your house there is some furniture that will stop bullets, as well as the bookcase, the refrigerator, the bed and walls, especially brick walls. Outside, you have trees, brick and rock walls, the corner neighborhood mailbox and parts of your vehicle, to name a few. If you will really look around you, you can see many other objects that will serve to stop incoming bullets.
In addition, we know that the person who holds the defensive position has the advantage, all other things being equal. In most cases, not being the attacker, you simply don’t have to attack. And besides that, it is seldom a good idea to pursue the offensive in such situations. The best plan is to force your attacker to have to come out in the open to press his assault.
Imagine, if you will, that you have been awakened to a home invasion. Because you’ve had a plan, you have gotten your family into your bedroom. Now, all of you are behind the bed with it between you and the only door. Your spouse is on the cell phone with the police and your shotgun is trained on the only door coming into the room. At some point, the realization should come to you that you now own this situation.
Sadly, I fear that what most people know about gunfighting comes from watching movies. John Wayne and Clint Eastwood rarely, if ever, got behind cover, and most folks simply don’t think about it. Or there may be an ingrained repugnance to it; it’s simply not the “manly” thing to do. In fact, unless you’re shooting blanks in front of a camera, it’s a great idea.
So, it would be a really good idea to include movement into your range sessions whenever possible. And that movement should be toward cover. In addition, when going about your daily business, play some “What if?” games. If the attack occurred right now, where is the closest cover to get behind?
A soldier once told me that incoming rounds have the right-of-way. Making defensive use of cover will help defeat that problem.
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