August 2007

This article raised a few interesting questions for me to wonder about. How many of you have ever had a pistol jam on you at the firing range? Of course, I have, several times. Sometimes it was the ammo, sometimes the magazine, and probably, as embarrassing as it is to admit, it was me. So do you think this will happen in a real shooting? I think it is a good possibility and this months column had a perfect example of it.

What would you do? Do you carry a back-up gun? Does your department allow back-ups. Fortunately, my current department allows them but I have seen them forbidden. Probably the most common is for departments to have no explicit rule on it and ignore the issue. The really weird part is that I do not carry a BUG myself. I have faith that my gun will work, or that I can clear it if there is a malfunction. I fully recognize that this may be misplaced faith, but it is how I feel. I am not advising any of you to not carry a BUG if your department allows it, and strongly recommend that you consider it yourself.

A related issue is firing from inside a car. How many of you have actually practiced drawing and firing from inside the driver's seat? Fortunately, when I was on San Antonio PD, we did this one year. We took some cars from the pound to the range so we could practice this very tactic. It is not as easy as you would think. I can't get a car on the range now, so I have the trainees sit in chairs facing forward or sideways (forward is when the driver attacks, sideways is someone coming up to the driver's window).

On a final note, I think the best advice I ever got from a tactical officer is to remember that the car I am driving has a space marked "R" on the transmission. If someone is charging or shooting from the front, put it in reverse and get out of the area. It is better to make enough room to be safe than to try to fight back on ground of the criminal's choosing. If he tries to run when you back off, you can put the car back in drive. Otherwise, space is your friend.