CLEAR FROM PRESENT DANGER

PROTECT YOUR FAMILY FROM HOME INVADERS.

- PAUL RACKLEY

I slowly went through the house, keeping my Smith & Wesson M&P up, ready to activate the light and laser if a target appeared. It was late, the house was very dark, and I knew it contained multiple assailants.

I went around corners and through doors slowly, keeping back from the walls, as I had been taught. I had already taken down two assailants and only had a little more to clear. As I went through the last door, I kicked on the light and saw a man holding a gun. I immediately fired three rounds center mass.

Right then, Instructor Charlie McNeese kicked on all the lights so we could review my results in the Gunsite Academy shoot house.

The scenario was conducted during night training and in real-world situations with the Crimson Trace Lightguard. The Lightguard performed well through four nights of training, which culminated in the above situation, along with a couple of other scenarios designed to test the capabilities of both the Lightguard and the shooters.

TRAINING TO FIGHT

I’ve spent most of my life in self-defense training of some form or another. I’ve also been fortunate enough to work with quite a few expert shooters and even spent an entire day with legendary gunfighter Walt Rauch. However, it wasn’t until I spent a week at Gunsite that I truly understood the difference in training to shoot and training to fight. Shooting is about obtaining a good sight picture to accurately put rounds on target.

Fighting, however, is so much more. Fighting is about using the force necessary—including deadly force—to defeat an attacker, regardless of the situation. That’s why training is so important: It makes the mind work tactically to sort situations quickly.