2 July 02

On the use of pistol sights from a friend in CA:

"California POST put on a Firearms Training Symposium in San Diego a short time ago. Three hundred LE trainers were invited. I was one of them. None of us were told in advance that this "symposium" was to be little more than an infomercial for unsighted shooting. If we had been, most of us would not have bothered to attend.

All scheduled speakers were there to recite the ‘party line' for unsighted pistol fire, which is currently all the rage here in CA. No speakers were there promoting, or even talking about, sighted fire. As a result, there was quite an uproar. One agenda-driven speaker after another insisted that aimed fire was ‘inaccurate,' because no one can see their sights in a real fight, and besides, people always ‘revert' to unsighted fire in an emergency anyway.

A local LAPD veteran trainer then took the podium. He had not been scheduled to speak, but he was persuaded by all of us to get up and articulate the other point of view. He indicated that people using sighted pistol fire were invariable more accurate and also faster times than did those who didn't use their sights. He indicated that unsighted fire has its place but that there was no adequate substitute for sighted fire in most defensive scenarios. The symposium's sponsors were livid!

During the course of the program, I was invited to the local CHP Range to observe a recruit class that was being trained in the new ‘unsighted' system. I watched students shoot, unsighted, from three to fifteen yards. I turned to a colleague who was also watching and said, ‘Well, it is an interesting way to destroy target stands!" My friend nodded in agreement as we both watched the splinters fly."

Lesson: The trouble with agendas is that the people promoting them become so emotionally committed that they ignore all evidence that tends to discredit their pet beliefs. Their agenda becomes, in effect, a religion. No one is allowed to question it, even when its illegitimacy is painfully obvious to all. The naked king thus insists that only fools cannot see his "New Clothes."

/John

4 July 02

Some responses on unsighted shooting:

"Point shooting is like the increasing use of red dot sights. People are looking for a way to become a good shot, without the most vital element: PRACTICE. It takes practice to hit reliably, not some newly renamed ‘system' or wonder-gadget."

"After the pistol passes mid-chest, the sights are visible and, consciously or unconsciously, the shooter will reference the sights and the pistol to the target. The person with the best and most consistent response built into their muscle memory has the advantage."

"All I can say is that the trend toward unsighted fire is invariably self-limiting."

"I too practice sighted fire, but when under stress, I will use gross sighting across the top of the slide."

Comment: My esteemed colleague Ben Avery put it best: "The body points. The eye verifies."

/John