3 Aug 03

We may be having some influence! From one of our instructors in TX:

"While practicing at a local indoor range last weekend, I discovered that I was shooting next to three brand new Federal Air Marshals who were there, like me, practicing on their own. They were shooting SIG 220s.

They all used an exaggerated ‘buzzard' version of the isosceles stance, similar to what is often seen in competitive pistol events. They had their upper bodies so extended, they were on the verge of falling over forward! When finished firing, each would retract their pistols into their chest, hyper-extending each elbow to the side. Gripping technique was rueful and trigger press was jerky. Their accuracy on paper targets at seven meters was embarrassingly poor!

In a subsequent conversation with one, I discovered they were all, in fact, instructors trying to get some practice on their own. I mentioned to her that it concerned me that, with their hyper-extended stance and unstable grip, forcibly disarming any of them would be a simple task, even for an amateur. It struck me that, within the confines of a commercial airplane, this surely should be a concern. When my comments were greeted with a blank look, I offered to demonstrate.

They were all astonished with the ease with which I was able to take away their pistols, from any angle (we used plastic props for the demonstration), even when they resisted enthusiastically. They then became defensive and told me that they were only ‘authorized' (there is that word again!) to use certain techniques. I replied, ‘I just showed you a grievous deficiency in your method. If what you just saw with your own eyes doesn't concern you, there is no point in continuing this conversation.'

The result is that all three are going to come to a class I'm doing next week, on their own dime. I have to hand it to them. They didn't just stick their heads in the sand. Hopefully, in the process of working with them I can clean up their grip and trigger press too!"

Lesson: Lucidity is irrepressible, no matter how enthusiastically institutions try to stamp it out. Warriors will always see through self-serving twaddle and cleave to the True Way.

/John