15 Sept 03

Interesting comments from a LEO friend in the Midwest:

"At a recent Simmunitions drill, we exposed officers from the area (including the state capitol) to a situation based on a real incident from a year ago. One of our officers was then interviewing a female domestic battery victim. In the middle of the interview, the suspect (husband) appeared and attacked the victim and our officer with a claw hammer. Our officer dealt with the attack by emptying his canister of OC and then, after it began to take effect, batoning the suspect in the common peroneal nerve on the left leg. A single blow dropped him to the ground. In the meantime, both the victim and the officer were chased around the squad car by the suspect, who couldn't see well but could charge and still clearly represented a deadly threat!

We reenacted the scenario with a flexible script. Twenty percent of officers hesitated significantly when the victim was attacked via the hammer. Some eventfully defaulted to deadly force, but only when the suspect directed his attention at them. It was the collective opinion of the training staff that officers were far too indecisive and far to slow to act when it came to the use of deadly force when it was clearly indicated.

You might find it interesting that members of the Governor's Security Detail, when presented with the same scenario, all reacted with deadly force immediately. None of them displayed the slightest hesitation or vacillation!

Nice to know the governor (at least) is so well protected."

/John

15 Sept 03

Rifle Sights:

We just completed an Urban Rifle/Shotgun Course in Illinois. During our low-light exercise on Saturday evening, one of our students used an AR-15 with a three-dot, night-sight setup similar to what one finds on pistols. It was an abomination!

The two rear dots are too close to the shooter's face to do anything but compromise his night vision. The front dot was nearly impossible to see when it was superimposed on our steel targets (illuminated by road flares). This student, who shot well during the day, was unable to hit with any regularity at night. He is getting rid of the dots!

Another student used an ACOG. Again, the red crosshairs in the center of the reticule disappeared when superimposed on steel targets at night. The scope was mounted on the carrying handle of this student's AR-15, making a normal cheek weld impossible. He had an aftermarket cheek piece installed in order to solve this problem, but it continuously interfered with the normal operation of the charging handle. Again, this student's equipment was more a hindrance than a help.

Another student's rifle was equipped with a close-eye-relief, 4X scope. As we have come to expect, he continually got targets mixed up. He could usually hit; he just kept hitting the wrong target, because he got lost in his scope.

Students with conventional, iron sights did best, because their equipment didn't get in their way. They learned to develop a symbiotic synergy with their rifles instead of naively expecting that some attached miracle-gadget would magically substitute for personal competence and common sense.

/John