Shoot or Don't Shoot: How To Make Critical Life Saving Decisions In Mille Seconds

Shoot or Don’t Shoot: How To Make Critical Life Saving Decisions In Mille Seconds

When it comes to personal protection and self defense situations you sometimes have to make life altering decisions in mille seconds.

Making the wrong decision could mean the difference between life or death for either you or a loved one or being placed behind bars.

Do you shoot or don’t shoot? What is in the suspect’s hand? Are there any dangers presented to loved ones if you use force? How much force can you use legally?

For the majority of people this can be a little overwhelming thing to think about when your ass is on the line and you’re feeling the warmth of your urine run down your leg in a life threatening situation.
But there are ways of being able to do this when SHTF.

Remember how you train is how you will respond.

Here are some suggestions:

Sign up for a Use of Force class to understand your rights and options when it comes to using force in self defense situations. Don’t just stop there either study your use of force options so you know them like the back of your hand.

This in turn will give you a quicker response time when making the decision on how much force to use on an attacker and will give you confidence in that decision.

When training with a partner have them attack you randomly so you have to assess, plan, act and reassess to see if you are using proportional force to the given scenario.

Have you partner at times attack you with a weapon, at other times have them perform gestures that could simulate that they are going for a weapon or have them disengage at a split second.

Scenarios can also be based around your training partner hiding inside your house, when he pops out if his hands are in the air that means he is NOT a threat and you can’t use force.

If he pops out with a weapon or in an aggressive manner then follow through with the appropriate force option. Also run scenarios where your environment allows you to disengage forcing you to be vigilant of where your exist points are.

Remember some self defense laws will find a person guilty of assault or deadly force if the victim has the option of disengaging.
You can perform these training scenarios using a training knife, Shocknife, SERT Training Guns, Airsoft (just make sure to wear protective gear) or with lasers.

If you don’t have someone to train with turn on the TV while having your training weapon such as a gun or knife holstered next to you. Have it on a show that has cops and bad guys. Whenever the bad guy pulls out his weapon you pull out yours and make the appropriate call.
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By training this way you will gain more confidence in your ability to think tactically in the most critical moments and be able to decrease your reaction time when mille seconds can mean the difference between life and death or a prison sentence.

Realistic Self Defense Through Research

Norm Bettencourt