A morning view of the Pioneer Sportsman's Club house.
Here we attend LFI: the Lethal Force
Institute. The director's license number is nicely complemented by
the state motto.
Massad Ayoob: a
world-class master in teaching self defense. Many people are alive and
free because of him.
A fearful phrase familiar in society is "if you have a gun, the bad
guy might take it away from you."
Not so for LFI-II, -III and -IV graduates: we often study and review
weapon retention.
The majority of the class is spent on the firing line. First, we warm
up with a standard test done at double speed, then later perform various
tests at much higher speeds.
A typical target after firing 60 rounds from various distances and stances.
Other tests are done. Sometimes the targets are 50 yards away.
A CAPS video scenario simulator
was brought in. Inside this mobile shooting range is a video projector
that presents a scenario on a large paper screen. If applicable, shoot
appropriately.
Scenario:
You're a cop with a partner investigating a domestic dispute call.
The wife lets you in.
The husband disagrees - with a gun...or knife...or nothing at all (many
scenarios start the same).
What do you do?
Scenario:
You're a cop who just pulled someone over.
"License and registration, sir."
"Why certainly, officer."
The driver pulls a gun instead of papers.
The person taking the simulation performs the correct response (note
muzzle flash and image jitter from shock wave).
Instructor and psychologist Tony discusses mental aspects of the protector.
What happens to your shooting skill when your fight-or-flight reflexes
generate a huge amount of adrenaline? Since the military won't discuss
what they found out on the subject, a couple doctors inject themselves
with epinephrine (aka adrenaline) and find out. Later, several students
inhaled a lesser dose and did the same double-speed test. (History was
made with this test.)
General conclusion: you perform better when your body decides
your life is on the line.
Yours truly tries out the new, much-hailed Steyr
Scout rifle. I liked it so much I bought it on the spot.
Excellent tools do not come cheap (but good deals may be had).
More shooting.
Paper targets and simulators are fine for tactics, but don't teach what
it's like to shoot a living mammal, or what your preferred bullet will
do. Off to a slaughterhouse, where the critters are destined to grace someone's
plate soon anyway. (If you eat meat, you cannot object.)
Cows, pigs, sheep...18 walk in but don't walk out. I'll spare you the
gory details.
For someone who has never killed anything warm-blooded up close and
personal, it's a very sobering experience which every carnivore should
do at least once.
You'd never look at a hamburger the same way again.
One 124 grain 9mm-wide piece of lead moving at ~1100fps penetrates 5"
of bone and turns into a mangled mess and a steak.
Then on to more entertaining things: machine guns! (Yes, they're legal.)
LFI instructor and NH state legislator Debbie demonstrates how to use
an H&K MP5.
State legislator, homemaker, Christian, and machine-gun enthusiast.
Yours truly begins the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) submachine gun
qualification test.
(The Uzi was not cooperative at long ranges. I'm trying this again
with the superior H&K MP5.)
Part 1: 50 shots, fired individually, from various positions at 50
yards.
Part 2: 60 rounds standing and 40 rounds moving, fired at full-auto
in bursts into two targets.
This guy did very well on the DEA submachine gun qualifications. "Hi,
Mom!"
Yours truly taking an IDPA test.
Back to the target, then on the buzzer, turn, draw and put two rounds into
each of three targets, reload, and two rounds each again. Time is short.
Another test: one shot into each of three targets from one side of a
barricade, then again from the other side, ...
...run forward to closer cover...
...and two more shots into each. You don't have much time.
Weapon retention was a frequent theme. How do you deal with someone
choking you from behind?
Class dinner midway thru the week. Relax & chat.
Fulfilment of a long-running gag: John vs. a mad sheep. "Stay away from
my sister!"
Director and daughter share a laugh.
Paintball! Some simulations just don't get across the reality of bad
guys with guns coming at you from any angle, so we go to a place where
we can emulate good & bad guys with guns.
First, check the place out.
Someone didn't survive a scenario.
You come home to find burglars.
When you display your gun, one surrenders.
Another stays out of sight and doesn't.
While dealing with the first guy, the non-cooperative one bursts around
the corner and attacks.
(Some burglars are smart enough to employ this technique.)
Yours truly didn't "survive" the shootout with the "homeowner" (note
the yellow blotch: if it had been a real round, this "bad guy" wouldn't
be standing for the camera). This was not always the case.
Shotguns are artillery for the home.
Learn it, practice it, pass the NH Police qualification (triple speed)
and FBI shotgun qualification.
Always be aware of the NH beauty surrounding us.
Such courses make one more aware of how precious each moment of life
is.
Persuader (Kubotan) Instructor training. Mas demonstrates taking a Persuader
from a particularly frisky student, and seems to enjoy doing so.
Someone in your face? Causing trouble? Pressure onto a sensitive area...
...spin him around...
...and drop him to his knees.
Graduation!
The proud graduates. 18 of 40 nationwide who have reached this level.
Yours truly with the master teacher. I've been looking forward to this
moment for three years.
Final step: as certified Weapon Retention Instructors, we teach a class
of police.
Two of us give a graduation certificate to a successful student.
May he never need to use the life-saving skill we taught him this day.
First students, now instructors. "Those who teach, learn."
