The third principle I used to teach soldiers I called "Damage." I've been reading a lot of Tim Larkin's stuff lately, he refers to this as "Injury." It means the same thing. I used to tell the biggest guy in the formation to come up and punch me in the chest to demonstrate the difference between pain and Damage. As he would reach back to swing, I'd put my index finger right next to his eyeball. So, that's the unarmed demonstration. The principle of Damage is a little more complex when it comes to being armed, because while it's optimal to put bullets into the heart, brain-stem or between the eyes, that often requires more precision and thus time. So, in defensive shooting, I say, "Well, there's Good and there is Good Enough."
Good Enough is elimination of the threat. This is the difference between combat accuracy training and marksmanship. If shooting the heart or brain is optimal, then shooting anywhere on the chest or head is good, and in real chaos shooting anywhere from the groin to the scalp is okay if you do it enough. That's the other point of Damage: it can be cumulative. One shot in the snot box is fantastic if you are a sniper, or a hostage rescuer that trains to shoot guys through the mouth to sever the brain-stem with their MP5s. I am neither of those, so I think it is Good Enough to empty seven .45 caliber rounds into someone's upper torso.
In precision fighting, like unarmed fighting, or hostage rescue, Damage has to be precise if you're trying to eliminate the threat. In self-defense shooting, Damage can be more area targeting rather than point targeting because it's cumulative. The apparent contradiction to my title I hope to clear-up right here. While it is true that where you hit is more important than how hard you hit, how many times you hit, is more important than where you hit. In other words, shoot as fast as you can and still be Combat Accurate, which is a six-inch group in the upper torso, rather than slow and precise. Speed causes more Damage than accuracy in self-defense shooting. It is better to put three rounds into a six-inch group in one second than one round into the heart in the same second, or three rounds into the heart in three seconds. It actually causes greater Damage if you spread out the shots, and it is much more efficient in terms of the time it takes to eliminate the threat. Three rounds into their chest before they hit the ground is success.
Wrongness: I had a friend who was a black belt, a pretty good pistol shot and an excellent rifle shot. She said if she ever got into a gunfight she would "shoot the guy in the hand to disarm him." First of all, that's highly unrealistic from a training perspective. Hands are very small targets, and they move more than any part of the body, especially when they are shooting...AT YOU. Secondly, I am not sure you'd be able to defend that in a court of law. "I was in such mortal danger that I took the time to line up a shot on his hand to disarm him, Your Honor." Lastly, if your life is in danger--which is the only time you are justified in using a firearm--you need to end the threat. Even if you had the skills to shoot somebody in the hand, they have another hand with which to pick up the gun again and kill you. But, in reality, there is no time for that in a self-defense shooting situation. Get the barrel of your pistol pointed at upper torso as fast as you can, and engage as rapidly as you can while keeping your bullets inside their torso. Speed regains the Initiative, and Damage secures it at the end of the engagement, and remember whoever has the Initiative at the end has won.
More wrongness: practice head shots. The zombies ain't coming, folks, and what did I say about the hands moving? So does the head. The head is the most motile large part of the body, especially in a dangerous situation. It is constantly scanning, moving, turning. It does not wait for you to shoot it. The torso, being the center of the body to which all the appendages are attached and moving from, is the least motile and it's in the middle and offers the largest surface area to shoot at. So, again, unless you are rescuing hostages, don't aim for the head. The military has even stopped training snipers to only take head shots, because it takes too long and it is unnecessary except in hostage situations.
Rightness: Maximize Damage. In unarmed combat, that means targeting specific vulnerable points of the body like the eyes, the throat, etc. In shooting, that means penetrating the upper torso with multiple bullets causing massive system shutdown. If you completely miss the heart but put three rounds into the rib cage, you can hit both lungs, the liver or the spleen, sever the spine, cut the aorta, puncture the diaphragm, or rupture the windpipe; nature put the rib cage their as protection, so get inside it. Any two of those targets combined will be enough to eliminate a threat, regardless of how big the threat is. If you miss the rib cage and empty a magazine into the lower torso, you can eviscerate the intestinal tract, still sever the spine, rupture the stomach or kidneys, shatter pelvic bones, or puncture the bladder; any four of which will capitalize on the trauma and blood loss of the gunshot wounds by contributing poisonous chemicals to the blood stream. That is "Good Enough."
If the language in the above paragraph shocks you, you should not carry a gun. If you try to "shoot the gun out of their hand," you are gonna die even if you miraculously succeeded in doing that, because they will take your gun away from you and empty it into your torso. I deliberately use cold, calculating and clinical language to increase awareness of our mortality, because in 1950s America, everybody remembered how fragile we are. Today we get disgusted at the mere mention of "eviscerated intestinal tracts," what a bunch of wusses. Refusing to be a victim means being willing to use violence against violent people, and knowing the consequences. That means using Weapons, taking the Initiative, causing maximum Damage.
There's two more principles I will be writing about in the coming weeks to fill out the acronym I used to teach soldiers the wide range of self-defense options. Hope you're liking these methods of Making America Violent Again.
Lastly, I keep saying this, I strongly recommend researching Tim Larkin's material on-line and his books. He teaches techniques I don't necessarily use, but as a Philosopher of Violence, he really gets it. I don't know him, never met him, I'm sure he doesn't know I exist, but his written words are the best knowledge source for understanding violence I've yet come across.
Soule
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