Prologue: The premise of this series of columns is that there is a significant difference not just between Competition shooting and Combat, but also a significant difference between both of them and Self-Defense shooting. Like most instructors, I define Self-Defense as happening within seven yards. Combat typically happens at ranges greater than that, obviously there are times when combat happens closer than that, but then it more resembles "hand-to-hand combat"/"close-quarters combat"/"extreme close range combat," or whatever the cool-guy acronym of the year is. All of these buzzwords are talking about the same thing: fighting in close proximity. The military and SWAT teams make a distinction between close-range combat and long-range combat for a reason, because they ARE different. I call them "Self-Defense" distances and "Combat" distances as a way of distinguishing the two, but whatever the title, there are differences in how shooting is done in each. The differences are the premise of this series, resulting in a conclusion that much of what the armed public trains on with firearms is training for Combat or Competition, rather than Self-Defense, which I believe is a mistake.
For Example: "Breath Control," the firearms industry's fancy way of saying breathing, is the next shooting fundamental I want to compare between Competition, Combat and Self-Defense. But not really, because it's bogus. Very simply, at long distances or extremely precise shooting (like hostage rescue), breath control is important. Neither of these should be done with a handgun. I will grant that on occasion "operators" have rescued hostages with handguns instead of rifles, but that is a much higher level of training than most armed citizens possess. Also, those are Combat situations, not Self-Defense. Things like school shootings, or a church shootings, or other types of "Defense of Others Shootings," are clearly NOT the same things as Self-Defense, and are in fact types of Combat operations undertaken by trained military and SWAT personnel. Back to the point: in Combat at longer ranges, or in precision shooting Competitions, Breath Control is important. In Self-Defense shooting, it is neither important, nor really very possible.
It is possible to control your breathing while being shot at from fifty yards or greater. I have done it. It is impossible, in my opinion, for the vast majority of people to control their breathing in a gunfight at five feet. Adrenaline floods your system, you are instantly in a fight-or-flight situation, with a heartrate at or above two-hundred beats per minute, and you are gasping for air. I have done that also, and still managed to shoot a handgun "accurately enough" into a human torso, to survive. You know what I wasn't doing? Controlling my breathing! I do believe there are probably some very elite special operations personnel who could control their breathing in a six-foot gunfight. I am not one of those guys. Nor is anybody reading this column. But it doesn't actually matter, because at Self-Defense distances (from zero to seven yards), no amount of breathing problems will cause you to miss a human ribcage with a modern handgun: the ribcage should be the preferred target for Self-Defense Shooting (see the last column). In reality, it's not Breath Control that is causing people to miss at these ranges, it is flinching, or "Anticipating the Shot." It's often blamed on breathing because the bullet impact is above or below the intended point of aim, and in rifle shooting, that usually indicates poor Breath Control. But with a pistol at seven yards or less, it simply isn't true. People flinch the barrel up or down, because of anticipating the bang, not because they're breathing "incorrectly."
More importantly, it's a stupid thing to train for Self-Defense shooting. Now, it is a fundamental of marksmanship that should be taught to new shooters, and if you're going to go to a range and shoot bullseye targets, good Breath Control will make you more accurate. But when somebody is trying to kill, maim or rape you from six inches to six feet away, you will not be calmly exhaling and slowly squeezing a trigger when the sights are perfectly aligned. That's myth, it's absurd, and frankly it's dangerous, because it's teaching people unrealistic things. In rifle shooting, Breath Control is way more important. In precision shooting, whether in Combat or Competition, Breath Control is important. Even in long-range pistol shooting, it is important. But those aren't Self-Defense Shooting situations. That leads to the next column, which is about what is actually important in a Self-Defense Shooting situation: how FAST you can stop an attacker with "accurate enough" fire. That is entirely based on Grip, Self-Defense ("accurate enough") Aiming and Trigger Pull and has nothing to do with Breathing or Stance or Precision.
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