WHY STUDENTS SHOULD LEARN THE IMPORTANCE OF MOVEMENT

By: Steve Moses

I believe that it is possible for a student to prevail if criminally assaulted without ever firing a round, and if forced to shoot lessen the chances that they will be injured or killed. Defensive skills are important, but no less important are defensive tactics. Classes commonly taught by defensive firearm trainers often focus primarily on fast draws, accuracy, and split times between shots. I certainly do not want to stand in place and slug it out with one or more armed attackers who are doing their best to kill me. Some instructors often paint the typical violent criminal actor as an untrained thug with poor handgun skills, but the truth is that some of them practice way more than we think, and we can never dismiss the danger posed by sheer luck and callous disregard for human life.

Defensive tactics might be any action designed to manipulate time, distance, cover, concealment, angle, elevation, and most especially expectations so that the student gets a turn and their attacker does not. I am going to focus on expectations in this article. This means nothing more than surprising the attacker and obtaining a momentarily superior position in which the attacker is less likely to successfully use deadly force, and the student is more likely to successfully defend him or herself.

Many criminal assaults take place in transitional areas. Transitional areas are those locations in which strangers must move through when transitioning from one base of operations to another. An example would be leaving home to go to work, purchasing groceries, going to a mall, putting gas in a vehicle, etc. Examples of transitional areas are sidewalks, streets, parking lots, parking garages, and gas stations. The opportunity for a student if accosted to step behind cover or even concealment is often limited. Tactical movement is often a valid option for students finding themselves being stalked or accosted by one or more potentially violent criminal actors. In addition to surprising a potential or actual aggressor, sudden movement may make the student harder to hit if the attacker has a gun as well as allow the student to completely disengage or at least increase the distance between the two parties.

Set out below are a few ways that a student can move based upon the circumstances:

1. The student moves to cover as quickly as possible without drawing the gun. Once behind cover the student takes a position at least one full arms-length away (more is better), draws, and keeps as much of the body and head behind cover as possible while tracking the position of the attacker using his or her eye as close to the edge as possible. The student can challenge the attacker, stay in place until the attacker has left the area, move to an even more defensible position, or shoot if necessary. This tactic will likely be more successful if the encounter starts at distances of ten yards or more.
2. The student turns and runs laterally while establishing a proper dominant hand grip on the holstered handgun. If a lethal force response is the only viable option the student can stop, pivot, and complete the draw in the direction of the attacker. My goal is to create distance as quickly as possible without first getting shot, and a moving target is harder to hit than a non-moving target. Scenarios in which this might be applicable might occur when another person is already shooting at the student, approaching the student with a gun in their hand or hands, or is in the act of drawing a handgun from concealment.
3. The student steps rapidly off-line one or two steps as they draw the handgun in order to surprise the criminal offender who is only one or two yards away while their attention is momentarily diverted, or to avoid being literally ran over and punched or stabbed. I will not teach this technique to students who still have to put conscious effort into how to safely grip, draw, and get the concealed handgun into position where they could actually shoot it and make hits. Otherwise, it can make for a painfully slow presentation from the holster. Something that I learned over the years is to inform the students that it may be critical in some situations to delay this action until such time that the attacker’s attention is diverted before initiating this tactic.

If it is smart to use movement anytime that the student is unarmed, then it is no less smart to use movement when they are armed. I am not ashamed to proclaim that the act of promptly “running away” occupies some space in my tactical toolbox.

This article is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. This information represents the experience of leading firearms and self-defense instructors and is designed to help armed defenders and concealed carriers make smarter, more well-informed use of force decisions. Every self-defense scenario is unique, and each defender is responsible for their own decisions.