As shooters, we spend a lot of time trying to become better shooters. We want to be faster, more accurate, improve our draw, get better at all the things we can measure.
But how much of that actually prepares us for what we’re carrying a gun for in the first place?
That’s a lot of what I talked about this week with Kevin Creighton. Kevin has spent more than 20 years in the firearms world as an instructor, competitor, and writer, and I really enjoyed his perspective because he looks at training a little differently.
One of the things we talked about was how easy it is to train for a situation we’ve already scripted in our heads. We imagine how something is going to happen, what we’re going to do, and how we’re going to respond. Real life obviously doesn’t work that way.
Kevin brought up things like using your environment to your advantage, actually carrying your gun instead of leaving it in the car, training from concealment, and being realistic about what our mission is as ordinary armed citizens.
And one of my favorite things he said was that he looks at the defensive pistol lifestyle more like jazz.
You learn the chords. You learn the fundamentals. You understand the context. But then you have to be able to respond to whatever is actually happening in front of you.
I had never heard anyone explain it that way, but it made a lot of sense to me.
We also got into Kevin’s novel Salvation, which led us into a completely different conversation about faith, strong male role models, doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do, and living your life for something bigger than yourself.
There’s a lot in this episode, but the part I keep coming back to is that being a good shooter and being prepared to defend yourself are not necessarily the same thing.
Of course I want to continue becoming a better shooter. But I also want my training to make sense for my actual life, my actual mission, and the people I’m responsible for protecting.
Kevin gave me a lot to think about with this one, and I think he will for you too.
See more at quietlyarmed.com.
