The Yips

I received a thought-provoking Facebook post from my friend Larry.  I’d like to share it and elaborate on a few thoughts.

One of the things unrealistic is how much of himself he has exposed.  

 

“Cleaning up my phone and came across this. I know some may find this image disturbing, but realistic self defense training is not standing on an indoor (range) shooting a B8 target. This is the other extreme, very unlikely. I hope no one ever has to face this situation in real life.”  -Larry

 

Let’s look at just the target for a second and see it for what it is.  It is a man eye fucking you while he holds a kid by the throat with a gun to the kid’s head.

 

At a match it’s simple: draw, align your sights, calmly press the trigger and punch two rounds through his brain stem.  The imaginary gun falls harmlessly from his cooling cardboard fingers, all in 2.1 seconds.

 

Let make it real.  That’s actually your kid or your spouse and that is an actual excited, half-crazed criminal who is trapped and made the decision earlier that day that he will shoot. 

Not so simple now.

Let’s play with a few scenarios.

 

You round the corner with a gun in your hand and you find the two of them.  He starts yelling he’ll kill the kid/spouse if you don’t drop your gun.

 

Do you?  If you do that the criminal wants, he now has two problems he hasn’t thought about.  You can identify him, so can the kid.  Can he tie you up and get away?  Hell, he’s running out of time and he knows it.  Every sound he hears are the cops coming.  No time to tie you up, unless it’s to kill you.  He’ll shoot you, then the kid.  This is the Onion Field Story by Los Angeles Police Department Sergeant Joseph Wambaugh.  That didn’t turn out well for anyone.  Never give up your gun.  Read the true story.

 

You elect not to follow his orders.

 

You decide to snap the gun up and punch two holes in his brain stem.  Action beats reaction, right?  Can you continue to talk to distract him and do this?  Do you have the speed, the accuracy and you don’t suffer from the yips?  Can you do that before he pulls the trigger and leaves your kid/spouse brain dead in a hospital bed, until you find the courage to turn off the ventilator.  By the way your life, your marriage, family and possibly your job is destroyed by the outcome.

 

Maybe you give your intention away, you yip, pause, flinch and he punches five rounds at you without aiming and you stop two of them.  What he going to do?  Will he flee?  Will he remember what the cons in prison told him on his last visit: “Don’t leave no witnesses...”  He’s killed you, what another fuckin' charge?

 

You stall for time.  You did call 9-1-1, didn’t you?  Maybe your spouse is armed and is capable, and doesn’t suffer from the yips.  Can they flank him and turn the asshole off like a light switch?  There will still be problems, but at least you can find family counseling together. 

 

Maybe she yips and he jerks his trigger, killing the kid.  Your wife, horrified at causing the death of her child, stands there frozen while you and he trade rounds.  What’s the outcome?  It isn’t going to be good in any case.

 

You try to be clever.  That my answer.  I tell him I hate the kid, he’s someone else’s bastard.  Or that I want to divorce the bitch, but this is simpler.  He shoots them and I kill him.  Easy peazy.  Everyone feels sorry for me and makes me some kind of hero that I can milk for a long time.   In fact, I remind him several times that that the only thing keeping him alive is the kid/spouse.  I tell him if he turns and runs, I can’t do anything because there’s a witness.  If he takes the gun off the kid/spouse to shoot me, I try to out shoot him with a headshot.  If I have the speed, the accuracy and don’t suffer from the yips.

Perhaps my spouse will remember our discussions, and as soon as the gun comes off her, her elbow goes in his gut she gets her ass out of the line of fire.  If she remembers, has the courage and doesn’t suffer from the yips.  I’ll take it from there, assuming…. You know that story by now.

 

None of these thought exercises are the best answer, but they are jumping off points.  Like Larry said “I hope no one ever has to face this situation…”  I agree.