https://youtu.be/TW5QccKNVbc
I am potentially seeing lots of problems in this line of reasoning, for what essentially sounds like a ‘brandishing’ scenario in order to issue a “warning” or to use the display of the gun as a deterrent, in a situation that doesn’t clearly meet justified use of deadly force criteria.
I’m very curious about what y’all think about this. Especially Sir Massad Ayoob!
Darryl Bolke teaches drawing to a "hard low ready" with a firm verbal command ("Stop!") when the bad guy is approaching you and has indicated he means and intent to do you harm and he won't let you disengage. You've already made the decision to shoot and can verbalize it. You draw to a hard low ready, not covering the bad guy with your muzzle but with it in his direction (in my case, right in front of his feet). It gives him an opportunity to disengage and avoid getting shot. It's not brandishing because you've already made the "I'll shoot if I have to" decision. If you do need to shoot, you've already established a good firing grip and just need to raise the gun to eye level and fire.
The video above looks like the guy just needed to put some content up.
"Everything in life is really simple, provided you don’t know a f—–g thing about it." - Kevin D. Williamson
What Darryl said.
Drawing to a hard ready can often abort the need to shoot. No guarantee, but a lot of the time. If you have to shoot, you are in a good position to do so. Things can change in the amount of time it takes to draw. Training to always shoot when you draw can have disastrous results.
What Tom said.
I incorporated drawing to ready into almost every departmental training session probably sometime after I started training with Tom and reading DBs thoughts on it. It’s also the first “stage “ of a dry practice routine I found in a Rangemaster newsletter several years back
Thanks for the thoughtful responses!
Doesn’t it come down more to scenario based training/problem solving at that point, where one is confronted with different types of deadly force scenarios and also with ‘no shoot’, and even with ‘no draw/escape/combatives/etc.’ scenarios, especially for non LEO’s?
As opposed to merely suggesting, as the video does, that one should practice a draw to the low ready/aimed ready in order to give the attacker a chance to stand down - completely outside the context of a discussion regarding legal justified use of deadly force and when is it even appropriate to draw a deadly weapon on someone to begin with?
Now of course, I can certainly see scenarios where drawing the gun and NOT wanting/needing to shoot can occur. Just to use one example: where an attacker has the Intent (e.g., he threatens to kill you), and Means (e.g., he’s got a knife/deadly contact weapon) to kill or maim, BUT doesn’t have the Opportunity yet (e.g., he’s NOT YET within a dangerous range to attack), and the would be victim cannot Preclude (e.g. evade and escape) themselves from the situation.
I suppose the imminency of the threat would dictate whether a ’low ready’ or 'aimed ready (finger off the trigger), is adopted at that point.
Last edited by DacoRoman; 03-20-2023 at 04:45 PM.
Law enforcement and security personnel are certainly going to be presenting pistols without firing. While not as common for civilian self-defenders, it certainly does happen. Skill at draw to low ready may well prevent a shooting that might occur if the bad guy believes he has the drop on you. It may also reduce the risk of an unintentional shooting or prosecution for brandishing if the perceived threat does not need to be shot. This is certainly a skill set that LEO's and self-defenders should develop.
A hard low ready with a carbine kept me from shooting quite a few people.. I still draw to the low ready during training because of that. I will say a low ready with the willingness to shoot someone is a lot different then a panicked low ready. I've seen both.
Originally Posted by jnc36rcpd
Good points.
For law enforcement drawing to low ready seems like a crucial tactic for sure.
For a civilian the application, like alluded to above, is a lot more narrow, and appropriate only in certain circumstances.
I would hope that non LEOs understand that drawing to deter behavior that does not constitute a clear threat of deadly force is inappropriate, and I would also hope that someone doesn’t fall behind the reaction curve because they draw to a ready position when in fact they should be immediately engaging a deadly threat.
Clearly, there are times one needs to whip it out and shoot it out, both for LEO's and self-defenders. LEO and private training needs to address both present-and-fire as well as draw to low ready.
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