In a coming feature in Concealed Carry Magazine, a seasoned Chicago detective talks about a particular manner of aiming and shooting. It’s different; it works for him. His business is staying alive and, whenever possible, removing criminals from the streets. Working in some of the worst neighborhoods of that merciless metropolis, he has often had to draw and fire his weapon. As a result, he has been in more gunfights at close range — without being injured — than most of us could possibly survive … and he has come to believe that the head shot is his best defense.
The head shot. Think about it: Most of us train by shooting center of mass, because in an emergency, when we are taken by surprise, it is the largest target, the largest vital area.
We have all heard stories about perps being shot in the torso, often multiple times, and not stopping. Stories about the walking dead; men shot in the heart who keep coming. Stone-cold dead and they don’t realize it. After-the-fact theories range from heavy drug use to bulky clothing or even ballistic vests.
It’s all well and good to talk head shots, as one will definitely stop an aggressive intruder. It’s fun to practice shooting multiple zones of a target, different distances, from unusual body positions. At a recent event with Delta Defense in Wisconsin called “Polymer Palooza,” we even shot the new 9mm Walther Creed single-handed and upside down. It’s fun to sit over a beer and talk about what we might do to someone we catch molesting a child or breaking into our house at night. Such things reinforce our self-image as a responsibly armed American — so long as we don’t take it too far; don’t believe half of the macho talk we hear and sometimes verbalize on our own.
A Chicago detective who has survived numerous gunfights and who admits that he has killed several armed criminals is experienced far beyond my capabilities, and probably beyond yours as well. A man such as this — in a dangerous, pressure-cooker job — must train extensively, must go to the range for scenario training often, must practice continuous (and exhausting) vigilance, because, on any given day, he could die.
We wish him God speed, but we can’t presume to imitate his practice. His aiming and grip? Fine. His vigilance and consistent approach to maintaining life skills? Excellent. His theory about head shots? Negative.
Let’s face it. We — as in the general “we” — go to the range a couple times a year, clean our firearms once (maybe) and take a specialized training class beyond any required carry lessons — Gunsite Academy’s “Low Light Defensive Pistol,” for instance — once in our lifetime.
We simply do not have and cannot cultivate the skill, the experience, the steady nerves of a Chicago detective. Coping with adrenaline when we are watching an approaching buck or in a tense video game or a defensive driving situation is one thing. Coping with adrenaline while calmly managing a face-to-face, life-threatening situation is simply not in the cards for most of us who carry, because most of us who carry are amateurs. It isn’t our job and isn’t in any way beneficial to us to get into a scrape on a dark street or to have to pull our gun and shoot anyone. The aftermath of a shooting can often be endless legal and social problems, even with a good insurance package. We only carry because the consequences of not carrying, of not being able to defend ourselves at some critical instant, are unimaginable.
And so the head shot. A small area compared to the torso. Perhaps an immediate stopper; better even than a shot to the heart or a double tap to the lung and gut. But in a situation, in a real encounter where you have a gun in your hand and only a partial grasp of what’s coming at you, you have to play the odds and the odds still say center of mass, the torso. And if the attacker doesn’t stop and raise his hands, doesn’t fall to the ground or floor, keep calm and keep pulling the trigger.
