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By Bradley J. Steiner, American Combato
Some of our visitors are doubtless familiar with The American Rifleman. It is a monthly periodical published by the National Rifle Association. And while we are not an NRA member (we do not feel that the Organization is doing anywhere near enough to fight against gun control) we do believe that “The Armed Citizen”—a regular column in each issue of the NRA’s magazine—is a goldmine of information and education for those who own, keep, and carry firearms for self and family defense.
We have for decades now been a staunch advocate of point shooting as The Method of close combat shooting. At a time when the “new technique” religion was at its peak (i.e., late 1970’s through the 1980’s) and the buffoons pooh-poohed point shooting as ineffective, or, in one totally absurd instance, as being fraudulent(!), we hammered away at the truth in a monthly column in a popular gun magazine for nine and a half years, as well as in miscellaneous articles in other publications, relentlessly presenting the facts.
We pushed point shooting and explained why (so that even idiots could understand) that method, proven time and time again in real combat during peacetime and in war, is the right way to use a handgun in personal defense.
Today, we see articles appearing written by those now seeking to ride the new bandwagon (following the years when they were enthusiastically engaged in spitting at it) that espouses this PROVEN method of combat shooting for real. F––k ‘em. Doubtless there will be plenty of fools who fail to understand what is going on . . . and what has gone on.
It occurred to us the other day, when a friend once again sent us The Armed Citizen which he had clipped from his copy of The American Rifleman, that those hundreds upon hundreds of true reports of real world citizen self-defense with handguns that have appeared over the years clearly demonstrates and establishes one of the basic facts about combat use of a handgun in real situations.
Namely: You see in all cases where citizens have needed to rely upon their sidearms, THE DISTANCES WERE VERY CLOSE—measured usually within a few feet. Does this prove that almost without exception the range existing in actual, real world interpersonal armed confrontations is well within seven yards? You’re God damn right it does! And we say this with complete awareness that this fact was proven long before The American Rifleman had its Armed Citizen column.
But because many who feel the need to acquire handguns and combat shooting skills today might not have the interest or the inclination to research all of the past documentation, we suggest “The Armed Citizen” as a major source of establishing this truth. Check it out.