I bet, that everyone, who had any contact with guns in self-defense context, heard at some point about 21 feet rule also known as Tueller's drill. This is unofficial police doctrine developed by Lt. John Tueller, invented in the '80s, widely accepted in American law enforcement training.
Tueller's drill looks simple - attacker with a sharp edged tool and police officer with a gun in a holster in condition one. He tried this drill at various distances to check how far attacker can start the assault, to give officer ability to shoot him accurately and avoid stabbing.
Misinterpretation and abuse
21ft rule is called like that because of fact, that it isn't supported by forensic evidence nor scientific research that would confirm it.
As any other rule, the 21ft rule was used as an excuse in cases of police brutality. There are records for police officers shooting at suspects from above 30 yards, or form low ready position. Both of those cases gives police officer far more room to react than about 6 seconds described in the 21ft rule.
Low ready position
Training differs from practice
A lot of people I see on range do combat or self-defense drills in way unbelievably standing-off reality.
Training without timer with setting tight PAR time doesn't give us information about our reaction time and removes stress factor from our training, which will be significantly higher at a gunfight. Why don't you train something in a way that prepares you for an event that you want to be ready for?
Judgement in split of a second
0.60s - that much takes judgment if we are in fact threatened or not. Not a lot? A lot of IPSC, UDPA or 3Gun shooters can perform 2 accurate headshots in a similar time. Don't believe me? Check it out:
The decision about a reaction that our brain does takes from 0.6 to 1 second. Added up - in worst case scenario we will act after 2 seconds from the start of an assault.
Threatened makes you different person
In the moment of a life-threatening situation, your brain will go for a rescue with hormones tightly bound with survival: dopamine, endorphins, and adrenaline. Adrenaline makes you stronger and faster, dopamine and endorphins are painkillers and eliminate the feeling of exhaustion. Is it useful in a gunfight? It depends.
Adrenaline causes, that our perception suffers from tunnel vision and loss of sight from closes distances. We barely hear, in edge cases, it may cause temporarily lost of hearing.
Stress in life-threatening situation may cause, that simple tasks like reloading or removing safety is much harder, and tasks that involve more dexterity like mag changes is almost impossible to do by an unexperienced shooter.
That's why carrying a gun in different state that condition one is irresponsible and uneffective
During training you're not on adrenaline rush, you don't have sweated hands and 2s for life and death shot
When your equipment is against you
You always have to pick gun and holster that is reliable and suits you. You have to be 100% sure of your equipment, that will not fail you when seconds matter. If you find your gun tangled in a holster - change holster. Train at least 15 minutes a day. Care about every repetition.
Big hole in the back
Remember, that delay in perception also applies to end of an attack. Police recorded a lot of cases when shots were taken from close-ups to suspect's back because police officers couldn't tell fast enough if assault ended.
Adrenaline is present also in attacker system. Polish police has in its records suspect, that was able to shoot at officer for 30 seconds after shot in hearth.
Summary
We can't tell one way or another if a 21ft rule is right or wrong. A lot depends on the situation that you're at, from the attacker and his physical shape, but **you have control over your preparation and equipment **. Remember:
Train always with timer and take a good care of every repetition like you would fight especially, when you concealed carry a gun for self-defense.
- http://www.policemag.com/channel/weapons/articles/2014/09/revisiting-the-21-foot-rule.aspx
- The Tueller Drill, Video Interview with Lt. Dennis Tueller (Ret), GunWebsites.
- How Close Is Too Close? (Article) Tueller, Dennis, SWAT Magazine, 03-1983
=========================================================
Do you want me to write about topic you're interested? Let me know in comments.
Want to support me? Upvote, resteem or follow.
Tip Jars:
BTC: 15w3XLzAPaFpTYAwDDK4SUMPbhfqFSgyjt
BTC SegWit: 37SdVoP7PFjQrokoqeGhJbiiaRq7WtuZDF
XMR:43hixjwMGDV6F3Sj7RqrhN2V6jJP2gRp97wc1y3UUu3vXgwkV8wNG412hvX6xiT1aU5ABqC3yHHB6b8ugd9t1u4z6Hs3aw1
ETH: 0xEa6E72899965509B6c0231F50001dC4B79b00D94
ETC: 0xb9dB14DD3eb4dfe434985AB67413a8261452b16c