I’ve been having an interesting discussion with someone else who loves to shoot. We started with the idea of airsoft guns being good training aids and wandered a bit into the reason for training.

First off, everyone knows that I love to shoot. 🙂 I love to shoot almost anything that won’t knock me down (and there are a lot of things that do – so I don’t shoot them).

I’ve talked with, shot with, trained with and even argued with an awful lot of people in the last 30 years or more, and have learned an awful lot in the process – so this is just an expression of my own experience and thinking, not a reflection on anyone else or their experience.

Overall, I find that a great many people simply over train! The old, “no pain – no gain” nonsense. Many are spending a fortune sending thousands and thousands of rounds downrange, seemingly thinking that sheer volume will do the trick.

Personally, I’ve discovered that it makes a big difference just what you are training to do… Different goals require different efforts… obviously.

If one is determined to be a champion in competitive sports, extreme accuracy is vital and requires a lot of carefully aimed practice. No question about it. Those who play the game just for fun want to be accurate too, of course, but maybe not spend their entire lives and income in the process.

My single experience with shooting to defend my life demonstrated that my attitude, mind set and the availability of the appropriate tool was the essential part… since I had zero formal training at that point, and had not even handled the gun in a long time. [Here is a link to the whole story for anyone who has not read it. ]

At least partly because I had never really dealt with this, I chose to fire the gun over his head instead of center body mass. The fact that he chose then to run away in no measure changes the fact that I made a poor choice and it might easily have cost me my life.

My main purpose in shooting is to enjoy myself and to prepare the best I can to defend myself if it is ever again needful.

I also spend a great deal of effort teaching others, especially women, to empower themselves to take personal responsibility for their lives and safety – and that of their children and community at need. Most of that is a matter of attitude and determination, not hitting bulls eyes on a target, however satisfying they can be.

So, while practice with the weapon – whatever it is – is very valuable in many ways, it’s only a small percentage of the overall requirements for effective self defense. And, if a person gives all of their attention to the gun and the gear, they might find themselves unable to actually pull the trigger in the midst of the terror of a real confrontation.

And that would most certainly be a terrible waste. 😦

So, my advice to everyone is to determine just what it is you are training for… and instead of a rain of bullets… make every shot count, both on the range and anywhere else.