According to Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted 2007, 55 officers were killed by gunfire last year. 27 of the officers killed were within zero to five feet from their offender and another ten officers were between six and ten feet from their offender. Two of the officers were killed with their own firearm.
So why are agencies still devoting so much of their allotted training time to shooting from the 25-yard line and beyond? Why are agencies still treating firearms and defensive tactics as separate disciplines?
I'm not suggesting that we stop practicing shooting from distances greater than ten feet, but I firmly believe that we need much more comprehensive training in close quarter shooting. When faced with a deadly threat within five feet, we have to be proficient at fighting with our gun.
We may have to use our non-gun hand to strike or to thwart incoming strikes, creating an opportunity to draw our firearm. Additionally, we must be prepared to protect our firearm from this range to avoid being disarmed.
The Two-Handed Close Quarter Shooting Position
The closer an offender is to you, the closer you need to bring your firearm to your body. This will enable you to better control your firearm and reduce the chances of the offender avoiding the muzzle and attacking you.
To illustrate this concept, let's assume that your arms are fully extended with your muzzle on target. As the offender approaches to within 15 feet or so, you should retract your arms so that your elbows are in contact with the sides of your body and the firearm is held near the center of your torso. The firearm should be held just far enough away from your chest to prevent the slide from striking your body if you were to fire the weapon.
The contact between your elbows and the sides of your body serves as a "reference point" to ensure that your body and firearm are properly aligned to the target. This is a very important concept in close quarter shooting, since you won't be able to bring the weapon sights up to the level of your eyes as in more traditional shooting methods.
This is a very stable position that affords you a great deal of control over your firearm. If the offender grabs the firearm, you should be able to extract it from his grip. You have a solid two-handed grip, leaving the offender with an inferior grip.
The One-Handed Close Quarter Shooting Position
Using your firearm within five feet of the offender (where the vast majority of officers are killed each year) is even more complex. Fighting from this distance requires you to pull the firearm closer to your body to maintain control.
To transition from the two-handed close quarter shooting position to the one-handed version, use your non-gun hand to strike or defend while simultaneously pulling the firearm back as far as you can. Cant the slide away from your body to minimize the chance of the slide being caught in your clothing, which could cause a malfunction.
It's important to have a physical reference point to ensure that your muzzle is orientated to the target, since your view of the firearm is even more obscured than with the two-handed version.
Some instructors advocate having your thumb contact your nipple to ensure the firearm is properly oriented to the threat, while others suggest using the bottom portion of the magazine to contact the body. Whichever method you choose, use it consistently.
"Master Grip"
It's critical that you maintain a master grip, with your finger along the slide rather than in the trigger guard. In a life and death struggle, your hands might instinctively clinch. If this should occur, the last place you want your finger is on the trigger.
While its true that the use of deadly force may be warranted, that should be a conscious decision of your part based on the totality of the circumstances. Remember too that the dynamic nature of the confrontation may cause the muzzle of your firearm to cross paths with a portion of your anatomy. Shooting yourself is never a good option.
It's all in the draw
When dealing with potentially lifesaving tactics, commonality of technique is of critical importance. What's nice about the close quarter shooting positions is that you probably already incorporate them as part of your normal draw stroke.
The one-handed shooting position is performed when you draw and orient the muzzle to the threat. Once you start to extend your arms and achieve a two-handed shooting grip, you are in the two-handed close quarter shooting position.
Seize the Offense
If possible, shove the palm of your non-gun hand under the offender's chin to tilt his head back. From there, drive him back and assume the one-handed shooting position as described above.
Once you've compromised the offender's balance, you will have triggered an important change in his mindset. Now instead of focusing on what he's going to do to you, he is concerned with what's happening to him!
Fend and Transition
Unfortunately we can't always immediately seize the offense. When this is the case, we have to minimize the damage we sustain while transitioning from defense to offense.
You could use your non-gun side elbow to protect your head momentarily by positioning it either horizontally or vertically.
In the horizontal method, use the contact between the crook of your arm and your forehead as a reference point. In the vertical method, placing your palm on the back of your head serves as your reference.
The idea is to withstand the initial barrage of punches, knife slashes, or bludgeon swings and draw to the one-handed close quarter shooting position to engage the threat with accurate rounds.
Why not a "Contact Shot"?
While it might be tempting during a close range gunfight to deliver a contact shot by placing the muzzle of your firearm against a portion of the offender's body and shooting, it's usually not the best tactic. It will generally cause the slide on a semi-automatic handgun to go out of battery.
Always have a Plan B and never give up!