One thing you can depend on about crooks is that they are not going to stand there and face you like that B-27 target does on the shooting range. The smart crooks – those are the really dangerous ones – are going to wait until you are at a disadvantage or do what they can to put you at a disadvantage.
They may wait to make their move until you are sitting down. They may linger until you are walking across the parking lot with your arms full of groceries. Or maybe you dropped your keys and have knelt down to pick them up; that would be a good time for a crook to make his move. Or, they may just attack from an angle and knock you down. The possibilities are endless, and all of them are better than facing you head-on like Matt Dillon did every Saturday night.
All of this is reason enough for the armed citizen to practice his pistol presentation from some of the odd positions that a person may have to deal with. Taking a table and chair to the shooting range and working on pistol presentation and shooting from the sitting position is an excellent idea (provided the range allows for it). Working from a vehicle and having to deal with a seat belt is also good practice, where safe. Don’t forget kneeling and lying flat on your back.
It is an even better idea to practice these unorthodox positions during dry practice (conducted with a triple-checked empty firearm in a room where no live ammunition is present). One should make special effort to perform a pistol presentation without covering any part of their body during the process to avoid potential injury from a negligent discharge. It is a good idea to take a moment and think about the various physical positions one might encounter and work on techniques for getting the gun into action.
Such practice will also give the shooter some important insight into the particular choice of defensive handgun and carry mode. You may need to draw with your weak hand; can you do it? And, one has to only consider the injury that would result from falling on your gun to realize that the small-of-the-back holster is not a good idea.
Take time to think about what ways you might be attacked in the real world, and then work out ways to deal with it. Life isn’t fair and crooks take advantage of that fact. Work on unconventional shooting positions and situations. You’ll be glad that you did.
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