Most people have seen video of a lion stalking its prey in the plains of Africa. As soon as the prey realizes it is being stalked, its first reaction is to freeze and hope it hasn’t been seen. When that fails, the next reaction is to flee from the threat. Only when it has no other choice does it decide, however briefly, to fight.
The last possible reaction to a threat is to fawn – to present oneself in a submissive posture, acknowledging inferiority. This latter is usually reserved for competition within a group rather than within a prey/predator relationship. These reactions are instinctive, having been incorporated into animal nature over millions of years. Interestingly, humans follow the same behavioral patterns, commonly known as the fight or flight response.
It's important to understand that the fight or flight response is instinctual. When someone finds themself facing a life-or-death situation, their body’s autonomic nervous system takes over and immediately dumps a cascading cocktail of chemicals into the bloodstream, preparing them to respond to the threat.
These chemicals cause a series of changes in the body and produce a set of responses that are predictable. The first reaction is for a person to turn toward the threat and raise their arms in a defensive posture. At the same time, they will crouch, lowering their center of gravity for increased stability. They will also bring their head more in line with the shoulders for protection. Blood flow is diverted away from the extremities to the body’s core which lowers the likelihood of excessive blood loss from a defensive wound. This change will increase the blood flow to the vital organs, which may be called upon to supply maximum exertion. Breathing will become rapid as will heart rate. The lack of blood to the extremities translates into a loss of touch sense and a decreased ability to perform fine motor skills. The adrenalin dump will cause increased strength but will also introduce body tremors. The body’s fine coordination will be reduced to the point where a person would find it difficult, if not impossible, to pick up a dime from the floor.
Eyes will develop tunnel vision, named for the experience of looking at light at the end of a tunnel. Peripheral vision will become limited so the eyes can focus on the center of their visual field. That’s where the threat is. Rather than decreasing, however, visual acuity in the center of focus will be much higher than normal. Some have reported being able to count the grooves on their gun’s front sight. Others have reported seeing their bullets fly toward their target. A person’s sense of time will be affected, sometimes being greatly accelerated, but more likely it will be drastically slowed to the point where everything appears to happen in slow motion. There may be a change in auditory awareness. Sounds are usually said to be suppressed. Many survivors say they were unable to hear the gunshots that they knew were happening around them.
The most amazing thing about these changes is that they occur without a single conscious thought. In fact, the body usually reacts, at least temporarily, on autopilot. People will react based on the way they have been trained, assuming their training has been imprinted to the point of being automatic. Instructors will tell you that a learned skill only becomes useful if it has been practiced enough so that it can be performed without thinking about it.
I recall a photo from a book titled Street Survival that showed a fallen officer sitting on the floor of a grocery market, leaning back against shelves of canned goods. He had been hit multiple times without returning a single shot. His gun was found at his feet with the safety still engaged. The caption read, “This officer died because he was unfamiliar with a semi-automatic. When he tried to defend himself during a robbery, he forgot the safety was engaged.” A smaller photo showed the officer’s S&W semi-auto with its slide-mounted safety on. It's easy to second-guess the officer and say he should have remembered to disengage the safety. The problem is that rational thought isn’t part of the fight or flight response. As a firearms instructor, the photo represents the need for better training. As a salesperson, it takes on a different hue.
Many instructors will attribute this officer’s death to insufficient training and may even use this as a prime example to justify their position. Training is important. But what if something as simple as an equipment change could have altered the outcome? If he had been carrying his previously-issued double-action revolver, he likely would have been able to return fire. To put a more modern spin on it, would a Glock have made a difference? The answer is obvious. The less complicated firing sequence of either could easily have changed the outcome. Just as important, no additional training would be required.
As a firearms salesman, the thought process needs to shift. There’s no way to eliminate the typical factors that drive gun selection; people are always going to have their own motivations, but judging equipment by considering it within the context of a deadly force encounter will help clarify equipment choices. This is precisely what firearms instructors do when evaluating their training. It’s what you should be doing as a gun salesman. Let’s look at a few examples.
Knowing the visual changes that will likely occur (it is the most frequently cited response), it becomes easier to figure out how to use them to advantage. The most frequent “solution” for tunnel vision is for instructors to teach students to intentionally pivot their heads so they can see areas outside their peripheral vision. Students are even taught to peek behind them in search of other potential threats.
We can’t eliminate tunnel vision, but we can recognize why the body responds as it does and choose equipment that will complement it. Survival dictates that the eyes focus intently on the threat. You’ll often hear police officers yell “show me your hands” to threatening subjects. That’s where the focus needs to be, since it’s where danger is most likely to appear. Our challenge is to allow that focus while trying to accomplish other complicated things that must be done.
Engaging a threat using a gun requires aiming. Traditional sights require a focus shift for a good sight picture, momentarily leaving the officer vulnerable. Fortunately, modern technology provides a solution in the form of holographic sights. No change in focus is required. The “sights” are effortlessly superimposed on the target as the gun is raised in the hand(s). The same is true for laser sights (lasers can provide additional options beyond the scope of this article). Another alternative might be highly-visible front sights that can be easily seen without changing focus away from a threat. Each of these solutions work to compliment the changes that occur during high-stress situations.
Moving on to the task of manipulating a gun when under severe stress, there are considerations to be made here as well. Handgun controls such as de-cockers, slide stops (used as slide releases), magazine release buttons, and even trigger controls are all affected by the lack of touch sense and fine motor skills.
The skills a customer can demonstrate at the sales counter don’t automatically transfer when the body’s fight or flight reflex is active. The inability to perform fine motor skills makes each of these controls harder to use. Hands that shake and fingers that can’t feel pose serious obstacles to gun handling. That crisp 3 ½ pound trigger may not be as appealing as it was at the gun counter. A fellow instructor compared these limitations to what it’s like to load a magazine when one’s hands are frozen and the body is shivering from biting cold temperatures. Trainers will recommend alternative methods of accomplishing the tasks. Someone focused on equipment will search for ways to reduce the need for them. Rather than multiple reloads under stress, a gun with high-capacity magazines may suffice. Instead of cocking or manually lowering a hammer on a 1911-style pistol, one might choose a striker-fired alternative.
None of this is new, nor is it a recommendation to skip, or reduce, training time. There are conditions that equipment changes alone will not solve. But there are just as many that can be improved by making the correct equipment choices. The beauty of this approach lies in its simplicity. One question can be used as a guide, “does the equipment choice make shooting easier or more complicated? A Glock doesn’t require disengaging a safety. A holographic or laser sight doesn’t require looking away from a threat.
As you help your customers navigate the myriad choices available, never forget that self-defense imposes additional strains on the defender. The body has adapted responses to these strains over millions of years. They remain as instinctive responses because they work. Let’s choose equipment that works with rather than against them.
