Wow… so where does one start?  I just finished a full 3 days of training (in class and shooting) with amazing instructors and people at this event called – Tac Con (Tactical Conference) and it was my first. I have always said that the 2A community (in person not those keyboard warriors) is the best. It’s the community that if you lost your phone, that you would get it back as someone turned it in. Anyways, after doing the Rangemasters Instructors’ course the weekend before in Beaumont and then driving to Dallas the next weekend… it was a busy two weeks.

At any rate, I KNEW that I would love it even before attending as I knew some of the folks and instructors who had been and the great things they said about that conference. I had been trying to get in for a few years and just happened to get in in May last year for THIS year.. yep, THAT EARLY… so when you sign up for something just about a YEAR ahead and it books so fast, you know it has to be good.  Tom & Lynn Givens and their whole team put on a spectacular event… so much so that just a little post on social wasn’t enough. Plus, I wanted to be able to share more about the instructors and a reminder for myself, so here we are.

Before I begin, let me advise, there are 4 two hour blocks each day, for 3 days. Each of the classroom sessions, anyone can go to, no need to register for. The live shooting classes, you email Tom and his team your top 5 choices and he returns with what he can put together for you and this year, he said that everyone got their top 4 choices… so you will see mine. And let me say, that I had a HARD time 1 – choosing my shooting classes and 2 – choosing my classroom sessions. I even had to miss out on a few blocks I really wanted as I was doing something else, but also kept in mind that putting priority to someone that might not being doing this much longer, had to take precendence. So.. here goes:

Oh… just in case you don’t stick around til the end.. scroll down to the bottom for some pictures!

What You Should Know About Defensive Shooting – John Farnam (Classroom)

John, a well known instructor and a wealth of knowledge in his many years… a legend, for sure.  John took us through the journey of a self defense incident… to understand the legality of a self defense shooting, what it looked like with law enforcement and the court system. He discussed traveling with firearms and various training priorities.. however the focuse was mostly on taking a case from the beginning and using various cases many of us are familiar with for examples.

I took some notes and here are the highlights:

• disengage and separate
• don’t fail the attitude test
• courteous to everyone, friendly to no one
• create a tape loop – preset responses for what to say, when… that way, it’s in your subconscious and ready
• be prepared for civil charges in a self defense case (for that poor baby boy who is a 10x criminal)
• best way to keep from getting hurt, don’t be there in the first place
• your gun comes out, you are likely to be arrested, be prepared for that
• don’t consent to search, if arrested they will likely do it anyways, but make it known
• don’t talk to anyone in jail, etc
• expect to pay a lot for an attorney (my note – be sure you have coverage, insurance, ask me how)
• if you seek counseling, note that therapy visits might not be protected from discovery (or any conversation to be advised)
• statements made at the scene drives convictions as bad guys can’t keep mouth shut, learn from their poor examples

Pistol Match Preliminaries

I don’t think I mentioned.. there was a pistol match.. and not the type I am more used to, but a standing still one, with various timed strings at a few distances, at a smaller heart mass target with the target presenting itself and then disappearing (the time part).  Then, the second part was timed, but based on your time and a hit factor sort of equation where you shot so many shots at the head and then two at the nose/eye socket and then two at these two little freaken “parrots” – (read: tiny freaken ass circles)… and your time + points down gave you a score. Well, run and gun I have but something I am working on this year is back to my “before competition” accuracy which used to be on point.

Anyways, this was the 2nd time slot of the conference, no idea what to expect but did it cold anyways. After all, you don’t get do overs, warm ups, or knowledge about wtf is going to happen to/around you in the real world. I think I ended up 116… ( since I went to look it up, for reference…. of approx 350 attendees, 250 bit the humbling bullet to shoot it) … so hey, top half, not bad.. and let me tell you, these aren’t just every day EDC people. (posted my score for my reminder) These are folks who have done this conference for years… decades, these are folks who are firearms instructors (and I’m not talking the ones who took a class and got a certificate but ones who practice what they preach, do the work, continuously), who are industry greats, who are serious about their personal safety and take to the range on the regular. So, what I am saying… they are GOOD shooters. Sure, I should have done better, but I’m happy with how I did and bet your ass I will do better next year.

Then, they take the 8 top ladies and the top 16 guys and do a competition on Sunday afternoon. This match is head to head and at the ‘go’, you draw shoot at a mannequin silhouette – it must be shot in the middle of the nipples (the heart zone) and it MUST fall before shooting at the second, and then the third and after that one you shoot at a steel popper and the first one down wins. Best 2 of 3 and then 3 of 5 to determine the 1st and 2nd places.  That was intense but fun to watch as well.

Defending the Self Defense Shooting – Massad Ayoob (classroom)

OMG, he is another legend… I have listened to a few of his audio books and they are just absolutely amazing. His voice is very distinct too so if you hear it, you know who it is. Anyways, this one was like Farnam’s but to the nth power… he also shared various examples of cases he sat on, assisted with and some others that we all know.  He brought up some myths and other things to consider as well. I knew that Mass, like Farnam, aren’t going to be teaching and around forever so be sure to take their classes as soon as possible, it’s well worth it.

Some highlights of his lexture:

• Affirmative Defense – because if you did it and justified in doing it, there isn’t a “fight” to prove that. It isn’t intended to be a confession or an admission, just stipulating/maintaining that we did the act. Then it shifts burden of proof back to prosecutor to prove it wasn’t self defense. And if you did it, and it was self defense, you should be taking the stand.
• Jury brain – work with your attorney to be sure that when the day or week ends, that the jury isn’t sitting on all that the plantiff had to say.. so be sure that you (the Defense) gets some arguement in, or facts before a weekend adjournment. You don’t want the prosecutor’s side to be the only thing the jurors stew on all weekend.
  • a liet that is not contradicted by truth is seen as truth (doesn’t mean it is, but the jury brain may see it that way, all weekend)
• Saying it was an “accident” changes from murder to manslaughter… but if it’s an accident, how can it be self defense then? hmmm
• Discovery – get it personally and professionaly taped
• What to say to cops after self defense – find the middle ground of spilling guts and saying nothing – 1 – establish act, he attacked me; 2 – indication of compliance, I will file complaint and testify, remember you are the victim here (there are only 2 sides – good guy v bad guy); 3 – point out evidence (before it disappears), casings, weapon; 4 – point out witnesses before they disappear; 5 – then STFU, no need to plead the 5th but do invoke your right to remain silent, and do it, and be sure your attorney is already notified.  Practice this (like the tape loop Farnam mentioned) so you won’t forget.
• Show what could have happened if you hadn’t shot the aggressor
• Use experts as consultants (like Mass ;) )
• He covered various cases to check out
• understand disparity of force

It’s Not Your Dumb Hand – Erick Gelhaus (shooting)

First, Erick and I hit it right off the bat.. we connected even before roll call, so I knew it would be a good class.  He’s a lefty so I think he taught this class so he wouldn’t have to work so hard at showing us right handers how to shoot left. LMAO  But it was great that he showed a few different ways to shoot left handed and we did various drills. Sadly there wasn’t much time to take notes down in most of the shooting sessions.. and it was my first shooting class on day one, but I know I took some nuggets of different ways to shoot one handed, that I will work through to improve my left hand only shooting and to help others as what works for me doesn’t mean it will work for everyone else.

Oh, I almost forgot, one of the really cool things we did was various left hand holster draws. We started dry, which something like this, is a no brainer and to err on the side of caution, but I think we all handled it like a boss, then could proceed loaded, IF we wanted to, we all did. So, luckily I am appendix carry because omg, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to try to reach a OWB or IWB from 3-5 o’clock position. Anyways, if you carry there, you should definitely try it, because you may be surprised!

All of these are grabbing with your support hand. Anyways, the first one was twisting your hand to where your knuckles are on the body side and unholster, but you have to be sure you have a good grip. It was interesting because it seemed most men in this class couldn’t do this – maybe a flexibility issue or just a muscle structure issue. Those dang muscles getting in the way. LOL The the alternative to that, to which we all tried as well, was to grab it “like normal”, lift up slightly and then turn it while still in holster but pulled out a little and go from there.  Next up.. super interesting… grab and place between your legs below knees and slightly pointed back to where it is behind your heels (not muzzling your own feet, key!), then flip your hand to grab it, but the key here was to index your finger up against your leg so there was no chance of grabbing the trigger. And my favorite I think, was grabbing from holster, taking your gun side foot and putting farther back than a fighting stance (closer to a back lunge but not completely), putting the slide top in the bend of your support side thigh/groin, while pushing against that area and using for support, flip your hand around and get a good grip then go. I felt so much more secure in this one. My least favorite was the turn in the holster one, I didn’t feel like I had the leverage. But the cool thing was, I know how these techniques work and I can practice them at home with an unloaded firearm, with a dummy gun, recoil airsoft or whatever to get in some reps. Pretty cool!

Pistol Mounted Optic Exploration – Wayne Dobbs (shooting)

Well, here we are again, this iron sight girl trying to figure out this optic shit. I KNOW it is a faster target acquisition, especially for movers and distance or smaller shots but for some reason, transitions after shots and quick movements, haven’t lent to getting this shit down. At any rate, I took this class with an open mind and it was cool some of the things he brought up. One was a different presentation.. which I think is already a little different for women v men as we have something men don’t – boobs… so it’s either above them or below them! LOL At any rate, I have been dry firing my optic with his suggestion and I can see how I can find it faster.

Also, he brought up a different thought with how our one hand grip then is married with the left and that usually pushes the gun to center.. interesting but duh moment. (this may not make sense to you, but this was also reminders for me).  Then we shot with dot off.. to “see” what happens, which is usually just fine with closer targets.  Further, we found the center, then shifted the dot up out of sight and shot twice, re center and shift dot off to the right and fire twice, same to the left and the bottom.. and we were still in the 8″ circle.. so this just reassures that sometimes we don’t have to “SEE” the dot to know it’s there.  And lastly, we are not focusing ON the dot itself but the target and firing when the dot come to that spot on the target. This makes perfect sense but I think I might have been searching for the dot v focusing on the target and letting the dot come into play. Anyways, lots to work with and hope to take another class on optics beyond the basics for more reassurance.

The Dauntless 10X Challenge – Jim Shanahan (shooting)

This was another exceptional live fire class working on several different baseline drills, which different but I can totally see how they are super valuable. Special thanks to my partner Diane and the SO Steve Miller who relayed the directions to us as it was too freaken loud to hear, sometimes, what the directions were.  So, his drills remind me of how I tell ladies to dry fire: it isn’t about doing ‘all the things’ but breaking things apart and working on one skill/task and then moving onto the next. With his, we did compressed speed break, finger straigh to “slap trigger” focusing on a good grip, then some bullseye target shooting at different distances, to help determine your times from different distances, low ready, just the trigger press, etc. Anyways, he gave us a card to record our times with our partners and we took times down for the other, so a great class to work on baselines for various things, and something I can work on for myself with other times to record… and of course share with my students. Do YOU know your numbers???

Responding to the Active Shooter – Lou Ann Hamblin (shooting)

I had taken a class with Lou Ann before, but years ago and completely different topic/class so wanted to check this one out. And didn’t know what this was going to be about considering the topic and that it was a shooting class but I was in for it. Well, she took some of recent or predominant mass shooter events and we “reenacted” their shooting movements, to which.. they HAD to be distance.. well, of course they did. LOL  So, we shot quite a bit from distance… we guestimated our distance.. closest was 20 yards and farthest was 40 yards?  And we shot at half silhouette steel and some small lollipop steel… then another time we had swinging paper good guys in front of those steel targets controlled by another person in the class. Quite inventive target set up I might add. Anyways, it was a great practice and that picture on this featured image was taken by a photographer walking around the conference. (Proud moment, Tom Givens even shared it in his Rangemasters and Rangemasters Instructor FB groups showing good fundamentals as the casing was just above the gun and gun/sights were already back on target – talk about recoil management, at a distant steel target and quick shots.)

MUC (Managing Unknown Contacts): Source Code – Craig Douglas / Shivworks – (hands on)

This one was more so classroom but we watched Craig and his partner Scotty show some different ways strangers can engage with you and what you CAN do to help de escalate or act… but ideally, you don’t want to shoot first and you don’t want to have to fight, but you should be prepared for all of the above. Ideally, you want to NOT be in that situation in the first place but sometimes shit happens or a decent conversation can turn quickly.

Some notes – before my pen ran out of ink:

• “Unequal initiative” – either did or didn’t see it coming, or misread the intentions. Usually one person ambushes the other
• “Proportionately armed” – both have same “weapon” knife v knife or hand on hand, etc
• compliance does work, so don’t forget to consider it
• most people don’t imagine a gun fight on the worst day
• a criminal event: 1 – happens close, 2 – likely more than 1 guy; 3 – there are always weapons
• we don’t always train in the typical situations but in ones that are comfortable
• typical reasons why we don’t – costly, injury, not as flashy or fun, want to leave feeling better not deflated, something we suck at
• the more distance we have, the more time we are given
• wing span is the typical average confrontation
• 10 out of 10 times, the first one to move will win (action over reaction)
• our vision is at a constant state of flux – so easily distracted and not being aware while trying to be more aware
• expand span of awareness therefore easier to detect early onset
• be aware of task fixactions (= distracted and more targeted)
• judge by demeanor not appearance
• establish boundaries, don’t open up to dialogue if you can, don’t piss them off – create a soft boundary
• If they don’t respect that, they maybe didn’t hear, emergency, deaf, etc… so repeat and turn from ask to tell, volume up, not insulting and MOVE – arc sideways, not to rear or increase distance by take a 45 angle opens you to your 6 and off the x… next use hands as fence/barrier, to help protect head and close to gear, not pressing out
• pre assault cues – grooming gestures, hand movement around face/head, (psysiological/psychological reaction/theory related to skin temp, etc), glances around, weight shift (load up), or repetitive hand movement (near weapon) – so note.. body language
• if you can escape, do so
• if with a child/family member, pushing them behind you not great as you don’t know what is behind you, so again, arc with them.

The Modern Woman Shooter – Tatiana Whitlock (classroom)

Well, being a woman, I kind of already get what the modern woman is, but wanted to see what Tatiana had to say and she brought a great presentation about the 3 generations of shooters, trends and how to serve these women. It was a great overview of that. She also covered what a woman’s experience could and should look like going into the gun range and often what it ends up being, by different personas. The 3 personas/generations were Millennials, Gen X (which I am all too familiar) and Boomers.  We covered who these ladies are, what she’s looking for and why, what she deals with, her decision making, her retention and who she is after she is trained. Each of these women are represented, but they have different needs and everyone – trainers (men and women alike), gun stores, ranges, sports’ stores… all need to consider each of these.

Because women are NOT a smaller version of men (thank you Dr. Stacy Sims), we covered the differences of men and women under stress.  Dopamine v norephinephrine driven; action and reward v alert and aware; focused v emotional awareness; reward after action v longer processing to fully understand…. men act and solve, women notice and process. We both have different stress and different strengths. One isn’t better than the other, just different and we need to treat them as such.

Then we covered the various roadblocks for women – confidence gap, concealment reality, skill decay, social risk, wardrobe… and it goes on and on… so/too much to “highlight” so go take her class. lol  I have to say, this and Mass’ class was my favorite classroom session.

Teaching in an Over Stimulated Culture – Lane Thayer (classroom)

So, this also wasn’t what I expected, but Lane presented it in a great way and made it engaging, which.. duh, was the point of this class. Lane has a lot of experience in this, adult learning as he teaches ‘baby cops’ as he likes to call them… talk about over stimulated! lol  It’s clear and easy to say how this world is sooooo distracted… heck, people are even distracted being distracted (right Nathan? iykyk).

So the highlights:

• we covered the definitions of learning, teaching, what takes student’s attention away and attention loss
• effective instructors learn how to promote learner engagement because adult learners learn best when they are engaged. Hmm, novelty!
• So, how best to do this – these strategies/tools for engagement:  1 – the power of what’s in it for me (the student) and to be sure instructors have their own WIIFM statement for each class; 2 – effective questioning to engage; 3 – use small groups; 4 – use trickery if necessary (ie “making” folks do things they may not want to do before they know they are doing it); 5 – use technology to your advantage
• student learning is a priority (otherwise, what are you teaching if they aren’t learning? hmm)

Target, Bullets & Body Parts – Chuck Haggard (class but had live demo)

Sooo, I WAS going to go home since I had a long drive and the only classes left were shooting ones and I wasn’t shooting all day anyways, and my girl Annette said, no you have to go, if you haven’t taken a class from Chuck, he’s great. So off I go, and I’m glad I did. Sure, I understood the difference between ball/FMJ and self defense rounds and was reminded about targets from Tom Givens in the Rangemasters Instructor class the weekend before, but this was also great recap and learned a bit… and was able to see shots of various ammo through some ballistic gel.. kind of badass and glad I went.. plus super interesting.

So the highlights and notes:

• aim small hit small but be sure you are hitting the right things. Hitting the leg, gut, arm, skip off the head will hurt them, but won’t stop them dead in their tracks, be sure you are hitting what you need to in order to stop the threat
• do this by practicing with targets and hitting the zones that you need to practice with. Ie hitting in the heart, not the gut like typical silhouette target X zones and in the eye/nose socket not just anywhere in the head.
• lungs typically collapse slowly, can be 30-40 min to fully collapse and you can live with 1 lung so a lung shot isn’t a win
• FBI protocol penetration is 12-18in and can go through 4 layers of denim and still mushroom, then it’s good. If not, consider it a failure.  Think about that, your bullet needs to penetrate 12-18 in to get to the heart of someone. How much clothes are they wearing, thick like jeans or leather, etc… or are you hitting them at an angle and/or going through arms first before ribs and heart, etc.. it needs to be effective.
• FMJ/Ball ammo for self defense is causing an issue with safety rule #4 – know your target and what’s beyond it.. so if you aren’t carrying quality self defense ammo, it will likely go through your bad guy and then into innocents? A 9mm FMJ can easily go through 2-3 people

So…. to round this weekend up.. it was freaken amazing, Tom and Lynn Givens, Doctor Tiffany and the team who set it up, all of the instructors, the Dallas Pistol Club/Range, the 3 food trucks that came during our full hour lunch to eat and mingle were awesome, the bathrooms were roomy (porta and concrete buildings), the tents for the classrooms were nice, the pistol match was awesome, the live shooting sessions were fabulous and the people… ohhhhh the people, were the BESTEST!  I can’t wait to see them all again next year!

A few pictures below.. because I was so busy taking notes in the classes when I could and shooting safely and no time to take notes let alone take pictures – the only bummer part.. but got a few. :)  And hijacked other folks pictures to have a few more… and Kish.. how in the F are you NOT in any pictures.. you still a fugitive? lmao  And the chocolate, still amazing and I am still enjoying it from the freezer, appreciate you a ton!  I swear, I will take many many more pictures next year!

~Kristen