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In case you are not familiar with Tom Givens you need to catch up. He runs a very progressive training venue in the Memphis area that focuses on street reality and what skills are needed. He has put together a great article with a synopsis of what 64 of his students have faced when using a gun in defensive circumstances and it is well worth the read. I also highly recommend his book "Fighting Smarter", probably the single best book I have read on the subject of street survival.

http://americanhandgunner.com/when-citizens-fight-back/

Thanks...I have been teaching the same concepts since 1992 but it is always be nice to get some more information for another point of view....book ordered...

Do you know if there is a review somewhere of all the confrontations that his students have been in...

Thanks...

Bob

just seems like a huge sector of Memphis residents, trained by this guy, wind up in gun fights.
I wonder how that compares to Memphis residents that were not students of his.
When you look at the "Armed Citizen" column in the NRA magazine, you don't seen anyone that was a trained graduate of a shooting academy.
The numbers just seem screwy to me.

.....and this statement:"As the global war on terror winds down, ". Who is he kidding? Winds down? Is the rest of his article more accurate?

^^

He's running a business.

Sam, I think it's because an overwhelming percentage of his students own/run businesses that are likely to be robbed. When you factor probability pre-class into the equation, the end calculus makes a lot more sense.

IIRC all/most of the students that were noted in this sample had simply taken their concealed carry class at the Given's facility - not one of the many curriculum classes he offered.

Memphis is a mean ass place (Check the UCR stats if you have doubts) and out of thousands that have taken their CCW classes from him a certain number of them have been involved in uses of deadly force and reported that involvement back to him. Don't read anything more into the study than that.

The takeaway from his findings simply mirrors what's been going on everywhere in the world from the get-go; the common denominator to being successful in an armed encounter is being armed. Your gun, holster, grips, sights and ammo do NOT determine outcomes.

Only your skill and will matter. Unless you just get lucky ..... or not.

Seemed like a good article to me. I have not had Sherri pratice with her 9mm at any range beyond 7 yards. And we need to do more work at even closer range together. Mr. Givens sounds like he runs a school that we would be interested in.

Given's facility in Memphis is defunct as of last year. He no longer conducts concealed carry permit classes but does offer on-site firearms training around the country at various host sites.

http://www.rangemaster.com/memphis-range-operations/
http://www.rangemaster.com/calendar/

The sheer number of armed robberies alone is incredible in that area and when you look that the volume of students trained vs those in shootings it is a small percentage.

I would be interested in the "win" percentage of students that have been involved in shootings that have attended any school. I know Gunsite maintained similar info in the past and used it to shape some of their curriculum but that was in the Bill Genes era and I dont know if it continues. It seems like anyone with a genuine desire to be proficient and is willing to pay for a school will already be well ahead of the curve vs the person that buys a gun and thinks that is good enough.

I thought the most interesting aspects were the lighting conditions and ranges involved. I dont recall where I saw it but someone did an analysis of almost 500 shootings from the NRA magazine "armed citizen" and had some interesting stats as well, such as one handed vs two handed, times a reload is needed etc.

I think where examination of shooting such as this pays off is the ability to focus training time and resources on skills that are most relevant. Details of several shootings are covered in his DVD and he also provides several when he gives a seminar. I know he has been doing a ton of traveling but was not aware he was no longer running his school in Memphis.