Professionals Dry Fire
If you carry a firearm for self-defense, you have an obligation to be professional—competent, skillful, assured. That means being both fast and accurate. Here's what that requires.
Pro·fes·sion·al
/prəˈfeSH(ə)nəl/
Adjective
- engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation rather than as a pastime.
- worthy of or appropriate to a professional person; competent, skillful, or assured.
This post is about the second one.
Practical shooting is the path to becoming a responsible firearm owner. It means understanding that a firearm—rifle or pistol—is a tool. Our reputation as owners depends on knowing how the tool functions, understanding the serious responsibilities it places on us, and knowing how to use it properly. To me, "properly" means being both fast and accurate. Not one or the other. Both.
A firearm is designed to protect life (the user's) and take life (the offender's). Nothing more. Once we understand this, we must recognize that the burden these tools impose is immense. As firearm owners and custodians, it's our responsibility to become as proficient as humanly possible. If we use a firearm, we must know exactly what we're doing. We must be accurate to protect the lives of those nearby. We must be fast because in this game, everything is measured in seconds—often tenths of a second.
From a civilian or law enforcement perspective, we start behind the curve. Why? Because both police officers and responsible armed citizens always begin in a defensive position. For us to engage in defensive use of force, a perpetrator must first initiate the sequence of events that forces us to react. Those are the rules—you will always be at a disadvantage in time. To successfully stop the threat and survive, you must be both fast and accurate.
So how do we accomplish this? If you're a law enforcement officer thinking "police academy" or FLETC, you're wrong. You get faster through practical shooting—a sport where shooters are scored on accuracy, power, and speed while solving dynamic courses of fire that involve movement and target transitions.
You cannot afford not to engage in this discipline. Understand its principles, learn the basics, then decide if—and to what extent—you want to commit. At minimum, you'll understand what's involved.
You will develop the habit of practicing nearly every day until you stop carrying or owning a firearm with the intention of using it, whether for sport or self-defense. For many, this commitment lasts until they can no longer physically handle a firearm. That's a lifelong commitment, because that's what this burden of responsibility requires.
Real practice is not just going to the range. Practice is dry fire—going through the full act of shooting with an unloaded firearm. You grip the firearm, draw it, aim at a target, and press the trigger. No live ammunition. No bullet fired. The pistol or rifle is loaded with weighted dummy rounds to simulate real-life weight. You use a timer and repeat the process endlessly to become faster and more accurate. You go to the range only to confirm that what you've been practicing is on track: you study the hits on your targets, notice how each shot felt, absorb every detail, then go back home and keep practicing day in and day out.
This is what makes you better. This is what makes you a professional. Be one.