Who is the Amateur Street Predator?
By · CommentsToday I will discuss the basics when it comes to one type of typical Street Predator.
When it is said that it is a jungle out there, they are correct. That is why through Maricopa Tactical we created The Urban Jungle, to prepare legal citizens, law enforcement and military for an ever changing dangerous society. Avoiding dangerous and potentially criminal types of people may seem obvious and a no brainer, however to maximize your safety you will have to interpret people with a much broader outlook. This identification process is many times more difficult and aggravating than it was in previous generations. The stereotypical “gang banger or street hood is not as prevalent unless you live in an area that is saturated with them. They tend to stick out like a sore thumb in sub-urban or family type of neighborhoods.
Don’t assume just because someone has a good reputation, dresses nice or is a fringe type of friend that you are safe and can generally let down your guard. There are an infinite amount of dangerous situations as well as Predators to deal with.
It is impossible to see into someone’s mind and soul and understand what he or she is planning or could do to you in a situation. I categorize the Predators in predominant categories. Some may be a combination of more than one, but that is up to a qualified psychologist to unravel.
In my experience and that of law enforcement experts, is that there are several general types of criminals. Below gives a basic breakdown of one of the main types of criminals I will review.
The Amateur or Wannabee
Typical Crimes: Assault, Aggravated Assault, Armed Robbery, Rape, Murder, Drug Related Crimes
Type: Ego based Animal
Identification: Male, 15-24 years old, 5’7 to 6’0 tall, 160 to 190 lbs – Mixed Race Catagories
Behavior and Movement:
a) Apparent that he is looking for a fight
b) Usually walks with a cocky attitude
c) Elbows pushed away from the torso
d) Verbally Aggressive and rude to people close
e) Eye contact can trigger a confrontation
Tactics: Primarily uses a Regular or Escalating Interview. Sometime explodes rapidly into a Hot or explosive interview if he is overconfident in the attack
(Interviews to be explained in a future segment)
Positioning: Prefers multiple associates for confidence boost.
Will use: Cornering, Surrounding, Closing and Surprise Positioning
Predator Advantages: Uses primarily Aggression and Intimidation, a Regular, Escalating or Hot Interview and Comfortable in using others to assist. General Attack Time Frame: mid to later in the evening
Weapon System(s) 3″ Knife, Small Impact weapon, Ice Pick, Small handgun, razor, chain or Fists of Fury
Predator Disadvantages: Easy to Identify approach and ruses. Not polished, but overconfident
Best Defense: Use you situational awareness and create as much evasion distance as possible, stay in open well lit areas, understand basic quick physical strikes, carry a Non Lethal option such as an OC pepper spray, a knife and a small handgun that is concealable and be familiar moving and drawing from concealed carry.
These are other types of Predators to review in the future
*The Professional or Experienced
*Mentally Altered, Drug or Alcohol Induced
*Psychotic or Delusional
*Opportunist or Manipulator
Each type of criminal has different levels of danger, as well as behavior signals and tactics that they use.
Preparation or lack of is only as good as the time you spend realistically preparing.
Good Luck,
Mark Volpone
Mark Volpone - Maricopa Tactical
Shoot Straight or Don’t Shoot at All!
By · CommentsThe psychological, physical and situational aspects of pulling the trigger when it counts in personal protection situations.
Shooting for sport is an exciting and heart pumping activity. It crosses the threshold of a light and easy activity up to the point of an unprecedented attack against you.
A wise man told me early on in my professional training career that any anticipation of surviving a violent attack in a split second requires you to instantly evaluate, decide and fulfill protecting yourself in an unprecedented horrific manner. This could be a short lived victory if you are not mentally prepared to lose everything.
If you are not prepared to lose everything in the face of your greatest fears even with consistent preparation, then the ability to fulfill and protect your life when it counts may be squandered. Life is a battle for civility and justice in a cynical and judgmental society. We all have our own ideologies, bias behaviors, and are inherently skeptical. Most people are in good conscience however typically predisposed with self gratification, and demand instantaneous results. This is what you potentially face afterwards by your peers if you are ever confronted and survive a lethal Shoot or Don’t Shoot situation! In respect for words that you write and have recorded, and with all of the comments to others regarding protection issues, will all be held for scrutiny under the microscope of public flogging.
Many professional Instructors have been trained to bring a higher level of techniques and positive motivation towards students self protection and preservation. But what is sometimes overlooked and missing is a major societal component. One of the misguided aspects of fairness and justice is for the most complicated of situations, Personal Protection. It is more than teaching how to use protection techniques to clarify your performance in a controlled or even advanced training format, with or without the use of deadly force. There are many great instructors and practitioners dedicated to exceptional training for mans ability to do the right thing in a life and death situation at the worst possible time. It is naive to think that if you only focus on the basic structuring of important facts relating to front sight, grip, stance, tactical movement and other issues that you will be alright. In real time training we can simulate a variety of ways to inspire thought and clarity in Shoot/Don’t Shoot situations. From simple static drills to mechanical target movers, realistic paper targets and video based scenarios are by far many of the tools we hold for our students in presentation and form.
As difficult as it is to create different kinds of training situations that may occur in an attack, makes the realistic training aspects more appealing to students. If you asked professionals in the psychology world how to interpret different people’s reaction to pain, fear and potential death would be an overwhelming task to say the least. We want to do the right things in an explosive situation, but we truly don’t know if the time and situation will be generous for us to comply. When people make exterior arm chair assumptions without all of the facts in, then are they not just exposing what a modern lynch mob really is? Shooting a human for even the very best trained physically, mentally and emotionally stable person is by far a dicey malaise at best.
To shoot or not is generally assisted with our technical shooting abilities, warrior spirit, confidence and sometimes unorthodox bravado. However it is impossible to test a person’s soul until the unfortunate measure of life and death brush against or hit you directly. Either way the aspects of personal protection are realized subconsciously in the blink of an eye. Can you strengthen your technical personal protection skills? Yes with serious and well thought out training, practice and a realistic primary and backup plan. You can work on mental preparation skills, with visualization and awareness training, avoidance of obvious entanglements and learning what and how to deal with the options and issues that you can control. That is right; you can control most of the aspects of your personal protection with preparation. However no one can inexplicitly manifest the exact reaction it will take to trigger a constant adaptable reaction for every situation necessary in modern day survival. The closest ones to that in society are our brave and highly trained Special Forces.
Unfortunately you cannot walk around with the switch in the ON defense position for planned and specific periods of time. You then risk the potential of a slight or greater future mental malfunction that looms in the space you create internally. Be cautious of the finger you point over others life and death struggles, until you have the fulfillment of facts to generate a reasonable and rational conclusion. Shooting real people and the training it takes to be resolute in your decision under threat, fear or potential death is usually more than any calm and comfortable bystander can comprehend.
Shoot Straight or Don’t Shoot at All in defense is far more then training alone, it is a life result.
For more Personal Protection and Firearms Training go to www.maricopatactical.com
Listen to Mark Volpone live on Talking Guns @ www.arizonagunradio.com
Wednesday Mornings @ 7:40am on 12.60am or 96.1fm, Scottsdale AZ
Mark Volpone - Maricopa Tactical
Shoot like a TANK
By · CommentsHello,
This is part of the Tactical Tool Time - Shooting Fundamentals Clinic. In shooting as well as any other sport a stable yet movable body position is crucial for exceptional performance. The value of connecting your mental preparation, physical strength and reactions as correct body technique is vital to efficient shooting. There are very important shooting fundamentals that every shooter must challenge correctly in order to be fully effective. Stance, Sight principles, trigger control, grip, follow through, breath control and mental prep. Your goal is to have a Shooting Stance like a Tank. Yes that’s right a fully capable M1 Abrams Human Tank. This is adaptive to all shooters whether male or female. The shooting stance in basic form is the platform from which all beginning and advanced shooting derives from. Today we will discuss how to develop a stance like a Tank. Now don’t go getting ahead of yourself, but only visualize the Tanks abilities in similarity with a shooters primary shooting platform. Like a tank, you need a solid yet movable base with a gun turret that can move and adapt with or without the base lined up for the shot. A good shooting stance will 1) Reduce excessive Body Movement, 2) Assist the Handgun Steady when aiming and firing, and 3) enable more efficient follow through in controlling recoil.
Whether it is for Sport, Protection or Competition, the upright standing position(s) that you adopt for yourself is very important. Until the 1950s virtually all Defensive and target Shooting was done using a One Hand duelist type stance. Some modern Bulls-eye and competition still use this type of stance. An adaptive modified one hand stance still has a place in current Defensive and Tactical Applications. In the late 1950s shooting professionals and the FBI realized that Two Hands on the Gun were much more Stable in holding the handgun steady in Defensive Situations.
One handed shooting with your primary and your support or alternate hand should be practiced. It may not be comfortable and you feel a little discombobulated, but basic familiarity and precision should be practiced regularly for defensive purposes.
Whether at the range or other training environment the Tank style two handed stance needs to be trained and stabilized. The stance or position you used at the range or tactical applications should be similar or the same. A relaxed shooting position has little relevance to a defensive postured stance that you may need in a real world defensive situation. So your dry fire, basic range practice and advanced tactical training should be relatively the same. How you train is how you will react and adapt to a dangerous situation.
There are a two main known and widely used two handed stances. Both of these stances have several Hybrid modifications for specific uses. Both stances have advantages and disadvantages. You need to shoot enough to tweak the benefits and comfort for yourself.
The standard Isosceles as two equal sides of a triangle and a Weaver platform is known as more of an interview stance.
Standard Isosceles – Top View
Now there are too many modifications and adaptations to fully explain but a will be brief. Isosceles is very functional in what I would setup a shooter in a more combat oriented isosceles, and a weaver stance adapted to a combat modified fighting stance. Both of these stances need to have one thing in common, “Brace for Collision”. We find that a Hybrid Combat Isosceles or a Combat Weaver stance can be functional for sport or personal protection. Combat Weaver is a good adaptation depending on the gun type, caliber, situation, physical strength, experience and flexibility issues. The traditional weaver stance is bladed at a 45 degree angle to the target. The general isosceles is structured to face the target more direct. The weaver stance was initially developed for police pistol shooting competitions. Several adaptations and modifications are still widely used to as a popular shooting platform today. The weaver intent was used to stabilize the heavy revolver for better control with the two handed grip. This was not a popular concept in 1959. This stance has evolved a bit and is widely popular and used worlwide, however it quite often since the 70s has been overshadowed by a modified isosceles stance. The weaver stance has some great features, but many shooters as well as police officers under stress are noted to revert back in combat to a more natural point of aim stance, resembling the modified isosceles platform. Depending on the gun style, caliber and situation, modified shooting stances of both types are widely used.
In a basic isosceles, face the target with feet both facing forward, feet approximately shoulder width and comfort. In a Combat style isosceles the strong side foot or shooting hand is placed back 3 to 8 inches (More Stability) with your ears a little forward of the shoulders, the shoulders over and forward of the hips, with weight distribution over the feet with a slight lean forward. This can be more identified as a Boxer or fighting stance. In a combat Isosceles you would bend your knees slightly, lower your center of gravity which is a little more aggressive, and create good static or movable balance. Use your glutes and hamstrings to push into the ground to help stabilize your position. You may also find that squeezing your chest and biceps on the gun extension will help you teach your body how to react better to the isosceles shooting presentation. Some may need to apply a push pull method on the gun to stabilize it better, similar to a weaver stance. In isosceles position, if the biceps and chest are properly squeezed you will not have to lock the elbows out, even for larger caliber semi autos.
Standard Weaver Stance
The Weaver Stance has two components. The first component is a two-handed technique in which the dominant hand holds the pistol or revolver and the support hand wraps around the dominant hand. The dominant arm’s elbow is nearly straight while the support elbow is noticeably bent and angled down. The shooter pushes forward slightly with his or her dominant hand while the support hand exerts rearward and slightly downward pressure to lock the gun in your hands better. The resultant isometric tension is intended to lessen and control muzzle flip when the gun is fired. The second component and most commonly known, is the positioning of the feet in a interview stance, with the off-side foot ahead of the strong-side foot. A right-handed person will have the right foot angled out to the side and further to the rear. Most of the weight will be on the left foot, with the knee slightly bent. The shoulders will be leaned forward over the left toe. The right foot behind will help catch the force of recoil, as well as allow for rapid changes in position. A left-handed person will have a mirrored and opposite position.
Whatever Stance you practice, get experience on other types of alternate and tactical conditioned stances. You never know when you may have to switch from a combat isosceles to some form of weaver or one-handed stance, or alternate hand, so you need to practice them all occasionally.
Good Luck,
Mark Volpone
www.maricopatactical.com
Mark Volpone - Maricopa Tactical
Honor Starbucks -Carry your Gun on St.Valentines Day!
By · CommentsToday is Valentine’s Day, a monumental commercial exploitation of romance and a lot of men’s toughest endeavor. This usually means doing something in a romantic way, i.e. expensive on that day and night for your wife, special girlfriend or spouse. We all attempt to do whatever it takes to do something Romantic without a catastrophic result.
Well the anti Gun (NGAC) National Gun Victims Action Council, is boycotting “today” Starbucks for their Support of Not Banning Guns Legally from their coffee houses in accordance with City and State laws. A CCW permit in some States may be required, so go get your grande mocha latte and YES proudly spend your money and carry your Gun to Starbucks to get your coffee or tea to support private property rights and the second amendment. Do something that actually that may reinforce our second amendment rights! All Women, please participate! Starbucks has held firm in cities and states in accordance with the local laws as Not to bend to Liberal Insanity about carrying guns legally in Starbucks locations. Always check to make sure that your local Starbucks is Not Posted with a No Guns sign before you participate in a counter boycott against the left wing nut jobs. They are convinced that if guns are boycotted at Starbucks today, February 14th, and we ban guns entirely, there will be 97 percent less homicides yearly as compared to England in the future, WHAT!
I must say that the idiot factor is on the rise again with Liberals. So again I ask that all sane people that are supporters of freedom and the 1st and 2nd amendment of the US Constitution to carry your gun in your State “LEGALLY” on St. Valentine’s day at Starbucks. Proudly order your Grande Mocha Latte or whatever your coffee or tea favorite is, and let it be known that we will not go quietly into the night because of a group of liberal freedom suffocating nut-jobs thinks the world will be a better place especially for the day, if we just restricted people from carrying guns in a private business such as your local Starbucks. They want to cut Starbucks sales down, so go buy a coffee at Starbucks today “Legally Armed”!
Buy Starbucks This Tuesday!
Elliot Fineman, CEO of the National Gun Victims Action Council (NGAC) announced last Monday that its members will boycott Starbucks starting on St. Valentine’s Day to protest the company’s resistance to demands that they cease serving customers who may be carrying weapons, open or concealed. Its purpose, according to Fineman, is “to eliminate the risk of guns in public places and ultimately to bring sane gun laws to the U.S.” Fineman claims that his group is “a network of 14 million gun victims” and that his boycott is being supported by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, the United Church of Christ, the Fellowship of Reconciliation along with other secular groups that also support the anti-gun movement. Fineman said: Starbucks allowing guns to be carried in thousands of their stores significantly increases everyone’s risk of being a victim of gun violence. Open and concealed carry are among the reasons there are 12,000 gun homicides each year in the U.S. If we had England’s gun laws we would expect 375 gun homicides each year-97% less than we have. England’s gun laws are based on protecting public safety, ours on maximizing sales for the gun industry… Our boycott will reduce Starbucks’ stock price by an amount no rational company would allow.
It was two years ago that the Brady Campaign launched a similar boycott of Starbucks that “failed miserably”according to Dave Workman, senior editor of Gun Week. Noted Stockman: “Starbucks made it plain in 2010…that it [would] abide by local and state laws and [would] not discriminate against a certain class of customers. Many open carry advocates began patronizing Starbucks…as a show of support.”
Workman asked NGAC rhetorically just how many incidents have there been in the history of Starbucks, which opened its first coffee house in 1971, involving a legally-armed citizen that resulted in criminal violence? Answer: not a single one.
Good Luck,
Mark Volpone
www.maricopatactical.com
Mark Volpone - Maricopa Tactical
Dry Firing is a Safe and Effective Training Tool
By · CommentsToday I will give you an outline of probably the most important training tool for shooters. Dry Firing is a great training tool for all levels of shooters. Dry firing means practicing without live ammunition. Practicing by dry firing will improve your skills quickly, and usually at no to low cost. There are some advanced dry fire options with laser technologies that do have some costs, so I will give an overview below. By safely utilizing dry fire methods of training prior to, and in between live fire shooting sessions, can increase your shooting principles, speed and fundamentals incredibly. Most new shooters have been told because of incorrect information that dry firing their handgun will damage the gun. Nothing could be further from the truth. All center-fire or standard target, protection and competition guns can be safely used for this method of training. Notice that the gun is doing nothing different when dry firing than when you are live firing except for the lack of live functional ammunition. The best dummy rounds are here @ ST Action Pro. Get the training dummys @ http://www.stactionpro.com/action-trainer-dummy-rounds-c-1.html
The only guns you will not want to dryfire are rimfire .22cal handguns.
Also there is an advanced laser dry firing handgun designed and used by competition shooters to work on all of their basic shooting fundamentals. It is called a SIRT pistol in G17/22 size and is will be available in other sizes and manufacturers guns by end of 2012 I was told. Shot Indicating Reseting Trigger PRO is about $450 to your door. No FFL required!
This site may be of some assistance to some shooters in dry firing. http://dryfirepractice.com/
Speed will come with practice!
1. The first step you must take is to make sure your gun and any magazines are empty or have non-firing dummy rounds and the muzzle is pointed in a safe direction!
Muzzle dicipline is always important and is necessary here as well as at the shooting range etc..
2.THEN DO A QUADRUPLE PHYSICAL & VISUAL CHECKâ€
This means check your body, pockets and all of your surrounding of your dry fire area to remove ALL Live ammunition or magazines. Check Four Times to Verify this! At any time during the dry fire training you are disturbed by a call, someone or something is distracting you, please cancel your session until the next time. This will keep you honorable to how important this training is.
3. If dry firing is a new concept for you, then at first try to do it pointing the gun at a safe and potentially bullet stopping area in the rare case that you have a mental malfunction or are careless.
4. Practice your grip, sight alignment and sight picture, continuous trigger press as well as drawing your handgun from a external or concealed holster, and working on a stable shooting stance. These are just a few basic and intermediate fundamentals to work on in dry firing.
5. It is a good idea to purchase professional Safety or sometimes called dummy rounds that allow you to load, unload and do malfunction drills in your dry firing. These are non firing rounds. The best ones have a steel or brass case and a plastic colored simulated plastic bullet and usually Orange or Yellow. If you choose to have a reloader make you some I caution you that they may look like a real round of ammunition, and could lead to many problems if mixed up with live ammo. If you then want to paint the bullet, make sure you have no primer or powder in the round and beware that the paint may come off in loading and sick in the chamber of the barrel. It is worth the expense of good dummy rounds. The ones made from all plastic tend to chip off at the case lip and will not always extract from the gun.
Dry Firing TRAINING Develops
1. Better Hand and Eye Coordination (Basic)
2. More Effective Sight Alignment and Trigger Control (Basic)
3.The Reduction of the Arc or Oval of Movement of the Gun (Basic)
4.More Uniformity and Consistency in your Shooting Capabilities (Basic)
5. Assistance in Method and Form utilizing Proper Shooting Techniques (Basic)
6.Confident External and Concealed Carry Draws (Intermediate/Advanced Application)
7.Moving While Drawing your Handgun (Advanced Application)
8.Engaging Moving Targets (Advanced Application)
9.Judgmental Shooting Ability (Advanced Application)
10. Stability in your Stance(s) (Basic)
11. Comfort in Malfunction Clearing and Reloading (Intermediate Application)
12. Use of a Flashlight in Low or No Light Situations (Advanced Application)
Good Luck and Start Practicing,
Mark Volpone - Maricopa Tactical
Mark Volpone
www.maricopatactical.com
