Good Monday Evening, another new week, another update. This past week has been a news filled week unfortunately a lot of it quite troubling. As much as many of us wish we could live isolated from the rest of the world, that just seems not possible. I am not much for conspiracy theories, I have a few friends who get big into them, but honestly, I find the theories to be somewhat maddening. With that said it is hard to deny there is a feeling, or a sense that the trajectory we are headed on, whatever that may be, may come to an apex at some time. I do not know what that may be, what that might entail, or even when the tension we feel in the United States will pop. It is just a feeling I have, and I know others who feel the same way. Troubling.
I do not have any meaningful updates on the website to report this week. Which usually means I will provide a bit of thoughts on the current events. The one thing that really got my attention was the Daunte Wright case which happened on April 11th, 2021 and has since exploded into the latest controversy regarding a ledge police bias. I do not wish to dive into the conversation over the particulars of the case, only to wish for all of us to learn a bit from this.
We must recognize that muscle memory is real and can have real negative consequences. I do not believe there is any reason to suspect this officer was incompetent, and I have not been presented with any evidence to suggest she was deliberately trying to do anything but carry out her prerogative as police officer. People will point out how a taser is different in many ways over a pistol evidence would seem to indicate that it is different enough as a google search turns up three similar events in the last five years. It is easy to pick it up and note the differences when you are calm, it becomes a whole different scenario when you have adrenaline pumping and the situation is high stress, the differences are clearly not enough.
As an individual who carries concealed daily, what can I learn from this? She obviously acted on muscle memory. I do not know about the particulars of the training she went through, but the consequences of her actions, seem to suggest perhaps she practice her pistol draw more often and more frequently than her taser draw. Remember, in a stressful situation we do not rise to the level of our training, often we fall to the lowest most practiced aspects where the muscle memory is strongest. If we train to draw and shoot right away, if encountered with a scenario where we need to draw, we are highly likely to press that trigger right away right or wrong. Therefore, it is important to draw, assess, and then shoot only if it is prudent. This means we also train to draw, assess and then holster.
I am not a certified firearms instructor, and I have not been in a situation where I have needed to use a firearm, though I have attended a few training classes. I have been my experience that every teacher presents and emphasizes different aspects to the drills. Yes, there are instances where you must draw and fire as quickly as possible, and there is the saying “You must be ready to fire a pistol if you draw it, anything else is brandishing.” I think had the officer paused for just a moment, she might have realized the mistake she was about to make. I realize that is easy for me to type, but I do believe it is a failure in training.
If it is a case that this was a failure in training, then that should alarm us. We all like to believe that police are trained to be next level shooters. However, that is just not the case. The pistol is only an exceedingly small part of what police are trained on, and in many instances, requirements are to pass a once per year qualifier. Police training costs money, and as we know from paying for training classes, it is not cheap. Ammunition, time away from work, paying for training and range time. This costs money. Whenever there is police shooting, justified or not, there is a very vocal outcry that police need to be defunded. This may mean police departments budgets are cut. This leaves departments understaffed, but the long-term impact of this means the shoestring training they have is going to be threadbare. These types of events are destined to become more, not less, common. It is quite troubling.
This is a tragedy; Daunte Wright was not a saint. Not by a long shot, he was a criminal, he had a felony warrant. The police were doing their job by confronting and arresting this man. The way media spins it, the narrative that this was an innocent man pulled over and killed for a minor traffic violation is false. An officer made a mistake, she discharged her firearm negligently, causing the death of a man, a criminal, but a man, nonetheless. Both of their lives are irreversibly changed, two families are shattered, and that is the unspoken tragedy that no one will talk about.
Not much else I have to say on that. On a more positive note, and if you are a history buff, you will appreciate this. An Amicus Brief was filed by the Firearms Policy Coalition to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on April 5th, 2021. This really details the history of repeating arms and how these arms were not only known by the Founding Fathers but were likely handled by the members of the First Continental Congress in consideration of fielding them during the Revolutionary War. The brief is a dry read but worth it and should be something everyone who is interested in Firearms Right’s gives a glance at. The link can be found here: FPC Amicus Brief April 5th, 2021
As always if you are looking to get in touch, best way is to send me an email jay@theballisticassistant.com. You may check us out on Parler, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit. If you’d like to submit a load to our load database, the instructions are here.
As always, shoot straight and stay safe!
The Ballistic Assistant