By Bruce Alexander
Officer.com has an article by Steve Denney entitled “One-Handed Shooting; Another critical and neglected skill” with a very valid application to Executive Protection. One of the points Denney makes in his article is that sometimes you have to play the cards you’re dealt and if that means shooting with only one hand, so be it.
There’s plenty of situations in Executive Protection that shooting with one hand is a very real possibility, notably when you are trying to move your principal during an attack. In fact, you are far more likely to have to shoot with one hand in Executive Protection than most other situations.
If you are responsible for providing “body cover,” then instinctively you reach for your principal and start to move, if that’s an option. However, if you are on a small detail where there isn’t the option of leaving your principal to engage the threat, shooting while engaging and moving off the “X” with your principal in tow, might be your only choice. Like Steve Denney says the time to learn to shoot with one hand is not when the shooting starts.
Great article, very important! Working in the armoured car industry I can think of many instances where your hand will be full and you will need to rapidly draw, acquire target and fire while moving to cover; the need to be able to reach your firearm with both hands and remove it from a level II or III holster is crucial, further to reach your ammo, the ideal is to carry your gun and ammo where they can both be reached, same for intermediate weapons (O/C, baton, taser if you carry) For those that carry a gunshot kit that also should be reachable by both hands. The challenge comes in the placement; the ideal is to carry on the front of the abdomen for dual reach; but in the EP/CP realm, firearms are often carried covertly under a blazer on the belt or hanging from the shoulder with ammo on the opposite site, most guys are able to reach both sides and practice to remove and safely handle the firearm safely. Between grabbing and pulling/pushing your principle or opening/closing doors or pulling your partner to safety if the principle is already being looked after by other team members. Training is something that you can never have enough of. Great post by “Bryan Adams”.
Makes you wonder though, we have names of famous singers working in EP/CP….Bryan Adams and Chris Brown lol.
Bruce, your article is right on the “money” the real-life possibilities of required one-hand shooting. Nice!
Yes, it’s a great point of course. And I think that by watching dash cam vids of OIS (few EP shootings available), people start realizing that a lot of the square range stuff goes out the window as soon as it’s for real. A lot of people end up shooting one-handed, and for us in EP, it’s almost going to be a certainty for the reasons mentioned by you guys.
Now how does this mesh wish “Israeli carry” (kidding)?
Bruce, your spot on. Good post!
That’s spot on. I was trained when necessary to grab my principal by the belt if he’s behind me, and get him the hell out of dodge, or by the arm or even neck when he’s in front, tying up one hand for sure.
Very good info. We must train for the possibility that one of our hands is either occupied with the protectee or even worse, injured to the point of being useless. Being a confident shooter with both hands is a must, as is the ability to perform a one-handed tactical re-load with either hand. Train…Train…Train.