Handgun Redirection: Same But Different

Master These Simple Ideas or Flounder in Your Handgun Defense to the Front.

Essentially, I’m asking you to understand the size of the redirection necessary to clear the line of fire – allowing the defender to continue with the defense and complete the exercise beyond the line of fire issues. This is particularly important, as reducing the time to complete your handgun defense increases the probability of success.

The key is to understand how and why the required size of the redirection changes at various distances, while preserving the understanding that the actual movement is nearly identical at virtually every reasonable distance. To begin to understand this in practice, I’d suggest starting with the most defense-friendly scenario in the handgun from the front defense, as described below:

1. Ideally, a handgun defense would be made at a distance that optimizes the benefit that each increment of redirection measure (use inches as a go-by) “buys” the defender’s torso (in this case). In short, two inches of redirection at a distance of 12-15 inches from center mass should be sufficient to clear the line for fire for the defender using the hands, body, feet movement principle. That same two inches is entirely insufficient at leaving the line of fire if the handgun is a mere four inches from center mass. And, this must be understood and put into practice operationally and in real time.
2. Ideally, the distance from center mass that the handgun is presented will facilitate non-telegraphing movements as the defender moves his/her hand to the handgun for the purposes of redirection. Often, this distance is also in the 12-15 inches range for most people. This distance will vary to some degree based upon size, height, shoulder width, etc. But, a handgun at this distance “fits” with the human “build” and allows the defender to move naturally in ways that are not especially awkward or telegraphic (as opposed to handgun touching the chest for instance).

Once you’ve found the optimal distance for your body (I bet it’s 12-15 inches), begin the process of bringing the handgun closer to your torso. You’ll begin to see that the muzzle redirection out of the line becomes larger and larger and hiding telegraphing movements as you approach the handgun during redirection becomes progressively more difficult. Good. This will facilitate two outcomes: (1) You’ll become more familiar with the necessary redirection at various distances until this become intuitive, and (2) You’ll take more care in managing telegraphing movements at various distances.

Walk in peace…