Locked & Loaded
(my opinion)
You may only have seconds to defend yourself. It needs to be quick, simple and not messy. Ready to draw and fire if necessary.
What if you only had one hand to draw with? If your other limb was: injured, supporting yourself, holding onto something you couldn’t let go of, or blocking/fending off a sudden attacker at close range (arms length). . . how would you rack the slide?
If an assailant was running towards you from 30 feet away (only 10 yards!), how much time would you have?
“The average person can cover 30 feet in less than three seconds. That’s not some track star, that’s the average pizza-eating, beer-swilling guy on the street.”(1)
What about stress! When your body gets into a danger-situation, you get a shot of adrenaline going, it will probably take twice the time to react to the situation than it normally would.
Just drawing the weapon sometimes takes some fumbling even when practiced. Add to that, the added fumbling of slide-racking. All of which, remember, is being influenced by the added adrenaline. Adrenaline or epinephrine, same thing different name, is responsible for the flight-or-fight response. Your heart races, breathing becomes increased and your fine motor skills are diminished and hands can get tremulous.
If someone were to draw a gun facing you and they racked the slide on their weapon, how would you interpret that? To me, not only drawing but intentionally racking the slide would be an aggressive action. I would interpret that as the fight is on, and if I had no other choice, I would engage that person for my safety. I would think that an assailant might also have the same interpretation.
I’ve often thought about the empty-chamber carry mode. Can ya tell? People unfamiliar, or should I say not real familiar with carrying, often think it would be “safer”to carry empty. Sorry, but I could not disagree more. We carry a firearm to protect our safety and possibly those around us, . . . why compromise that?
If you have a good holster that covers the trigger, and are practiced in drawing the gun by keeping you finger off the trigger until you are on target and ready to fire; and off the trigger when reholstering, there should not be a problem with safety. If drawing and reholstering a loaded gun makes you feel uneasy, practice with a for-sure unloaded gun, a lot! Practicing with an unloaded gun is invaluable. Carrying an unloaded gun can be dangerous.
(1)
http://www.policeone.com/writers/columnist...rticles/126802/