Editor’s Note: Firearms and self-defense laws vary widely by jurisdiction. Readers are responsible for understanding the federal, state, and local laws that apply to them. This article is provided for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional instruction. For self-defense training, consult a qualified firearms instructor.
These days, carrying a defensive pistol with you every day is a major driver of American gun culture. A 2021 study by the National Shooting Sports Foundation showed that personal protection and home defense was the reason why people were purchasing a gun, and that trend shows no signs of slowing down.
In many cases, just having a pistol with you when it’s needed will be enough to tip the odds in your favor. Another study from 2021 showed that in 81.9 percent of encounters between violent criminal actors and armed citizens, all the armed citizen needed to do to come out on top was deploy their firearm in a timely manner. Not send rounds downrange, just show the bad guy that they are willing and able to take things to the next level if they must. That’s better than four out of five times.
This changes everyday carry from being just a good idea into being a mathematical fact. Everything else we’re about to talk about assumes that you have a defensive pistol with you whenever and wherever it is legally permissible to do so. This is the basics of everyday carry: Carrying every single day. What are the next steps?
First Step
Let’s begin with your ability to send accurate rounds downrange in a timely manner. Accuracy is theoretical if you can’t get your pistol in play when it’s needed, so a smooth, efficient draw from concealment is an essential part of mastering everyday carry. How fast your draw should be to move beyond the basics of EDC is a matter of heated discussion within the firearms training community. However, it’s pretty much assumed that if you can successfully complete a Tueller Drill, you’re in pretty good shape.
When it comes to accuracy in a defensive encounter, the only hits that matter are the ones that might be able to stop the threat. The good news is that standard results in a fairly large “bullseye” area, about 4” to 5” across. The bad news is that if you miss the target altogether, you can put someone else in danger. That is an unacceptable outcome.
Consistent, repeatable hits can help avoid this potentially tragic outcome. However, those hits also need to be made as quickly as possible, and the correct balance between the two depends on the target size. Note that I did not say “target size and distance,” as a 2” target at five yards is just as difficult to hit as a 4” target at 10 yards. The challenge then becomes understanding how much information from your sights and how much trigger control you need to quickly make the shot.
This can vary greatly. A large, close-in target requires little to no information from the sights and not necessarily a lot of trigger control, while a precise, long-range shot will mean you need to pay close attention to your sights and how they are moving (or not) as you press the trigger. Doing all of that is going to require more time to get the shot off.
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Finding out the correct balance is a matter of practice to find out where your limits are and then improving your skill so you can make the shot faster and more accurately. A good standard to begin with would be the 5×5 Drill: Five seconds to send five rounds into a 5” target that’s five yards away.
From there, move on to “The Test,” a creation of noted instructor Ken Hackathorn. This is 10 rounds into an NRA B-8 target that’s 10 yards away in under 10 seconds. Your goal in this drill is to score 80 points by getting all 10 into the black scoring circle. Shoot this first from the low ready, then up the ante by shooting it out of the holster from concealment.
The Next Step
Right now, some of you are saying, “Gosh, that’s all great and stuff, but I’m capable of doing all of that on-demand right now. What’s next for me?”
Being able to shoot a 5×5 on demand is an indication that for you, the application of grip, stance sights and trigger has become an automatic action. You no longer have to think about getting into a proper shooting stance; you just do it. You can press the trigger without moving the sights off-target, and you know how to speed up or slow down depending on the difficulty of the shot. What’s next for you is seeing the shot quicker and then being able to call your shot the instant the gun fires.
Both of these are mental skills more than they are a physical skill like pressing the trigger. Seeing the sights means watching your sights as they lift off the target when the gun fires. Ideally, the sights should go straight up and down. This means that you’re controlling the gun and the gun was pointing where you wanted it to be when you pressed the trigger.
If the sights move up and to the left or right, you have issues with your grip and trigger control. If the sights dip as you press the trigger, you’re anticipating the recoil. Let the gun shoot, then bring it back on-target.
Ahead Full
Calling your shot builds on this skill. If you see the sights lift and settle back down where they were before you pressed the trigger, you can reasonably assume you made the shot. A good way to practice this skill is to shoot Col. Jeff Cooper’s El Presidente Drill. This drill requires you to face uprange, then turn and draw to send two rounds each into three targets that are 10 yards downrange, reload, and then do it again. While this seems simple, in reality, it combines a lot of high-level pistol techniques into one drill.
The first is picking up the target as you wheel around. Your target here is not directly in front of you, so you need to acquire it on the move. The second is a smooth draw and press out, then confirm two hits on the target. What sets the El Presidente apart, however, is the need to switch targets at speed. Now being able to track your sights as they come down off the target and are swung over to another target becomes vital to doing well in this drill, and it’s a handy skill to have in a real-world encounter as well.
Measured Reponses
Moving beyond the basics of everyday carry also means being able to deal with more than just the threat of lethal force. A firearm deals with the threat or use of lethal force at a distance. That’s all it does. As such, having something with you to deal with other sorts of attacks such as a violent, angry drunk or deter an attack from that sort of person makes a lot of sense. This is why I carry a small canister of POM pepper spray so I can deploy it just as quickly as I can deploy my defensive pistol.
Speaking of quick-deploying defensive tools, when lethal force gets up-close and personal a fixed-blade knife that can be easily accessed by either hand means you can create space and either move to safety or deal with threat another way.
Lastly, there is emergency medical care to deal with. Let’s say you do everything correctly and stop the threat using an appropriate amount of force. However, in doing so, the bad guy got a round off and now you’re looking at arterial bleeding in your left leg. Having gear like a tourniquet and a pressure bandage on you rather than near you makes sense, just like having your defensive pistol with you rather than near you makes sense.
Moving beyond the basics of everyday carry means accepting the fact that you will be the first responder to any potential tragedy which may come your way. Our attitude needs to match that of an old Polish proverb that goes, “Lord, grant me a sharp sword and no need to use it.”
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