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  BASIC FIREARMS TRAINING

An article from Mossberg Firearms 12/2020

Training and educational requirements vary from state to state for obtaining a license to carry a firearm. Some classes focus more on  legalities while others highlight safe gun handling skills. Training beyond your CCW classes is crucial. We should all be lifelong students concerning all aspects of utilizing a firearm for self-defense. Being able to run your gun effectively, incorporating safe gun handling skills  and comprehension of gun laws are all essential. 

However, to be a truly responsible gun owner, it requires the additional training of your most powerful weapon for self-defense: The mind. 

Critical Thinking

A firearm is a tool and only as effective as the shooter. You may have a gun, but this does not mean you now have the absolute means to defend yourself. As gun owners we must begin to think beyond the gun. This is where critical thinking skills and situational awareness come into play. 

Some people believe their gun makes them invincible. We must remember that in a threat situation we could be encountered by someone who also has a firearm coupled with more training and better gun handling skills. 

When you own a firearm the primary goal should be never having to use it. This can only be accomplished by utilizing critical thinking skills and good situational awareness.

4 Ways to Sharpen Your Situation Awareness

Understanding and incorporating situational awareness should be a crucial part of our everyday lives.  Our go-to reaction should always be to avoid. To put it simply, we must pay attention to our surroundings and make purposeful decisions. This sounds like good common sense and should be simple enough; however, the reality shows this is not the case for most people. Consciously practicing good situational awareness will sharpen your critical thinking skills and eventually become second nature. 

Here are some basic principles that you can start utilizing for yourself  as well as your family.

Where to Start?

 Gut Instinct: One of the most vital strengths we have is our gut instinct. We cannot ignore that still small voice telling us when something or someone “feels off.” We often dismiss this feeling as paranoia or over-reacting. If you sense anything that seems abnormal, acknowledge this, and do what is necessary to avoid them or the situation. 

 Don’t Be a Soft Target:  Many people think that only women or children are easy targets–this is not the case. Right now, the number one identifier of a soft target are people on their cell phones. Being on our cell phones, either walking or sitting in public keeps us zoned in on our phones and unaware of what is happening around us. All our senses are focused on our phone making us an easy target and oblivious to our surroundings. If you must be on your phone, stay aware, look around and pay attention. Stand with your back against a wall while scanning your surroundings as much as possible.

Body Language: Demonstrate confidence. Walking with your head down or shuffling your feet for example, gives the appearance of a timid or weak person. Walk with your head up, look around and make eye contact. It is ok to look someone in the eye in a non-threatening manner. This is not a stare down or scowl of intimidation. Making eye contact simply lets people know you are aware that they are there. It allows others to perceive you as      non-submissive and prepared

 Scan your Surroundings: Pay attention to people, entry and exit points, possible escape routes, potential obstacles, etc.  An example would be where you position yourself in a restaurant. Is your back towards the door? Do you know where all the exits are if there is a threat or emergency? It can seem overwhelming but one way to really start making this a part of you and possibly fun for your family is to turn it into a game or fun quiz afterwards. 

Ask questions like: Where were we sitting?  Who waited on us?  Where were the exits? What were the people like around us?  Doing this, or something similar is a great way to develop critical thinking skills and situational awareness in others. This can be done for restaurants, the grocery store, parks, basically any type of public place or atmosphere. 

Training your mind with critical thinking skills, situational awareness, and the ability to recognize a true threat situation is the most valued training you can have. 

These are just a few key points to steer you in the right direction. There are many firearms instructors who provide valuable classes that teach these points in greater depth. I would encourage everyone, firearm owner or not, to seek this type of training. If you have accepted the responsibility of owning a firearm, the responsibility to train in every aspect needs to be accepted and encouraged as well. When this is truly understood you will be on the right path to being vigilantly prepared. 

Gunshot Wounds: What Happens If You’re Shot?

BY WILBURN ROBERTS PUBLISHED ON FEBRUARY 8, 2021 IN GENERAL

Splinters from bullets, bouncing bullets, organs moved about in the body, shockwaves —  the bottom line is, actual damage from the bullet is what occurs!

Preparation is priceless.

While we may choose the proper handgun and ammunition, as well as a proper holster, we ignore dealing with the worst scenario.

Let’s talk about what happens if there is a gunshot wound.

Editor’s note: This article isn’t meant to be medical advice. Consult a doctor for a professional opinion and always call 911 or seek emergency assistance if there is a life-threatening gunshot wound.

Why Gunshot Wounds Happen

Getting shot may happen at any number of junctures. There have been negligent discharges in shops, on the range and during training classes.

It isn’t always getting shot in a gun battle. It is always a good thing to be prepared and know how to take care of a gunshot wound. No matter how much training, whether it be personal-defense classes or just time on the range you have had, an accident can happen. At home, at the range, anywhere, at any time. Nobody wants to end up in that situation, but always be ready to take care of yourself if you end up taking a bullet or someone else is wounded. On the bright side, only about 10 percent of gunshot wounds are fatal. It is possible to survive a gunshot, maybe even multiple wounds, it all depends where the bullet goes once it enters your body. Getting it under control is what matters, because almost all fatalities from gunshots are due to blood loss. There are many myths concerning bullet wounds. Handgun bullets make an entrance wound of caliber diameter. The bullet then penetrates to damage bones or organs. Secondary missiles thrown from the bullet are rare. Bullets don’t bounce around in the body, although a round-nosed bullet may bounce off bone to an extent. Bullets don’t have enough energy to bounce around in the body. Secondary infection may be a real problem, but that is a concern after you treat the initial injury. Quik Clot is a miracle device in some ways.

How to Handle Gunshot Wounds

You can get shot anywhere, so I’m going to break down how to take care of different gunshot wounds on different areas of the body. Some places could complicate issues a lot more, the head or chest for example. Of course, your best option, if you can, is to make it to the hospital as soon as possible, if not, this should help you out. 

HEAD: If someone takes a shot to the head and is still conscious, start off by sitting them up and leaning them forward so blood isn’t getting caught in their throat. If they are unconscious, lay them on their side and pull their knees forward to keep them in that position. Keep applying pressure to the wound to slow down bleeding, make sure you don’t use tourniquets around their neck while applying pressure to their head as well. I have arrived and witness an individual set bolt upright after a bullet flattened on his brow. Another case saw a bullet follow the line of the skull and exit the rear of the scalp, with little permanent damage.  If you deploy something be certain you know how to use it! 

Chest: A gunshot wound to the chest can be very serious. A lot of people tend to call them “sucking chest wounds.” The reason for that is you face a major issue of a lung collapsing. The first thing you need to do is get some kind of occlusive dressing or bandage for it. What that is, is an air and water-tight trauma medical dressing. They normally have a waxy coating to provide that seal you will need. That way you are closing off anything from entering the lung. Use that and some pressure when applying it and you can drastically help something that could quickly turn into a fatal issue. Another thing to take into consideration with a chest shot is how far it went through them. There is always a chance that it went far enough through to damage the spine. That’s why it is important to have them sit upright and keep them as still as possible. Sudden movements can cause serious damage to the spinal cord, which can ultimately result in permanent paralysis. If the heart or major blood vessels get hit, there isn’t much you can do. You will definitely need medical help.  This is the author’s handy surgical kit. If you are not trained it is worthless.

Arms And Legs: Now on to the arms and legs. Like before, the main thing with these wounds is to keep pressure on them. Watch for skin discoloration, welling and hemorrhaging. These can all be signs of internal bleeding. This is when you need to be very careful, because it can be fatal. Try elevating either the arm or leg as well, because this may help some with the bleeding. If the bleeding will not stop, you may have to use a tourniquet. A tourniquet is a medical device that helps slow down, but not cut off, the blood flow to whatever limb you are using it on. You can also make one out of a rope and stick if you don’t have a medical one. Fasten it high and tight on the limb. You may have some side effects from using these, such as nerve damage or soft-tissue damage. But, if the person you are helping is losing a lot of blood quickly and nothing else is working, it is better to try and use a tourniquet than for them to end up losing an arm or leg. Even then, it is better to lose a limb than your entire life. There is also a possibility that a bone was injured during the shot, and in that case you would need to apply a splint. Another main issue is organ damage, which often results in organ failure. If that happens, there really isn’t much you can do at that point. Tissue damage isn’t anywhere near as bad. 

The thing about bullets, is you never know where they are going to go. 

Once they enter you, there is no promise that they will tear straight through. They may strike bone or they may stop in the solid organs. They may even hit more than one organ, and tear through arteries and veins in your body. Just one gunshot to the arm or leg in the wrong spot can kill you if you’re not lucky. We will never know what path a bullet is going to take unless we have observed the exact angle. All we can try to do is help the person once it’s happened. A belt may be used to stave off blood flow in an emergency.

Aftermath Effects 

I know you’re probably terrified by now, but think about it this way, statistics show that you only have about a one in 514,000 chance of dying from a gunshot wound in America — but then, the possibility is endless. Keep in mind that number comes from a lot of deaths, such as mass murders, suicides and gun-handling accidents. Some of which can’t be prevented. That’s really low and, like I said before, most of those deaths are from blood loss not being treated properly.

If you make it to the hospital with your heart still beating, you have a 95 percent survival rate! Most survivors of gunshots say the worst feeling was their blood running down them, and said it feels like an “intense burning sensation.” My friend Trevor remarked it was like getting hit by a strong boxer. (His was a 7.62 x39mm hit from a ‘Terr.’) Most people’s problems come with dealing with the aftermath of a gunshot. 

PTSD

A lot of gunshot victims, survivors, suffer from PTSD afterward. Recovery can take from months to years. Leaving the person emotionally scarred for a lifetime. About 77,000 people in America are recovering from gunshot wounds each year. No one is alone in this. There are therapy groups for victims and special counseling they can go to that may help put their mind at ease. All of the factors I showed above help out in gunshot survival, but there are many, many more that lead to recovery. 

Physical and mental therapies are the main things that will lead and help to a road of recovery. 

A Good Standard Kit

• Wound-Packing Gauze
• Pressure Dressing
• Trauma Shears
• 1-2      Pairs of Nitrile or Vinyl Disposable Gloves
• QuikClot or Celox Hemostatic Gauze
• Chest Spike or Decompression Needle (Only If Trained)
• Tourniquets

Do you keep a trauma kit for gunshot wounds? What do you pack? Let us know in the comments below!

For minor wounds, corn starch will work for clotting blood-and is more readily available than those products that you listed

Comments

FEBRUARY 8, 2021 AT 11:56 AM

Good article, but I have a couple of comments on things I have seen in the ER after treating several hundred GSW’s over more than 30 years.
1. One thing the author stated was “Another case saw a bullet follow the line of the skull and exit the rear of the scalp, with little permanent damage.” I have seen that more than once with .38 Special and it is completely disorienting. The patient looks like it was through and through but they are talking and seem to have intact neuro function. X-rays showed no cranial penetration. The first one was when I decided that .38 Special was not a good caliber for self-dense; the other two were just confirmation of that.
2. The author also stated, “Bullets don’t bounce around in the body, although a round-nosed bullet may bounce off bone to an extent.” I have to disagree because I have seen several people whose chest we cracked that had this happen. They were all from low caliber, low powered handguns, like .25 ACP, .32, and .380 fired at close range in self-defense. The initial point of entry into the body came as the bullet passed between ribs. The bullet(s) then bounced off several ribs inside, and as the doc said, “played the marimba” in the chest. We found entrance wounds only and no exits. Each of these did kill the patient, eventually, as it created a number of small holes in major vessels inside the chest, like the aorta, pulmonary arteries, and veins. Even though these patients bled out from leaking blood vessels and died as I said, several of these GSW victims went on to kill the person who shot them before they bled out enough to be incapacitated.
3. Gunshot wounds to the chest are always a problem. Sucking chest wounds suck, but I have seen people place occlusive dressings on them which not only stopped air from entering the chest cavity, but it also prevented free air from leaving the chest, resulting in a life threatening condition called a “tension pneumothorax” (You can look it up online.) The dressing needs to be applied to allow air to leave, but not back in. If the pressure builds up because that air is not leaving, the patient can in extreme circumstances have both lungs and heart moved to the other side of the thoracic cavity and one side filling free air space. That patient will die unless treated immediately by someone trained in what to do, (read, an EMT-P or a military medic [Army]or corpsman [Navy or Marines]). This is where a decompression needle would be used.
4. For GSW’s to the head, our neuro docs liked them sitting up at 30 to 45 degrees, depending on the doc. A dressing was applied to the wound to catch the dripping, but not to stop the bleeding or keep it inside the skull if there was penetration, as any bleeding that was prevented from leaving the skull would build up pressure and further brain tissue damage.
Another memorable patient was struck in the forehead with a single round from a .32 at close range. She was taken to CT where we could see the pattern of a 4, with the bottom of the 4 being the entry point, the top being the back of the skull. The neurosurgeon declined to take her to surgery and she was shipped to the ICU. Sometime later, he told us that she had been discharged and the only deficits noted were a unilateral foot drop requiring orthotics and a difficulty in understanding her speech. Since no one had known her before, it was unknown as to whether that was even related to the GSW. I have seen the same kind of bounce happen with .22 Long Rifle wounds to the head.

5. Extremity Wounds. The author is correct about extremity wounds in that people do die from those. In the old westerns and other movies, it would show someone being shot in the shoulder and they would say, “they just winged me.” A great number of people I have seen who were shot in that “winged me” area died as there are major blood vessel in that area; the subclavian, axillary and/or the brachial artery are all in that area and if any of those are affected the patient will not usually do well. Any wound high up on the extremity, be it the shoulder or the hip region can be life threatening as there is sometimes no way to address the bleeding other than direct pressure to the site IF pressure will even help. That means a person holding a pressure dressing directly to the wound and stopping the bleeding that way. I have seen several instances of people holding pressure to the area they thought was effective and could not understand why there was so much blood still leaking. It was leaking because the direct pressure was ineffective and those patients died from bleeding out.

4. The Standard Kit. That is a very good standard kit. I would only add one thing to put in any first aid/survival kit, and it something that I learned from a friend who was a combat medic in Afghanistan, (After that first tour, he went to OCS, became an officer. He, unfortunately, was killed by an IED on a subsequent tour in 2011, RIP Damon) and that is a box of tampons. They have several functions. He used them more than once on men who had nosebleeds from facial injuries after IED explosions nearby and the like, and for inserting into extremity GSW’s and the bleeding was not easily stopped with a standard pressure dressing. He told he used tampons in those cases before resorting to a tourniquet as the tourniquet could result in loss of a limb. The tampons would swell up with blood and provide an internal pressure dressing and stop the bleeding. And as he said, they are, at least in theory, clean and sterile in the unopened package. As an aside, a tampon also makes very good tinder for starting a fire in an emergency situation. I have used them just for practice when starting a fire, either in the fireplace or campfire.