Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
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  1. #1
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    Apr 2007
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    Default Just finished an incredible day of training

    What a day it has been! The entire Plinker family (the three of us left at home, that is) spent the day at Lehigh Carbon Community College participating in the PRISim Use of Force Options Training Simulator. This class is open to the public, and I would strongly urge anyone who carries a gun, wants to carry a gun, or needs to carry a gun, to take this class.

    What the class isn't - it is not a class on basic shooting skills, or marksmanship. If you do not have these down, and want to take the class, it is not a requirement, but having some basic skills with drawing from a holster and shooting will really enhance the learning experience. And it is a tremendous learning experience.

    What the class is - it is a class on what the current law is in Pennsylvania, followed by the use of force in various scenarios that requires real time decisions. There is a lot of feedback that goes along with each scenario.

    We started the day with an overview of Chapter 5 of the Crimes Code (I think I have that right), General Principles of Justification - when and how force can be used from a legal point of view. We spent a brief time looking at various parts of Chapter 9, Incohate Crimes, discussing various weapons, prohibited and otherwise, as well as prohibited places to carry said weapons. Then the fun began.

    The training simulator is a large video screen against one wall of the classroom coupled with a computer. Underneath the screen is a small cannon coupled to a camera and a laser. The cannon is controlled by the instructor and shoots .68 nylon balls. The students (that would be us and one other guy) were equipped with a Glock designed to fire a laser beam every time the trigger was pulled. The holster was a Serpa level 2. There were two "brick walls", one to either side of the center of the area behind which we could take cover in a gunfight.

    Whoever was "up" would stand in front of the instructor's desk while he described the scenario coming up. This would be basic, such as, "You are walking out of the mall carrying a bunch of packages and walking towards your car. You have been reading in the paper about how crime in the parking lot has been on the rise." Then the "movie" began. In this particular case, Mrs. Plinker was walking to her car when she was approached by four teenagers demanding money. As the one girl closed the distance, she drew a knife from sheath on her belt.

    The situations had more to do with movement and decision making than with marksmanship. I do not mean to minimize that, as it is certainly important. The four rules were strongly emphasized. But the class was concerned with how to read situations, and how to decide when or if to shoot. I was in a situation where I was walking into a school room (please don't clutter the thread with how guns can't be carried in schools). I was walking into a school room, only to find one student shot and on the floor, other students running out screaming, and a teacher holding a student by the throat, bending him over a table, with a gun to his head.

    You have to talk. It is a little weird at first, but you get into it. I was yelling at the teacher to drop the gun, all the while covering him with my own. He backed off, and put the gun on the table. I brought my gun to low ready, and as I did, the student grabbed the gun and shot the teacher. I shot the student with three shots to COM, while the teacher sustained one shot to the lower leg. Feedback for the situation followed, discussing the clues picked up along the way, and the fact that in this case the guy with the gun was not really the bad guy. The computer provided a shot pattern record with where the shots hit the bad guy, and when, down to the hundredth of a second from the time where the simulation program deemed a shot to be legal. More about that in a minute. Feedback also included the possibility of shooting the teacher and having it be a legal shoot, even though it would have been a bad shoot from a absolute point of view. In this scenario, it was the student who had shot the other student and the teacher had gotten the gun away from him.

    Our daughter ran through a scenario where she was riding in the car with her mother driving, and a panhandler got aggressive at a stop sign and opened the door to stab mom. We went through that one twice to get her to shoot past her mother. I had a suicide bomber, who needed a head shot to stop him. Mrs. Plinker had kids robbing the house, not once, but twice. The first time they ran (and she did not shoot them) but the second time, they turned and fired at her with their own guns. There were quite a few more, and I will not take time to detail them here. Suffice to say, we covered all sorts of psychological and physiological issues that revolve around carrying a gun and actually having to use it in a real life situation. Feedback from the computer showed where and when the shots hit, and to a certain extent how effective they would have been. Our daughter walked in on a rapist attacking her "sister" and tagged the guy in the head, dead with one shot.

    Feedback came from the instructor as well as others in the class. It included movement to cover, movement in general, gun position, finger position before and after the actual shooting, and general discussion of the decision making process in each scenario - what was good about what we did, and what could use improvement. Marksmanship was discussed, but it was not the main focus of the class. As I wrote above, if one does not have the basic skills down, they need to be developed as soon as possible if one wishes to carry a gun and have it be more than a liability and extra weight. The camera attached to the cannon recorded our performance during each scenario, and we reviewed it afterwards. The computer placed the shots, and included the timing. The shots were scored for torso, head, limb, and the likelihood of stopping the bad guy. The timing allowed me to learn how fast I was able to place my shots. This could be very important, like the time a guy came running at me with a big knife. It does no good to have one good shot if he still reaches me and stabs me. Volume of rounds on target is as important as where they hit.

    Overall, it was an incredible learning experience, not to mention a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time making real time decisions in real life situations, with the luxury of not having to worry about jail time, or being killed or seriously wounded. Speaking of wounded, the little cannon under the screen was not employed, although I did volunteer to be a guinea pig for being shot - not for the sake of being shot, but for being in a live fire situation.

    We spend lots of money on guns, on accessories, and ammunition. I am one of those people who think training is just as important. This is one of those opportunities to train in as realistic a situation as it gets, and it really shows one how different a real life situation is compared to putting holes in targets. More information can be found at the LCCC website. I also have some fliers for the class if anyone local to me wants some info.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
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    Default Re: Just finished an incredible day of training

    nice write up Bill , thanks !!! sounds like a day well spent !
    Tigers love pepper, they don't like cinnamon !

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2007
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    Hazleton, Pennsylvania
    (Luzerne County)
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    Default Re: Just finished an incredible day of training

    Thanks for this info. this sounds like a course every firearm owner should take.

  4. #4
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    Nov 2006
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    Default Re: Just finished an incredible day of training

    We spend lots of money on guns, on accessories, and ammunition. I am one of those people who think training is just as important. This is one of those opportunities to train in as realistic a situation as it gets, and it really shows one how different a real life situation is compared to putting holes in targets.
    +1




    I did the FATS machine before. Basically the same thing. Lotsa scenarios and made you use your noodle.


    ( We had one guy shoot a lady 180 times with an M16, Dont ask )




    My favorite was the BUM carrying a baby car seat. He approaches and you dont know whats in the car seat, after several commands he whips out a machete or gun .


    Had one where even a kid in a house goes for a gun from a drawer , killed him the fastest of all the scenarios.

    shit makes you think.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Just finished an incredible day of training

    Thanks for the write up. That system looks like a fun way for my friends and I to get some "hands on" insight in self defense shoots.

    The head of the criminal justice department at NCC, northampton community college, has been trying to get this brought into the school.
    It would be funded by the school and the police department, as both students and police would be able to train on it.
    Quote Originally Posted by headcase View Post
    let them eventually bring the FBI to kill my wife and son over fucking chickens....

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Just finished an incredible day of training

    Quote Originally Posted by jcabin View Post
    Thanks for the write up. That system looks like a fun way for my friends and I to get some "hands on" insight in self defense shoots.

    The head of the criminal justice department at NCC, northampton community college, has been trying to get this brought into the school.
    It would be funded by the school and the police department, as both students and police would be able to train on it.
    They're using it for the criminal justice students at LCCC, he mentioned that.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Just finished an incredible day of training

    Quote Originally Posted by Stooperzero View Post
    My favorite was the BUM carrying a baby car seat. He approaches and you dont know whats in the car seat, after several commands he whips out a machete or gun .


    Had one where even a kid in a house goes for a gun from a drawer , killed him the fastest of all the scenarios.

    shit makes you think.
    Yeah, there were several scenarios where a lot of people would think they would never shoot that person - kids with guns, women with guns, stuff like that.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    Allentown, Pennsylvania
    (Lehigh County)
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    Default Re: Just finished an incredible day of training

    That sounds like a great way to spend a day with the family. I will be signing up for this in the near future. What was the price?
    When you are called a racist, it just means you won an argument with an Obama supporter.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
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    Sugar Notch, Pennsylvania
    (Luzerne County)
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    Default Re: Just finished an incredible day of training

    Excellent review Pennsyplinker! Do you mind if I ask how much the class costs?
    loose≠lose; you're=you are; 'your' shows possession.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    Upper Bucks County, Pennsylvania
    (Bucks County)
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    Default Re: Just finished an incredible day of training

    Excellent day Bill. Rep sent for the info and link below.



    http://www.lccc.edu/noncredit-studen...POL&course=412

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