_____________________________
Why is this important? Joan N. Vickers and William
Lewinski published research on police officers performance under pressure in “Performing
under pressure: Gaze control, decision making and shooting performance of elite
and rookie police officers.”* Vickers and Lewinski discovered that more
experienced police officers placed their hand on their pistol and unholstered
their pistol earlier in a confrontation and thereby gained precious time in
responding to a threat—often shooting before the threat could fire at
them.
Unlike a police officer, a CHL licensee cannot simply
draw his pistol at a perceived threat without risking arrest. However,
under the revised
PC §46.035 it appears that simply placing your hand on
a holstered pistol would not be intentional display as long as the pistol
remains in the holster.
After reading the Vickers and Lewinski research I
started collecting data to determine how much of a time advantage was gained by
placing your hand on the pistol versus starting with your hands in some other
location (e.g. hands at sides). My goal was to determine how long it took a competitor
(granted, not necessarily the average CHL holder) to draw and fire single shot--the
classic stand and deliver of the Modern Technique. We have timed the
draws of 157 individuals to date during our local IDPA and Short Range matches.
We have measured 793 specific instances of drawing the pistol and firing a shot
from concealment, 183 draws with the pistol not concealed, and 168 instances
when the competitor started with their hand on the holstered pistol. We only
included instances where the competitor's shot stuck inside the -1 or 0 of the
standard IDPA target in the data set.
The skill level of the competitors varied from new
shooters participating in their first IDPA match, novices, marksmen,
sharpshooters, and experts--unfortunately we have few Master class shooters in
our local matches. The draws we measured were with the competitor standing,
drawing the pistol, and firing without moving their feet. The draw time
was measured using a shot timer that calculates the time elapsed between the
end of the beep and the sound of the shot.
The average time to draw the pistol starting with the
hands at the sides for a concealed standard draw was 2.15 seconds and open
carry was 1.79 seconds--a difference of .36 seconds. The average time to draw
the pistol starting with the hands on the holstered pistol for a concealed
standard draw was 1.38 seconds and open carry was 1.12 seconds--a difference of
.26 seconds.
For all experience levels, placing your hand on a
pistol concealed or openly carried early in a dangerous situation can provide a minimum of a .74 second time advantage if you must draw over starting with the
hands in some other position.
* You can find this article on the Force Science
website at:
http://www.forcescience.org/performingunderpressur...
