I’m going to take a different approach. I’m going to focus on the word benefit and it’s going to take me in a few directions. The first is a practical benefit.
There was a long time that I spent a lot of money on guns knowing full well that I’d be better off focusing on one platform. I also did a lot of training and was on a range shooting four to six days a week. I think training is very important, and is neglected by many in both an individual and professional armed context.
With that said, there is a price of admission to be competitive in certain circumstances. I know most of our focus is on the defensive use of the firearm, usually in the context of personal CCW or home defense. In my former world of law enforcement, I knew there was a point where, had someone the right mindset, skill set, tools, and terrain, I’d be doomed. I was introduced to night vision equipment by a good friend and former Army LRSD guy. With about 20 minutes of instruction I was making around 1.2 second hits on steel at 25 yards in almost complete darkness with an optic equipped handgun. When I started using IR lasers it was mind boggling how easy it was to hit targets while remaining in complete darkness.
Most cops don’t have access to this. Most regular people won’t spend the money. Put one guy in a good spot with a PVS-14 and an AR with an IR laser and they could do horrible things for a good amount of time most likely. So do we pay the price? The game is about tools, and without the tools you aren’t really doing anything but hoping not to be a part of the game. With the tools, you’re not going to be as effective without training… understanding passive vs. active aiming, tactics with and against night vision, etc… So do we play the odds and say its super unlikely so we’ll focus on other more likely scenarios, or do we pay the price?
Night vision is one example of tools being important, but that technology is already a few decades old in a practical sense. It’s like the advertisements that encourage us to “collect them all.”. Can we?
My second thought is at what point is a benefit a curse? At what point are we neglecting our finances, our relationships, and our living of life to chase the ability to prevail in any situation? If there’s a lesson to some of the heroic albeit tragic military incidents over the past 35 years it’s that the best laid plans and the best, most trained and equipped men can still fail and die because… stuff just happens. A very well known and loved Sgt on my department confronted a burglar from what I was told was a pretty significant distance… 15 to 25 yards. The suspect had a small handgun and fired under his arm behind him, which struck the Sgt and incapacitated him, allowing the suspect to finish him off. Tactically there could have been some different decisions, but luck replaced skillset that day.
How trained do we “have” to be? What is likely? What are we paid, sworn, obligated, morally dedicated… to do? Are we trained for that? Are we putting so much into training for a very unlikely “maybe” that we’re sacrificing us and our loved ones now? Where is that line?
I worked with people who… and myself had a certain attitude that if you weren’t as dedicated as me you were lazy and a POS. I now realize they live and I lived in a very unhealthy bubble.
My last digression, or thought… is that I like guns… I do.
Completely independent of my ability to protect my family, fight terrorists, wage war, stop crime, and save the day… I just like guns. 1911s aren’t the best guns. They just aren’t today. But they work and they’re beautiful and there’s no gun I love more. If I want to buy another 1911 over taking a training class, then I will. Because I like guns. If someone wants to tell me I suck… maybe I do. I’ll suck happy with my new happy toy.
Now… If they want to fight… I’m better with an optic-equipped handgun with my PVS-14s and my AR with IR laser… but don’t count me out with an iron-sighted single stack steel and wood pistol.
To finish this off… If you haven‘t taken a training class, it can be amazingly fun. You get to hang out with like minded people, learn things, focus on something other than obligations, and build memories that will last a long time. I’ve met some of my favorite people in training classes.