Thanks to a slow computer, I wasn't able to get the link opened easily.
But,, I can add to a bit of the discussion by the members here. I'm a firearms instructor, and a USPSA competitor & Range officer.
The comment;
"The theory is flawed. It doesn't take into account training and muscle memory."
Training, as discussed above is an excellent way to develop skills that may allow a person to be faster, smoother, & more likely to be the first one to draw a firearm.
But I always talk about "motor memory skill" which is mistakenly called "muscle memory."
Muscles do not react w/o the brain telling them what to do.
Motor memory skills are a conditioned learned action or reaction by the brain. Just like doing anything daily or often enough in repetition to where the brain develops a response without the conscious thought to do so.
Just like driving a vehicle.
Do it often enough & you do not independently think about all the little steps you take to drive a vehicle. Things like; Unlocking the door, opening the door, sitting down, putting your foot on the brake, inserting the key, turning the key, placing you hand on the steering wheel, putting the vehicle in gear, turning the wheel in the direction needed, moving your foot from the brake to the gas & back when needed, turning the wheel to direct the vehicle, and when confronted with a sudden, unexpected action in front of you, hitting the brake and/or turning the steering wheel away from it.
None of us are born with motor memory skills to do anything,, but we learn them by repetition. The brain can tell us what to do quicker than we can consciously think about each & every step.
In shooting, by practicing a draw, stance, sight acquisition, grip, trigger control, recoil management & follow through, we can become faster & faster the more we practice these skills by training our brain to accept the motor memory necessary to do these things.
Just like Dave P.'s comments about his participation in the studies.
But it's not muscle memory, it's motor memory skills.
Blume357 has mentioned his many hours of training. Excellent. And yet,, he can attest to how fast I am vs his own skills, as he's videoed it. And I'm NOT a super fast shooter. Blume's skills are very good. But I have over 20 years of shooting practice by being a USPSA competitor.
In that game, you will spend a lot of time doing all the skills necessary to be a faster AND more accurate shooter.
RRM is right about the average whack job not being that fast or good either,, but will most likely already have their gun in a "ready" condition.
But there have been a few cases of where known competitors who do have good motor memory skills were confronted by a thug, and they came out on top, quickly.
And IDPA competition has CCW draws, so that skill can be easily practiced as well.
"in a lot of instances, "real world" conditions are not conducive to matching up with practice."
This comment,, I can say is both true & false. Many real world conditions can easily be duplicated in practice. In USPSA,, we are challenged at every match with different scenarios that require a draw, accurate shooting, movement, reloading, deciding which actions to take when, & overall, a mental challenge as well as physical ones. ALL of this takes place "on the clock" which places a certain amount of stress factor upon your skills. This alone is an excellent skill to develop better motor memory.
But there is no way to totally practice every possible scenario that might take place in the real world. That's why practicing a competition game such as USPSA or IDPA can be a big help in developing motor memory skills that might save your life.
"I fully intend to have my gun in my hand if/when I need it. Needing to perform a 'quick draw' means my observation skills failed."
This quote, has a lot of truth in it. Observation skills are a MUST to be able to be as prepared as possible. As noted by KIR, "Lesson #6."
My Karate Master taught us our best weapon was our legs,, run like hell.
By being observant,, we can avoid MANY, MANY situations where things might go bad.
And;
"Just be prepared to be charged with agg assault with a firearm and improper display of a weapon, regardless what your side of the story is.
Have a criminal atty and bondsman lined up, and a cash stash to pay those persons when needed."
I can personally disagree with that statement.
I've had the occasion to be in a position where I had my firearm out, in a non-threatening manner, and the police were called. And the guy who prompted this action was the one who called the police. He did so as I extracted my wife & myself from his vicinity, and moved well away from everything.
When the police arrived, they were calm, not overly concerned, (stopped to politely talk to customers in the restaurant, even when I motioned for them to see me.) When they came to me,, they were calm, polite, & never once gave us any disagreeable feelings. I never had to stand up, be frisked, or anything. I had informed them I had my gun on my body, and they said; "Yeah, we know."
My ability to be aware of my surroundings, allowed me to be proactive, and prepared when the potential thug made a move. When he tried to get into my wifes car, with her there,, I was parked beside her, and had my door partially open, yelling at him to get away from her. I did NOT see a weapon in the thug's hands, so I didn't point my gun at him. When he did back away, he saw my gun and commented; "Oh, you got a gun! I'm calling the police!" (This was just before I was going to strike him with my truck door to get him away from my wife.)
Not every case of brandishing a firearm will result in charges.
But back to the original discussion.
Motor memory skills can be developed to make a person quicker in his draw & shooting. It's done by proper practice, in many various scenarios, that require it.
