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I saw another post (I believe on this forum) about a new gun shop on Mason Road in Katy, Tactical Firearms. As far as a gun shop goes, they have an extremely small selection as they just opened up. What they do have to offer though is "Laser Shot" simulators. I believe they had 4 of them. One of the gentlemen at the store ran me through 3 scenarios. I loved it!

While it was very intense and got my heard thumping good, it was very eye opening as to how quickly you have to process the situation and act. Included in each scenario is an ethical question that you have to deal with.

Example:

In my third scenario you are in an apartment with a woman standing over a man. The man is grabbing his stomach and moaning. The woman is standing over him with a gun in her hand, pointed in his general direction, and she is yelling at him.

At first I didn't even listen to what was being said as I was trying to take the situation in. I seemed to keep focused on the gun and used my peripheral vision to take everything else in. I then noticed that she was pregnant. She continues to yell standing over him, but the gun isn't pointing directly at him with a straightened arm.

She then sits down on the couch, hand still on the gun, but resting on the couch. She won't shut up and now I hear "you think you wouldn't get caught cheating on me" or something to that effect. Again, she remains in a non-agressive posture, but yelling. Then she interrupts her yelling and points the gun at him again.

While it is necessary to be competent handling and shooting your firearm with sufficient accuracy, I think being mentally prepared is just if not more important. While most of these scenarios were geared towards situations that a law enforcement officer would find himself/herself in, these situations could apply to us CHL holders as well.

I suggest if you can make it to the Katy area to stop by the store and give this a try. I plan on returning and hopefully they will come up with a yearly membership that I can afford so I can run through all 350 of their scenarios.

That is a cool concept. How much does it cost?

Cost is $20 for 15 minutes, $30 for 30 minutes, although when I shot, there was no one waiting so I shot an extra 10 minutes, and then the reason I quit was because I had to leave, not because they called time on me.

I have read here in other posts of their new facilities and sounds great to get mental training and awareness of yourself. I always felt being able to understand your situation and how to respond was one of the most important aspects to responsible carrying of a weapon with our license. When I took the NRA Outside Protection Course last year our instructor through in a final test not a part of the NRA. Students asked questions so he set up a single scenario. Each had to go ups and shoot while the others looked away. Instructions were load two rounds and holster. the target would come down a pole and turn 180 degrees revealing the target. Instructions were to decide if there was a threat and should you shoot. I went forth and listened to the first 3 shoot. Staggered shots but all shot twice. As then returned they had a strange look on their face. Then on mine a woman was turning pointing a gun, I THOUGHT AT FIRST, at me. As she turned more I saw she was pregnant. I focused to make sure she was pointing a gun and not a candy bar at me. I saw the round barrel directly at me. As I thought, I drew and fired two shots, deciding to hit slightly high in hopes that if I stopped her the child could be saved by paramedics. All in less than 5 seconds. I hit my target where I wanted but it was disturbing. You have to make the decision and when there are all kinds of thoughts going through your head about what if this and what if that and what is the priority of the decision, your reactions slow. They can kill you.

I hope I can get to this gun range and try their system out. Thanks for the report.

Gary

If anyone knows of such a thing in Central Texas please send me a private message.

Thanks.

Tactical Firearms advertises that they are the first to make this kind of training available to non-military/LEO types.

If you want to test your recognition skills in a timed environment try this.

baldeagle wrote:If you want to test your recognition skills in a timed environment try this.

I keep giving verbal commands and they ignore me. What's up with that?

How many scenarios can you get in a 30 min session? I might have to make the drive to Katy one weekend!

Bonc_CHL wrote:How many scenarios can you get in a 30 min session? I might have to make the drive to Katy one weekend!

It depends. If you screw up, it will stop the scenario and all are different lengths. They also have a bunch of games that will improve your reactions.

Run by and they will let you try it if they aren't swamped.

Tag

I've had the chance to briefly train on FATS (Fire Arms Training System) which is much like what you describe, and I would recommend it.

While it was very intense and got my heard thumping good, it was very eye opening as to how quickly you have to process the situation and act.

That was my reaction to FATS. My scenario was against a knife attack. It happened so fast it felt like I was rolling down a stairway in a wheelchair

Well crap! I was in Katy last weekend visiting my parents. If I would have known, then dad (former LEO) and I would have run over there and checked it out! Next time for sure!