casehead 2007 summer

8/3/2019 CASEHEAD 2007 Summer

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2007 FIREARMS INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE

Devens Conference Center / Harvard Sportsmans Club

September 25-28, 2007

The Case HeadThe Case HeadThe Official Publication of the Massachusetts Law Enforcement

Firearms Instructors & Armorers Association

2007 MLEFIAA


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Page 1 2007 MLEFIAA

Articles & Letters to the Editor

Articles and letters should be no more than 1000 words in length and submitted in MS Word. Any photos should

be in JPEG format. MLEFIAA encourages a healthy discussion of training issues but we require that you keep it

level headed and respect opposing views. You do not have to agree, but we will not publish articles that are in-

flammatory or otherwise do not uphold the reputation of this Association.

The official publication of the

Massachusetts Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors & Armorers AssociationP.O. Box 253, Princeton, MA 01541-0253

MISSION STATEMENTThe Massachusetts Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors' & Armorers' Association was formed to promote pro-

fessionalism, continuing education, improvement in training methods and techniques of the proper law enforce-

ment use of firearms in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The Association strives to promote and foster mutual cooperation between instructors. Through discussion and a

common interest in law enforcement firearms training, officer survival and tactical skills, MLEFIAA hopes tokeep the members at the forefront of firearms training. Through our monthly meetings and annual training confer-

ence, we provide a means for the exchange of ideas and information regarding law enforcement firearms training,

training methods, educational activities and new firearms technologies.

MLEFIAA currently has over 400 members. While mainly from Massachusetts, our membership extends interna-

tionally to countries as far away as Sweden. The Association endeavors to secure new members from the law en-

forcement training community who are engaged in the field of firearms training, maintenance, education or related

fields. Our goal is to continuously upgrade the level of firearms training of law enforcement personnel here in the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATIONMembership is offered at two levels - Active & Associate. Active membership is open to all duly sworn law en-

forcement officers of any local, county, state, federal or specialized law enforcement agency within the Common-

wealth of Massachusetts; whose official duties include the training of law enforcement personnel in the proper use

of firearms; or whose duties involve the maintenance and repair of firearms for their respective agencies.

Associate membership is open to sworn law enforcement firearms instructors and armorers from agencies outside

of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, non-sworn firearms instructors & armorers working within an agency

within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and representatives of private industry who are engaged in the de-

sign, development, manufacture, or training in firearms, ammunition and other related technologies designed for

law enforcement use.

Complete details can be found at our website: www.MLEFIAA.org

The Case Head

Copyright 2007 Mass. Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors & Armorers AssociationThe Case Head is the official publication of the Massachusetts Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors & Armorers Association and is published quar-terly for the benefit of the membership. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the express written permission of the Editor and theExecutive Board of the Massachusetts Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors & Armorers Association. The articles, views and opinions expressedherein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Massachusetts Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors &

Armorers Association, the Executive Board or its members.


3/16

Letters to the Editor

Randy, thanks for writing. Youare absolutely correct. In the

article, the word pepperball should not have been capitalizedindicating a brand name. It wasmeant as a generic term and in

hindsight would have been betterserved with the word projectile. In the editing of the article to fitthe available space, the part that

identified the tool as the FN303was cut out. Ill take the hit forthat since the Case Head has a

staff of 1 - me. It was completely

unintended but I think this mistakeillustrates the point the article wastrying to make. The FN303 is a

completely different tool than the Pepperball launcher but we tendto lump all these specialty tools

with one label. This is a periloustrend since all expandable batonsare not ASPs and all chemical

irritant sprays are not MACE.

Excellent job on the Spring2007 edition of the Case Head.

I know allot of time and effortm u s t h a v e w e n t

into it. (I would imagine you

may be heading to divorce

court, if not already there). It

is appreciated.

Just a comment on the

What's In A Name Article; I

remember the media referringto the project i le that

struck and killed Victoria

Snelgrove as a "pepper spray pellet", "pepper spray bullet",

or pepperball round, none of

which are correct of course. I

am not even sure what FN-Herschel calls that particular

projectile. It is a bismuth

weighted plastic projectile

with shotgun slug type rifling

on it and has the powdered

agent encapsulated within.

When this incident occurred,

I had to explain to my Chiefthat this was not the product,

or pepperball projectile that is

marketed by Pepperball Tech-

nologies Inc., of San Diego,

which we have in our inven-t o r y . I b e l i e v e t h a t

"Pepperball" is a trade mark

name for that company's prod-uct- a .68 cal hard plastic

spherical projectile filled with

OC powder - similar to a

paintball.

(Continued on Page 8)

Whats In A Name?In this months (Spring 07)

case head you referred to a

Pepperball device that killedVictoria Snelgrove. Because

we use the Pepperball device

in Taunton, Id like to correct

an error in that article. It was

an FHN FN303 launcher thatwas responsible for Snel-

groves death. This is impor-

tant because the Pepperball projectile is approximately 2

grams in weight, traveling at

approx. 300 fps. with an ef-fective target range of ap-

proximately 7-9 inches at 30

feet. The FN303 projectile is

approximately 8.5 grams in

weight, traveling at approxi-

mately 270 fps with an effec-tive target range of 150 feet

and maximum range of 300feet. This is not to say that the

Pepperball, if not deployed

properly, could cause a simi-

lar outcome. But, compara-tively speaking, the FHN is a

much more ampd up device.The Case Head looks

great, keep up the good work.

Take care, Randy

Page 2 2007 MLEFIAA

Meeting CalendarJan 23, 2007S&W Academy(Elections)

Feb 27, 2007Mass. State PoliceLogan Airport

Mar 27, 2007Braintree Rifle &Pistol Club(hosted by

Randolph PD)

Apr 24, 2007Lancaster P.D.

May 22, 2007Peabody P.D.

June 12 & 26HSCInstructor Recerts

July & August

No meeting

Sept 25-28Annual InstructorConferenceDevens / HSC

October 2007Open

November 2007Open

December 2007Open

Watch your E-mail fordetails

In This IssueBeslan - An Analysis of Terror Page 3

Insights SSL-1 Tactical Light - Product Review Page 3

Are You Ready To Deal With A Beslan Style Attack? Page 4

Beslan - The Rest of the Story Page 5

Ruger PC9 Failure Page 8

Integrated Response to Active Shooters Page 9

Safariland Holster Issue Page 11

Is the Revolver Obsolete? Page 12

And lots more


4/16

At the Associations April meetinghosted at Lancaster P.D., memberMike Lupachini of Upton P.D. gave agreat presentation on the terroristattack perpetuated by Al-Qaeda

backed Chechen terrorists. On Sep-tember 1, 2004, the worst schoolattack in memory occurred in Beslan,North Ossetia which is part of Russia.The attack on Beslan School No. 1resulted in over 330 civilians killed ofwhich 172 were children. A score ofRussian special forces troops andemergency workers died as well. Theattack was pre-planned, organized andhad command & control from theoutside. The 32 terrorists were bru-tal to the captives. Men and older

boys were executed immediately as adeterrent to other captives from at-tempting escape or hostile action.Woman and older girls were sexuallyassaulted by the terrorists. It is amisconception that Islamic religionforbids this type of behavior. It onlyforbids it against other Muslims. Todefend the faith, a Muslim may doanything to an infidel without retribu-tion. It was a bloody attack with thesole intent to kill non-Muslims. Thecrowds began to gather some were

armed and out for blood. The Rus-sian military and police were initiallydisorganized which led to some se-vere criticism from the Monday morn-

ing quarterbacks. The crowds beganshooting at the school building in

frustration.

The terrorists broke out the win-dows in the school building to pre-vent the introduction of gas as wasdone in the Moscow Theater inci-dent the year before. They placedexplosives in the rooms where the

hostages were kept and wired themto dead man switches in addition toconventional detonators. The ter-rorists made several unreasonabledemands which allowed them moretime to prepare while the authoritiesscrambled to respond. It is esti-mated that about 1200 people wereheld hostage. Fifty nine teachers,900 students and the balance wereparents and family who routinelyattend the first day of school. Mostwere crammed into the Gymnasium

a room about 10 meters wide by25 meters long.

The stand off went on for three days

before a poorly secured explosivedevice hung from a basketball hoopin the gymnasium exploded when itfell. The resulting explosion causedthe terrorists on the dead man

switches to move to cover whichdetonated more charges. Some ter-rorists thought the explosions werecaused by Russian troops attemptingan attack and began killing hostages.

It was mayhem.

Faced with the impending deaths ofthe hostages, the Russian militarybegan a rescue operation plan thathad not been fully worked out orrehearsed. The doors and windowsto the buildings had been blocked

with furniture and debris by the ter-rorists so there was no clean way in.Frustrated, the Russians ordered a

tank to blow a door open.Continued on Page 7

which illuminates a situation muchbetter than incandescent or halogenlamps. LEDs have a much greaterlife span - usually measured in tens of

thousands of hours rather than hun-dreds. They draw less power whichmakes for greater battery life. Fi-nally, LEDs are generally more rug-ged with no filament to break. Likemost other lights, it is powered by

two CR123 lithium cells.

The SSL-1 fits much tighter on myGlock 22. Insight has a stiffer latchspring which should preclude theembarrassment of having your tacti-

Reviewed by Todd Bailey

Insight Technologys SSL-1 Tacticallight is the logical follow on to theirsuccessful M series of lights albeitwith several improvements. Firstand in my mind, most significant isthe use of a high quality LED as thelight source. The 80 Lumen LuxeonLED produces a brilliant white light

cal light go flying down range (whichhas happened with my M3). TheSSL-1 attaches via Slide-Lock tech-nology in the same manner as In-

sights other lights. The mountingsystem is adjustable for differentsized rails. The tight fit I initially ex-perienced was easily adjusted so the

light slides on and off easily.

The reflector is pre-focused to illu-minate a human target at 25 metersand can not be adjusted. After usinga wide beam LED light, I have cometo prefer this to the focused beamwhich has a narrow hot spot. The

BESLAN - An Analysis of Terror

Product Review - Insight Technologys SSL-1 Tactical Light

Page 3 2007 MLEFIAA


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In the humble opinion of the author,law enforcement in the U.S. has notpaid enough attention to the attack inBeslan. Since it happened in Russia, itis off our radar. Historically, we tend

to be near sighted and this could verywell present problems in the future.We ignored Hitlers Mein Kampf inthe 30s and had to play a hasty gameof catch up in the early days of WWII.

Just as the National Socialist Partycreated a war in Europe that costmillions of lives, Al Qaeda and fanati-cal Muslim extremists are the evil wemust deal with in the 21st century.They have successfully attacked insideour borders twice and our interestsoverseas three times. They have de-

clared America as the enemy. If wedont remove our heads from thesand we are going to experience thisin our own front yard. Unfortunately,Al-Qaeda is not a political state likeNazi Germany. It is difficult to de-clare war on a non-governmental

group of terrorist facilitators.The radical Islamic extremists do

not play the rules. There is no Ge-neva Convention for them. There isno rule that says women and childrenare non-combatants. Watch the news

from the Israel and Iraq. Attacks onthe civilian population by suicidebombers is the norm. Buses, schools,market squares and any othercrowded area are likely targets. This

is how the Islamic extremist will at-tack. They strike where it will putthe most fear into the populace.What would affect the Americanpublic more than an attack on our

children? Are we prepared to seescores of body bags being carried out

of the local Middle School?

The attack on Beslan School No.1 was a benchmark. It put the worldon notice that the radical Islamicmovement has no qualms about spe-cifically targeting innocent children.The terrorists had no problem deny-ing their women and children hos-tages water and food. Why bothersince they were going to be killedanyway? Women were sexually as-saulted. If Americans think we areexempt from this, they are sorelymistaken. Do not mistake what hap-

pened in Beslan as another incidentin the long standing Chechen prob-lem with their neighbors. Therewere two factions of terrorists atBeslan. Most apparent were the

Chechens and Ingushetians whowere most likely fueled by longstanding hatred for Russians and Os-setians. More importantly were theoutsiders from middle east countries

who were there to die. There areclear indicators that some of theterrorists expected to escape andthat they were blindsided by standand die tactics of the outsiders.There is further evidence that theattack on Belsan School No. 1 was tobe diversion for the main attackwhich never occurred due to theoverwhelming influx of military

forces in to the area.Our enemy specifically targets

the innocent in the name of their

twisted Islamic beliefs. Some in thiscountry will make excuses and try toconvince us that if we keep an openmind and concede to the demands ofthe terrorists, they will be satisfiedand go away. After 9/11 they blamedU.S. policy in the Middle East for thehijackers desperation. After thebombings at the Madrid train station,the majority of the Spanish popula-tion blamed their governments sup-port of the US in Iraq and voted in anew government. The liberal press

in this country blame the hard linepolicy of Israel against the Palestini-ans after each suicide bombing there.So who was to blame in Beslan the

children? (Continued on Page 7)

rear of the light. Depressing eitherswitch down will momentarily acti-vate the light. Pushing either switchlever up locks the switch in the ON

position. The obvious advantage isthe ease of use with both left and

wide beam illuminates the entirevehicle on a traffic stop whichmeans you dont have to scan with

the weapon to see.

The SSL-1 body is Milspec type IIIanodized aluminum which is a stepup from the plastic body of the oldM series lights. This should addto the durability of the light. Speak-ing of durability, this light is rated

waterproof down to 66 feet.

Insight has redesigned the switch onthe SSL-1. There are two independ-ent rocker switches located at the

right handed shooters. Matched upwith a truly ambidextrous pistol likethe S&W M&P, it makes a nice setup. The only negative point I could

find with the light was it appears tobe slightly wider in the body than theM3/M6 series. The light fits a littletighter in my Safariland holster mak-ing the draw a little slower. Insightmakes a locking latch that fits betterhowever I found there is some fric-tion along the sides of the body aswell. This would probably be betterdescribed as a holster issue rather

than a problem with the light.

Are You Ready To Deal With A Beslan Style Attack?

Product Review - Insight SSL-1 (continued from previous page)

Page 4 2007 MLEFIAA


6/16

Beslan was a horrific attack on inno-cent civilians, the majority of whomwere school children. The sheer dis-regard for human life and lack of com-passion the terrorists displayed

shocks the conscience of Americanswho live a very quiet and peaceful lifein comparison to the rest of theworld. If you have read Giducksbook Terror at Beslan ($25 fromArchangel Group) you begin to get anidea of just why this attack should nothave been a surprise. In fact, Giduckpoints out that authorities in the re-gion were on alert for an attack of

some sort.

The unrest in the Caucasus region of

the Russian Federation has been fer-menting for centuries. The neighbor-ing Russian republics of North Os-setia, Ingushetia and quasi-independent Chechnya are located ona narrow strip of land between theBlack and Caspian Seas north of Tur-key and Iran. Because of the location,this area is a mixture of Christiansfrom the north and Muslims from thesouth. As both religions tried to pushinto neighboring regions, they werefunneled through this area and con-

flicts have abounded since the 7th

cen-tury. The ongoing conflicts have fu-eled the hatred between Ossetianswho are Orthodox Christian and theIngushetians and Chechens who areSunni Muslim. The basic social struc-

ture of the Chechens is orientedaround the family or clan. Outsiders,regardless of nationality are not tobe trusted as is the way with mostclannish societies. Islam came to

Chechnya in about the 8th centuryand the first Russian attempt to colo-nize Chechnya came in 1663. Thiseffort lasted until the 18th centurywhen the Russian government finallyhad some semblance of control overChechnya. Bloody battles betweenthe Russians and Chechens went onuntil 1859 when the resistance effortfailed. The Russians slaughteredthousands and deported as many as700,000 Chechens from their home-land in 1865. Many of these deport-

ees went to the Middle East whichaccounts for the strong ties there

today.

While the Czars army may haveconquered the land, they did notconquer the people. As with manyclannish societies, Chechen childrenare raised to fight any perceived en-emy. They are taught from an earlyage there are no rules, no compas-sion and no surrender when itcomes to fighting. To quote Giduck,

They are indoctrinated early on inthe techniques of terror and Che-chens insist there will always beenough fighters to continue the bat-tle against Russia. From an early age,boys are taught the fundamental

code of Chechen warriorship: Donot fear the enemy, he may nothave a weapon. If he does, it maynot be cocked. If it is cocked, itmay not fire. If it does fire, he

may miss. If the bullet strikes you,you may not die. If you die, you

then gain Allahs grace.

Oil was discovered in the regionearly in the 20th century further fuel-ing Russias desire to control theregion. The Bolsheviks offered inde-pendence to the Chechens if theyagreed to support the revolutionagainst the Czar. As could be ex-pected, the Communists lied to theChechens and things were perhaps

worse under the new government.The Soviet Union annexed Chechnyaand the Red Army quashed any re-bellion. This is why we really knewnothing of the Chechen history orthe latent unrest in the region. Aswith most of the Soviet Union, Mos-cows iron fist kept a lid on every-ones petty differences with theirneighbors. In 1944, Stalin deportedthe regions entire population to

Siberia and Kazakhstan.

Its estimated that up to 50% of theChechen population were killed inthis relocation. Stalin then encour-aged Ossetians and Cossacks tomove into the vacated territory. In1956 under the reconstruction ofNikita Khrushchev, the Chechenswere allowed to return but foundtheir land occupied by Ossetians andothers and any claim to their home-

land was lost.

When the USSR began to disinte-

grate, the ethnic differences betweenthe many and diverse regions beganto reappear. The fear of the Com-munist government and the dreadedKGB diminished and was replaced byold enmity and rancor. Former So-viet republics declared independenceand the new Russian Federationfought to hold on to as much terri-

tory as it could.(Continued on next page)

Beslan - The Rest of the Story

Randolph P.D. Hosting Glock Armorer School

Page 5 2007 MLEFIAA

The Randolph Police Department will be hosting a Glock Ar-morer School on Thursday, October 25, 2007. This is a factorysponsored program and covers all Glocks models available to

law enforcement in the U.S.A. Coursefee is $150.00. Anyone interested intaking this class needs to register onGlocks web site in the Training sec-tion (www.glocktraining.com). Classesare only open to Law Enforcement per-sonnel who are U.S. citizens. Registra-tion forms and more information canbe found on the Glock Training website.


7/16

This situation led to many skirmishes,thousands of deaths and two warswith Russia. Chechnya has been apainful thorn in the paw of the Rus-sian government for centuries and the

hostility that exists on both sides cannot be appeased by political rhetoricor treaties. Kidnapping, murder andan active slave trade are every dayoccurrences in the region. Its likeliving in a war zone. The Chechensobviously hate Christians in generaland the Russians in particular. Thereis no love lost on the Russian sideeither. Giduck quotes a Spetznazcolonels feelings on the Chechens ingeneral. Chechens are a people thatdont work, and wont work, even if

given the opportunity. For them,the very best thing to do is to commitfraud and hurt people of other relig-ions. The live for this game, as theysee it. He further states,Historically they would rob, steal,kidnap and sell slaves for moneyrather than ever developing an econ-omy. They can betray anyone at anytime, no matter the friendship. Thisis ironic because the colonel has livedin Chechnya and has Chechen friends.He states that he knows they will turn

on him in a heartbeat if advantageousor financially rewarding to them. Thecolonel says, The only answer toChechnya is to drop bombs on theentire region. They are like a cancer.

There is no dealing with them. Assoon as countries like the U.S. andGreat Britain accept that Chechnya isa cancer, President Putin will havethe freedom he needs to deal with

them like a cancer. The Russianpeople want to see the war inChechnya won. They want a FINALSOLUTION (emphasis added) to thisproblem and realize there wont besuch a solution unless they are all

killed.

If this statement is reflective of thegeneral feelings in Russia, they aresuggesting genocide is the only an-swer to the problem. While manywill focus on Giducks book for the

information on the actual attack onthe school, I believe the informationon the history of the unrest in theregion is far more profound. Giduckalso points out that the majority ofterrorism we face today is rooted inthe countries we freed at the end ofWWII. Former colonies of the USA,Britain, France, Holland, Belgium andGermany such as the Philippines, theMiddle East, Angola, Indonesia, So-malia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Ma-laysia are all hot beds for Islamic ter-

rorism. Ironically, many of thesecountries suffered under colonialrule or the domination of a dictator-ship prior to WWII. The countriesthat allowed these nations to be-

come self governing are generally thetargets to the terrorism they breedtoday. The U.S., Great Britain andRussia and to a lesser extent Canadaand France lost millions in the battle

to overthrow Nazi Germany and Japanese Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Look who arethe primary targets for these radicalelements today. France continues toplacate the Arabs by selling themmunitions and playing both sides ofthe fence while saying whatever ittakes to keep the oil flowing. Can-ada has seen a huge influx of immi-grants and is the gateway for mostterrorists entering the U.S. despite

their best efforts to screen them.

Reading between the lines, we have along and hard battle ahead of us.There appears to be no peacefulsolution that will settle this religiousbased hatred. While having little todo with specific firearms training, weneed to keep an open mind to theenvironment we will be training in.There are millions of moderate Mus-lims who remain silent when terror-ism strikes locally. Where is theoutrage? Where is the condemna-

tion? Where is the pressure to cutsupport for these terrorists? Is this amessage we need to be hearing? It isgoing to get a lot worse before it

gets better. Be prepared.

instructors from foreign countrieswho are sent to teach with us be-cause of the reputation of this pro-gram. This program does not just

happen. A lot of hard work by ahandful of people make the confer-

ence what it is.

The conference is fifty percent of theAssociations revenue generatingprogram. The minimal fees chargedto attend this training are only whatthe Executive Board has determinedis necessary to run the programwithout incurring a loss. The onlyway we can make money is to bring

As many of our long time membershave seen, the annual training con-ference has developed into a pre-

mier event here in New England.

No longer a local event just draw-ing a handful of members, the MLE-FIAA Firearms Instructor Training &Development Conference is a mostsignificant training event for firearmsinstructors in the northeast. Ameasure of our success is the cali-ber of instructors we attract on aregular basis. Noted authors JimCirillo, Mike Boyle and Mike Contiare regular presenters. We have

the vendors in for the Expo. Thesecompanies support MLEFIAA by pur-chasing table space and taking timeout of their schedules to attend the

conference.

Even if you are not signed up for theConference, please take the time toattend the Expo on Tuesday, Sep-tember 25th. Admission is free withyour law enforcement ID. If youanticipate equipment purchases inthe fall, please talk with the vendorsto see if they can fill your needs.Supporting the vendors also sup-

ports your Association.

Beslan - The Rest of the Story (continued from previous page)

Support Your Association by Supporting Conference Vendors

Page 6 2007 MLEFIAA


8/16

The rest is history. In the end, onlyone terrorist was captured. Severalescaped; of these, one was beaten todeath when recognized by the fathersof several victims. Another was

lynched by the crowd wanting re-

venge.

Mike relied heavily on John Giducksbook Terror at Beslan and did agreat job setting up a time line so wecould fully understand the situation inthe short amount of time the meetingallowed. As has always been the casewith the old Soviet Union and Russia,

identifying the players can be difficult.The various government directoratesand para-military units that re-sponded are confusing unless youhave a working knowledge of whos

who. His presentation stirred upvaluable dialog among those presenton what this country may be facing

(see related story in this issue).

For those members who could notmake the meeting or have an interestin this topic, Mike Lupachini will pre-sent an enhanced version of this atthe MLEFIAA Firearm Instructor

Training Conference and ProductExpo this September. The confer-ence offers extensive classroom andrange training in relevant topics.While those attendees who have

paid for classes have first preference,the classroom training held on thefirst day is open to sworn law en-forcement officers who attend theVendor Expo. This is a great way tocheck out many new products andtake advantage of the special showpricing that many vendors offer. Youcan also sit in on some of the classes

if space is available.

BESLAN - An Analysis of Terror (cont. from Page 3)

Page 7 2007 MLEFIAA

Are You Ready To Deal With A Beslan Style Attack (cont. from Page 4)How many must die before we

wake up to the reality of the situation?It is going to get worse before it getsbetter. Al Qaeda has become the boo-geyman of the media however I submitthat organization is only the tip of theiceberg. While they have been thedriving force behind numerous attacksand continue to be a significant securitythreat, the true enemy is the radicalfundamentalist Islamic movement. The

politically correct media fails to prop-erly acknowledge the intolerance ofthese people. They have no tolerancefor anyone that is not Muslim or whodo not live by their moral code. Thissame moral code includes stoningwomen and puts no value on the life

on anyone considered an infidel.Al Qaedas notoriety has created a

new threat for the world. The recentplot to attack soldiers at Fort Dix, NJcould not be tied directly to Al Qaeda.The independent perpetrators were

imitating Al Qaeda. Just as dementedstudents have mimicked Klebold andHarris attack at Columbine HighSchool, we are now seeing wannabeeterrorists looking to imitate Al Qaeda.This is an important transformation asAl Qaeda no longer has to finance andsupply leadership to radical cells theyonly have to antagonize hatred andinspire the motivation to act on that

hate.Our borders are porous, our laws

are designed to protect the accusedat the expense of the innocent andwe (as police officers) generally lackthe determination to engage a ter-rorist threat. The municipalities weare sworn to protect against thisthreat have cut our training budgetsto the bone. This type of threat isnot one we are currently preparedfor. It is ignored in the academy and

brushed over at in-service.

Local law enforcement can donothing about terrorist networksoverseas however we can preparefor and shore up our defenses hereat home. To be safe, we must makeour communities hard nuts to crackforcing terrorism to go elsewhere.Radical Islam is not going to throw inthe towel and declare a truce. Thisis a religious conflict that dates backto the Crusades. Until the moderateMuslim world condemns the actionsof the radical minority, cuts off their

funding and takes a firm stand againstthe terror, we must expect the

worst.So, how does affect you the fire-

arms instructor? Can the individualofficer do anything? YES! Like theBoy Scouts, we must be prepared.When (not if) this happens here inAmerica, responding officers willneed rifles and plenty of ammo.Work with your superiors to besure you have patrol rifles and they

are in your cruisers. If they arelocked up in the station, people aregoing to die while someone wastestime bringing them to the scene.Along with your rifle, you are goingto need plenty of ammo. This is notgoing to be the statistical FBI UCRgunfight of 3.4 rounds fired at a dis-tance of 21 feet or less. The terror-ists are most vulnerable at the onsetof the attack before they have estab-

lished a toe hold in the building andhad time to consolidate their gains.

Our training must focus on rapidintervention of the terrorists plan.They perceive Americans as weakand lacking resolve. In some cases,this may be true. We need to trainour officers to be alert and ready.The terrorists at Beslan were attheir weakest during the initial as-sault. They had very little time totrain together. If local police cancounter attack immediately, this may

throw the terrorists time table offenough to permit better trained offi-cers (regional or larger agency tacti-cal teams) to respond. The trainingyou give your officers needs to instilla confidence in their ability andequipment. Active shooter scenarios

be it a high school student with agrudge or a band of terrorists needto be dealt with immediately. We

know that containment and waitingMore on Page 9


9/16

The internet can be a wonderful resourceespecially when you are looking for waysto illustrate what not to do. This informa-tion was found on Dean Speirs websitethe Gun Zone (www.thegunzone.com)

which Ive found to be an interesting re-source.

The Ruger PC4 carbine is commonly usedas a patrol rifle in law enforcement circlesespecially by departments that issueRuger .40 caliber semi-autos as a dutyweapon. As can be seen in the photos,

the carbine suffered a catastrophic failuredue to the shooters total disregard for

what the rifle was telling him.

In December 2000 at the Manchester

Firing Line Range in New Hampshire, theshooter apparently experienced a squibround (a round that did not receive a fullcharge of powder and when fired, doesnot have sufficient energy to propel thebullet clear of the barrel) and failed to

notice.

The ammunition - Sellier & Bellot, is abrand that is frequently found at discountmail order sites and not commonly usedin law enforcement. As the photosshow, the first round lodged in the barreland the subsequent rounds piled up be-hind it until the barrel failed under the

pressure of the .40 S&W load.

The PC4 is a blow back operated semiautomatic rifle fed by a standard Rugerpistol magazine of the appropriate cali-

Ruger PC9 Failure - Shooter Fails To Pay Attention

Letters to the Editor(continued from Page 3)

ber. Squib rounds rarely if ever have theenergy to cycle the action on a semi autowhen the bullet fails to leave the barrel.This indicates the shooter must havemanually cycled the action to chamber a

fresh round when pressing the triggerfailed to deliver the expected bang.

As firearms instructors we are chargedwith overseeing the safety and operationof the range. Unfortunately we can notrely on having shooters who will recog-

nize a potentially hazardous situation.We have ingrained in them to perform amalfunction drill any time they do not getthe desired noise and recoil of a normalshot. It pays to keep an eye on yourshooters even when they appear to beperforming properly. No one was in-

jured however the result may have beendifferent if this was a Mini 14 firingthe .223 Remington round which devel-ops much higher pressures. (Photos by

Jim Crump)

When I went to the Pepperball in-structors course we were cautionednot to refer to the pepperball as a"round", as it conjures up images, orthe impression of, a lethal firearm

cartridge.

So, as your well written article men-tioned, due to the media's ineptitudeof reporting the correct facts on justabout everything we do and that inci-dent in particular, I had tocorrect their mistake, and tell theChief, and just about every Officer ont h e D e p a r t m e n t t h a t o u requipment was not the same.

In fact, I am still correcting theirmistake to this day when we show, ortalk about the pepperball equipmentto our citizen academy classes, and

other dog and pony show type event.

Anyway, good job on the case head!

Stay Safe,

Mike Lupachini, Upton P.D.

Thanks for taking the time to write and for the input Mike. As mentioned in

the last letter, the term Pepperball

was not meant to single out that prod-

uct.

Page 8 2007 MLEFIAA

The Randolph Police Departmentwould like to thank the association forthe use of MLEFIAA's airsoft equipment.We just recently completed training theentire department in rapid response toan active shooter incident. Included inthis training were force on force simula-tions utilizing the airsoft equipment.This was the first time training withforce on force simulations. The feed-back from the Officers was nothing butpositive. Some of the comments were,"That was the best training we've everdone. When can we do this again. Weshould do this every year." We con-ducted the training in the RandolphHigh School during April vacation week.Officers not only received great train-ing, but had a lot of laughs as well. Thetraining was video taped and reviewedat the conclusion of the training. This

received great feedback.

I would like to especially thank ToddBailey for his help and time. Todd spent aSaturday fixing some of the airsoft gunsand then meeting me to deliver theequipment. Todd was also helpful with afew tips in regards to force on forcetraining with the airsoft that I found very

helpful.The association has a great arsenal of

airsoft guns. We were given 13 pistols, 2M4 rifles and a shotgun. All guns that ourOfficers have on the street. Any memberthinking of training their departmentutilizing airsoft has this same equipment

just waiting to be used. This was a firstfor Randolph, but definitely not the last.

Thanks again from the Randolph Training

Division:Lt.Edward O'Leary, Lt. John CourtneyPtlm. Dennis Crowley and Ptlm. Richard

Hughes


10/16

for SWAT will only result in greatercasualties. Immediate and effectiveaction is the key to success. If ourinitial response is forceful enough, itcan minimize the advantage of sur-

prise that the terrorists have.Police officers need to be ready

to go 24/7 in their community. Ifyou are working a detail a half mile

from the target, are you prepared torespond? Even if you dont wear avest on a detail, do you have it withyou? Do you have a rifle with 2 or 3spare magazines? We need to start

thinking like volunteer firefighters.When the balloon goes up, we hotfoot it to the scene and have theequipment to fight the battle. If you

arent willing to be a sheep dog, youbetter resign yourself to be one of

the sheep.Sadly, it will take one or two

attacks and many casualties to bring

this point home. America is histori-cally slow to react. Hopefully wewill have sheep dogs on duty when

it happens.

Are You Ready To Deal With A Beslan Style Attack (cont. from Page 7)

Page 9 2007 MLEFIAA

Integrated Response To Active Shooters

At the Associations April meetinghosted by Marty Gannon of the Lan-caster P.D., a timely presentation onResponse to School Lockdowns waspresented by our host. Marty usedhis experience with the local schools

to illustrate the problems and solu-tions to instituting a integrated re-

sponse to a school lockdown.

The critical element is to integrateLaw Enforcement, Fire, EMS andCommunications into the training andresponse. All four elements will berequired for a successful outcome tothis type of incident. Marty stated upfront that one of the biggest hurdleshe had to overcome was getting theschool system to cooperate. Lancas-

ter is somewhat unique in that for asmall town, it has a fairly large numberof schools. In addition to several pub-lic schools, the Perkins School and

Assumption College

Any reader who has attempted toconduct training inside the localschools will have experienced this tosome extent. Some school adminis-trators have a distinct bias againstpolice in the schools. When forcedto have a School Resource or

D.A.R.E. Officer in their midst, theywill often require them to be un-armed or where a suit & tie ratherthan the traditional uniform. Ourhost explained that he had severalface to face meetings with the schooladministration before he was able tomake any headway. With persistence,patience and the threat of making aformal issue as a parent, Marty wasable to get his foot in the door. Likethe proverbial camels nose under the

tent, once Marty got in he was ableto begin conducting meaningful train-ing. At the same time, he was ableto present the reality of an activeshooter scenario to the school ad-ministrators and teachers which

helped win them over to the idea.The Virginia Tech shooting broughtthe reality of the scenario in a col-lege environment to the local As-sumption College. You dont haveto approach the schools with ActiveShooter Training. It may be easierand more acceptable to proposenatural disaster drills and training.This includes closing the blinds tosimulate power outages, moving pu-pils away from windows and evacua-

tions to pre-designated points.

Once you have the local school ad-ministrators on board, you will needto coordinate the Public Safety ele-ments. Most training we do com-pletely ignores the people who willhandle our calls. This needs tochange. Your departments responseto an active shooter or lock downsituation will begin with a call to theCommunications Division or Dis-patch. In terms of manpower, Dis-patch is very limited especially when

things get busy. Most small jurisdic-tions will have 1 or 2 people to takeincoming telephone calls, handle ra-dio traffic, page out the response,gather information and relay commu-nications between agencies. An ac-tive shooter incident will quicklyoverwhelm even the most skilled

dispatcher.

Once Dispatch puts out the call, thevarying responses need to be ad-

dressed. On duty officers will re-spond in the traditional manner andwill most likely be the first on scene.This has been addressed in detailbefore. In smaller jurisdictions, re-sponse will most likely include calling

in off duty officers and a mutual aidresponse from adjacent towns.Marty told the members that hisdepartment has issued raid jackets toofficers. This will allow them to re-spond with clear identification aspolice officers without having tochange into a uniform. Anothersource of responding officers couldbe those on details. Depending onthe detail officers location, theycould be the first officer on scene. Ifso, they need to be prepared. Since

most detail officers do not wear suf-ficient equipment to deal with a seri-ous call, some prior planning needsto take place. An ballistic assaultvest loaded with cuffs, spare maga-zines, tactical light and possibly a fullsize weapon makes for a quick wayto go from schooner rigged to fullyequipped. Forward thinking officerswill also have a long gun with sparemagazines handy. There is a strongargument to be made for depart-ments issuing a patrol rifle to each

officer in addition to a duty pistol.

Active shooter incidents are not justa police call. Fire, EMS and DPWwill be involved. Most communitiesintegrate Fire and EMS. For thosethat do not, we will need the FireDepartment on tap to cover Med-Flight LZs, silence fire alarms (whichare often pulled in these incidents)

and respond to fire events which(Continued on Page 11)


11/16

20072007

Annual Firearms InstructorAnnual Firearms InstructorDevelopment ConferenceDevelopment Conference

September 25 - 28, 2007

Devens Common Center (former Ft. Devens)(Vendor Expo and Classroom Sessions)

Harvard Sportsmens Club(Live Fire Range Exercises)

MLEFIAA Members: $185.00

Non-members: $245.00The cost includes admission to the Vendor Expo and up to eight hours of class-

room training on September 25th plus your choice of up to 24 hours of live fire

range sessions on September 26th - 28th. On the live fire days, lunch is provided

at the range for participants that have signed up. Class size is limited and par-

ticipants will be registered on a first come first in basis. Most classes are 4

hours in length. Attached is a tentative list of programs that will be offered.

Reduced rate accommodations for law enforcement personnel are availableat the host hotel Devens Spring Hill Suites. The hotel is part of the Conference

Center and is conveniently located 10 minutes from the range.

This is the best value training you will ever come across. The cost value works

out to less than six dollars per hour - and we feed you at the range! It doesnt

get any better than this.

2007 MLEFIAA


12/16

At a firearms instructor recertificationin May, a possible problem with Safari-lands Model 6005 SLS style holstercame up. This is the popular modelfeaturing a rotating hood and will ac-

commodate a pistol equipped with atactical light. The design of the hol-ster features an enlarged section ofthe holster body which the tacticallight fits in to. The bottom of theholster has a solid plug where the

light is positioned.

While on the line, a shooter experi-enced difficulty holstering his servicepistol. The officer had completed thecourse of fire and attempted to hol-ster the pistol which would only go in

approximately 90% of the way. In thisposition the rotating hood would notproperly retain the weapon leaving itunsecured. The problem was tracedto an empty cartridge case which had

fallen into the holster. The casecame to a rest on the solid plug.When the pistol was inserted intothe holster, the lens of the attachedtactical light made contact with the

case. Fortunately the officer did nottry and force the pistol into the hol-ster. This would have likely resultedin breaking the lens on the light.One can imagine the predicament ifthis happened in combat situation.Imagine the officer being in a situa-tion where a deadly force situationhad de-escalated to a hands on situa-tion. The officer attempts to holsterand secure their pistol but it will notproperly seat or secure. The officernow has to go hands on with an un-

secured weapon.

After examining the design we con-cluded Safariland most likely designedthe holster in manner so that should

an officer inadvertently holster theirweapon with the tactical light on, theplug will prevent the officer fromilluminating himself. Unfortunatelythis can also present a serious safety

problem for the officer. We do notrecommend removing the plug fromthe holster as it may provide struc-

tural support to the holster body.

One solution could be to create ahole in the solid plug so that anydebris large enough to prevent theweapon from properly fitting into the

holster would fall free.

MLEFIAA recommends users of thisholster contact Safariland and voice

their concern over this problem.The company has been very cus-tomer service oriented in the past

and hopefully will address this issue.

mobilizes more assets and cuts

through red tape.

The DPW is often overlooked in thistype of response. An event of this

magnitude is going to attract themedia and on lookers. If the eventhappens in a school, you will have alot of parents responding to cellphone calls from their children. Toget an idea of what the traffic situa-tion will be like, look at the numberof parents who drive their kids toschool and double it. Without somesort of control, it will be a mess.One way to keep traffic out and theroads open for emergency vehicles isto post road blocks. Sawhorses

manned by police officers will not beeffective. In addition to sucking valu-able manpower away from thethreat, how can one officer keepback a dozen frantic parents withoutcreating a bigger problem? If theparents are not willing to obey theofficers orders, does the officer useforce to keep the parents out? Imag-ine how that will look in the newspa-per the next day. It is likely the offi-

may develop. EMS services are selfexplanatory. Forward thinking de-partments will look toward creatingTactical EMS billets with their re-sponse. Active shooter incidents

will mean casualties suffering fromgun shot wounds and other trauma.Integrating medical personnel intoour response only makes sense.The contact team enters and movestoward the threat to deal with it.As difficult as it may be, their goalcan not be diverted by thewounded. Pausing to render aid ordrop officers off to handle casualtieswill only result in a delayed re-sponse or making the contact teamless effective when the threat is en-

countered. The Rescue Teams aretasked with rendering aid and evacu-ating victims. Putting trained EMSpersonnel in these teams has severalbenefits. Foremost is bringing medi-cal attention to the woundedsooner. Secondary is additionalmanpower which could mean addi-tional Rescue Teams. Once casual-ties have been confirmed, declare aMCI (mass casualty incident). This

cer would be tied up with one par-ent and others will drive rightaround the road block making itpointless and a waste of manpower.A better plan would be to block the

selected road with heavy machineryor a dump truck, lock the doors andwalk away. Pre-plan these locationsto maximize the effectiveness andhave manned access points for emer-gency vehicles. Realistically, trafficand roads are going to be a night-mare on top of an already bad situa-tion. Expect parents to abandontheir cars and approach the scene onfoot. It should be expected thatsome will not be willing to listen toreason and may want to enter the

building to retrieve their child. Thisis especially true if the children areyounger. If your schools aregrouped together, expect parents ofchildren on other campuses to wantto pick up their children. Prepara-tions for this should be anticipatedand an area set aside for parents tobe reunited with their children es-

tablished.

Safariland Holster Issue

Integrated Response to the Active Shooter (cont. from Page 9)

Page 11 2007 MLEFIAA


13/16

Can you think of a law enforcementagency that carries the revolver as theissued service weapon? When is thelast time you saw a wheel gun on anofficers duty belt? The only uni-

formed personnel I see wearing a re-volver are the occasional armed secu-rity guard and armored car personnel.Sure there is a market for large framerevolvers in the target shooting andhunting market but there is no placefor the old wheel gun in law enforce-mentright? If thats the case, whydoes Smith & Wesson offer THIRTYFIVE different small frame revolveroptions in their present catalog? The

J-Frame revolver has never beenmore popular and the selection of

models has never been greater.The revolver may have seen itsday as the primary service weaponhowever it is still extremely popular

as a back up gun and off duty carrypiece. The Chiefs Special has beenaround since 1950 when it was intro-duced at the International Chiefs ofPolice Convention. In those days,

only Modern metallurgy has al-lowed companies to chamber thesesmall framed wheel guns for the .357Magnum cartridge. Those who havefired full house magnums in thesesmall guns will attest that they can bea handful. The short barrel does notallow the round to achieve its fullballistic potential and the small gripmakes it hard to hold on to. We canfeed them a steady diet of +P ammowhich would have created problemsin the older guns. The plus P loads

are hot enough to get the job donein serious social situations and con-

trollable.As I write this I am packing for

the Police & Security Expo in NJ andneeded a handgun that performedwell WITHOUT hollowpoints.Along with the 1911 went a S&W640 loaded with 158 gr. Jacketed soft

points.Unfortunately most departments

and training authorities have retiredthe revolver in their minds. This is amistake. The wheel gun perseveresalbeit in a different mode. Even withagencies that only issue semi autopistols, the revolver can be found asan off duty gun. Both S&W and Tau-rus offer lightweight models con-structed of titanium and scandium.While a bit on the harsh side toshoot, the lightweight materials make

them a pleasure to carry all day.When the sun goes down, that iswhat these small guns are for car-

rying.

easier to get the rifle in and out of acruiser rack. The Mini 14 as most ofus knew it has been discontinued.Ruger has adopted the Ranch Rifleconfiguration for all Mini 14s regard-less of configuration. This permitsmounting of scope rings and opticsand the buffer system prevents dam-

age to optics.Day 3 was devoted to the Police

Carbine (PC). For a department thatcarried Ruger semi auto pistols andwas not opposed to a patrol rifle in apistol caliber, this rifle made a lot ofsense. It is accurate, light weight anduses the same magazines as the offi-cers duty weapon. How many of uswith M4s carry two spare magazinesfor our rifle on our duty belts? Un-fortunately it was only made in 9mmand .40 S&W which can not matchthe ballistics of a rifle round. Anotherdrawback was it would only acceptRuger magazines. We understand thefactory was able to adapt the rifle totake S&W and SIG mags however thelegal department felt that could be aliability issue and nixed the that idea.While there is nothing theoretically

At the beginning of May, MLEFIAAhosted a Ruger Rifle ArmorerSchool at the Westminster PoliceDepartment. This three day pro-gram covered basic disassembly,maintenance, inspection and reas-sembly of the Mini 14 and PoliceCarbine series of rifles. The instruc-tor was Bob Wood from RugersNewport, New Hampshire facility.Bob went through all the variationsof the Mini 14 and explained howRuger is adapting the rifle to theneeds of law enforcement. WhileRuger has never seriously chasedthe police market, Bob told the ar-morers that they have a substantialniche in the corrections field withthe Mini 14 and a number of policedepartments use this weapon as apatrol rifle because it does not looklike an M-16. To address the needsof those departments that preferthe Ruger rifle and want it moretactical, Ruger has introduced anew variant with a collapsible stock,Picatinney rails and a 16 inch barrel.The shorter barrel makes it much

or mechanically wrong with the rifle,it never achieved the sales that thefactory hoped and was recently dis-

continued.

The instructor gave some very inter-esting info on a new rifle in the Mini14 line that should be appearingsoon. In response to the interest inan alternative to the 5.56mm round,Ruger will chamber the Mini 14 in6.8 SPC. Physically similar to theMini-30 carbine, the new rifle shouldanswer the needs of departmentslooking for a more effective roundthan the .223 Remington / 5.56mmNATO. If you are contemplating a6.8 rifle and you like the Mini 14 de-sign, hold off on putting a down pay-ment on that custom barreled Ruger.You may get one right from the fac-

tory.The Association would like to

thank Lt. Mike McDonald and theWestminster Police Department foroffering the use of their trainingroom for the class and making this

class a success.

Is the Revolver Obsolete?

MLEFIAA Hosts Ruger Armorer School



14/16

As was reported in the fall 06 edition,Sgt. Bill Leanos of Gloucester P.D. hasassumed the duties of Firearms Coor-dinator at the Municipal Police Train-ing Committee. Bill has some big

shoes to fill but after attending theApril Firearms Instructor/Trainer re-certification in West Springfield, itappears the right man was selectedfor the job. He is in the process ofrevamping the firearms instructionprogram for those agencies that train

under the guidelines of the MPTC.

The Firearms Training section of theMPTC website is now being updatedabout every other week. Check thisfrequently as new classes will be com-

ing on line. Two new programs havebeen implemented as of this writing.The first is a formal Instructor/Trainerrecertification. Instructor/Trainersare those MPTC firearms instructorswho have been certified to train atthe instructor level. Similar to theregular instructor recertification,these are scheduled to keep I/Ts upto date on changes, new trainingmethods and additions to the pro-gram. Unlike the Instructor Recert, I/Ts will recertify annually and they will

have a separate qualification coursewhich sets higher standards includinga mandatory 100% score from 7 yardsin. Bill said he envisions conductingthe traditional range exercises withround table forums to discuss trainingissues on alternating years. Instruc-tors will continue to be recertifiedevery two years as in the past. In July,Bill will hold the first of severalAdvanced Firearms Instructorclasses. These are designed to takethe instructor beyond the entry level

program and get them to begin think-ing out of the box as they improvetheir departments program with tac-tical movement. A website devotedexclusively to firearms instructors isbeing developed. When up and run-ning, www.firearmsinstructor.org willbe a great resource for department

instructors here in Massachusetts.

Instructor recertification will continue

to be an 8 hour block of instructionfor pistol, revolver, shotgun and pa-trol rifle. Instructors who were ini-tially certified by bodies other thanthe MPTC such as Smith & Wesson,

SIGArms Academy, and FLETC willbe accepted provided proper docu-mentation and certificates are pro-vided. Beginning this year, the initialMPTC instructor certification pro-gram will increase from 40 hours (5days) to 64 hours (8 days). The addi-tional instruction will be on long guntraining. As this new curriculum isimplemented, we will see weaponretention and defensive tactics inte-grated more into firearms training.This makes sense as your depart-

ments use of force training shouldinclude all aspects from verbal todeadly force. A new Power Pointpresentation and course CD havebeen developed to augment the new

material.

Record keeping continues to be animport but often neglected aspect offirearms training. Instructors shouldnot send score sheets or other re-cords to the Firearms Coordinator.It is imperative that each instructor

document training including lessonplan development, courses of fire,range conditions, ammunition andscores. These records remain withthe department. The subject oftraining ammo vs. duty ammo wasdiscussed. As conventional outdoorranges become scarce, departmentshave had to adapt to indoor rangeswhich often require frangible ammu-nition. Due to its construction, fran-gible bullets are often lighter inweight than their conventional coun-

terpart. This can change the point ofimpact. The bullet weight of thedepartments selected duty roundmay not have a comparabletraining round. Before adopting atraining round, the instructor willhave to test it to use to insure thepoint of aim and point of impact areidentical to their chosen duty round.At this time there is no legal case lawto draw on to sample the courts

interpretation of this topic. Untilthere is, we should conduct compari-son testing and document the resultsto cover our selection of trainingammo. It is clear the MPTC is aware

of the financial impact that restrictingtraining ammo could have on a de-

partments training budget.

An important aspect of firearmstraining is an officers ability to ma-nipulate their service weapon withthe support side hand. Shooting withthe support side hand was eliminatedfrom the MPTC Qualification courseseveral years ago. Its back and thatsa good thing. When under stresssuch as in a gun fight, human instinct

causes us to focus on the threat - theweapon. Tunnel vision sets in andunless a shooter has committed hun-dreds of hours of training, they are

going to forget their front sight.

This is where I have to disagreesomewhat with the MPTC program.There is no question that the frontsight is the key to marksmanship andthat this must be the cornerstone ofbasic marksmanship instructiontaught at the academy - especially to

new shooters. However, the over-whelming majority of police officersdo not practice enough to overcomethe basic instinct of focusing on thethreat and to focus on the front sightunder stress. The number of injuriesto the weapon hand area of the peo-ple we are forced to use deadly force

against supports this hypothesis.

Until we can fund training to theextent where we are able to over-come instinct, we need to pay more

attention to the concept of pointshooting. Read Kill or Get KilledbyRex Applegate or Police Pistolcraftby Mike Conti and see how policeofficers really react in a shootout andhow to adapt your training to this. Ido not see this as a negative pointbut rather it should create someexcellent dialogue at the I/T round

table discussions.

Improvements To MPTC Firearms Training



15/16

Semi-Auto Pistol Evaluation Exercise (SAPE)

This will be the first of a series of articles dealing with various courses of fire. Bill Peterson and I have been using the semiauto pistol evaluation course for a number of years. We first heard about it from John Farnum (Defensive Training Insti-

tute). The course has also been credited to Jerry Lane (Off-Shoots Training Institute) and Larry Nichols (Burbank CA PD).

We took the course and modified a couple of stages for our training. This course is used as the standard qualificationcourse for the departments we train. In blue are the pre-stage set up needed to complete the course. The target used is a

Q target.

Course Objective:This course of fire is used to demonstrate fire control, multiple shots, loading & unloading, reloading and safe handling of thesemi-auto pistol. The officer will demonstrate his/her skills by clearing malfunctions and hitting the target within specified

time limits. [50 Round Course of Fire] Passing Score: 80%

Load one magazine with six rounds

3 Yards:From the holster-2 rds in 3 seconds 6 rds

Move back to the 5 yd line. Load 2 magazines each with 3 rds.Start with empty chamber. Load 3 rd. magazine. DO NOT chamber round.

5 Yards:Draw and fire 3 rds. In 5 seconds (includes tap-rack-access). Done twice. 6 rds.

Load 3 magazines each with 2 rds. Load 1 magazine into pistol and chamber a round.Other 2 magazines placed in magazine pouches. .

5 Yards:Slide Forward; reload drill from the holster 12 rdsDraw and fire 2 rds, reload, fire 2 rds, reload and fire 2rds. Time limit: 15 seconds per string. Done twice.

Load 1 magazine with 6 rounds. Load and chamber round.

5 Yards Body Armor Drill from the holster. 6 rdsDraw and fire 2 rds in the torso and one in the head in 5 seconds. Done twice.

Move back to 7 yard line.Load 2 magazines each with 5 rds.Using a dummy round, set up a double feed.

7 Yards Double Feed Clearance Drill from the shooting position 6 rdsFrom ready position, perform immediate action drill and fire 3 rds in 15 seconds. Repeat one more time.

Three magazines loaded with 2 rds per magazine. Load 1 magazine and chamber round.

7 Yards Slide lock back and reload drill from the holster 6 rdsDraw and fire 2 rds, reload, fire 2 rds, reload and fire 2rds. Time limit: 15 seconds per string. Done once.

Using 2 magazines. Load the first magazine with 5 rdsLoad the second magazine with 3 rds.Load 5 round magazine in the gun and chamber a round. Place magazine with 3 rds. In magazine pouch.

15 Yards Tactical reload drill from the low ready position. 8 rds**Draw and fire 4 rds., perform tactical reload and fire 4 remaining rds. Time limit: 20 seconds

**- Loading magazines in this way is to accommodate a 50 round box of ammunition.

As you can see by the above course of fire, the officer must perform 2 types of immediate drills, 2 types of reloading drills,speed shooting, failure drills and long distance shooting. If instructors dont teach the tactical reload, a slide lock reload can besubstituted at the 15 yard line. Cover positions should be provided so officers perform the double feed clearance drill from be-hind cover.

I am going to use this course later this year during our downed/disabled officers drills and the officer will have to perform all ofthe stages except the 15 yard stage one handed.

COURSE OF FIRE by Joe Picariello, Princeton P.D.



16/16

Theofficialpublicationofthe

MassachusettsLaw

EnforcementFirearms

Instructors&ArmorersA

ssociation

P.O.Box253,Princeton,M

A01541-0253

Place

Address

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