The belief that we must possess the ability to draw our defensive handgun at blinding speed spans generations. For me and others who grew up during the 1950s and early '60s, the Westerns of film and televison had the heroes almost always winning face-to-face gunfights due to out-drawing the bad guy. The quick-draw craze that took hold had formal contests of blanks-firing competitors engaged in shoot-outs where they dueled against downrange balloons. TV and film stars got into the act as well, with appearances in which they demonstrated their abilities in yanking, twirling and shooting their cowboy guns from quick-draw rigs.

A visibly aggressive draw telegraphs your intent and should be avoided in street situations. Slow, smooth and relaxed is more likely to carry the day.

Adding to the apparent importance of having a quick draw, an exceptionally talented lawman named Bill Jordan, a U.S. Border Patrol Inspector, also appeared on TV where he repeatedly demonstrated his fast draw from a uniform duty rig. He'd showcase his draw by starting with a ping pong ball on the back of his hand, which he held waist-high above his holstered and blanks-loaded revolver. He then drew, fired and hit the ball before it could drop into the holster.

This obsession with a fast draw might have gone away, as do most fads, except for the introduction of a new combat shooting game: IPSC. International Practical Shooting Confederation contests had (and still have) competitors begin most courses of fire with their handguns holstered and, as time was one of the major factors in determining a winner, the quicker the gun was put into action the better the score. (Assuming everyone would also be able to shoot as well as they could draw, of course.)

Rational thinking was quite scarce at the time, as few looked back at the holsters successfully worn and used by generations of armed men, the design of which did little if anything to enhance the ability to draw a handgun quickly. In short, many of us spent altogether too much time developing and maintaining our quick-draw abilities.

In those dark ages of no economically priced electronic timers, defensive handgun quick-draw practice was often simply done by using a coin on the backs of our hands, outstretched and extended at shoulder level. The goal was to draw and fire before the coin hit the floor. (This works out, depending on your height, to about two-fifths of a second.)

I got so good at this that I was able to do it from waist height, but I abruptly stopped such practice when I was so quick that I triggered a round into the floor in front of me. (Others simply shot any number of defenseless mirrors, as well as themselves.)

With this rich history, it's not surprising that this emphasis on drawing one's handgun as fast as possible remains with us today, but I see it as a continuing impediment to learning and practicing more-important self-defense skills.

Let's be clear about one thing. Few, if any, gunfights ever were--or are--won based on a quick draw. If you beat the bad guy's effort and shoot him first, well, he'll simply shoot you second. Of course, you could manage not to be shot if you shoot accurately enough to shut him down right then.