Using a stop watch, I timed Officer Kunz’s movement from the first shots to when he goes off camera as 3.47 seconds. How fast would this movement have been if he had tried to draw his pistol and return fire while he fought to cover? The suspect was already behind some degree of cover when he came out of the vehicle ready to fight with an AK-47. What was more important in this situation, accurate fire or getting away? The suspect unloaded with a torrent of fire directed at the officer, leaving him with no place to retreat. Officer Kunz kept his head (which can be heard in his calm voice on the radio) and returned fire with his handgun, hitting the suspect three times even though the suspect fired more than 40 rounds of 7.62x39 ammo in the officer’s direction.

I have personally seen officers use the same movement used by Officer Kunz, both while under fire and during force-on-force training. It seems to me that this is what a person being shot at will do, not shuffle step to the rear. My question is, if moving backward while shooting is likely to fail and puts us in a disadvantageous position, why are we teaching it? Maybe we should incorporate a movement like that used by Officer Kunz during training.

I recently ran a range drill where I fired on two targets from five to 10 yards while shuffle stepping away vs. turning and shooting one-handed. Guess what? The accuracy difference was negligible; however, the time difference was great. It took me about 1 1/2 seconds to turn and move vs. almost five seconds to fight my way to cover. You do the math.

Except for those who are on entry teams, how much time and energy should we average cops and legally armed citizens spend on shooting while moving? I would call your attention to the writings of Paul Howe, one of the finest weaponcraft instructors currently in the business. Former Sergeant Howe is a veteran of the U.S. Army’s First Operational Detachment Delta and was written about in the bestselling book Black Hawk Down. Actor William Fitchner portrayed him in the movie of the same name.

Howe teaches classes from his facility in Texas (www.combatshootingandtactics.com), which should be on your short list of training courses in the coming year. I know that he is on mine, and I have never met him.

In his article “Training for the Real Fight, or Avoiding Gunfight Fantasy” Howe addresses shooting on the move as follows: “It is a skill that all shooters aspire to learn and spend a great deal of time and effort trying to master. I have never had to use it in combat. When moving at a careful hurry, I stopped, planted and made my shots. When the bullets were flying, I was sprinting from cover to cover, moving too fast to shoot. I did not find an in-between. If I slowed enough to make a solid hit when under fire, I was an easy target, so I elected not to.”

Howe goes on to say, “As for shooting and closing on a target, it only makes the bad guy’s accuracy better, and walking into a muzzle may help you to test your new vest sooner than you wanted to. Diagonal movement works, but again, if you have to slow down too much, you are an easy target and generally in the open. Speed can act as your security in this case to get you to a point of cover.”