Solo Self-Defense Tactics for Dangerous Situations

If every time you go to the range you shoot a single target, you are doing yourself a disservice. Sure, focusing on one target is a reasonable way to build basic marksmanship skills, but to prepare yourself for a real-world armed encounter, you must be proficient at engaging multiple threats. After all, bad guys, like wolves, tend to travel in packs.

When accosted by two or more armed attackers, there’s no margin for error. To prevail you must have a solid plan and the skill to execute it. Situational awareness and sound tactics are crucial but ultimately, accurate fire on multiple attackers in rapid succession may be required.

It’s easy to become so focused on the most obvious threat that you are oblivious to other potential threats. To stay ahead of the curve, you must assume there is more than one attacker until you determine otherwise. That’s step one.

While the most immediate threat will demand your attention, keep in mind that there could be others. And since you can’t deal with a threat you haven’t detected, keep your head on a swivel.

Movement is Key

When accosted by a group, movement is your salvation. That’s step two. But just moving isn’t enough. Your movement should improve your position. Typically, that means moving to the outside of the group, where you may be able to run away or get to your gun.

The last place you want to be is in the middle, surrounded by a group of attackers. Even if you can’t escape, moving to the outside may enable you to line up the attackers, where you better keep tabs on them. Ideally, this would enable you to deal with them one at a time.

If you can position one or more bad guys between you and the others, you at least won’t have to deal with attacks from every angle, which would be impossible to defend. The closer goons might even shield you from the rest of the group.

If the situation calls for deadly force, you must have a game plan. That’s step three. Since you can’t shoot them all at once, focus on the most immediate threat and engage that person.

Engagement

How you engage is also important. Just getting accurate shots on one threat won’t cut it if other armed assailants are closing in. You need to shoot and move, literally and figuratively, looking for the next threat.

One popular strategy for dealing with multiple assailants is often referred to as “boarding house rules.” What that means is everyone gets “firsts” before anyone gets “seconds.” In other words, fire one shot on each threat.

Even if a single hit doesn’t take the bad guy out of the fight, it will likely diminish his ability to attack, at least momentarily. This will buy you time to deal with the others. Hopefully, being shot will dissuade him and the rest of the group, but don’t count on it.

Another school of thought breaks the boarding-house rule. The rationale here is that since you’re already sighted in on the target, shoot him two or three times before addressing the next threat. Of course, delivering multiple hits on target has a greater chance of taking him out of the fight, but it also gives the others more time to attack.

Fast and Accurate

If you subscribe to the “shoot ’em more than once” methodology, keep it to two or three fast, accurate hits. You don’t have the luxury of focusing on a single attacker too long.

Also, keep in mind that every time you press the trigger, it must be justifiably in response to an imminent deadly threat. The mere fact that someone is associated with someone who threatens you with a weapon doesn’t grant you carte blanche to shoot the unarmed person. That’s not to say that a person must be armed to pose a deadly threat. If several unarmed attackers swarm you with fists, feet, elbows and knees, you may well be justified in using your gun to overcome that glaring disparity of force.

When engaging multiple threats, technique plays a factor. If the threats are standing side by side a few feet away from you, your best bet is to shoot one threat then rotate your torso to engage the next. But move your head before your gun. If you swing your head and the gun together, you’re apt to overswing the target, which wastes time.

When deadly threats are positioned farther apart from each other—say at 45-degree angles in front of you—leaving your arms extended slows the movement of your gun. Since you’re swinging the gun so far, it’s easy to overswing even if you move your head and eyes to the target first. A better idea is to bring the gun close to your body, orient your upper body to the target, then drive the gun out and shoot. You’ll find this is to be a more precise and efficient movement.

Don't Let Your Guard Down Prematurely

Since a deadly threat can emerge at any time, you can’t let your guard down too soon. Once the known threats have been neutralized, it’s time to scan for additional threats. This should be done with the muzzle slightly elevated or depressed to avoid sweeping your muzzle across non-hostiles. Of course, your trigger finger should be indexed high, outside of the trigger guard until your sights are on target and you’ve made a conscious decision to fire.

Being aware of your surroundings and having a plan could save the day when dealing with multiple assailants. These are concepts that are hard to practice at the range but are easy to wargame in your mind. The shooting part of the equation is something you can work on as long as you have a range that accommodates shooting targets that aren’t directly in front of you.

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