False dichotomy. Not about time, it's about distance.
To shoot "accurately," you need to use the sights. To use the sights, you need to extend your arms. The assailant must be far enough away from you that he can't grab the gun when you extend it toward him. If the assailant is that far away, you may not be in immediate danger. Shooting may not be justified.
But more. Most civilian defense shootings occur at extremely short range, as should be expected.
"Well…that’s undoubtedly true if you don’t train enough to become proficient."
This is really bad advise. If a civilian actually has to shoot someone, they need to be able to point and shoot at 3 yards. Training to shoot accurately is exactly wrong. Train to shoot quickly and closely. Even from retention position.
Shooting from a close in retention position is also important. But it once again you have to become proficient and be able to do it as second nature.
It’s a different skill set but it’s acquired exactly the same way. start slow, over learning each element, and then - and only then- work on doing it fast.
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I disagree with you on the three yards or less issue.
First, that’s still 9 feet, well out of arms reach but well within range of an assailant closing to engage you with a knife. With an assailant who might start at 30 ft, 9’ is a reasonable range where you will have the gun up into your line of sight. You don’t have much time to shoot and you absolutely need to shoot accurately and do it as the sight comes on target. The method I described above in my prior post will let you do that.
Your alternative is to shoot badly and *maybe* score a hit or two around the edges, leaving the assailant plenty of time to kill you before he dies.
Second, the Tueller drill established that the average officer could not draw and put a shot on target when an assailant charged the officer from less than 21 ft. That pretty well established a danger zone at over twice the 3 yards you mentioned.
The problem with the drill is that it assumes the officer or armed citizen is dumb enough to just stand there on the X waiting for the assailant to run him over.
If you also develop the ability to draw and shoot as noted in my prior post, it’s just an additional step to learn to do it while sidestepping 90 degrees away from the assailants line of attack. If he’s closing fast enough to stick a knife in you from 20 feet, he is also moving so fast that he can’t quickly change direction. When you side step a away from his line of advance you continue side stepping and continue adjusting that angle as the assailant works against his own inertia to spiral in toward you. You’ll find you have ample time to engage the assailant and if he is still moving he’ll be at almost a full stop before he reaches you.
You should be able to shoot him several times, and the majority of those shots will be from an extended arm position where you should have the front sight on target. If you’ve learned to shoot properly your grip will take care of sight alignment and your shot placement will consistently be center of mass.
The last couple shots, if he continues to close after being hit several times, will probably be done from a close in retention position. Those shots will not be nearly as accurate and if he has not stopped, they’re probably won’t stop him. You’ll be transitioning to open hand techniques to control or deflect what ever weapon he has for the hopefully few seconds of useful consciousness he has left.
The only time getting off the X won’t work is if you’ve let yourself become channelized in a narrow alley or hallway. That’s an SA failure.
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The idea that all armed citizen shoots will be at three yards or less is statistically accurate but that’s also the range where the shooting starts, not where the assault is initiated. Concluding that shots fired at 3 yards don’t leave time to draw, extend the pistol and put the front sight on target is logical fallacy and if you are teaching that you are doing your students a grave disservice.
