Tom Givens’ National Tactical Conference and Polite Society match finished up last weekend at the fabulous US Shooting Academy range in Tulsa. About 100 attendees picked from a smorgasbord of hands-on fighting classes, live-fire tactical shooting programs, and relevant classroom lecture.  There was a smattering of military, and I’d guess about 15% or so police, with the rest of the student body and staff made up of armed citizens.

The match, named after Robert Heinlein’s comment (popularized by Jeff Cooper) that an armed society is a polite society, was a challenge as always. Half was “standard exercises” that included firing from various downed defender positions, at distances from three paces to twenty-two with carry guns. The other half was “run to cover and shoot” scenario work against reactive 3-D humanoid mannikins from DVD Targets. Congratulations to the winners: The overall champion was Wayne Dobbs, a retired police officer from Texas, and the female champion was Gail Pepin, producer of the ProArms Podcasts.

Psychologist William Aprill lectured on behavior patterns of violent criminal offenders. Dr. Martin Topper addressed ammunition selection and theories that interfaced terminal ballistics with medical perspectives on incapacitation of the human body. John Hearne gave an excellent analysis of the FBI gunfight in Dade County, Florida 25 years ago, which embodied many timeless lessons in shootout survival. Claude Werner detailed how to interact with other good guys, including family members, when a deadly danger situation forces you to bring your gun into action.  Carl Rehn gave a tutorial on how to stage force-on-force training for maximum relevance to real-world encounters. Steve Moses taught “VIP protection for dummies.” My topic was managing the emotional and psychological aftermath of the use of deadly force.

Hands-on fighting included armed encounters that begin as physical fights, with my old friend “Southnarc,” who may be teaching under his own name when he retires from undercover police work not long from now.   Mike Brown of Tulsa PD taught weapon access in a clinch.  Tactical field treatment of gunshot wounds was taught by Caleb Causey.

Live-fire training encompassed Fire For Effect with Jim Higginbotham, Snubby Skills (Claude Werner), Critical Fundamentals of Combative Pistol (Wayne Dobbs), Unorthodox Shooting Positions (Rob Pincus), Shotgun Skills (Will Andrews), and Support Hand Only Techniques (Brian Hill).

Camaraderie was strong and a meaningful training experience was had by all. Date and venue for next year’s event have not been set at this writing, but information is available at www.rangemaster.com sometime this coming summer.

Attendees learn to fight in the clinch in Mike Brown’s class.

Brian Hill begins demonstration of left-hand-only reload.

Brian Hill at National Tactical Conference

Gail Pepin has right target down, left target begins to rock back from impact of shot as spent casing just exits the chamber.

Gail Pepin at National Tactical Conference

Host Tom Givens, left, presents awards to high lawman and overall Polite Society Match champ Wayne Dobbs.

Wayne Dobbs and Tom Givens at National Tactical Conference

Attendees had option to shoot assorted exotic firearms. These machine guns are, from left, Browning .30, Browning .50, and .30 cal. Minigun.

1 COMMENT

  1. When I first read the title I thought this was the NTI event. But this looks equally interesting. Might try to catch next year’s.

    Out of curiosity Mas, do you think any of the lectures were recorded? Looks like a lot of interesting topics were covered there.

    Slightly off-topic, but it relates to traveling. Did anyone hear about the two Olympic shooters who lost their $15,000 shotguns thanks to the airlines?

    http://www.tactical-life.com/online/news/airline-loses-olympic-shooting-champs-shotgun/?right=news

    One reason why I prefer driving…

  2. Ditto Mas’ comments. Outstanding weekend with a bunch of great folks. Definately a sound investment of time and money.

  4. “There was a smattering of military, and I’d guess about 15% or so police, with the rest of the student body and staff made up of armed citizens.”

    Sorry Mas, 15%police is too much for this site ! You’re going to have to decrease your police association percentages to the acceptable 3.7% and no more. Oh and make sure you give them the stink eye in any photos… LOL

  5. I have a big gripe about your blog.

    You don’t write often enough.

    I have read your books and all of your articles and blogs that appear on the internet AND I WANT MORE!

  7. Major improvement for weak-hand use of semiauto pistol: extended or ambidextrous aftermarket safety, extended slide release. It’s inexpensive and can be a do-it-yourself project that’s fairly easy – even for the safety.

  8. Tim from CO says, “One reason why I prefer driving…”

    Me too, when possible but, it’s kind of hard to drive from Australia to any other country…

    Actually what’s more dangerous is flying with guns and getting stuck on a layover in a State that’s got severe restrictions. You absolutely cannot retrieve your luggage with the gun because the next day when you check in you have to declare it. Then…. there’s have BIG trouble for you. This has happened to more than a few folks in places like NYC and Chicago.

  11. @Captain Bob – I suppose driving to/from Australia might be difficult lol. But with Australia’s gun laws and all the poisonous critters, I’d move to the US. I’ve known several people from Australia and it’s nothing to them that sometimes they come home to aggressive spiders blocking their front door. I’m sure Australia is a very beautiful place but I don’t need spiders that chase my wife around…

    In all honesty, I could stay in the US and be perfectly happy. Being in the middle, makes it a bit more convenient to drive to places. Going to somewhere like Washington to attend FAS, as tempting as flying would be, I’d probably end up driving.

    Only places I’d have to drive to would be Alaska and Hawaii. Could drive to Alaska but that’s a long drive and I’m not sure how the laws go for transporting firearms through Canada. Hawaii is fun but since I carry now, not sure how feel about going due to the unfriendly CCW laws.

  12. I attended and had a great time. Learned a lot. Found a bunch of things I need to work on. Got to meet Mas, Tom, SouthNarc, and lots of other people. Was well worth attending. I plan to go again next year.

    Ed.

  13. Yeah, I think a minigun counts as an exotic firearm. -g-

    Oh and Tim from CO “I’d have to drive to would be Alaska and Hawaii” Errr . . . I think you might have a bit of difficulty *driving* to Hawaii . . .

  14. Fruitbat44 Says:
    “Oh and Tim from CO “I’d have to drive to would be Alaska and Hawaii” Errr . . . I think you might have a bit of difficulty *driving* to Hawaii . . ”

    Hey, hey now…not so fast. Hawaii does have Interstate Highways after all…

  15. It was nice to see everyone.

    Thank you for the nice write up and kind comments.

    Announcement about the 2012
    Conference coming soon.

    Lynn Given

  17. “Only places I’d have to drive to would be Alaska and Hawaii. Could drive to Alaska but that’s a long drive and I’m not sure how the laws go for transporting firearms through Canada. Hawaii is fun but since I carry now, not sure how feel about going due to the unfriendly CCW laws.”

    Oops. Should read the only places I would have to FLY to would be Alaska and Hawaii.

  19. I had a great time at the conference and it was a bargain! I would def recommended it to anyone interested in defensive shooting. Good to see Mass shoot so well too.