For those of you that exercise your right to carry a firearm, situational awareness is paramount to your safety. If you have taken any of our pistol training or Refuse to Be a Victim seminar, you understand why awareness is so important. The simplest thing you can do to thwart an attacker is to make eye contact with them; it lets them know you are aware of their presence. Studies have shown that in more than half of all cases, simply making eye contact will stop the attack from occurring in the first place, and will improve your overall odds of mounting a successful defense.
Importance of Situational Awareness
Being aware of your surroundings not only helps you determine if a viable threat exists, but, also allows you to develop a rolling action plan. Most self-defense situations occur within 21 feet and last just three seconds. In other words, if you are not already fully aware of the situation to begin with, you may not even have the opportunity to draw your firearm. Defensive situations need to be thought of beforehand, because by the time you’re done weighing your options, time may have ran out. The time to act may have been mere seconds ago; hence, those “wasted” seconds can be the difference between life and death.
If we do not properly prepare ourselves to thwart an attack, or we simply aren’t paying attention to our surroundings, then we have given the criminal the upper-hand. On the other hand, if we are prepared, and have a certain level of situational awareness, we have striped our attacker of their most powerful weapon: the element of surprise.
Example of Self Defense Situation
The video below is an example of a self-defense situation in which one of the people being attacked was aware of his surroundings, and he was able to successfully defend himself and his wife. Had the man not been paying attention, things could have turned deadly for the couple. Use this video as a learning experience, so that you are never caught unaware.
