ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Gunmen boarded a bus and killed dozens of members of a minority Muslim sect in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi on Wednesday, in what officials said was an act of terrorism.”Targeting a peaceful community shows the evil intent of the attackers,” said Qaim Al Shah, the chief minister of Sindh province where the attack took place.The death toll had climbed to 44, he added, promising to “not back down and get” the perpetrators.
Source: Pakistan Massacre: 44 Ismailis Shot Dead on Karachi Bus – NBC News.com
IDPA is accused of coming up with “silly” stages that have no “reflection on reality” and that only “real” training is valid. Then again, it is rare to see shooting schools offering a variety of ever-changing scenarios to their clientele as it is not profitable.
In IDPA I shot a stage precisely like the awful situation mentioned above, and it even had a suicide bomber to boot which you had to take first without hitting the vest. Other versions of the bus scenario and variations of the Air Marshall Test have been shot at IDPA Sanctioned matches.
And yes, the picture above is silly in the sense that you are not allowed to carry inside the plane, but boy! you learn how difficult is to shoot from a sitting position with a bunch of crap and people in front of you blocking the shot.
And at the end of the day, we are here for the learning. You go where you can get the most for less since the average gun owner cannot drop a couple of thousands every month to attend established schools.
Any training you can get valuable training.
(Full disclosure: I’ve never run or competed in an IDPA match, so these thoughts are from a complete n00b, but….)
Any training or competition that can produce 3-dimensional stages that have to be physically navigated in addition to targets “taken out”, is better experience/training than bulls-eyes at a static range.
Sure, the “airplane” stage is “not realistic” in that they’ll never allow you to have your firearm on an airplane, but it gets your brain to really think about what’s required to engage targets from a seated position in a confined space with LOTS of innocent “no-shoots” around. You’ll be forced to consider factors you maybe didn’t consider before (think back to the “stage with a baby” and the things those shooters didn’t consider). This extra consideration is useful even if you’re never on a plane: think about the Clackamas Mall shooting in 2012, that took place in the food court, possibly halted by a CHL holder who didn’t fire out of concern for all the innocents in the background, but who may well have stopped the massacre regardless.
Besides which, if we’re going to insist on “full realism” for training purposes, let’s just go for the full monty: insist on our Armed Forces engaging each other in live fire combat, just to get “real training” in shooting at live, human targets. Sounds good, right? [/sarcasm]
I like the stage. I think it would be more accurate as a “Bus” or Metrorail or other mass transit where CCW is allowed.
One of my favorite unofficial IDPA events (not sanctioned, but something the guys at the club did after the official stuff was over) was the “mousegun” shoot. Scores didn’t count for rank and the prizes were hokey, but it was fun. There were three categories: Snub gun, Subcompact, and Pocket pistol. Snub was limited to a 5 shot revolver with a barrel less than 3 inches. Subcompact was a semi auto pistol 9mm or .40 with a max barrel length of 3.5 inches and max capacity of 8 rounds – you could use a pinky extension on the mag but it had to be a sub compact mag. Pocket pistol was a single stack 9mm or 380 with a max barrel length of 3 inches and 6 rounds in the mag. Max distance was 10 yards and stages were short, only 1 reload. You’d be surprised how much a regular IDPA winner would slow down when going from a commander 1911 to a Ruger LCP. Mostly it was a great learning experience to see how well you handled your real EDC gun and not your practiced with for competition IDPA “carry” gun.
P.S. Although the “don’t hit the suicide vest” was a nice touch, it’s not really necessary. Most suicide bombers use military explosives (easier to come by than making your own) and those are all shock resistant. You can shoot a block of C4 or Comb B and it just acts like clay.