Civilian OC Instructor and Managing Unknown Contacts

https://agiletactical.com/ 

Billy of DTS looks on as Chuck demos how to cover the eyes of a threat with inert spray. Yes, some

I attended this class in Brookville, OH on April 10, 2021.  The title of this course intrigued me for two reasons: one, I have only received training as a police officer on this topic before and two, I highly recommend all serious self-defense practitioner’s carry pepper spray ALONG with a handgun.  When Chuck made the comment, “there needs to be something between a harsh word and a gun,” I knew I had signed up for the right class.   I am not going to discuss all the content of this course but trust me, I have incorporated some of the advice into our Defensive Handgun 2 and 3 and our Defensive Use of Pepper Spray courses. 

Before we get into course content, let’s talk about Chuck.  Chuck Haggard AKA The Legendary Lawman is a very humble subject matter expert on this topic.  Chuck isn’t just a teacher; he has used pepper spray in well over 300 documented cases when he worked for a Kansas Police Department.  After retiring from law enforcement, Chuck took his business full time under the name of Agile Consulting. 

Chuck began the lecture on how to smartly interact with those persons whom we do not know.  Chuck feels like this is a balancing act.  You want to come off as in charge but not overbearing.  You want to come off as polite but not friendly.  Basically, you need to verbally tell them what you want them to do in a way that does not come off as offensive.  Chuck believes in the same model I was taught in the police academy: Ask, Tell, Make.  Ask them to do what you want.  If that fails then tell them what you want them to do, and finally when that fails make them do what you want them to do.

We discussed how to train everyday people in how to carry and deploy pepper spray.  The main thing to remember here is the mission differences between on duty law enforcement and the armed citizen.  It is the on-duty law enforcement officers mission to arrest the individual who violated a law.  When the law violator resists arrest, it becomes law enforcement’s job to effect the arrest (handcuff them) by using the least amount of force necessary.  It is the armed citizens job to be aware of their surroundings and thus avoid conflict at all possible.  When it cannot be avoided, it is the armed citizens job to protect themselves from harm.  Using the lowest level of force necessary avoids a lot of headaches during the aftermath of self-defense.  Let me ask you this:  would you rather not carry pepper spray and be forced to either get your ass kicked, or use deadly force to keep from getting your ass kicked?  I hope you are now tracking why pepper spray is an important part of your everyday carry.  

Chuck discussed the history of pepper spray, various other “less lethal” options, and how to deploy OC as an armed citizen.  Chuck advises that you use the pepper spray to disrupt their OODA principal which buys you time to have a plan B of ideally leaving or if you can’t leave, following up with something else.  Just the verbal warning and display of pepper spray is sometimes enough to de-escalate everything immediately, but one should know how to use it when deterrence measures fail. 

I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend this course to everyone, even all of you that don’t teach training classes.  Sometimes taking an instructor level course teaches you why your instructor(s) teach things the way they do.  You also get an insight on why they think like they do.  Check out Chuck Haggards website and get to a class soon.