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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Emphasis on mental aspects,
By
This review is from: Street Smart Gun Book (Paperback)
This book is the tactics book by renowned shooting instructor John Farnam. In his other books, he concentrates on selecting and handling shotguns and handguns, but this book is entirely on tactics and mental aspects of a self defence situations.
The book starts with awareness and mental preparation. Farnam stresses that it is paramount to make your mind on how to react in a certain situations, before they actually occur. After that, there is a small chapter on tactics, before moving on to mental and legal aftermath of a shooting. After that, there is a chapter on techniques and concepts on how to act in close confrontations. There is also chapters on low-light shooting, carrying a handgun concealed, range safety, and selecting a self defence firearm. I was somewhat surprised, how little emphasis Farnam gives to actual tactics. There is much more discussion about mental aspects connected with self defence shootings. As Farnam is a shooting instructor, there is very little discussion on other solutions to a self defence situation than shooting. As they say, when all you have is a hammer, every problem starts looking like a nail. And besides that, Farnam has somewhat pessimistic view on humans' mental ability to survive untouched through a traumatic event. The layout and production of the book leaves something to be desired. The chapters are not separated very clearly from each other, as there are only few empty lines before a new chapter, and the font used in the title of chapters does not differ very much from the font used in sub-chapters. The quality of printing is substandard, as some pictures are smudgy, and sometimes the text is similar than you can get when printing with a printer with low ink. The book is almost 20 years old, but this does not show very clearly in the book. Only in the chapter on weapon selection, the age of the book is apparent. Farnam writes with ease, making the book pleasure to read.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very Outdated and No Longer Relevant,
By
This review is from: Street Smart Gun Book (Paperback)
The Street Smart Gun Book by John Farnam is unfortunately a book that has not aged well with the passage of time. Farnam created this book out of training notes he used when training law enforcement agencies in the late 1970's. I originally read this book over twenty years ago and at the time this was a valuable resource to be read by any serious gun owner. At the time there was not a variety of firearms books on the market and information was scarce. Since this book has been written so much research has been conducted on lethal force encounters, weapons, ballistics, post shooting reactions etc. that this book has lost a lot of its relevancy with the passage of time. While there is still some great information provided in the book the outdated information negates all the positive attributes.
One positive aspect of the book is that Farnam definitely has the right mindset to win a gunfight and this aspect should never be underestimated. Having the winning mindset is just as important to having shooting skills. The first chapter on "Preparing the Mind" reviews the 'color codes' which is a timeless concept that remains very relevant today. It should be noted that there are a few different color code versions that vary in content. Aspects of the book that I find no longer relevant or applicable with today's knowledge: ** When referring to "movement" Farnam states: "When you move, move rapidly to your new position and quickly occupy it. Do not attempt to fire until your shooting position is established. Do not try to move and shoot at the same time." The situation dictates the tactics being used and "shooting and moving" is regularly taught at law enforcement agencies and any reputable shooting school. Some shooting schools now offer training classes specifically dedicated to shooting and moving. If the situation demands that you move and shoot then that is what is required. It is a better option than doing nothing, or worse, becoming a bullet trap. ** When referring to "pelvic shots" Farnam states: "The pelvic area, on the other hand, is easy to hit, is seldom protected by body armor, and is very bony and sensitive. A hit there almost always strikes bone and instantly doubles-up the entire body, making the person's return fire ineffective." Based on knowledge obtained from shootings there is no guarantee that a pelvic shot will be instantly incapacitating. ** When referring to "shooting at vehicles" Farnam states: "Car doors will stop most handgun bullets most of the time or at least slow them down to non-lethal velocities. Even car glass will deflect bullets striking at an angle." This information is proven not to be accurate. With all of the drive by shootings throughout the country there are plenty of examples of this not being the case which have resulted in numerous homicides. In my own training experience I have shot 9mm and .40 caliber bullets through cars that have easily penetrated the interior of the vehicle. And while glass will deflect a bullets trajectory that fact does not diminish the reality that bullets can still penetrate glass and kill people. ** Farnam discuss "The Tachy-Psyche Effect" which is essentially referring to the physiological and psychological reactions to stress. Since the writing of this book there has been a lot of research on this topic. Two better sources of information would be On Combat, The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace and Deadly Force Encounters: What Cops Need To Know To Mentally And Physically Prepare For And Survive A Gunfight. ** When referring to the aftermath of a shooting incident and "Post-Violence Trauma", Farnam states: "We know now that everyone who survives a violent event is affected psychologically to one degree or another, and the effects persist for a long time." Farnam's implication is that a person's psychological response will be negative. Again, current research shows that not all people who are involved in a lethal force encounter suffer negative psychological consequences especially if they were justified in the shooting and their training discusses this issue before an event happens. There are numerous examples of civilians, law enforcement officers and military personnel who do not exhibit any negative psychological effects from being involved in a lethal force encounter. Farnam goes on to states that: " Nightmares are standard. Everybody gets them after a shooting, even if they have never had them before." Again, this is not true based on numerous examples of people who do not experience nightmares. ** In reference to "disarming" a subject in a "Close Confrontation" now commonly referred to as Close Quarter Battle (CQB), Farnam states: "At close range, a disarm is usually preferable to shooting it out; because if you decide to shoot it out, although you will not miss, at this range, he will not either." Tactically, Farnam is correct in stating that a disarm is better in this situation but he is way off target by stating that, "you will not miss, at this range." Most law enforcement shooting are at this range and the hit ratio is terrible. You cannot assume that you are guaranteed a hit at close range and the statistics repeatedly prove this to be true. ** In reference to "low light shooting" Farnam states: "Self-luminous night sights are useful in a narrow spectrum of situations, i.e., where it is dark and the target is more than eight meters away, but you know exactly where it is, and you know that you want to shoot it. In my opinion, on a handgun the disadvantages outweigh the advantages." Wow, how outdated it that perspective that night sights are a disadvantage! Most if not all law enforcement officers have night sights on their weapons and many civilians do as well. ** In reference to "flashlights" Farnam states: "A good high-intensity flashlight should have a one-inch tube and be a minimum of ten inches long." Well times have changed thanks to companies like SureFire, Streamlight, Fenix, Blackhawk, Insight, etc. Also, there are now a host of options for weapons mounted lights. The flashlight techniques are also very limited in this book. For one of the best sources of information on low light shootings I highly recommend, "The Strategies of Low-Light Engagements" by Ken Good. Farnam provides many great one line gems of information but unfortunately he fails to expand on the concepts. If one does not have any experience or background in the concept they will fail to understand the relevancy of the information. I would like to see Farnam do an expansive updated version of this book providing more detail and using current research, tactics and equipment. At this point I cannot recommend The Street Smart Gun Book as it is too out of date.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Totall unusable,
By
This review is from: Street Smart Gun Book (Paperback)
The author seems to know VERY little about what he writes. For example:
He defines cover and concealment correctly but then makes statements like a trash can makes good cover (concealment but NOT cover). He then further says that the sheet metal in the door of a car will stop a handgun bullet or reduce it to non lethal velocities - TOTALLY UNTRUE! I want my money back!
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