Cajun Arms Defensive Carry 1 Course, May 11, 2019

Cajun Arms Defensive Carry 1 Course, May 11, 2019

This is my write-up of Cajun Arms’ Defensive Carry 1 Course from May 11, 2019 with instructor Jim Benoit. There’s so much that I took away from it, so in bullet-point fashion I’ll highlight, in no particular order, lessons taught/learned, my opinions of various aspects of the course, random things I noticed about the range and fellow students, and equipment required for the course. The course lasted 4 hours from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM. There was no real lunch break, but there were enough breaks in the action that we all could have a few bites. Both instructors were smokers, so I had plenty of breaks to eat my lunch slowly. The range was Northern Chester County Sportsmen’s Club in Elverson, PA.

Link to Cajun Arms: https://www.cajunarms.com/cajun-arms-handgun-classes.html 

• ·       Four rules of firearms safety:

1.       Treat every gun as if they’re loaded, even when they’re not.

2.       Always point the gun in a safe direction at all times; don’t point your gun at anything unless you intend to shoot it.

3.       Keep your finger off the trigger at all times, unless you intend to make the gun go bang.

4.       Be aware of your target and anything beyond the target.

• ·       The best outcome is to avoid a fight altogether. Violence is a last resort.
• ·       Carrying a gun doesn’t give you license to be a hero. Scenario: You’re out walking in a suburban neighborhood and you see a woman walking with a child; a van pulls alongside them, a man jumped out grabbing the child, and the woman freaks out. You shoot the man. Later the police determine that the woman abducted the child, the child is the man’s daughter, and you’re going to prison because you shot an innocent man. This leads to the next bullet-point.
• ·       Never act without having all of the necessary information.

• ·       Jim made it clear that we weren’t there to target shoot or to become good target shooters…we were there to build the basic skills needed to defend our lives with a pistol if things ever get that bad.
• ·       There were two instructors, Jim Benoit, and his assistant instructor, Tom (I forgot his last name). Tom was a U.S. Army infantryman.

• ·       The four position draw:

1.       Position 1: unholster, keep pistol by your side aiming down, support hand to chest, and yell, “STOP!” This yell serves multiple purposes: it focuses your intention to yourself, it commands the bad guy to stop doing bad things, it forces you to breathe, and it increases the chances that eyewitnesses will report that the good guy’s (that’s you) first action was to ask the bad guy to stop…this paints you as a defender in this incident rather than the aggressor.

2.       Position 2: point the barrel at the threat while tilting the pistol 90 degrees with grip bottom against your rib cage. This can be a shooting position but is a subject for Defensive Carry 2, 3, and 4.

3.       Position 3: pistol joins support hand but keeping close to the chest.

4.       Position 4: present pistol forward and shoot.

• ·       The four things to align when aiming:

1.       Target

2.       Front sight

3.       Rear sight

4.       Eye ball

• ·       Keep both eyes open to preserve peripheral vision.
• ·       Safety was stressed CONSTANTLY throughout the day. Jim was very easy to talk to and he has a great sense of humor, but when someone violates any safety protocols, he will hurt your feelings. He reminded me of one of my drill instructors from basic training but much nicer.

• ·       The worst offenders of safety protocols in our class were two male students from the extreme opposites of the age spectrum. The youngest guy in our class was a teenager accompanied by his dad…he was yelled at three times for lack of trigger finger discipline and not pointing his gun in a safe direction. The kid’s infractions were not malicious…he was just being a typical inattentive kid. The oldest guy in our class also got yelled at for lack of trigger finger discipline and not pointing his gun in a safe direction…he was struggling with really basic things like magazine changes, and maintaining awareness of his body positioning, which I found concerning at one point because he was standing directly to my left on the firing line, but the instructors corrected his mistakes. I lived through the experience, so it’s all good.
• ·       There were 13 students that day and we were divided into group 1 and group 2, and we took turns shooting on the firing line. Prior to going up to the firing line, Jim would say, “Eyes and ears”, we would make sure our eye protection and hearing protection are on, and we would all yell, “EYES AND EARS!”
• ·       When we’re not shooting as ordered, or we’re not given the command to assume any of the four positions I mentioned above, we would be given the order to, “Reluctantly holster.” The word “reluctantly” was used to stress that holstering should be done slowly, deliberately, and safely. Whenever the instructor needed to get in front of the firing line to address the class, the command, “CEASE FIRE!”, was given, and we would all yell, “CEASE FIRE!” , in return. The cease fire command was always preceded by the reluctantly holster command.

• ·       The class started with off slowly with the safety protocols, the proper two-handed grip, and a slow drill going through the four positions until we knew them well, and then we did them faster. And then we started shooting at our targets while reinforcing the four positions. We only shot from either 3 yards or 5 yards away throughout the day. By noon we were introduced to shooting while moving. We formed two lines and two students at a time with an instructor holding their shoulder would have a turn at moving forward toward a target while shooting, and moving backward away from a target while shooting. This was the part I enjoyed the most ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCDVYFb0fvo ). The last thing we did was a friendly competition between the two groups shooting at a metal six-target tree…we formed two lines and for two minutes kept taking turns trying to flip the targets to the opposing side taking two shots per turn. This puts together all of the lessons and drills we learned that day and reinforces the idea of stepping off-line if we encounter any malfunctions, getting out of your teammates’ way, and reluctantly holster safely on the firing line before turning and running to the back of the line.

• ·       Magazines: we’re told to holster our mags with the rounds facing front, and to put our index finger along the front of the magazine as we insert into the pistol. When empty, we dropped the mag to the ground. We were also taught how to change mags when you’re not empty.
• ·       Slide operation: Jim insisted we grip the back of the slide with an over hand grip and pull it back in that fashion to rack the slide. I used my slide release button once, and was told, in no uncertain terms, to quit it. I was really impressed with how both instructors kept everyone safe while teaching and still managed to spot whatever mistakes we were doing.

• ·       Class was conducted at an outdoor range and our area was covered on three sides by dirt wall. Jim’s truck was parked behind us serving as the fourth wall.
• ·       There were at least two immigrants in our class; myself, and Barry, a really cool guy from Ireland. Barry was there with his son, Ryan, who is a student at the Citadel, and intends to join the Marines upon graduation before joining the French Foreign Legion, and then eventually going into private military contracting. Barry and Ryan were Spartan Trifecta finishers, so we got along great as I was wearing my Spartan Beast shirt. There were at least three minorities in our class; myself, and an African American guy named Earl, with his teenage son, who was the kid with the safety violations I mentioned earlier.

• ·       Required equipment:

1.       A good gun belt. This is mine: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Alpha-Gear-Profile-Black/dp/B074YLWG2T/ref=lp_3307797011_1_22?s=hunting-fishing&ie=UTF8&qid=1541174596&sr=1-22&th=1&psc=1

2.       Spare magazines (three recommended). I brought five mags and it was overkill…there were plenty of breaks in the action for me to top-off my empty mags, especially since we alternated groups to take turns shooting.

3.       Magazine holsters belt mounted outside-the-waistband. I don’t use outside-the-waistband mag holsters in real-world so I went cheap with two of these nylon mag holster with MOLLE webbing attachment straps and they were perfectly fine for this class: https://www.amazon.com/EXCELLENT-ELITE-SPANKER-Tactical-Magazine/dp/B07MFV586G/ref=pd_sbs_200_3/142-7801685-0129904?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07MFV586G&pd_rd_r=e9c75a92-20bb-11e9-b1bf-7d7bb058b622&pd_rd_w=AV0X4&pd_rd_wg=IA2yq&pf_rd_p=588939de-d3f8-42f1-a3d8-d556eae5797d&pf_rd_r=QMW88GCBJWV5HK4GN7S0&refRID=QMW88GCBJWV5HK4GN7S0

4.       An outside-the-waistband kydex holster. I watched a couple of students struggle with push button retention holsters…I recommend keeping it simple-stupid with just a regular kydex holster with no push button release mechanisms. I prefer to use an inside-the-waistband holster in real-world so I went cheap with this Blue Star holster which I’ll never use outside of a class like this, and it was more than adequate: https://bluestarholsters.com/outside-the-waistband/

5.       A serviceable pistol. Caliber was not specified. I brought a 9mm SCCY CPX-2 which functioned perfectly all day with no malfunctions. At least one student had a .40 caliber. The SCCY CPX-2 is my 9mm pistol for now, until Sig releases their next generation P365 with external safety: https://www.sccy.com/product/cpx-2-tt-9mm/

6.       Plenty of water to drink.

7.       Something to eat.

8.       Rain jacket just in case. The class takes place rain or shine.

9.       Shoes you wouldn’t mind getting muddy.

10.   Eye protection.

11.   Electronic hearing protection is a class requirement so you can hear the instructors at all times.

12.   Not required, but highly recommended: at least a hat (it was sunny), bug spray (I didn’t need one, but other students did), and maybe a neck scarf to keep bugs from biting your neck (I didn’t have one and was fine).

• ·       I witnessed one student having malfunctions and mechanical issues with his S&W M&P Shield (I think his was the .40 caliber variety).
• ·       I witnessed one student having problems dropping his mag to the ground (he’s the older gentleman with safety violations that I mentioned above). He was using a Glock 17.
• ·       Everyone got along just fine, no one talked politics at all, and we kept the day’s discussions and activities just to what we were doing.
• ·       After completing this course, students are eligible for the Florida Out Of State Carry Permit. I didn’t know Florida had such a thing, and apparently, there’s a state concealed carry reciprocity agreement between Florida and Delaware which is a work-around legal mechanism for Pennsylvania and Delaware residents to carry in Delaware. My understanding is that it’s difficult for Delaware residents to acquire a concealed carry license in their own state, but Florida concealed carry licenses are honored in Delaware. I’m not a lawyer, and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night…I’m just recalling and conveying what Jim said to us in class.