Training simulation 21 feet in 7 seconds.

[JohnN]

Never has a student gotten a shot off before I could run 70 feet, and I'm no track star at age 43, 6', 233 lbs.

Really......I'd be willing to wager on that.

 

[aikidoka]

I cant find it now but I have seen a demonstration where a man with knife drawn would incapacitate/defeat a man with a pistol holstered before he could draw and fire from 21 feet...

I have something like that on video from a guy who used to be LEO in California if I remember correctly. The solution they offered was to get off the line as you are drawing, forcing the attacker to cover more distance and give you more time.

 

[mercop]

Even if the guy is dead when he falls on you putting the knife into your chest, you are still stabbed. This problem takes a combination of open hand combatives and pistol skill. If you get a death grip with both hands on the gun (as most do) you will likely only move straight back or not at all and get stabbed/cut as you fire in his direction. The knife is a contact distance weapon, they need to touch you with it to hurt you.- George

 

[DoubleTap Tactical]

We have a winner .........

I do not believe Tueller intended for his research to become a "rule" and definitely didn't intend for it to become a game that people try to beat. He was justifying LEO shootings that involved people with knives at greater-than-contact distances. Period.

He settled on 21 feet because that was the average distance a normal person could cross in 1.5 seconds. The 1.5 seconds comes from how long it took the average LEO to draw and fire one shot from the holster.

Distraction, momentum, time delay to incapacity, bad hits, outright misses and a host of other factors mean that standing and delivering shots while someone is charging with a knife is a very bad idea. As others have stated, movement and a combination of empty hand techniques and/or multiple shots to vital areas have a much greater chance of success than standing with your feet planted trying to get off that one shot.

All Tueller showed is that attackers with edged or other contact weapon are still dangerous at what some uneducated people might consider a "safe" distance.

So many variables and I agree that this was intended as education for those who live their lives in condition white.