I recently attended a four-day Front Sight handgun training class near the California-Nevada border.
Dr. Ignatius Piazza, Front Sight’s founder, director and entrepreneur extraordinaire, claims that Front Sight’s training will result in shooting “faster and more accurately than a SWAT cop!”
During a typical week at Front Sight, hundreds of people from all over the U.S. will travel to Pahrump, Nev., to learn basic and advanced skills using rifles, pistols and shotguns. We went into a shoot house and engaged various targets. The goal was to master the stress of shooting inside a house while quickly incapacitating armed opponents without killing any hostages or other innocent bystanders.
We attended a night session under the starlit desert sky just above Death Valley, shooting at targets that suddenly turned to face us. We practiced drawing from under jackets and vests, shooting two rounds to the body and then, in the event that the targets turned toward us again, followed up with a quick shot to the head.
Regretfully, I cannot say how our skills compared to the skills possessed by SWAT cops. We weren’t shooting on the move or from behind cover. We weren’t drilling in the tactical maneuvers for which SWAT teams train. Nevertheless, I have concluded that Front Sight and excellent local schools like the Firearms Academy of Seattle are well worth the considerable time and expense — if you plan to own a weapon for self-defense.
The fact that the Federal Way Police Department has to utilize ranges in neighboring communities raises the issue of whether we need a police range in Federal Way. Additionally, there is already an indisputable “multiplier effect” that results from all the retail stores in Federal Way that sell shooting equipment. A police range that is also open to the public will draw in visitors with dollars from surrounding areas.
Las Vegas is already creating a huge shooting arts facility that will be open to the public. Las Vegas is a city that understands the multiplier effect. Studies will certainly show that gun dollars flowing through Federal Way already far exceed the dollars that our city council members anticipate from any future explosion of performing arts — an economic miracle that cannot possibly occur until millions of dollars are funneled from the taxpayers and the schools.
The Bellevue area has several modern shooting facilities, one with three separate indoor ranges. InSights Training, an excellent academy of the shooting arts, uses the new West Coast Armory facility as its campus. Shooters spend money on shooting equipment, clothing, books and supplies.
Federal Way needs to team up with the police department and fund a range that will also be open to the public. We might consider creating an auditorium on one side of the building for public events. We won’t have to ask the Federal Way School District to participate in the funding. But if the district gets involved, we will send the right message to our kids.
Kids, you can only cultivate artistic endeavors after you have pursued the skills that it takes to remain alive and free. Staying free from unnecessary taxes is a good first step. Providing adequate facilities for our law enforcement personnel is another step toward freedom.
