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Whatever you do, keep your co
your temper… If you lose your
will also be close to losing con
BOOK REVIEW:
How to Win
A Gunfight
by Tony Walker
[ B Y R E V . D A V I D B E E S O N ]
idea is to keep control of the s
Short and Sweet:
The first thing I noticed
about Tony Walker’s book
How to Win A Gunfight is
its length.
At slightly fewer than 100 pages, it
is much shorter than most gun
books. What a relief! While no gun
book can cover the entire subject, that
doesn’t keep a lot of authors from trying.
Some people want to learn more about
gunfighting, but they don’t want to read
a book 250-350 pages long. Enter: How
to Win A Gunfight.
Walker opens the book with a great
statement about awareness: “Although
many crime victims have claimed that
their attacker ‘appeared out of nowhere,’
this is simply not the case….What really
happened was that the victim was
totally unaware of what was going on
around him.” (p. 5).
Chapter Two covers the psychological
and physiological changes that occur in
an armed confrontation. He mentions
adrenaline increase, fine motor skills
degradation, and the Tachy-Psyche
Effect. Walker goes on to discuss “psychological
domination,” commonly
known as command voice. He recommends
shouting “No!” to your adversary.
This does two things. First, it alerts
others to your predicament. Second, it
lets the assailant know you are not going
to be a victim. Chapter Three focuses on
stress management.
The Half Second
Advantage
Chapter Four addresses reaction
times and how to decrease them. In the
following section, Walker lists several
ways to gain “the half second advantage.”
One is particularly ingenious. He
lays out the scenario: someone walks
up to you and demands your wallet.
As you comply and begin reaching for
it, you clearly say, “Listen, I want to tell
you something.” This puts the attacker
into “receive mode” as he waits to hear
what you have to say. This split-second
delay will allow you to do whatever you
feel necessary: go for your gun (instead
of your wallet), turn to run, etc. Another
neat suggestion involves a little foreign
language. If someone approaches you
and asks for money, respond in another
language and tell them you don’t understand.
While that person is processing
what you just said, you can again take
whatever action you deem necessary.
In Chapter Six, Walker discusses verbal
altercations and makes a good point
about temper. “Whatever you do, keep
your cool. Don’t lose your temper… If
you lose your temper, you will also be
close to losing control, and the idea
is to keep control of the situation.” (p.
31). This is an excellent point, but few
mention it. A lot of writers focus on
mindset, but don’t entertain the idea
that you might go too far, get ticked
off, and make the situation worse. You
must be levelheaded when you carry a
firearm! Walker also mentions Ayoob’s
“cash stash.” If you need to deescalate a
situation, give the other guy a few bucks
and invite him to have a burger on you.
Will you lose a few dollars? Yes. Will you
avoid a potentially dangerous situation?
Possibly. It’s worth a few dollars to try.
Walker suggests that you learn how to
count your shots to avoid running your
gun dry. He is the first firearms instructor
I have heard of who suggests this. I
believe the consensus is that it would
be too difficult under the stress of a
gunfight. Extreme stress distorts our
perception of time, gives us tunnel vi-
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USCONCEALEDCARRY.COM n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n JULY 2008