By Dave Anderson

These days it seems everyone wants to run without ever having learned to walk. Talk of accurate shooting and you can count on a sarcastic lecture about how unrealistic it is to waste time on basics.

“What, do you think in a shootout there will be time to get in your nice balanced stance and to grip the gun just so, to fire a careful, accurate shot? No, you’ll be moving, the bad guy will be moving, it will be dark and scary and stressful. That’s what you should be teaching.”

I try not to counter sarcasm with sarcasm. What I’m thinking, but don’t say, is: “Yes, you’re right. Some day you may be a pro quarterback coming up to the line, spotting an opportunity and calling an audible. Maybe you’ll scramble to evade a tackler when your lineman misses a block; you’ll run left, spot an open receiver and throw back to the right off the wrong foot while running to evade one of those cat-quick linebackers.

“But you aren’t a pro quarterback yet. Right now, this minute, you’re at the this-is-a-football stage. Someday you should be able to hit a moving target while moving yourself. But right now, let’s try and hit a stationary target while standing still.”

Or as the great Tommy Campbell says, “If you can’t hit the target once shooting slowly, there’s a pretty good chance you can’t hit it twice shooting fast.”

The great pros didn’t start out as pros. Several times I’ve read how irritating they find it when a fan says, “It’s easy for you, you’re such a great natural athlete.”

It suggests their achievements are just a random gift, a lucky chance. It doesn’t recognize the endless work and discipline — not over just weeks or months, but years — needed to refine those gifts into greatness.

No one is saying you must be a superstar in order to defend yourself with a handgun. But if you want to be a competent, skilled handgun shooter, it’s going to take time, effort and discipline. If you want to build your skills on a solid foundation, there are no shortcuts.

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Using a two-step process for controlling the trigger of a semiauto pistol helps improve accuracy.

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