First of all, actual gunfights are hyper-violent, unpredictable and ugly affairs, not at all like those that are portrayed on television and in the movies. Some of you just said, “No shit.” Yes, no shit, but we encounter real people, even members of the gun community, who speak and pontificate as though the opposite is true.
We hear and read comments from masters of the shot-timer who extol the virtues of “first round on target.” We’ve personally listened to such people brag about how their first shot on target time is X.X or their Bill Drill is Y.Y. That, of course, means they’ll win any gunfight they might get into. We’ve been told, “If you can’t shoot fast, none of your tactics are going to save you.”
We could remind these folks that in the 1986 FBI Miami shootout, the good guys, Jerry Dove in particular, got the first hits on target. Special Agents Dove and Ben Grogan were murdered after the killers, Platt and Matix, were both shot first. Agents Gordon McNeil, Ed Mireles, and John Hanlon were critically wounded and lucky to survive.
We mention that to reinforce the point that sometimes the presence of good guys with guns and getting the first hit on target isn’t enough. It might be, but we can’t rely upon maybe or probably.
Shot Placement: The Pelvic Girdle
The “pelvic girdle” is a heavy ring of bone connecting the spine to the legs. It contains the two hip bones and the sacrum. This structure supports upper body weight, protects internal organs, and helps you stand and walk.
It has been pontificated by many that if a deadly attacker doesn’t respond to “center mass” torso hits, the pelvic girdle is the solution. The fight-stopper. After all, some folks say, “If you break the pelvic girdle, they go down. Fight’s over.”
To which we would say, yes, a solid impact on one of the critical bones in the pelvic region could indeed cause a breakage. When we conduct research, the lion’s share of pelvic fracture and injury cases tend to come from modern warfare where the injured party was shot with a rifle. The other primary source of study for pelvic injuries is automobile crashes.
However, for the sake of argument, let’s accept that a handgun bullet does indeed fracture the critical bone structure of the deadly human animal and they lose the ability to run, walk, or even stand. Keep in mind that the stated reason for the pelvic girdle shot was a failure to stop from impacts to the torso area.
That puts us in the Type 3 physiological stop attacker category, an attacker who’s not psychologically inclined to surrender. If said attacker is armed only with a melee weapon — a machete, bat, or kitchen knife — they can no longer get to their victim(s). If they have a distance weapon — a rifle or handgun, even from the ground — they’re still deadly threats to any target they can see. This is akin to blowing the track off of a T-80 tank with an AT4. The tank can no longer maneuver, but the turret with that big gun can still take aim at you.
We have also seen comments that the PG hit is preferable to the head shot because it’s allegedly easier to make. The physiology of the PG area is surrounded by muscle which must be penetrated and overcome and the PG, if you care to look at an anatomy chart, is full of holes, areas where bullets can pass right through.
From a physical size perspective, the parts of the PG that can break and cause the attacker to drop aren’t larger than the facial/cranial area of the average human. The “sweet spot” in the PG isn’t the entire width of the human hips, it’s much smaller. The area where the femoral head meets with the labrum has been described as “the size of a credit card.”
The Control Room
Basic human anatomy has taught us that the “control room” for the human body is the brain and central nervous system with the brain stem being a critical component. Law enforcement snipers/sharpshooters spend hours, days, even years, mastering the placement of one perfect shot to the CNS — specifically the brain stem area — in order to achieve an instant shut down.
Police sharpshooters don’t practice shooting terrorists and hostage takers in the groin. Why? Because even if they did, the killer could keep on killing.
If we achieve a critical CNS hit, no amount of adrenaline, drugs, or pure hatred can keep the attacker going. If you get a PG hit and the killer goes down, but still has a gun in their hands, what do you still need to hit to shut them down? That’s right…the central nervous system.
Remember. In this situation, the bad guy isn’t just sitting there waiting for you to shoot them again.
When is the PG a Good Choice?
We’re not trying to completely discount the pelvic girdle area as a target. During fights at contact range, where attempting to raise the handgun up to hit the thoracic triangle or face would be instantly met with physical resistance, we keep our guns down, tucked back against our bodies, and we launch bullets into the crotchal region.
However, we also train to break contact, create distance and then get our guns back up to the TT area in order to rinse, lather, and repeat as necessary to force the attacker to stop trying to kill us. We don’t just shoot them in the balls and then retire for the day.
The point that should be obvious is that, whether TT/headshot or pelvic girdle shot, these things must be trained and practiced if the defender has any hope of applying them under the hyper-violent reality of a life or death encounter. Merely telling people who fire ninety-nine percent of their practice rounds “center mass” to take a moment and re-aim at a smaller, harder to hit target if the attacker “fails to stop” is a waste of the oxygen required to form the words.
For those unwilling to commit the time in training and practice, all of the aforementioned is moot. Those who feel like the first hit wins the fight are better served by continuing down that path, secure in the hope that they never encounter a truly vicious and determined Type 3 attacker.
The great thing about being an American is that you can make choices. Make the choices that seem best to you and remember, your responsibility to be ready for the fight never ends.
Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student of the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.