Tap, Rack, Ready: Essential concealed carry drills follow-up

About a month ago I wrote an article called “6 Essential Drills for Concealed Carry.” I addressed common conceal carry drills that I find useful.

A week after publication, Guns.com received an email from a reader regarding my article. This reader eloquently voiced his concern over the tap, rack, pull exercises. In specific, our reader took issue with the word “pull.”

This reader was passionate and it was this coupled with his respectful attitude that led me to writing this article. I don’t make it a point to respond to every commenter or reader with an opinion; but this reader made his case.

The reader gave the example of an altercation in which a shooter fires two rounds and then experiences a malfunction. The shooter clears the gun and then immediately starts pulling the trigger without assessing the situation. The results could be catastrophic if the threat was neutralized and the shooter was still sending rounds downrange.

I want to first say to our reader, and any other with similar concerns, that I wholeheartedly agree. Every pull of that trigger should be calculated and every bullet accounted. I drill that concept home to my students; but it seems I didn’t do that in the article.

The assessment period, for me, is built into the pull. As I bring the gun on target, I am assessing my situation and making a decision. That decision results in either a pull or a ready position. I never blindly pull a trigger and I do not advocate anyone doing so. The trigger should never be manipulated until the situation is assessed.

In the case of the reader’s example, after the tap and rack, the gun comes up to the ready, but the finger is out of the trigger guard until an assessment has been made. It’s a quick process but it is always there. The reader made a compelling argument and I want to assure the reader that we agree.

As I writer, I have a limited amount of space and words to convey my message. In the case of this article, the explanation of the drill was omitted. Truthfully, the article was targeted at experienced shooters and instructors who know never to pull a trigger before assessing the situation and understand the process of malfunction clearing. For this reason, I didn’t consider my phrasing. Hindsight being what it is, I see how my wording could cause confusion.

I want to thank our reader for bringing this to my attention. I intend to re-vamp my terminology opting for “tap, rack, ready” to avoid future misunderstandings.

I’d also like to add that in the original article, “tap, rack, pull” is highlighted in blue and when clicked leads to fellow author Jeffrey Denning’s article. This article is called “Tap, Rack, Ready: Immediate Action Drill AR15” and includes written content as well as a video relating to this concept.

Safety warning: Jacki Billings is a certified NRA instructor. Any methods or information described in this article is intended to be put into practice only by serious gun-owners with proper training.

The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the position of Guns.com.

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