Because if you don't, you may get tattooed like Mr Orange and die.
Moving won't guarantee survival, but it makes no sense to stand in one spot and let a threat shoot or attack you, when you LITERALLY can step out of their line of fire or attack.
A simple step or two, or more, can turn the tables on the threat and force him/her to have to react to your action, and it also will increase the lag-time-bubble (the time between reaction and action), that is available to you to take action.
The following is from the January 2007 Suarez International Update, which is a Suarez International USA, Inc. publication:
"....In our Close Range Gunfighting Series and its close cousin, the Interactive Gunfighting/Force on Force Classes, we establish early on that you must move off the line of attack. In fact, if you do not move, regardless of how fast your combat master draw is, you will get shot or stabbed by the other man. Remember that gunfights do not happen at ten yards, but rather ten feet and closer, thus the difference between a 1.0 second draw and a 1.5 second draw are not very great. As Lynn Thompson of Cold Steel pointed out a few years ago, “proximity negates skill”. At ten feet even a neophyte with a rusty Raven .25 Auto can get lucky, and ten feet is a long distance in true gunfighting. Movement off line is key and mandatory to avoid being shot."
"When we move off line, we prefer to move laterally (3:00 or 9:00) , or at angles such as the 5:00, 7:00, or 2:00 and 10:00. We prefer to walk as God designed us to walk, forward. The popular sideways “crab walk” will not move you off the line fast enough. Similarly, almost never do we want to move backwards. Again, this is shown in force on force drills when every backpedaler gets literally run over by his adversary. ...."
BUT IS THERE TIME TO MOVE?
A study: Biomechanics of Lethal Force Encounters - Officer Movements, by Bill Lewinski Phd., which was Published in the Police Marksman 11/12/2002, measured the times it takes to do certain things relative to shooting.
The following is a portion of a chart presented in the article that listed 20 different actions. The numbers are the average time taken to react to a timer, and complete an action.
..........
All of the following data is measured in hundredths of a second.
All of the motions were reactions to a buzzer from a PACT timer.
1. Finger on trigger - simple, unsighted, reaction time - .35
2. Finger on trigger with a sight picture, reaction time - .38
3. Finger on frame simple, unsighted, reaction time - .45
4. Finger on frame with a sight picture, reaction time - .54
5. Time to fire a 2nd round in a series of 3 (with sight picture) - .38
6. Time to fire a 3rd round in a series of 3 (with sight picture) - .36
7. Weapon in low-ready position (45 degree angle) with finger on frame - raise weapon, acquire sight picture, fire one round - .83
8. Weapon in tactical or a high/low-ready position with finger on frame - raise weapon, acquire sight picture, fire one round - .83
....15. Bootleg position to close contact (combat tuck) position and fire - .92....
..........
With a weapon in other drawn positions or holstered, the average time to bring the weapon into action and fire it, was 1 second or more per the chart. For example, to draw and fire it was 1.50 or more.
Here is a link to the article in PFD form.
The bottom line is that there can be time to LITERALLY step/move out of the line of fire or attack, as one can move one or more feet in less than a second.
But you must move!
If you plan to stand and deliver, you also should plan on getting tattooed like Mr. Orange above.
And particularly so, if you are facing a party who knows how to Point Shoot, and/or how to move and Point Shoot.
Here is a link to a video of old potbelly (me), who recently bought a holster (2007), for practicing drawing and getting off the X.
This link is to a frame by frame version of the video which shows the time elapsed during the video. I was able to move and draw and shoot 5 times in 2 seconds, and I moved a total of 7 feet.
EDGED WEAPON ATTACKS
Here are some of the biomechanics study findings used by the Force Science Research Center in an article dealing with their reevaluation of the 21-Foot Rule which deals with edged weapon attacks:
"Once he perceives a signal to do so, the AVERAGE officer requires 1.5 seconds to draw from a snapped Level II holster and fire one unsighted round at center mass. Add 1/4 of a second for firing a second round, and another 1/10 of a second for obtaining a flash sight picture for the average officer.
The fastest officer tested required 1.31 seconds to draw from a Level II holster and get off his first unsighted round.The slowest officer tested required 2.25 seconds.
For the average officer to draw and fire an unsighted round from a snapped Level III holster, which is becoming increasingly popular in LE because of its extra security features, takes 1.7 seconds.
Meanwhile, the AVERAGE suspect with an edged weapon raised in the traditional "ice-pick" position can go from a dead stop to level, unobstructed surface offering good traction in 1.5-1.7 seconds.
The "fastest, most skillful, most powerful" subject FSRC tested "easily" covered that distance in 1.27 seconds. Intense rage, high agitation and/or the influence of stimulants may even shorten that time, Lewinski observes.
Even the slowest subject "lumbered" through this distance in just 2.5 seconds."
So, you better get moving or you in all likelyhood, will get slashed, cut, or stabbed.
WHICH WAY TO MOVE?
If possible move left, and for the following reasons:
1. most people are right handed and it is easier for them to move left and shoot right, and which also allows you to blade to the threat while keeping your gun "closer" to the threat,
2. per the NYPD's SOP 9 study of some 5000+ police combat cases: Officers, with an occasional exception, fired with the strong hand,
3. under stress shooters will tend to shoot low and to their left (your right), due to grasping and torquing the gun down and around to the left, or due to the natural rotation of the wrist at full extension, and
4. I have read that most shoot one handed in FOF situations.
Those who stand and deliver are most always shot.
HOW TO MOVE?
As to how one should move/walk/run, when I have practiced moving and shooting, I did not think about how to move. I just started moving.
I have read that one can plant a foot and use it to spring or explode in one direction or another. I also have read that one may give away their intention with that planting movement.
Some advocate the use of a drop step, where you decide to move in a direction and drop down and immediately move in that direction.
Others say that you should shuffle, or step-slide when moving, or you should try and keep your upper body steady like a tank turret, etc..
In my opinion, one should just do what is natural for them, as in a high stress close quarters situation, that is most likely what you will do anyway.
You will most likely have no time to consider what to do or how to do it, other than just getting off the X.
Try moving and dry firing with an EMPTY gun, or even an imaginary gun, and see what feels natural and doable to you. Then do it.
You can practice a variety of ways of moving, and they may be helpful, but don't count on them to be what you will do.
Hopefully you will default to some type of movement, as per FOF instructors, just "standing and delivering" will get you shot/stabbed/killed.
ME JUST MOVING AND SHOOTING
Here is a YouTube link to me moving and shooting.
You can notice the hits as they are being made.
Here's a pic of the target used. Note the printing is backwards so that it will appear forwards when seen in the mirror used: 9 in
The distance was about 16 feet to the target, or about 13 feet from the end of the gun muzzle when my arm was extended. Also, I had planned to make several "takes" if needed, but the first one turned out better than expected, so I stopped.
Both videos show that you can move and shoot and make hits.
THE SELF DEFENSE RUB:
Self Defense wise, if you accept the above, it dictates that you should ALWAYS move when drawing and shooting, and not just stand and deliver.
But that goes against what range in-your-lane shooting, with/without drawing, ingrains in everyone from day one.
Also, most all training pics one sees on the web, are stand and deliver pics. They are not pics that show the shooter off to the left or the right of a target, which would be the case if a step or two had been taken.
That also is the case of pics taken in "open range" settings.
So, it looks to me, like most all instructors are teaching stand-in-one-spot-and-get-shot shooting.
I hope not.