Guns: Blindfighting

One of the limitations with most self-defense scenarios you see bandied about on the Web is that they assume you will be in full fighting condition. This is easy to accomplish on the range, but the real world often introduces complications when criminal attacks occur. In my opinion, the primary gun safety rule that applies when defending yourself is Rule 4: "Know your target and what is beyond it."

Many people in the world, including myself, are nearsighted. Whether this is the result of increasing "close work" or heredity is sometimes debated (the likely answer is that it's some mixture of both), but the fact remains that past about three yards without my glasses on, even my own face in a mirror looks like a blur. Identifying your target might be difficult if you're just waking up from sleep in the dark (few people sleep with glasses or contacts on) or if your glasses or contacts have been knocked off your head. There aren't any real answers to this problem, I think, besides either keeping a pair of glasses near you at all times or using a verbal command to establish someone's identity.

There's also the matter of hitting a target while nearsighted. I practice at the range occasionally without wearing glasses. I take the prescription glasses off, put on the shooting glasses, and see how well I can do shooting center-mass into a piece of copy paper. The sights are a particular problem here - depending on how big they are or what shooting stance you use, the front sight in particular may be a blur. This is where the stability and repetition of your grip comes into play. Ideally, you should have a rough idea of where the sights are, even if you can barely see them. I shoot fast and I shoot slowly, hoping to get better.