BRAD ACKMAN: The Front Sight, the physical complex, consists
of 550 acres just outside of Las Vegas.
Wide open expanse of desert, so we've got
lots and lots of room.
No encroachment--
we're free to basically develop this
facility as we see fit.
Well, Front Sight is the creation of Dr. Ignatius
Piazza who's the founder and director.
He was taking courses under Jeff Cooper back in the '80s--
a long time ago.
And through the training that he received under Jeff Cooper
and other national instructors, he realized that
this was definitely his cup of tea.
And more importantly, that he could do it better.
He could reach the masses, really spread the word.
Spread the doctrine to those people who needed it.
Not just SWAT cops and special forces military, but average,
everyday citizens.
MARTIN JONES: My name is Martin Jones, and I'm
originally from England but I live in San Diego now.
MALE SPEAKER: And how many times have you been here to
Front Side?
MARTIN JONES: This is my third time.
For me, it's a case I get a chance to actually learn
skills that I've always wanted to learn.
Not so much for personal protection, but simply because
I enjoy shooting.
MALE SPEAKER: Why did you want to come to Front Side?
TYSON MANN: Well actually, I'm planning on
joining the Navy SEALs.
So I'm going to get some good handgun training before I go
to basic training.
MALE SPEAKER: Get ahead of the curve a little bit?
TYSON MANN: Yeah.
MALE SPEAKER: So when are you going to go enlist?
How does that process work?
TYSON MANN: Actually in three days.
MALE SPEAKER: In three days you're going to be signing up?
BRAD ACKMAN: So as you can see in the background, we have
handgun, shotgun, rifle ranges we also cater to M16s, Uzis,
martial arts.
We're standing on the rope and repel facility.
So it's a huge facility, continues to
grow all the time.
That's really the nature of the facility.
The training, as I mentioned a moment ago, is really geared
toward the private citizen.
Those people who want to come out and learn defensive
tactical skills.
Sometimes we get the hobbyist, kind of the weekend
enthusiast, and that, too, is fine.
If this is their social outlet and they want to channel it
through a productive activity, firearms
training, that's great.
We're happy to have those folks as well.
But really we're training those people who
want to stay alive.
JESSE PEARSON: Hi there.
Jesse Pearson.
P-E- A- R-S- O-N.
MALE SPEAKER: P-E-A- R-S-O-N, right here.
Have a seat inside.
JESSE PEARSON: Thanks.
CRAIG BISHOP: Here on the range, your weapon will only
be one of three places--
in the holster, at the ready, or pointed at the target.
Say again.
Your weapon will only be one of three places--
in the holster, at the ready or pointed at the target.
I spent both time in active duty Army and a lot of time in
the National Guard in the 19th Special Forces Group.
Been to a lot of places and doing a lot of Fed missions in
foreign countries with them for anywhere from two weeks to
a couple months for the most of it.
Spent a lot of time in Korea, Thailand.
Right on up here to the 10.
One line, everybody the first line come up stand right on
one of these little flags.
-Line ASAP!
Ready, fire!
[GUNSHOTS]
JESSE PEARSON: What did I get?
A, B, C or D?
TONY: Oh, I'd give you a B, that's a strong B.
JESSE PEARSON: For effort I get a B.
CRAIG BISHOP: If you're not here, you're late.
We're starting anyway, right now.
Finger off the trigger.
Let him know that, I shouldn't have to come up and tell him.
Yell at him.
-Line ASAP!
Ready, fire!
[GUNSHOTS]
MALE SPEAKER: How's your partner today?
JESSE PEARSON: Tony?
Tony's good, man.
He's very encouraging.
He keeps saying you can do it, you're going to get it.
He told that lady next to me not to quit
because she was bummed.
He said don't give up.
He's a man of few words, but they're well-chosen words.
[GUNSHOTS]
CRAIG BISHOP: You need to stay alive.
You need to train the way you want to fight.
Because when you get in a fight, you will
fight the way you train.
You will not rise to the occasion.
You will sink to your level of training.
So make that level of training as high and as good and
realistic as you can, because that is what
will keep you alive.
Any questions?
No shooting yourself on my range.
Challenge!
EVERYONE: Stop or I'll shoot!
[GUNSHOTS]
MALE SPEAKER: How'd it go?
JESSE PEARSON: I don't know.
I think it would've stopped him, probably.
I don't know if it meets muster here, but it probably
would have stopped him.
MALE SPEAKER: Problem is, [INAUDIBLE] take one.
JESSE PEARSON: I got the top of his crew cut.
CRAIG BISHOP: I never saw any combat.
Probably one the best trained guys that never was in combat.
I probably would have, but I was in Coronado, I was on a
combat dive team.
And prior to 9/11, I was there on a training operation and
shattered the arm and shoulder in a rubber raft.
So I was what we refer to as "broke dick."
Go in to the hospital broken up, 9/11 happened.
And having operations while all my buddies ended up in
Afghanistan.
That's just the way it worked out.
And ready!
[GUNSHOTS]
MALE SPEAKER: Did you feel a sense of regret
on not being there?
CRAIG BISHOP: Yeah, you spend that long training and then
something happens and everybody else you trained
with for years is going and you're not.
That's the way life goes, you know?
I guess you'd say it's good and bad.
MALE SPEAKER: Yeah, I guess so.
What's your take on the state of gun rights and gun laws and
the Second Amendment in America today?
MARTIN JONES: Being British, I don't know too much about the
Second Amendment.
But I do know it allows you to use and carry guns in the US.
In Britain, you're not allowed to anymore and I
think that's very sad.
TYSON MANN: They are really starting to take away our gun
rights that are in the Constitution which all of our
laws are supposed to be based upon.
So that really makes me angry.
CRAIG BISHOP: I would say that if you really look at it, our
whole Constitution is in tatters.
We are supposed to be the most free country in the world.
If you look at it, there's hardly anything we can do
without buying some kind of a license, getting government
permission.
TONY LAZADA: I hope it doesn't come to the point wherein the
law abiding citizens will just say forget everything, there's
too much bureaucracy red tape.
That won't be a good deal.
ALEX HARPER: Obviously, the laws have to follow what the
people in the community want them to be.
But at same time, a lot of people are just so uneducated
about weapons, about guns.
And a lot of these decisions are made based on these
reactionary stances that people have--
just, guns are bad.
TREVOR LATHAM: And I don't know where the
tide is going, honestly.
I don't know if the country's becoming more programmed or
less programed, because it is so polarized.
The crazy anti-gun people are as crazy as they ever had.
And the crazy rednecks are crazy rednecks.
FRANK PATTERSON: They think that they're making us safer,
but they are actually making us much more in danger every
time they pass a gun law.
[GUNSHOTS]
TONY LAZADA: Who's going to be left with handguns there aside
from the cops and the military?
Those that don't care for the law.
They can get handguns anywhere, right?
CRAIG BISHOP: You've got to fill out the
paperwork to buy a gun.
You've got to get permission from the
government to carry one.
Is that freedom?
FRANK PATTERSON: A free society is one where
everybody's rights are respected.
But the government isn't respecting our rights when
they keep taking them away from us.
JESSE PEARSON: Anybody gone through yet?
ALEX HARPER: No, we're actually
using you as a target.
JESSE PEARSON: OK, I'll be firing, too.
ALEX HARPER: Well, that's good because you'll be pointed down
range as will I. So that'll be in a universal position.
JESSE PEARSON: Nice.
MALE SPEAKER: Say that again?
TREVOR LATHAM: The hostage drill is a live puppy, and if
you miss you kill the puppy.
So, little guy got it.
Poor little guy.
MALE SPEAKER: It's all for the greater good.
-They got a puppy as well.
MALE SPEAKER: I think I heard him say stop or
I'll kill this bitch.
KEN GILLETT: Situation is you're sitting at home
relaxing, somebody starts beating on your door.
[POUNDING ON DOOR]
Where's my drugs, motherfucker?
Here I come!
[GUNSHOTS]
Hey buddy, you need any help?
You shot my friend!
Ahh!
[GUNSHOTS]
You missed me!
[GUNSHOTS]
Here I come!
[GUNSHOTS]
Drop the gun, I'm going to kill this bitch!
[GUNSHOTS]
And scenario's over, back to the holster.
JESSE PEARSON: That ruled.
KEN GILLETT: And this guy, he's beating on your door,
where's my drugs.
You kind of went for the gun, but you weren't sure whether
it should come out of the holster.
You're in your home, somebody's beating on your
door-- unless you sell drugs, I don't know.
Somebody's beating on your door, where's my drugs.
Gun comes out to ready.
You want to be ready for this guy to kick your door in.
You came up, two shots, control pair right to the
nose, excellent shooting.
Standard response we'd like to see is to the chest.
JESSE PEARSON: The thoracic first.
KEN GILLETT: Again, designated head shots do come into play.
I'm not saying that it's wrong, but what we'd like to
see is controlled pair to the chest first.
That's a good shot, that's in the box.
That round is a problem.
That is now what we call a "to whom it may concern" round.
That round is headed off who knows where.
That could hit grandma coming up the street from the store
with her groceries.
It could hit the baby in the stroller or the kid at the
park, who knows.
Make sure you're seeing your sights and they're getting
where they need to be.
Again, we'd like to see two to the thoracic.
You did not shoot the guy with the phone.
Why?
JESSE PEARSON: Because he was there to try and help me.
Not a threatening position, not saying anything that was--
KEN GILLETT: Had he said I'm going to beat you over the
head with this phone, what would you do?
JESSE PEARSON: I would've said stop or I'll shoot.
KEN GILLETT: Had he raised it overhead and
advanced toward you?
JESSE PEARSON: Two in the thoracic.
KEN GILLETT: Good.
That's the exact response we're looking for.
JESSE PEARSON: OK, great.
KEN GILLETT: The first one's a little low, still in the box.
Your second one, however, couldn't be any more centered
in the box.
Right there on the bridge of the nose is at dead center of
the box, it's exactly what we're looking for.
JESSE PEARSON: Excellent.
KEN GILLETT: Excellent job on the hostage shot.
JESSE PEARSON: Thanks very much.
CRAIG BISHOP: In the dark it's hard for us
to clearly see everybody.
So we're going to need your help a lot in maintaining a
safe range.
My finger does not go on the trigger until I've identified
positively that that's a target that I want to shoot.
In your house you may hear the noise,
you're doing the search.
Your finger's on the trigger.
The room's too light and you come up--
that's the kid sneaking home through the window.
JESSE PEARSON: I think this is probably the most excited I've
been the whole time we've been here.
I can't wait to shoot this.
CRAIG BISHOP: Remember, we do not start
until the go command.
MALE SPEAKER: [INAUDIBLE] and then the gun starts flipping.
Maximize the contacts to the back of [INAUDIBLE].
[GUNSHOTS]
MALE SPEAKER: How'd you do?
JESSE PEARSON: Can you light me up, Mike?
I don't know, we're about to find out, moment of truth.
Oh, I'm low a lot.
Oh, not bad, actualy.
Better than I fucking do in the daylight.
I'm meant to shoot at night.
I'm not meant to shoot in the daytime.
I'm meant to shoot when everybody else is asleep.
CRAIG BISHOP: Ready!
[GUNSHOTS]
JESSE PEARSON: Oh!
MALE SPEAKER: Oh, those aren't head shots, dude.
JESSE PEARSON: This is fucked up.
MALE SPEAKER: How'd you do this time?
JESSE PEARSON: Not very well.
MALE SPEAKER: Think he's dead, man.
JESSE PEARSON: Well, the thorax I still got a bunch.
MALE SPEAKER: Tell you what, why don't you take this one?
JESSE PEARSON: All right, all right.
Maybe I'm better at shooting never in the daytime
[INAUDIBLE].
[GUNSHOTS]
MALE SPEAKER: How'd you do this time, Jesse?
JESSE PEARSON: I don't know man.
Just get that camera and shove it up your ass.
CRAIG BISHOP: It's the same thing I'm doing was doing in
the military.
I am teaching these people skills to stay alive if they
need to do it.
Line ASAP!
Ready, fire!
[GUNSHOTS]