Lessons from Jared Reston’s Gunfight – Shot 7 Times & Still Won

The story from a police officer who was shot 7 times, returned fire, and won the gun fight.

Lessons from Jared Reston’s Gunfight – Shot 7 Times & Still Won Pistol Drill

Real life gunfights are NOT like they are in movies, TV shows, or video games – nothing even close to like it. Real gunfights are very quick, and very violent. There is no etiquette, no monologing, no dramatic music. Real life gunfights are just two or more people doing anything and everything to survive, which means doing anything and everything to kill each other. Tenths of a second or tenths of an inch can make the difference between life and death. While the first person to get shots on target usually wins a gunfight, that isn’t always the case. Jared Reston can attest to that.

This is the story of a real world gunfight told by the officer himself, Officer Jared Reston, which took place while he was trying to apprehend a suspect. He was shot seven times – just below the mouth, in the chest, arm, and leg. Despite being hit 7 times by the legendary “one stop shop” .45acp, Officer Jared Reston had the mental fortitude to stay in the fight, return fire, and kill his attacker.

Warning: the video contains some photos of gunshot wounds and a fatality

That video features Officer Jared Reston speaking about his gunfight where he was shot 7 times and still came out on top.

There is an absolute wealth of knowledge about gunfights for conceal carriers and law enforcement alike in this video. Entire articles have been written about single sentences spoken in the video. The video is a little over 36 minutes long, but it is still well worth a watch for anyone who carries a firearm on a regular basis. Here are some bullet points of some of the most important things Jared Reston said, but if you’re serious about carrying a pistol for self defense, be it CCW or LEO, just watch the video.

  1. Simple encounters can turn deadly in seconds.
  2. Tools can, and will, fail. Always have backup plans.
  3. Gunfights are very quick, and very violent.
  4. Most gunfights are over in seconds.
  5. Pistol rounds are not death rays. Shooters can still keep shooting even after vital organ shots.
  6. Reloads can cost you your life. Large capacity magazines are very important in the self defense world.
  7. Getting shot does not hurt – it hurts about 10 minutes later.
  8. First aid skills are very important for any self defender.
  9. Prepare yourself mentally to take someone’s life, because they’re going to take yours.

News story about the shooting

Written by - always a student, sometimes a teacher.

I don't consider myself a competition shooter - I think of myself as a performance pistol shooter. I am all about performing at as high of a level as possible. Towards that end, I am obsessive about learning how to perform. I spend a lot of my life learning from the best across the entire firearms world and even into other areas of performance and other sports. I am a USPSA Carry Optics Grandmaster, currently working towards my second GM title in the Open division.

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