Page 57 - Florida Concealed Carry Law

vision. Imagine looking out your window while looking through an old toilet paper roll. This is tunnel vision. The third effect these hormones have on your body is loss of hearing. If you’ve ever fired a gun without hearing protection, your ears were probably ringing for hours. However, why don’t your ears ring when you go hunting? I never really understood this phenomenon. I mean, I'm sitting in a tree without hearing protection, and then all of a sudden a massive buck steps into the field. Your heart rate increases and your brain is filled with adrenaline and cortisol, and bang, you take the shot. The reason your ears don’t ring is because of a loss of hearing caused by these hormones.
The final effect adrenaline and cortisol have on the human body is probably the biggest. Cortisol turns off the portion of your brain that controls critical thinking. This is why I laugh when I hear students say things like, “I would have noticed the attacker was trying to put his hands up,” or “I would have made a better decision.” It's very easy for us to analyze a self-defense shooting after the fact. Our critical thinking abilities are working. During a high-stress situation, the portion of your brain that takes over is the primitive brain. This is the portion of the brain responsible for your fight or flight response, and this portion of your brain must be programmed. The way you program this portion of your brain is to train and prepare yourself for the unthinkable moments in life. You have to practice with your firearm until it becomes a part of your body. You must memorize the key points of this book so that when a situation arises, you don’t have to think; you can simply act.
In my opinion, shooting to wound is wrong. During a self-defense situation, you will be overwhelmed with thoughts, hormones and emotions. The last thing I want to do is make my target smaller by aiming at the attacker's hand, arm or leg. This is why I aim for the center of the chest. The chest is the largest target I have, therefore I have the greatest opportunity for my rounds to hit the attacker.