Eric Lamberson

Eric Lamberson is a retired Army officer and firearms enthusiast with 40-plus years of experience in using firearms for hunting, competition and self-defense. He is an IDPA 6-gun Master and has completed the Force Science Institute certification in force science analysis. Eric is a Texas LTC instructor, NRA Pistol, Massad Ayoob Group Staff instructor and currently teaches basic, intermediate and advanced levels of the modern technique, low-light skills, and is certified to teach the Suarez International close-range gun fighting and force on force curriculum. You can contact Eric at ericlamberson@sensibleselfdefense.com or visit his Sensible Self Defense website.

Articles by Eric Lamberson

• Don’t get shot: Dealing with police during a traffic stop

  Thursday, August 29, 2019

  On March 6, 2014, in Opelika, Alabama, Air Force Airman 1st Class Michael Davidson was travelling on Interstate 85 headed to his next duty assignment at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. While driving through Opelika, Davidson (who was driving an SUV) lightly sideswiped a tractor-trailer. Both drivers pulled over to report the accident. When the accident call came in, Officer Hancock quickly arrived at the scene and pulled up behind the two vehicles just as they both exited the roadway. The police dashcam shows Airman Davidson attempting to get out of his vehicle; however, because he had pulled his SUV off the road shoulder, the vehicle was tilted slightly to the right.

• Maintaining the edge: How much practice is enough?

  Thursday, June 27, 2019

  A good friend and I recently explored the topic of how much practice — dry practice and range time — is enough to maintain acceptable levels of defensive shooting skill. I define acceptable skill level from a self-defense perspective as the ability to fire Sharp Shooter on an IDPA classifier, pass the FBI qualification, or achieve similar performance on a state or nationally recognized course of fire. My friend Steve is an IDPA six-gun Master and his shooting skill level is well-documented; however, as a result of medical challenges, Steve was effectively unable to practice his pistol skills for six months.

• Gunfight anatomy: The Richard Mendoza incident

  Thursday, April 11, 2019

  With only nine months left on probation, Richard Mendoza was not going back to prison. When the female officer told him to get out of the car, he knew the police would discover his pistol. Mendoza also knew that surprise was on his side, so he decided to take the chance. The Los Angeles Police Department released video of the officer-involved shooting that left the suspect, Mendoza, dead and one officer wounded in the leg. The shooting happened during a traffic stop in the North Hills area of Los Angeles on the night of July 27, 2018.

• Don’t get shot: Interacting with police at home

  Thursday, March 14, 2019

  On Jan. 4, a Knox County, Tennessee, sheriff's deputy was performing a security check in response to a home alarm. The deputy’s bodycam shows him examining the property, and as he approached a rear door on the house the homeowner yanked open the door pointing a pistol at the deputy. The deputy fired one shot without hitting the homeowner. Although uninjured, you can hear the homeowner ask: "Why did you shoot me?" Well, duh! You yanked open a door and pointed a pistol at the deputy — that’s why. In the end, no one got hurt and everything turned out fine; however, this incident could have ended very differently.

• Pistol-mounted lights — a solution in search of a problem?

  Thursday, March 07, 2019

  A Denver police officer faced a 10-day suspension for accidentally firing his weapon nearly striking a suspect. Officer Asher Rose accidentally pulled the trigger of his pistol while trying to turn on his pistol-mounted light. Officer Rose was attempting to use his light to illuminate a suspect hiding under a truck when he fired a bullet that hit a rear tire inches away from the suspect’s head. We just started our sixth year of low-light classes and we have had several police officers attend our classes and practice sessions — some are issued pistols with mounted lights. These officers did very well; however, I generally don’t believe that issuing pistol mounted flashlights to police officers is a good policy.

• The proper way to dry practice

  Wednesday, February 27, 2019

  Dry practice is an excellent way to maintain your firearm manipulation skills — particularly when you cannot get to the range. However, many unintended discharges occur in dry practice due to improper safeguards. Step one in preparing for dry practice is to follow the safety rules. These rules apply every time you handle a firearm. To start your dry practice: Unload your pistol in a different room than the one where you plan to dry practice. I always use the mnemonic MRI.

• Mindset: The Cooper Color Codes

  Thursday, November 01, 2018

  The Cooper Color Codes, as Jeff Cooper promulgated them, were not a system for describing levels of potential danger, but rather a technique to enable a law-abiding citizen to overcome a natural reluctance to use lawful deadly force against another. Quoting Cooper, "The color code is not a means of assessing danger or formulating a tactical solution. It is rather a psychological means of overcoming your innate reluctance to shoot a man down. Normal people have a natural and healthy mental block against delivering the irrevocable blow."

• Social media and the use of force

  Friday, September 07, 2018

  If you are ever involved in a use-of-force incident and are charged criminally, one of the things that you can be certain of is that the prosecutor will ferret out every controversial thing you have ever posted online. He will use that information to paint you as a bloodthirsty, Rambo-wannabe who was itching to kill someone for their own visceral pleasure. What you post on social media, what you wear, the public behaviors you exhibit, and potentially what others post can be used against you in a court of law.

• Reading your practice target

  Thursday, August 09, 2018

  During your shooting practice, your target will often tell you what you are doing whether it’s right or wrong. The targets in this article were the result of a practice session where my friend Steve and I were shooting the IDPA 5x5 classifier. Each target shows the results of six classifiers and we only taped the shots that were outside the zero-down scoring ring. Steve was shooting a CCP pistol for all six classifiers. I shot a 9 mm back-up gun (BUG) for the first two and a CCP for the next four classifiers.

• Don’t blow up your pistol — segregate your ammo

  Wednesday, May 09, 2018

  A great many IDPA competitors often have pistols of different calibers, and normally that is no issue unless you fail to segregate your ammunition. I frequently see competitors in local IDPA matches shooting two guns, each one a different caliber. It is not uncommon to see competitors loading and unloading magazines as they switch pistols during a stage. This is one instance where the potential for a problem creeps in, because competitors occasionally mix calibers in this process — at times with disastrous results.

• Practice smarter: Putting it all together

  Friday, February 16, 2018

  ​So you've read the articles, books and blogs, and you've watched all the videos of the Distinguished Masters — you can do this, right? This is where most people breathe a sigh of relief and go back to their repetitive practice routine (if they practice at all). And then they fail miserably because at the end of the day becoming a better shooter is not about knowing, it is about doing.

• Practice smarter: The physiology behind learning

  Monday, December 18, 2017

  In Part 1 of this series, I discussed the principles of deliberate practice. In this article, I discuss practice physiology and how it affects our skills. When we learn a new skill, we are changing how our brain is wired on a deep level — deliberate practice literally rewires our brains. Neuroscience uses the term plasticity to describe the brain's ability to form new connections between brain cells (neurons) and to reorganize itself throughout our lives.

• Practice smarter: Information is key to improving shooting

  Tuesday, December 05, 2017

  There is an old joke about the tourist visiting New York who asks a musician how to get to Carnegie Hall, the musician replied: "Practice, practice and practice!" Are you practicing enough? Are you practicing correctly? The answers to these questions often govern our development as shooters.

• Here’s why a suspect’s hands pose the greatest threat

  Wednesday, September 20, 2017

  ​"Take your hands out of your pocket!" or some variation of this phrase remains one of the most frequently repeated commands in law enforcement. Although police officers have been yelling it for years — ​as we saw in the Scotty Richardson incident — it is often not the best approach.

• Breaking the connection between stress and tunnel vision

  Thursday, July 06, 2017

  Sometimes during a dangerous or life-threatening situation, it simply becomes impossible for you to attend to all the stimuli coming at you simultaneously. A temporary blindness or deafness effect can take place as a result.

• If your gun falls, let it drop

  Monday, March 20, 2017

  An "oops" moment. We've all had them and will likely have them again. While shooting at stage at the Short Range Match, I was drawing my pistol from concealment. I normally carry with a loose-fitting shirt and the shirt tail out covering the pistol, so that is how I was shooting the match.

• Tips and tricks for reloading your ammo

  Wednesday, January 11, 2017

  Reloading is a popular hobby among shooting enthusiasts and is a great skill for frequent shooters. Of course, safety is always the most important thing to consider, and there are safety precautions reloaders should always follow. For example, always wear safety glasses while reloading and anytime you are handling primers (e.g. loading primer tubes). Powder spills will happen. And always keep the reloader, the area around your reloader and the floor under it free from spilled powder.

• How to survive your first IDPA Nationals

  Thursday, November 17, 2016

  The International Defensive Pistol Association recently conducted their 2016 IDPA National Championship at the Triple C Tactical Range in Cresson, Texas. Match Director Brian Erhler and Assistant Match Directors Phil Torres and Rick Lund did an outstanding job in spite of Mother Nature's best efforts early on.

• Stop telling suspects to show their hands

  Wednesday, August 24, 2016

  "Let me see your hands!" or some variation of this phrase is one of the most frequently repeated commands in law enforcement. Although police officers have been yelling it for years, it may not always be the best approach.

• Video breakdown: Police shootout shows pitfalls of stand and deliver

  Friday, May 06, 2016

  ​Research has shown the only shot that will instantly stop a fight is one that destroys the brain or severs the spinal cord, thereby disabling the central nervous system. Shots that do not strike the central nervous system must rely on blood loss to hit a critical level causing unconsciousness.

• Lessons learned from Rangemaster Tactical Conference

  Monday, April 18, 2016

  Tom Givens and Rangemaster hosted their annual Tactical Conference from March 11-13 at the Memphis Police Firearms Training Unit facility in Tennessee. Although there were police and some military in attendance, most attendees were law-abiding citizens exercising their uniquely American rights to assemble, exercise free speech and to keep and carry guns to defend themselves and those under their protection.

• Time to reload: The importance of hydration in the summer heat

  Tuesday, March 29, 2016

  ​Although it may not seem like it in some parts of the country, summer will be upon us soon. A challenge we always face in the summer heat is the risk of dehydration — something I experienced firsthand recently. Late last summer as we had just finished cleaning up from a shooting match, I began to feel uncomfortable.

• Dirty dozen: Avoid these 12 bad habits while shooting

  Tuesday, March 08, 2016

  ​Bad habits are something we all try to guard against, but they often creep into our shooting. Some shooters learn bad habits because the people teaching them do not know any better. Even when taught correctly, others develop bad habits through failing to apply what they learn.

• Back to basics: Review these fundamentals for shooting success

  Tuesday, February 16, 2016

  ​At the beginning of every year, I like to review marksmanship fundamentals. These fundamentals form the foundation for all accurate shooting, but they are something many overlook.

• Why stand and deliver simply doesn’t work

  Tuesday, January 05, 2016

  ​Those who are familiar with the modern shooting technique understand the concept of stand and deliver. This is the tactic of the good guy, upon seeing a lethal threat, immediately and rapidly drawing his pistol and placing effective fire on the bad guy — before the bad guy can react.

• A shot in the dark: Low-light shooting tips

  Tuesday, November 24, 2015

  We just finished our first Basic Low Light session for the 2015 season at Cedar Ridge Range in San Antonio, Texas. The format we use for these sessions includes a review of flashlight techniques, low-light drills to develop skill, a standard qualification course and several decision-based scenarios.

• My journey to IDPA Master

  Tuesday, November 03, 2015

  As IDPA began adjusting classifications earlier this year, I committed to the goal of shooting CCP Master and eventually becoming a 6-Gun Master — quite a goal for someone who had never shot better than Sharpshooter on the IDPA Classifier. I was shooting local IDPA matches and often dropping only a handful of points. However, my times were not good, and I never finished the match much higher than middle of the pack.

• What should you do when your pistol fails to go into battery?

  Friday, October 23, 2015

  ​I have always been somewhat skeptical when I've heard stories of rounds detonating in the ejection port — no longer. In the past, a common response to the slide of a pistol failing to go into battery was striking the rear of the slide. However, as we see in this case, that may not be a good idea and indeed could be dangerous.