"Don't draw unless you're willing to shoot" - I would amend that to "Don't carry a gun unless you're willing to shoot if necessary". Carrying a gun while being unwilling, or mentally unprepared to shoot if necessary is masturbation. You might feel protected and safe if you close your eyes and use your imagination, but you're not really. So clear that out of your head before you make the choice to carry.
So then assume you are willing to shoot if necessary the exigency you face, in the moment, will determine whether you are going to shoot once you draw. "If A happens, then B happens".
If he raises the knife in a manner consistent with mounting an attack, I will be forced to fire. You already determined that was a your GO button in that instance.
If he says he is going to shoot me and reaches inside his coat in manner consistent with going for a gun, and in the context of the moment, consistent with no other purpose, I will be forced to fire. You already determined that was your GO button in that instance.
If he says he is going to cave my head in with this cinder block, and raises it above his head in a manner consistent with carrying out his threat, I will be forced to fire. Again, you already determined that was going to be your GO button.
The point is that it doesn't matter what the GO button is, as long as it is a situation where a reasonable person, knowing what you knew at the time, would believe that you (or they) were in a situation that put you in fear of immediate and otherwise unavoidable danger of death or grave bodily harm.
If you have to determine, in the moment, or figure out if you can (not can fire legally, but possess the ability to fire) fire at all...then you're woefully unprepared and need to carry a rape whistle instead of a gun because in the moment, a human predator will know you're not willing and they will dine on your intestines. This is largely a matter of your own presence and general carriage.
If you look like a scared mouse, even a scared mouse with a big scary gun, then the predator will know you're still just a scared mouse and refer back to your intestines being the main course. I see this in the goobers who scream "If he punches me, I could fall and hit my head and die" to the rafters as justification to use lethal force. They are basically cowards...the scared mice.
We have all heard "If you pull that gun you better shoot or someone is gonna take it away from you". I would amend it to "If you pull that gun, you better be demonstrably willing to shoot, or someone is going to take it away from you". It is a subtle difference in wording but a vast difference in meaning. The human predator recognizes and better predator. The mountain lion, which is a sneaky, shifty, ambush killer, doesn't mess with the black bear. Why? The black bear is more than capable of stopping the mountain lion, and as an ambush predator the mountain lion knows this instinctively and will only engage the black bear if it has no other choice, or the black bear is obviously incapable of mounting a defense (think injury or sick).
The mountain lion won't engage the wolverine because the mountain lion knows the wolverine is a tough, nasty, mean, and fierce little bastard who will do a lot of damage even if the lion wins the overall fight. The human predator, like the lion, will always weight the risks versus the rewards. The reward for engaging the wolverine won't be worth it if the mountain lion is hurt and can't hunt, or breaks its fangs, or has its claws torn out. In this case, the mountain lion may be the better predator, but the wolverine is really bad prey.
How does this relate to the question of trigger discipline?
I have held many more subjects at gun point than I have shot. This is (very likely) true of everyone who has ever been an officer. If you believe in the FBI and NRA estimates that 1.3 to 1.5 million subjects are stopped every year in the United States without a shot being fired, then this is most likely true in the case of armed civilians who draw their weapon and are not forced to shoot. I would also submit that they were demonstrably willing to shoot, or at least the subject believed they would. They were really bad prey.
Regardless of where you live, as long as your right to defend yourself is recognized and hasn't been stolen from you (or given up by bad voting decisions), then for the moment we will assume that your draw is justified in the moment. Defensive display...okay...assume that it pertains in your state or locale so we're not discussing semantics or general minutiae. Your draw was completely justified.
You have the subject at gun point.
Where is your trigger finger?
Generally, I would say that it is OFF the trigger if the subject is satisfactorily compliant.
STOP, DROP THE WEAPON! - You finger ON the trigger and immediately ready to put rounds into HIGH CENTER CHEST.
The subject immediately complies and the gun/knife/club/brick hits the ground and their hands go UP and I mean UP right now. You: finger OFF the trigger, but still covering the subject with the muzzle and the front sight ON HIGH CENTER CHEST until you have the subject in a prone position per your instructions and you have compete and satisfactory compliance.
HOWEVER, If they make a furtive movement to a place that would lead you to believe that they are going for another weapon, then...well...they just made a bad decision and they get blown out of their shoes because you believed, reasonably, that you were in immediate and otherwise unavoidable danger of death or grave bodily harm. You were immediately ready to react to their renewed threat, even though they had dropped the obvious and visible weapon. You may or may not carry a backup weapon...why would it be unreasonable to believe that they don't carry one also? I have arrested more than a few subjects who had more than one deadly weapon on them, so there is no reason to believe that there is only one.
If you went to a "low ready" or OFF TARGET OFF TRIGGER posture, or worse that stupid "el sul" position, then you were better prey in the face of a predator. If you are ON TARGET but OFF TRIGGER, then you are one mental command closer to immediate action.
So yes, I generally agree that your finger should be off the trigger, but within a very narrow set of circumstances I believe that your finger needs to be ON the trigger.
1. Within Tueller distance, you have a subject armed with a knife who has partially complied with your instructions to STOP, DROP THE WEAPON! They have stopped, but still hold the knife/club/contact weapon in their hand. They are an unsatisfactorily neutralized threat. They still hold the knife/club/contact weapon and may have moved closer than 21 feet before they stopped, but are still outside arms length. I would be ON TARGET and ON THE TRIGGER. If they twitch, then they get blown out of their shoes right now. They might not believe you really will shoot...or they're not totally convinced that you will, and they are looking for a weakness or chink in your armor to exploit. You are still in a very perilous position. You have no business giving it to them and helping them kill you.
2. You have a subject who is/was armed with a remote control weapon. They had a gun/bow/crossbow/whatever...and at your command to STOP, DROP THE WEAPON! and they do stop and drop the weapon, but as you are alone without a trained partner to take control of their weapon or you have no training or experience in taking an armed subject at gun point and allow them to lie down within arms reach of their gun (shame on you), then I would suggest a posture of ON TARGET, ON TRIGGER. You have left yourself with an unsatisfactorily neutralized threat that you may very well have to shoot right now when they recognize your weakness or lack of experience.
Can you blame them for exploiting your weakness? No, not really. It is what a predator does. For whatever reason, you weren't totally convincing to them that you were capable of, or willing to, defending yourself. You might have been 51% convincing, but your lack of experience, or lack of competence was at 49% and they saw/smelled/recognized that they might still have a chance to get the upper hand. Personally, I'd stack the deck in your favor and going to a low ready, stupid el sul, or off target, off trigger posture is less than spectacularly intelligent.
OH MY GAWD! You might flinch and shoot them by acc-o-dent!
And? Because my immediate reaction to the "flinch" assertion is "What did the subject do to make you flinch?" If, in the situation above, their remote control weapon was within arms length and they made a movement that you reasonably believed to be consistent with grabbing that weapon...then you can see that your shot was justified and not really an acc-o-dent or negligent. You responded to a renewed threat or action by the unsatisfactorily neutralized threat. If you're really "surprised" or "startled" that they might try something, then in this moment then shame on you...because you:
A) Failed to competently or satisfactorily neutralize them by allowing them to remain close to their weapon
B) Failed to convince them that you were competent to defend yourself
C) Failed to convince them that you WOULD defend yourself
D) Failed to convince them that you were not a good victim
E) Left them with the belief that they COULD get the drop on you
*Yes, you MAY have done everything right, but are facing a subject who is a three-time loser and they have decided they would rather die than go back to the penitentiary, and will kill anyone who is in a position to send them back. THIS is another variable over which you have no control, other than the decision you have already made.
You may be facing some cartel or MS13 c.h.u.d. who CANNOT comply or they will be killed by their own organization. People think that this is a remote possibility but ask yourself...Are they here? Are they in the US? Are they in my community?
The answer to the above is YES. Gilbert and Chandler AZ are considered to be "hotspots" for cartel activity. If you live in this area, keep your eyes open for late model SUVs and Chevy pickups with small, yellow Ferrari horse stickers in the lower right hand corner of the rear window glass. In fact, drive through the parking lot of El Coyote bar on Arizona Avenue in Chandler and take a peek. Look around you at the Wal Mart in San Tan Valley, on Hunt Highway. Chances are pretty good you will see MS13 ink heads shopping with their rukas. Ask a Pinal County deputy who works that beat about San Tan Heights or "Compton Basin". They will give you an honest answer.
3. My wife or daughter is being held at knife point by some c.h.u.d. and I am within the range where I know I can remove his eyeball and the general top of his skull...my finger is ON TARGET and ON THE TRIGGER and the slack is gone, because I promise that I am going to decorate the wall behind him/her with red and gray matter. My wife and daughter already know how to go limp and fall to the ground and at what signal from me to do so. If the knife is not making contact, or drifts away...that is the GO button.
I am going to get them talking and thinking about ME, rather than my wife or daughter and I am going to short circuit their response time...then...Happy Meal.
Yes, we have trained this. This is not "theory". Not only with my family, but as an experiment some of my training partners and guys I worked with worked on it with training knives with red lipstick on the blades to show without a doubt whether or not a cut was made...and in dozens of runs though it (even with the "subject" expecting the drop), they weren't able to react and cut other than peripherally, and then only a couple of times on a shoulder which was just a hint of lipstick, and certainly not a "deadly wound". It evolved out of a "what if" session during a Hostage/MDI training class we had to take and the long discussions afterward. (I am actually writing my masters thesis on this subject).
My point is this...the active dynamic of the moment is the determining factor whether or not you will be on the trigger or off the trigger. A critical incident is a fluid situation. A does not always precede B in the way you expect it to, or that you have always assumed it would. It is not simple arithmetic, it is often algebra, where you need to find X and find it right now. A strict adherence to "never" and "always" leaves you no room for situational agility in thinking and in action or reaction to the exigency of the right now. Blind obedience to a doctrine by some cool dood on youtube, or purveyors of the drive-by comments on the interwebz by guys with zero training, experience, or sweat equity in their defensive capabilities beyond dirt shooting with their buddies is a handicap, or those whose only "experience" is shooting IDPA or USPSA without the added component of competent, professional training.
So, yes, generally, I am an advocate of FINGER OFF the trigger...but I remain open to the necessity to ignore that "always-never" rule in favor of the needs of the moment.
Range Safety is one thing, and the rules are "always and never"...Combative Safety is another. Know when to recognize the difference.
NOTE: The use of "I" "You" "They" are editorial usages. Refrain from attaching specificity to one individual.
