Episode 1: Tactical Defense with Bill Murphy (Pt. 1)

In the first episode, you will get introduced to the host of the podcast Lou Desmond and his semi-regular guest-host Bill Murphy. Bill is the owner of Firearms Training Associates and trains civilians and law enforcement officers alike, albeit to different purposes and differing levels of proficiency. Bill has a decades long career in law enforcement and speaks about the importance of tactical training and some of the basics. Bill explains why he loves Maglite, the company and products such as the ML150LR and other great Maglite offerings. You will also hear what Bill has in his every day carry arsenal including his choice for a concealed carry pistol and why.

MAGLITE: 00:05 Welcome to the MAG-TAC podcast brought to you by Maglite. We encourage you to discover all the great products like the all-new ML300L 4-cell D LED. This is the ultimate survival light that will give you more than two weeks of continuous light on one set of batteries available at Maglite.com. The Maglite podcast is introducing the Practical Defense series, they're all about awareness personal safety self family and Home Defense among other subjects that pertain to keeping safe in this sometimes dangerous world.

MAGLITE: 00:35 Joining us today for the conversation is Bill Murphy. If you're serious about tactical training or you're connected with law enforcement, you undoubtedly know Bill Murphy as an expert in the field. Bill has decades of a long career in law enforcement and training for Tactical Firearms deployment at the highest levels. William Bill Murphy has been a law enforcement officer in California for 40 years, currently is a deputy Reserve with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. He retired from the Huntington Beach PD were he Senior Patrol Officer, firearms instructor armor, use of force instructor, and SWAT team member. Bill is the owner of Firearms Training Associates (FTA) in Corona, California. Bill has been a gun sight instructor since 1992 and is a range master for Pistol Carbine shotgun and submachine gun. In addition, he is Police Academy instructor, NRA and FBI certified instructor, and an adjunct instructor for the US Air Force ParaRescue advanced training center. He has extensive experience training US Military special operations, law enforcement officers, SWAT team members, and civilians. Now the Firearms Training Associates, Bill, this is (uh) your training facility, tell us about it.

BILL MURPHY: 01:44 Well, we've been doing training for a long time and you made me feel old by reading that resume and so what happens for about the last the 25 years we've been a Reahauge Range over in Corona. And we have our own facilities, three classrooms, indoor shoot houses, outdoor shoot houses ranges out to 200 yards. And we do some of the highest level training for law enforcement, for Military, for special operations and HouseWives. We think that everybody that carries a gun should be properly armed and that they should come to a good safe learning environment where everybody is nice and then go ahead and learn the skill. 

MAGLITE: 02:21 So, this partnership with Maglite, what makes Maglite the right fit for you and FTA?

BILL MURPHY: 02:27 Well, what happens is Maglite has been around for a long long time and I pulled out my flashlight, my Mini Maglite that was the first light I ever carried off of work. And I used to shove it my belt and there was a time when the power went out at a movie theatre. My wife and I were in there and it went completely black, no generators came on, and that's right when I started carrying my Mini Maglite. and this was in the late 80's. All of sudden, I pulled it out, turned it on, my wife and I walked out the door, close behind me and all this screaming started... "Open the Door! Open the Door!", so we opened again, I shined the light so everybody else can come on out and so from that...that was really the start of my learning light career. And I've carried a Maglite most of my career, is it been issue light good utility tool. But now Mag was kind of your father's flashlight, now it's not. Now they have the best flashlights I've come across. The best hand-held flashlight for patrol officers, the (ML)150, it's 1082 lumens, its got three different settings, it'll burn up to 79 hours on the lowest setting, and it's just Fantastic! it'll go 400 yards and guess what...it's inexpensive. So these guys have the right idea, make the best product, make it at a price that everybody can afford, and that it's gonna get used. And if I tell the cops about the return policy, and...they...for 70 bucks they go ahead and give a brand new one if anything happens to this, even if it just gets old. I wish I could get a 70 dollar redo and get me back out there. 

MAGLITE: 04:14 Don't we all. Obviously, the Maglite is in your EDC -  your Every Day Carry. What else is on that list for you?

BILL MURPHY: 04:21 There's so much stuff, I'm a bit of liberal but I always carry a tourniquet on me, it's a RATS tourniquet and for several reason reasons that way (if) somebody gets hurt, traffic accident, firearm and along those lines, I always wanna have good quality first aid equipment on me. I carry my folding knife, Benchmade, even though they got in a little trouble while back, they still make a pretty darn good product. And then Phill Hartsfield cut above knives, that my specialized tool. In addition, my Glock. Glock 19 been on me forever, spare 20 round magazine, my pepper spray, I can go on-and-on endlessly on the stuff that I carry and sometimes I worry i'll fall in the pool and drown. 

MAGLITE: 05:09 So, your Glock 19 is your concealed carry everyday weapon?

BILL MURPHY: 05:14 Yah, the Gen 5, there's just not must better than it, you know. I look around, I play around, it's a fantastic weapon system. 

MAGLITE: 05:24 And, how do you carry that weapon concealed, what's your primary way that you like to do that? Our do even want to discuss that....(laughter)...

BILL MURPHY: 05:33 When you look at me, you think maybe a CEO of General Motors, maybe a brain surgeon not in at work today. You look at me and you say, "Look at the big friggin Cop with the big friggen gun", so I've always been a fanny pack guy since they invented them and that way, I caught CRS a couple years ago. In case you don't know what that is, Can't Remember Stuff. There's a different word you put in there, but Can't Remember Stuff, so by putting everything in the fanny pack, Guess What? I leave the house with everything. I'm not looking for my glasses on my forehead, so I've been a fanny pack guy. If its serious work, then I'll put it on my right hip. Blatec holsters, Wilderness Zip Slide holsters, those are my go to...

MAGLITE: 06:17 Gun fight basics. How fast do they normally happen, how far apart? How do deadly incidents happen? And what is the general makeup of them?

BILL MURPHY: 06:25 Well, I would say the majority of stuff is conversational distances. If you can talk to someone in a normal voice and them hear you, that's the conversation distance. That the distance of self defense. And so, it's usually fast and furious. You know I've had a situation where a guy drew against me in doorway, and I beat him to the draw and put two in his heart. And then, I skimmed one off his head. So, there one-half to two-half seconds is the max amount of time. So if takes you longer than one second to get that gun up and firing,  you're already behind the power curve.

MAGLITE: 06:57 Good information to have. On the MAG-TAC Podcast here on what we're billing as the Practical Defense Series. The segment number two, we're going talk about gun mounted versus hand-held lights, who should which, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each and we'll be bringing you that on the next MAG-TAC Podcast. Thank you for listening and look forward to having back