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Episode 2: Tactical Defense with Bill Murphy (Pt. 2)
In this episode, we discuss Weapon Mounted lights – the pros and cons are presented by Bill Murphy law enforcement and tactical training professional. Then Bill Murphy (owner of Firearms Training Associates) jumps into the reality of what happens in a low light home invasion situation, what the average homeowner will do in fact, and how they can get more effective in defending themselves and their loved ones. MAGLITE: 00:05 Welcome back 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 continuous light on one set of batteries available at maglite.com. Here on the Maglite podcast, we are today doing the Practical Defense Series of podcasts and our guest once again is Bill Murphy who has had a long and storied career in law enforcement and also tactical training. Just a few highlights, he's been a law enforcement officer for more than 40 years, he's currently a Deputy Reserve for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. He was a S.W.A.T. team member, Senior Patrol Officer, Firearms Instructor, Armor... I could go on and he is also the proprietor of Firearms Training Associates in Corona, California. Bill, thank you for being back on the program. BILL MURPHY: 00:58 No, my pleasure. MAGLITE: 00:59 Let's talk about the gun mounted versus the non-gun mounted light. What are, as you see, advantages and disadvantages with the both? BILL MURPHY: 01:10 Well, weapons mounted lights, whether you're talking pistol, shotgun or carbine are always an advantage for you... If we're carrying pistols and we're doing CCW [Carrying a Concealed Weapon], they're a little bit bulky and generally what happens, people won't carry them cause they're trying to get the smallest profile they can. But when you're working, when you're out on the street, when you're thinking in a tactical mindset, weapons light is a huge advantage because as I draw my weapon, I'm putting light right in the bad guy's eyes and I'm overloading his optic nerve and causing him to shut down. And if I can cause him to blink, I slowed down his ability. Cause, all advantages go to the bad guy. I'm responding to what the bad guy's doing. I'm reacting to them. So, if I can overload that optic nerve causing problems, then it's going to be a benefit for me. So, I think a weapons mounted light with pressure switch is an excellent tool. Handheld. This is what most people use. And even a lot of the law enforcement agencies haven't come into the realm of weapons, mountain lights. MAGLITE: 02:09 Okay. So, so in, in reality, I'm that homeowner three o'clock in the morning, I hear glass break, uh, I hear loud banging at my front door, somebody rams a car into my garage. I'm groggy. And most people don't have in their drawer next to their bed a gun mounted light, right? BILL MURPHY: 02:33 That's works because a lot of people aren't aware, they haven't gotten training in night operations, is that using a handheld flashlight and a weapon by NYPD, they found that less than 5% of the shots fired hit the bad guy. So, when three o'clock in the morning comes around, I jump out of bed to grab stuff. What am I wearing? I got socks on. That's about it. So, I got no place to stick extra flashlights and extra mags. So, I like it on my gun. I want to go ahead, grab my pistol. I want to have a nice normal standard capacity, which means somewhere around 20. And then what happens? I want to have my flashlight on there if I can. But since most people don't do that, the reality is they're going to have the flashlight in one hand. They're going to have the gun. In the other hand, they're going to have a phone somewhere that they're going to be trying to communicate with, and the standard capacity magazine gives me the time to go ahead with 20 rounds in there to be able to call 911 to get the police coming and defend myself. And, there's cases of this documented through the legal system. MAGLITE: 03:35 But in the state of California, you're not going to have 20 rounds, at least not legally as a civilian...right? BILL MURPHY: 03:40 No, no. That's you Out-of-Staters talking right there, the law was overturned here by a good federal court judge. And he said that this is my constitutional right to have standard capacity mags, the state. This went on for a week, April 28th to May 5th and then they put a stay on this, pending further hearings. So, it is lawful for Californians that bought magazines either years ago or during that week to carry them. MAGLITE: 04:12 Okay. So, I hear that loud noise, hearts going, adrenalines pumping. I grabbed my Maglite ML150 or my MAG-TAC that’s by my bedside. I turned that on, I've grabbed my hand gun. What's my technique bill, as a homeowner that I should be using? BILL MURPHY: 04:29 Problem is most homeowners don't do training unless they do it with us in flashlight. So, we have the Harry's flashlight. We have a method developed by Chris Karachi. We have neck indexing, we have all these different techniques, but unless they've been trained in one, they won't successfully partner the firearm with the light. And that's where we come in, is that we do our night shoots for everybody and we have them come on out and practice the Harry's technique and use Chris Karachi's technique that he developed in the neck indexing and the FBI modified, so that we raised their potential to get hits. And don't forget this is going to be very close, but think about that ML150 flashlight from Maglite. You're talking a thousand and eight-two lumens with a beam that goes 400 yards in somebody's eyes. How much deadly force do I need? Because most people without us, secondary reason to want to do this is that they're going to run off because they're going to be overwhelmed by the light in their eyes and not being able to see. And then the side benefit of this is that if they did get too close you could use this as an alternative weapons system, not deadly. MAGLITE: 05:43 So the MAG-TAC say or one of the other programmable lights that also has strobe, that's an even, another option that you could use to disorient... correct? BILL MURPHY: 05:55 Yeah, MAG-TAC is fantastic light, and it's probably one of the best on the market and its charging system with the bands around the bottom, not mattering how you put it in the charger, you can just grab it right out of the charger and go. So this thing, it's 670 lumens and what happens...got a fantastic burn time and then rechargeable. This is a great amount of light to put in somebody's eyes... And you've got to remember it's going to be dark in your house at three o'clock in the morning. So, when somebody's eyes are adapted to darkness, now they're hit with 700 lumens of light. That’s gonna cause them to shut down pretty quick. MAGLITE: 06:32 That's about the time we have for this edition of the MAG-TAC Podcast on the Practical Defense Series with Bill Murphy. When we come to the next podcast, I want to talk about the basics of Low-Light Training and also High Lumens... are they always the right choice? Bill, you're going to join us again? BILL MURPHY: 06:51 Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for inviting me. MAGLITE: 06:53 This has been the MAG-TAC Podcast, the Practical Defense Series. Thanks for listening.
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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
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