Babineaux method = foolish B.M.

 by John Boch

When it comes to firearms, there are no 10 Commandments.

There are the basic safety rules, which are all pretty much the same wherever you shoot and train and they have been developed as part of studying things that can go wrong with gun handling.

Here are my safety rules, which are a lot like the NRA’s – in part because I’m an NRA instructor (among others).

1.  Keep your muzzle pointed in a safe direction at all times!

2.  Keep your cotton pickin’ finger off the cotton pickin’ trigger until you’ve decided to shoot.

3.  Keep your firearm unloaded unless it’s in service.

Oh yeah, and then there’s that other “universal rule” that we tell students applies to all “guns”, including the staple guns students use to staple up their targets:  “Know your target and what’s beyond it.”

There are certain things you just don’t do, absent exigent circumstances.  Sweeping people with your muzzle, for example, is not only a bad faux pax, but it could result in you being ejected from your local range, or in a worst-case scenario, might result in you seeing other people’s muzzles.

It’s also worth mentioning that if you’re the one doing muzzling your friends (sometimes called ‘lasering’ or ‘sweeping’), it can also lead to a declining number of people who are willing to go shooting with you.

But even when you’re doing everything right, now and then something new comes along.

Often, it’s a technique for those guys who are advanced and professional in their gun-handling.

Many times it’s for guys who play by “big boys rules” and who don’t feel the need to stick to the basic rules I mentioned above (and you probably have heard a bunch of times if you’ve ever had any formal training).

Here’s a guy, for instance, who is professional enough that he doesn’t need to follow the basic rules:

Here’s someone else that isn’t following the fundamentals, but not because she’s too professional to pay attention to them:

And then there’s instructors who do seriously bone-headed things, like Mr. Sonny Puzikas.

So, along comes a new “technique” making the rounds across the “Interwebz” the last couple of days called the Babineaux Method.

It’s brought to you by our friends at Cheaper Than Dirt, the home of -51.98% win.

It seems to have been put out as part of an article at the Cheaper Than Dirt Blog, published November 16.  It has since been pulled down.

Could it be because of the idiocy it entailed?

We’re not sure, but we do know it’s still available from the fine folks at Google Cache or whatever have it archived.  Yes, everything is forever on the Internet.

Anyway, the new “Babineaux Method” (BM) is probably sure to excite those guys who think their man-card gives them everything they need to know to be high-speed and low-drag when it comes to handling firearms.

In fact, at the Cheaper than Dirt Blog addresses “professionals” specifically in their blog post!

To ensure safe holstering, today’s professionals are beginning to utilize a method that has become known as the Babineaux Method. The Babineaux Method starts with the operator holding the gun in a shooting grip with the index finger outside of the trigger guard. Rather than extended parallel to the bore, the trigger finger is curled so that the tip of the finger rests across the face of the opposite end of magazine release.

Now, the appendix inside-the-waistband carry, as illustrated above, is a tricky way to carry one’s gun.  Yes, it’s extremely fast to present the firearm.

However, the downside to the technique – and it’s a BIG downside in my humble opinion – is that one has to be supremely careful and conscientious each time one re-holsters as you’re violating rule number 1 above (keep your muzzle pointed in a safe direction).   In this case, the family jewels and your penis are dead ahead of your pistol’s muzzle.

And even if they aren’t, often your femoral artery is.  If you blow a hole in your femoral…

Well, let’s just say I’ve seen execution photos where Africans execute condemned individuals by severing their femoral.

So the good news is it’ll be fairly quick.  The bad news is you’ll be completely conscious to ponder your mistake for a minute or two before you get sleepy.

For our readers who may be all excited about the Babineaux Method:  Please, for the love of all that’s holy, keep your cotton pickin’ finger OUT of the trigger guard when re-holstering.

Yes, executed flawlessly, the BM might prevent the trigger from being caught by something and your striker-fired pistol going bang inappropriately.

More likely though, while tired / fatigued, or while one’s hands are wet or dexterity reduced with gloves, you’re gonna put your finger on the wrong side of the trigger – and particularly with a light trigger modification, the next thing you know if you’re lucky is that those gasses coming out of the muzzle are really hot.

If you’re not so lucky, you’re gonna blow off or damage the twig & berries or maybe your femoral.

DO NOT USE THIS METHOD.  Tell any friends who share it with you not to use it.

Using this method WILL NOT make you one of “today’s professionals”.  Trust me on this.

If you’re going to carry AIWB -style, please exercise proper holstering technique.  Done correctly, it’s almost as if you’re going in slow motion as you re-holster the firearm.

You can’t re-holster too carefully in this style of carry.