Within the gun world, the name VODA evokes all sorts of reactions. Some roll their eyes. Others laugh uncontrollably. Still, others cringe because they’ve seen the videos and can’t help but wonder how many people share similar thoughts but haven’t recorded it for the internet.

Lucien R. Black, the “brain” behind VODA, was a one-time NRA certified instructor and certified concealed carry instructor who lost all those instructor certifications after a video surfaced of him using unsafe weapon-handling skills.

He’s something of a joke, and a lot of that falls on him.

You can’t post stuff like this and be taken seriously.

https://www.facebook.com/officaledaeck/posts/2297904010276268

That’s right. Black claims that his “system” was stolen for use in “John Wick 3” because no one else in the history of mankind has ever considered using a pistol and a knife at the same time. Nope. That came from the brilliant mind of Lucien R. Black.

I saw that a few days ago and laughed. Only Black’s partisans take him seriously and believe the crap he’s peddling. Besides, claiming he invented something is annoying, but not dangerous.

Only, Black isn’t just claiming stuff like that. No, it seems that despite having his credentials stripped, he’s still training.

What’s worse, he’s still conducting his training in a way that increases the risk of everyone involved by using real weapons. As if that isn’t bad enough, he seems to berate one student for taking the time to check to see if her gun was loaded.

Language warning

https://www.facebook.com/LucienR.Black9/videos/why-we-use-real-guns-in-a-voda-session-never-confuse-marksmenship-for-gun-fighti/435306910584238/

In the video, Black has the student articulate the Four Rules.

Sort of.

You see, he has her say not to point a weapon at anything, then pretends that’s where the rule ends. It’s not. It’s not to point a gun at anything you don’t intend to destroy. That includes bad guys with evil intent.

What Black is doing here is using the ideas he’s read on the internet–things like getting over the fear of shooting at a live human target–and decided to use that to justify his unsafe firearm handling practices. While there’s a strong case to be made for force-on-force training to help prepare you to fight for your life with a firearm–there are safe ways to handle such training that minimizes the risk to participants.

Imagine an alternative scenario to the one presented above at the beginning of the video. Let’s say the person did precisely what Black wanted. They put the weapon up and squeezed the trigger.

What if the weapon wasn’t clear?

Black would be dead, and the student would likely suffer profound psychological trauma. Two lives would be destroyed, all because a half-a**ed “instructor” wanted to try and cut his own path without understanding why the standard practices are standard.

And are they conducting firearms training in someone’s back yard?

Anyway, Black is still at it, and this is a hell of a reminder that one needs to be careful with who they get firearms training from. There’s no governing body that decides who can and can’t train individuals. Anyone who wants can do so. I’ve had people approach me for training, and I declined as I don’t feel I’m equipped to do more than provide the basics at best.

However, not everyone will look at their talents that way. Some will be convinced they’re the greatest of all time while conducting unsafe weapon-handling practices that will likely get themselves or their students shot or killed.

What makes Black worse is that he knows better. He held at least two instructor certifications. During those, he was taught how to properly handle a firearm as well as how to properly instruct others to handle one. He opted to ignore all of that and adopt this nonsense.

Had Black reached out, others would gladly have helped him learn how to get people used to pulling a trigger with another person on the other side of the sights. That would have required humility, but that’s something Lucien R. Black seriously lacks.

He tells folks he’s the greatest of all time, but will Black still be doing that when he shoots himself or a student with his antics?