We thought a good first step in not perpetuating these would be to identify what these bad habits are and write them down in a list. We did. What follows is the initial list of bad habits we eliminated shortly after starting up the Utah Polite Society.

1. Poor use of cover. This occurs in at least three distinct circumstances:
   1. Exposing too much of one's self. This happens when a shooter steps out further than is needed from behind cover.
   2. Exposing one's self too long from behind cover. This happens most often when shooting multiple threats while slicing the pie. Your may spend long enough neutralizing the first threat that his partners will be able to sight in on your muzzle blasts and take you out as you try to engage them.
   3. Re-exposure in the same place. This happens when you've fired from around the edge of cover, duck back behind cover to reload or for some other reason and then come back out in the same place. Your opponent may have had time to align his sights on your last known location, and be ready for you when you pop back out to take additional shots.
2. Use of concealment for cover. Participation in organized pistol matches conditions us to think of most walls as cover, when in actuality they're really concealment. Cover is something that will stop bullets, concealment will not. Most interior walls are made of sheetrock construction that bullets will readily penetrate. Most car doors and body panels are made of thin sheet metal that bullets will readily penetrate. In many pistol matches, the scenarios presented specify both of these as hardcover, when they are really bullet-permeable concealment.
3. Infrequent use of a concealment garment. Many courses of fire used in pistol matches don't require the use of concealment. Almost all of us, who carry a gun for defensive purposes (with the exception of on-duty, uniformed police officers), carry it concealed. We should practice deploying it from that condition.
4. Use of a "match gun" and equipment rather than your every-day concealed carry gun and equipment. All too often we see folks at pistol matches using guns, holsters, magazine pouches, and the like that are markedly different than the ones they use for every-day concealed carry. Practicing with equipment that's markedly different from what you may have to depend on to save your life may not be in your best interest.
5. Use of low ready for weak hand exercises. Often, match directors will include weak hand exercises to simulate a disabled dominant hand. Very likely, if your dominant hand is disabled in a defensive encounter, it will occur before you've had a chance to draw your gun. If this happens, you will need to have practiced how to draw using your weak hand prior to needing to do so in order to save your life.
6. Habitually double tapping everything rather than shooting to eliminate the threat. It's not uncommon to see shooters double tap targets when a course description calls for one round or for three rounds. Double taps are done so often most of us have gotten into the habit of doing a double tap and then assessing to see if we've made good hits. In a real defensive encounter a double tap may not take down an opponent. If this happens, that hesitation and assessment may cost you the advantage. Shoot until the threat ceases to be a threat, rather than automatically firing two shots and waiting to see what happens.
7. Conditioning shooters to use two hands to re-holster. If your non-dominant hand is occupied with something important, you may not be able to use two hands to re-holster, and you may need to re-holster quickly in order to free up your dominant hand.
8. Developing the habit of shooting for speed rather than emphasizing correct technique and tactics. The use of timers tends to make us focus on speed rather than on the use of proper shooting technique and tactics. In a high stress situation, improper technique could cost us hits, and improper tactics could get us killed.
9. Conditioning shooters to automatically unload rather than scan at the end of a string. If you follow this conditioned response, once you think you've eliminated the threat, you may find yourself with an empty gun in your hand just in time to look around and find there were more threats than you realized.
10. Insufficient use of movement. How many times have you seen shooters just stand with their feet planted and shoot? How many times have you seen shooters take baby steps when they're supposed to shoot while moving? If your life were in danger, would you stand still and make yourself a static target? If you were trying to get away from an adversary, would you take baby steps? No, of course not. Wouldn't it be better to practice the tactics and techniques you would use in a real encounter, like you would use them in a real encounter?
11. Conditioning the shooter to perform tactical reloads whenever reloading a partially loaded gun. Tactical reloads are great, at the right time and in the right place. However, there may be times when you need to top off your gun and don't have the time for a tactical reload. If you tac load then, it could be hazardous to your health. So, why do we do tactical reloads? Because we may run out of ammo if we don't save the partial magazine. If you're in jeopardy of running out of ammo, just carry more ammo.
12. Conditioning shooters to depend on the buzzer as a start cue. In real life, no one's going to sound the buzzer when you need to start defending yourself. The cues will probably be much more subtle than that. Condition yourself to watch for these cues (can you say condition yellow) and act on them when there is sufficient need.
13. Conditioning shooters to solve all problems by shooting them. Every course of fire in traditional pistol matches requires the 'shooter' to shoot something. In real life, other solutions may not only be appropriate, but imperative. The old saw, 'if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail' applies here. If you find yourself in a tight spot and have the choice to shoot or to run which is best? If you're conditioned to solve every problem by shooting, and running is the better choice, you may make the wrong choice. If your gun stops working, do you have other skills available to you that could be used to solve the problem? If you don't, maybe you should.