Twin Falls Is Why Training Matters

On Saturday afternoon, a gunman opened fire at the In-N-Out on Blue Lakes Boulevard in Twin Falls, Idaho. The restaurant had been open for barely a week. Three people were killed, including an employee. Seven more were wounded, two critically. The shooter, armed with an AR-style rifle, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. As of this writing, police have not identified a motive, and the names of the victims have not been released.

Three families lost someone at a burger place on a Saturday afternoon. Nothing in this post matters more than that. But I teach people to shoot for a living, and after every event like this my phone fills up with the same message: "This is why I want to learn." So let me talk honestly about what "learning" actually has to mean, because Twin Falls shows it more clearly than anything I could invent.

An armed citizen made the difference. Look at what that took.

According to Twin Falls police, an off-duty Idaho state trooper and a private citizen both returned fire at the gunman. The citizen was a 35-year-old local named Jordan Salinas, who engaged the shooter with a handgun from the drive-thru. The police chief called their actions heroic and said they drove the suspect from the scene and likely prevented further casualties. A witness nearby described the shooter as panicked and erratic once someone started shooting back.

That is the outcome every responsible gun owner hopes they could produce. Now look at what producing it required. Salinas had to recognize what was happening in seconds, in a crowded parking lot, with a rifle firing. He had to draw and shoot accurately under fire, with innocent people in every direction, and do it without adding a single casualty of his own. He had to keep functioning while his heart rate spiked, his hands shook, and his vision narrowed, because that is what the human body does in a gunfight whether you want it to or not.

None of that comes with the receipt from the gun store. Every piece of it is a skill, and skills only come from training.

The gun is the easy part

Here is the uncomfortable truth I tell every new student: buying a firearm is the least important step in being prepared to use one. Under extreme stress you do not rise to the occasion. You fall to the level of your training, and if your training is a box of ammo through a paper target three summers ago, that is the level you fall to.

Twin Falls also shows how much of this has nothing to do with marksmanship. Another man at the scene, Austin James, ran toward the danger too. According to his father, speaking to CBS News, Austin deliberately kept his firearm holstered because he feared responding officers would mistake him for the attacker, and he was shot and critically wounded confronting the gunman. His wife and a friend, both ER nurses, treated him on the scene before he reached the hospital.

Sit with everything packed into that one account. The split-second judgment about whether and how to intervene. The very real risk of being misidentified when police arrive to reports of a shooter. The fact that the skill that helped save a life in that parking lot was not shooting at all. It was trauma care. These are all trainable things, and almost nobody trains them.

What training actually covers

When I say training matters, I mean all of it:

Marksmanship under stress. Hitting a target when your body is dumping adrenaline is a different sport from a calm range day. It has to be built deliberately, through repetition, movement, and pressure.

Decision-making. When to engage, when to move, when the right answer is getting your family behind cover and being the best witness police ever had. The gun is one option, not the plan.

The aftermath. Whatever happens, the scene ends with officers arriving to chaos and finding you. Weapon holstered, hands visible, loud compliance. If you have never thought about that moment, you will improvise it at the worst possible time.

Medical. You are far more likely to use a tourniquet than a trigger in your lifetime. Bleeding control is preparedness, full stop.

Awareness. Exits, cover, and the habit of noticing early. Free, legal everywhere, and it protects you whether or not you ever carry.

Ownership is a right. Readiness is a choice.

I started Liberty for All Training because I believe ordinary people, first-timers included, can carry the responsibility that comes with a firearm. But the responsibility is the point. A gun you have not trained with does not make you safer. It just makes you armed. The people of Twin Falls deserved better than what happened Saturday, and the man who helped end it was able to help precisely because he could perform when it counted.

If you own a gun, or you are thinking about it, get real training. From me, from someone else, it genuinely does not matter. Just close the gap between owning the tool and being ready to carry the weight.

Hold the families of Twin Falls in your thoughts.

Stay safe out there.

Ike