Weaponized Geometry with Jon Dufresne

Last weekend, I attended the Kinetic Consulting Weaponized Geometry class taught by Jon Dufresne at Empire Gun Club in Wiggins, Colorado. Weaponized Geometry is a single-man CQB class. This is my second time taking the class: I took it in Florida in 2023 when it was a two-day course. Since then, Duffy has added a third day to the class, adding some more open-ended force-on-force scenarios that were originally part of Weaponized Geometry 2.

Before the class

I made the drive from St. George, Utah, to Wiggins over two days, stopping at a friend’s place over on the western slope of Colorado on the way.

Friday

Class began with a round of introductions, followed by safety and medical briefs. Duffy did a comprehensive lecture on typical reactions to the stress of a CQB gunfight. This was illustrated by video examples from previous classes showing typical behaviors like flinching away from danger, locking on to a target and penetrating too deeply into the room, exposing themselves to unnecessary danger.

After the lecture, we headed out to the shoot house. Last July, I attended a Shoothouse class by Greenline Tactical at the Empire Gun Club. Since then, the owner has just about doubled the size of the shoothouse. We took advantage of all this space by splitting up into pairs and working on entering doors and clearing rooms with finger guns or dummy pistols.

Once everyone had a chance to work through the basics, Jon broke out the sims pistols, and we started working against paper targets. Once the UTM guns that shoot non-lethal training ammunition came out. We ran each scenario one at a time. After you finished the scenario, you could watch the next person do their run, giving you a chance to observe someone else try to solve the problem.

We broke for the day, and I headed back to my hotel for a nice dinner and some rest.

Saturday

Day 2 started with some more lecture. Today, we’d be working against people rather than paper, so Duffy discussed using positive and negative angles based on your adversary’s movement. He also talked through the rules of engagement for doing force-on-force. Most of these were safety-related, but he also emphasized that even the folks playing bad guys shouldn’t shoot unless they see a gun. This was to avoid developing bad shoot-no-shoot habits.

Out in the shoot house, we did some finger-gun practice working those positive and negative angles and practicing situations with multiple potential threat areas (both a door and some dead space, for example).

With that, we broke out the UTM guns. Several people volunteered as role-players, and Duffy took them off to brief them. Everyone else ran through the drill with that set of bad guys and no-shoots. Once all of the non-roleplayers had gone through, Duffy set up a modified drill for those who had been role-players so they still experienced the element of surprise.

We continued this pattern for the rest of the day, trading off opportunities to play the bad guy. While being the BG meant you got shot with the UTM guns more often, it also provided some unique insights, so rotating through these roles was definitely part of the learning experience.

The drills themselves started off pretty simple, then grew increasingly complex. Duffy added elements like no-shoots moving across the foreground, adversaries engaging you at long distances through multiple doorways, etc.

To finish out the day, we did a door-to-door duel. Two participants each stood in opposing doorways about 15 feet apart. On the go command, they took cover behind the doorframe and tried to land a hit on the other. This drill really rewards owning the territory by keeping the other door in view rather than withdrawing completely behind the doorjamb.

Afterward, I went to dinner with Duffy and several students. We enjoyed some great conversation and a nice meal.

Sunday

Again, we started with some lecture in the classroom. This time, the emphasis was on different types of people (threats, unknowns, and innocents) and how to give each of them verbal commands. Duffy also covered post-fight actions, including what to say when calling 911.

We headed out to the shoot house and put these skills into action in some scenarios that were more open-ended compared to yesterday’s force-on-force drills. For instance, in a convenience store scenario, I noped out the moment another patron pulled a gun on the clerk rather than pulling my gun. Other scenarios definitely called for shooting, however, including delivering a hostage shot on demand.

The scenarios also provided more opportunities for student roleplayers to express their acting abilities (the student playing the teenage “daughter” was particularly hilarious). I ended up playing the wife who gets taken hostage in two scenarios in a row. All that falsetto screaming was hard on the vocal cords.

We wrapped up with one last drill before circling up for a wrap-up discussion. The fact that a lot of this discussion veered into which of Jon’s classes they wanted him to bring to Colorado next is a testament to just how good this class was. In addition to some courses from his usual catalog, there was strong interest in a low-light/flashlight version of Weaponized Geometry.

While this was supposed to be the end of the class, the host said he’d be willing to let us skip picking up all the UTM brass if Duffy would be willing to do some demos of how to use flashlights (which came up in the wrap-up discussion) and clearing dynamically at higher speed (which came up in the hostage rescue scenario). Duffy gave an excellent off-the-cuff presentation on both. That he was able to deliver this info very effectively without any sort of preparation demonstrates both the depth of his knowledge and how good his teaching skills are.

After the class

I’d been planning to drive back the same way I’d come, including stopping to see my friend on the western slope. However, the next morning, I looked at the weather conditions and decided that driving over the mountains on I-70 would be a bad idea. Fortunately, the storm didn’t extend too far north; I-80 in Wyoming was clear. I booked a hotel in Evanston, Wyoming, and set out for home.

Conclusions

Weaponized Geometry was an excellent class. While I would have gotten a lot out of taking it a second time anyway, the additional day of scenarios was an incredibly valuable addition.

I’ve done some solo CQB training before, both in dedicated classes and as an element of broader shooting courses. While I’ve gotten a lot out of these experiences, I think Duffy’s way of approaching this material is uniquely effective. The lecture material, the use of UTM guns, and the way he sets up the drills and scenarios emphasize both the tactics and people’s physiological reactions. I’d recommend anything Duffy teaches, but Weaponized Geometry is his premiere class.

I also have to give a shoutout to the Empire Gun Club and its owner, Kyle Howard. This is the second time I’ve trained there. It’s an excellent facility, and he brings in first-rate instructors like Duffy and Greenline Tactical to teach there.