A lot of good points there. Also, there are a number of folks who gravitate to administration because they don’t want to make hard choices and the responsibility that comes with them. Once there, they often view responsibility as unclean and frequently go along to get along.
On a practical note, pointing a gun at someone often blocks your view of their hands. That’s not a good thing.
Erick Gelhaus has a couple of good data-based articles at Americancop.com on how different ready positions may or may not obstruct an officer’s view of a suspect which may contribute to a ‘mistake of fact’ shooting or make such a shooting less likely.
He makes a good point that “Don’t point gun at person unless and until you are in process of shooting him” is too restrictive. (Do we yet have a general consensus even just for “Finger off the trigger until time to shoot”?)
But Greg’s article links to an article by Adam Winch advising to learn the precise point in the trigger pull where one’s gun will fire. I suppose if you’re gun’s trigger has a noticeable wall before the shot breaks at which the resistance stacks, you may have to learn that. I think one ought not even try to pre-stage the majority of the trigger pull before deciding to shoot if one’s gun had the smooth, anti-flinch, pull-through double-action trigger of a full-size Smith & Wesson revolver (or a Kahr pistol).
Gun writers struggle to find fresh topics for articles. (Has anyone ever counted the number of articles published discussing pistol vs revolver, or 9mm vs .45acp?) But I think a controversy insufficiently explored would be an examination of the advantages and disadvantages of these two competing trigger types — light take-up followed by a stiff wall just before the shot breaks, versus trigger resistance smoothly and gradually increasing across the trigger stroke until the sudden surprise trigger break.
Mas stated in his books and training that fine motor skills decrease in high stress situations. It’s true. Training people to pre-stage a trigger in a high stress situation is a prescription for disaster. You have no idea what it feels like when that fear hits. You can’t teach it, simulate it, or practice it.
There are lots of videos out there showing officers pointing guns at compliant unarmed citizens. Examples include ATF agents pointing ARs at a 2A advocate’s children as they walk out of the house in their underwear in the middle of the night and families pulled over for driving rental cars that friggin Hertz mistakenly reported as stolen. None of these seem justified but maybe I’m just old and don’t know any better. Of course, in Jacksonville they just pull you out of your car & shoot you with your own pistol….
Greg said, Police bosses will argue “pointing a gun at someone meets the elements of the crime of aggravated assault.” That’s correct, in some cases.
In addition to Greg’s numerous examples, I’ll add that having a firearm visibly in-hand at the low-ready meets the elements of the crime of brandishing. And unless police are statutorily exempted, simply carrying the firearm in an unconcealed holster violates open-carry bans, where applicable.
How far do the police bosses want to take this logic?
A two or three beer discussion. I’m not a cop, and it would be a real stretch to justify actually going after someone, thereby getting into a situation. However, when through no fault of my own, I’m thrust into a life or death situation where the use of lethal force is justified, I don’t believe I’d be taking up slack in the trigger. Not any more than cocking a revolver to fire single action. It would be a shoot/don’t shoot situation, and the second from last thing I’d choose. The last of course would be myself or another suffering death or serious, grievous bodily injury due to the perpetrator’s actions.
All of these positions require the presumption of “common sense” to arrive at a sane conclusion. Unfortunately “common sense” isn’t, it may well be one of, if not THE, rarest commodity on planet earth today. Much like deodorant, those who need it most don’t have any. The left side of the political spectrum has certainly given their best efforts into eliminating it from general usage.
A lot of good points there. Also, there are a number of folks who gravitate to administration because they don’t want to make hard choices and the responsibility that comes with them. Once there, they often view responsibility as unclean and frequently go along to get along.
On a practical note, pointing a gun at someone often blocks your view of their hands. That’s not a good thing.
Erick Gelhaus has a couple of good data-based articles at Americancop.com on how different ready positions may or may not obstruct an officer’s view of a suspect which may contribute to a ‘mistake of fact’ shooting or make such a shooting less likely.
He makes a good point that “Don’t point gun at person unless and until you are in process of shooting him” is too restrictive. (Do we yet have a general consensus even just for “Finger off the trigger until time to shoot”?)
But Greg’s article links to an article by Adam Winch advising to learn the precise point in the trigger pull where one’s gun will fire. I suppose if you’re gun’s trigger has a noticeable wall before the shot breaks at which the resistance stacks, you may have to learn that. I think one ought not even try to pre-stage the majority of the trigger pull before deciding to shoot if one’s gun had the smooth, anti-flinch, pull-through double-action trigger of a full-size Smith & Wesson revolver (or a Kahr pistol).
Gun writers struggle to find fresh topics for articles. (Has anyone ever counted the number of articles published discussing pistol vs revolver, or 9mm vs .45acp?) But I think a controversy insufficiently explored would be an examination of the advantages and disadvantages of these two competing trigger types — light take-up followed by a stiff wall just before the shot breaks, versus trigger resistance smoothly and gradually increasing across the trigger stroke until the sudden surprise trigger break.
Mas stated in his books and training that fine motor skills decrease in high stress situations. It’s true. Training people to pre-stage a trigger in a high stress situation is a prescription for disaster. You have no idea what it feels like when that fear hits. You can’t teach it, simulate it, or practice it.
There are lots of videos out there showing officers pointing guns at compliant unarmed citizens. Examples include ATF agents pointing ARs at a 2A advocate’s children as they walk out of the house in their underwear in the middle of the night and families pulled over for driving rental cars that friggin Hertz mistakenly reported as stolen. None of these seem justified but maybe I’m just old and don’t know any better. Of course, in Jacksonville they just pull you out of your car & shoot you with your own pistol….
Greg said, Police bosses will argue “pointing a gun at someone meets the elements of the crime of aggravated assault.” That’s correct, in some cases.
In addition to Greg’s numerous examples, I’ll add that having a firearm visibly in-hand at the low-ready meets the elements of the crime of brandishing. And unless police are statutorily exempted, simply carrying the firearm in an unconcealed holster violates open-carry bans, where applicable.
How far do the police bosses want to take this logic?
A two or three beer discussion. I’m not a cop, and it would be a real stretch to justify actually going after someone, thereby getting into a situation. However, when through no fault of my own, I’m thrust into a life or death situation where the use of lethal force is justified, I don’t believe I’d be taking up slack in the trigger. Not any more than cocking a revolver to fire single action. It would be a shoot/don’t shoot situation, and the second from last thing I’d choose. The last of course would be myself or another suffering death or serious, grievous bodily injury due to the perpetrator’s actions.
All of these positions require the presumption of “common sense” to arrive at a sane conclusion. Unfortunately “common sense” isn’t, it may well be one of, if not THE, rarest commodity on planet earth today. Much like deodorant, those who need it most don’t have any. The left side of the political spectrum has certainly given their best efforts into eliminating it from general usage.
Thanks Mas!