surelyujest71
Posts: 48
Joined: 4/28/2007
Status: offline
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The panicked idiot in the movies who pumps out all five of his shots is the guy who doesn't really know how to use his weapon properly - he's just a jerk who managed to get hold of a gun, and when the dangerous situation occurs, all he knows how to do is go "bang bang." If you have even a modicum of weapons training, you don't fire off all five shots straight out of the holster - one should be enough. Even if it misses, there are 4 more - and the attacker knows there are more shots, too. If you were the attacker, would you continue with the attack, or get the hell out of there? One way leads to safety - for both. The other way leads to possible death, and definite serious injury, for the attacker. Simply getting that first shot off, even if it's into the floor, will still shock the attacker into stillness for just a second, allowing the gun to be aimed more accurately - and looking down the wrong end of a loaded weapon means, again, the attacker will either try to get away, or get himself seriously injured or dead.
Not all gunshot wounds end in death. Most don't. Some people have even taken gunshots to the head, and survived quite well - the skull is one tough, thick chunk of bone armor, after all. Obviously most straight shots to the head do end in death, but there's a reason people are taught to shoot for center of mass, if they have any training at all: Center of mass doesn't move very much, compared to the flailing of arms, legs, and yes, even head. The center of mass is also less likely to result in a fast bleed-out. If you shoot someone in the leg - say the thigh - you stand a much higher chance of destroying the artery so badly that the injury bleeds out in seconds. A hit in the lung incapacitates, and requires attention within a short window of time. A shot to the abdomen stands a good chance of damaging some portion of the intestinal tract or another organ, but doesn't always; either way, the injury will require medical attention within the hour, most times. Other shots to "center of mass" may hit the shoulder, etc, possibly injuring badly enough to cause a person to bleed out, or not. The heart itself is somewhat above center of mass, and not a very big target - if hit, then chances are that it'll be a fatal wound. Even so: this is happening to the attacker, who we assume is trying to kill us.
Warning shots are intended to miss. Defensive shots are intended to hit, and you go for the big target, not the small ones. Pistols are also much less accurate than rifles - close range isn't a lot of help, as the target can pass across your field of vision in 1/16 of the time as he can at 20 or 30 feet, and most small firearms have too short of a barrel - we're talking maybe 1 inch, or even less, for a firearm that will fit into a purse or back pocket, compared to the 2 or 3 feet of rifled barrel on a rifle. That longer barrel can allow the person firing to hit a small target at 200 yards, whereas with a pistol it becomes difficult to hit the same stationary target at 20 feet.
You have to make your choice: will you be the victim, or the survivor? Victims are either dead, or end up in a state of mind that's the next best thing to it. Survivors are either well-scarred, or were able to stop the attacker. The ideal is to stop the attacker without killing him, but the primary goal is to save yourself, and anyone else in his path.
If it's some random guy who breaks into my house in the middle of the night? That's an attack, in and of itself, and I have the right to fill his hide full of buckshot - usually non-fatal, but absolutely stops anyone from trying anything more. I choose not to be a victim.
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RE: Does self defense allow you to beat someone to deat... - 
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