Monday I went to our sheriff's office shooting range and shot their qualification course. they shoot from 25 yards down to 5 yards on a timed course, 50 rounds in around two minutes. you need to score a 90 percent to pass. then you have to shoot the stress course, someone is yelling what color to shoot out of six colors while others are creating total caos.
I practice a lot. I use a firearm I am extremely familiar with and have shot thousands of rounds while using, Walther PPQ M2 9mm. Great firearm. Best trigger out there. Also, I have taken courses on shooting under difficult conditions, including while moving, at night, target differentiation. It is so goddamn hard. People have no idea. NONE. Zero.
Been a while, but I used to play outfield. I think that gives me an advantage over a lot of other amateur shooters, since as an outfielder, I developed the ability to maintain focus on a moving object while running. I learned many years ago that I absolutely had to keep my head as still as possible while running, since if your head starts to bob up and down, the target looks like it is bouncing around.
Even with a lot of practice, a lot of work, training, many years of experience in maintaining focus on an object while running, using a firearm that I am incredibly familiar with and comfortable using, shooting at pieces of paper that I know present no threat of harm to me - I still miss, particularly from more than 7 yards. 10 yards is basically my effective range.
"Oh, thirty feet, that's far away" people say. Go outside and pace it off. Seriously, do it. Then consider somebody in that perimeter, coming at you with a weapon, or going after someone you know and love with a weapon, with other people 50 yards away (bullets don't ask for identification, people), heart rate pounding, he's moving, you're moving. Go ahead and fire one round and stop.
Oh, shoulder wound? Too ******* bad, your wife is dead. Good news, though, the protesters think you did the right thing.
I don't care how much training you have, making split second decisions is almost impossible. Police officers have on average less than 12 seconds and less than 20 feet to make a life and death decision. you want to judge these police officers go to your local sheriff and have them run you through their course.
Agree one million percent. Any person who wants to pop off about how the police used lethal force should before compelled to run a brief obstacle course, arrive a a hectic situation, and have 12 seconds to pick out and hit & stop 2 targets among 4 or 5.
What I can basically guarantee is that the designated target might have a nick, while the innocent bystanders are probably going to look like a colander.
"Oh, but they are the professionals and are a lot better at this than I am because they train for it." Okay, I accept that.
But when you start offering your opinions on a shooting, perhaps you should ******* REMEMBER THEY ARE PROFESSIONALS AND ARE MUCH BETTER AT THIS THAN YOU ARE BECAUSE THEY TRAIN FOR IT.
The trial should have never been held in Minneapolis to begin with. As soon as "The Predator" opened her mouth a mistrial should have been declared. Every citizen is entitled to a fair trial, even someone as negligent as Chauvin.
