Quote:
Originally Posted by loribellitt
But could you at least just aim for a leg? Maybe you're not a sure shot but these police officers are supposed to be trained professionals.
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I don't know if you have any experience shooting a pistol because it is extremely difficult for a good marksman to hit something as small as a leg on a moving person. In a panic situation adrenaline surge will affect fine motor skills, such as aiming a gun properly and accurately. It also causes a person to have tunnel vision so most people involved in a shooting don't accurately remember how many rounds they shot. Most will say only a few when a number of shot were fired. The vast majority of police officers in their entire 20+ years of service never pull their gun in the line of duty let alone have to shoot someone. It takes a lot of training in these types of scenarios to give officers the knowledge of what to do. However, training only goes so far, it takes an actual shoot out to hone those skills. The military trains all the time for war and even after all the training the death rate for new to battle soldiers is higher than for experienced fighters.
Unlike in Hollywood movies where one shot from a pistol kills the person immediately, in the real world it can take numerous shots from a pistol to stop them unless the heart or central nervous system (brain, spinal cord) is hit by a bullet. A mentally deranged and violent person can be almost immune to pain and absorb a number of bullets and still kill the police officer.
Many police departments don't have the funds for recurring marksmanship training, they fund for the annual or semi-annual qualification requirement of the officer and that is it. You will find that most police officers are mediocre to poor marksman due to the lack of training so one of them hitting a leg is going to be quite an accomplishment. Police officers are taught to shoot center of mass on a person because it is so difficult to hit a leg or arm on a person and the center of mass hit produces a faster stop to the aggression.