Bartholomew Roberts
Moderator
A recent thread got me thinking on this subject; but that thread got sidetracked in a different direction, so I wanted to bring up the subject again with focus on the part that interested me.
It is commonly accepted that it may be necessary to fire more than one round to stop a threat when using a firearm defensively. Because most defensive shootings happen at close range and even a relatively untrained shooter can fire rapidly, ending a confrontation quickly reduces the likelihood of being shot.
This leads to a problem - unless you hit the central nervous system, the human body is capable of sustaining a tremendous amount of damage and still keep on going. People with their hearts completely destroyed have remained mobile and active for as long as 13 seconds. With even untrained shooters, this means that somebody with only seconds left to live can still throw a lot of lead your way.
This leads to two schools of thought:
1. Shoot X number of rounds and assess
2. Shoot until the threat goes away
If you adhere to number 2, you have a problem. Even an untrained shooter can fire 2 shots a second without much effort using a semi-auto or revolver. A trained shooter can easily hit 5 shots a second. Even if your hits are immediately effective, it may take a second or two for the target to react and for you to observe that reaction and realize what is happening. Even when you do realize the threat has ended, this study found that 69% of people fired at least 1 extra shot, 17% fired 2 extra shots and 8% fired 3 or more extra shots (Thanks to DocCasualty for sharing the link). In as little as two seconds, you could easily fire between 4 and 10 rounds at a single target. The low end number leaves 1 or 2 rounds in most revolvers and is half the onboard ammo of a compact semi-auto or 1911. The high end number will run all revolvers and many semi-autos dry.
If it later turns out there is another threat that you did not notice intiially, you could easily be out of ammo depending on what you carry. And in theory, you could shoot someone right through the heart on the first shot; but shoot another 26 rounds before they succumbed to the wounds.
On the other side, the shoot X number of rounds and assess method better conserves ammo; but you run the risk of giving somebody who is a trying to kill you a chance to do just that while you assess.
So I am wondering how different TFL members approach this problem? If you carry a 5-shot revolver or 1911 do you train to shoot and assess to conserve your limited ammo load?
If you carry a 9mm semi-auto and shoot until the threat goes away, what do you do when you've fired an entire 17 round magazine (between 4 and 9 seconds into our 13 second hypothetical) and the threat still appears to be present?
How about the scenario where an additonal attacker makes himself known after you've just gone high-stress on a previous attacker?
It is commonly accepted that it may be necessary to fire more than one round to stop a threat when using a firearm defensively. Because most defensive shootings happen at close range and even a relatively untrained shooter can fire rapidly, ending a confrontation quickly reduces the likelihood of being shot.
This leads to a problem - unless you hit the central nervous system, the human body is capable of sustaining a tremendous amount of damage and still keep on going. People with their hearts completely destroyed have remained mobile and active for as long as 13 seconds. With even untrained shooters, this means that somebody with only seconds left to live can still throw a lot of lead your way.
This leads to two schools of thought:
1. Shoot X number of rounds and assess
2. Shoot until the threat goes away
If you adhere to number 2, you have a problem. Even an untrained shooter can fire 2 shots a second without much effort using a semi-auto or revolver. A trained shooter can easily hit 5 shots a second. Even if your hits are immediately effective, it may take a second or two for the target to react and for you to observe that reaction and realize what is happening. Even when you do realize the threat has ended, this study found that 69% of people fired at least 1 extra shot, 17% fired 2 extra shots and 8% fired 3 or more extra shots (Thanks to DocCasualty for sharing the link). In as little as two seconds, you could easily fire between 4 and 10 rounds at a single target. The low end number leaves 1 or 2 rounds in most revolvers and is half the onboard ammo of a compact semi-auto or 1911. The high end number will run all revolvers and many semi-autos dry.
If it later turns out there is another threat that you did not notice intiially, you could easily be out of ammo depending on what you carry. And in theory, you could shoot someone right through the heart on the first shot; but shoot another 26 rounds before they succumbed to the wounds.
On the other side, the shoot X number of rounds and assess method better conserves ammo; but you run the risk of giving somebody who is a trying to kill you a chance to do just that while you assess.
So I am wondering how different TFL members approach this problem? If you carry a 5-shot revolver or 1911 do you train to shoot and assess to conserve your limited ammo load?
If you carry a 9mm semi-auto and shoot until the threat goes away, what do you do when you've fired an entire 17 round magazine (between 4 and 9 seconds into our 13 second hypothetical) and the threat still appears to be present?
How about the scenario where an additonal attacker makes himself known after you've just gone high-stress on a previous attacker?