Yeah Bull - I give 'em the benefit of the doubt. We can read about events/watch the videos and try to figure out what we might have done different - but other then possibly hitting what we are aiming at a higher percentage
, I don't know enough in this case to say too much more.
On my PD we had guys that were shooters, and guys that weren't. A bunch of us just loved going to the range when ever possible. And we had guys you would want by your side should something go down (usually the same guys), and guys you wouldn't. I trained, I practiced stuff, I have been in tough situations, luckily, I never had anything happen that was...definetively a life and death struggle; I liked to think I would do Ok - make all the right moves, make the good shots - but I just REALLY don't know...practice is one thing, experience is another. It is hard to 2nd guess others unless it is blatantly obvious they F'd up.
As for civilian vs LE - as a civilian I don't like that LEs get extra leeway in carrying, in federal CCW once retired, access to otherwise limited equipment. At 1st look the extra training might be a justification - but then why can't civilians get the same training? Like someone said many civilians are more serious about their training and more knowlegable about the use of firearms. Does an LE's service constitute a reason for extra rewards? It is a noble profession no doubt, but one they chose freely. I recently realized because of another thread that in the end it only makes another group, another class, in the "have and have nots". Us mere civilians are left unarmed and vulnerable, while the elites make the decisions that we can't be trusted with the means to defend ourselves.
I am not bitter that retired LEs can carry federally, or get an advantage in magazine capacity, or weapon or ammo choice - they have the clout and the means to get the proper laws passed. I just don't agree with the ones who line up with the Sara Brady groups of the world to deny "me' the same rights.
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So Why Do so many Americans Believe Cops Want More Gun Control
In part because that is what gun control advocates want you to believe. In their campaign to pass legislation the Brady Bill and the 1994 gun ban, for example, pro-gun control forces routinely called on cops to help make their case. Mostly big city chiefs and political appointees, (what we at LEAA like to call “photo op cops”) these few police bureaucrats have helped create a public impression that America’s cops favor gun control. (In some outrageous cases, police officers who actually opposed the legislation were forced by their superiors to appear in staged photographs as if they were solidly behind gun control!)
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Most cops are probably pro-gun (I think there are many things in common with alot of armed civilians that led them to LE in the 1st place).
http://www.leaa.org/Cops Versus Gun Control/copsversusguncon.html
I know when I was on the job that, besides making a difference, just like now I wanted to go home to my family at the end of the day. I am sure all of you guys and gals want the same thing - to have the right and the means to protect yourselves, your partners, and/or your loved ones. So I can't question too much other's people behavior in a situation THEY thought was lethal - and definetly VERY stressfull.