Going down hard
I'd like to add my own big game hunting experience as a comparison to using a handgun for self defense.
Of some four dozen big game animals I have seen taken by rifles in sport hunting, only two have dropped on the spot. One was a head shot that penetrated the skull of a deer at a very long range. The other was a shot that hit the spinal cord in the neck of a large black bear. All the others, mostly deer, elk and bears, were able to flee from 30 to 150 yards, or 10 seconds to a minute or more after mortal rifle wounds . I am not including the wounded anmials with poor shot placement that required multiple hits, went much longer or got away.
I have also bow hunted deer and bear. I have never seen an animal hit with an arrow drop when hit.
I have never shot any big game animal with handgun. The one time I tried was for wild boar. I felt undergunned with a .44 magnum.
I have never shot a human, but using a handgun to do so, I do not expect immediate movie-like results. Call me chicken, but I plan to run away as soon as possible, either before or after starting to shoot. I figure the likelihood of a perp delivering a fatal shot to me when I am beyond 25-30 feet decreases dramatically with distance, especially if I do not run in a straight line and keep my spine and head low. I would prefer to live to fight again than to die winning a fight.
I believe this FBI report to be accurate and instructive. I believe the advice to carry the biggest caliber pistol you can for concealed carry personal defense is also very wise. With the multitude of compact .40's and .45's out there today, it is entirely possible for the dedicated person.
To rely on a .32 or or anything less than at least a good 9MM as a primary is a big trade-off for convenience, IMO, despite the numerous officer fatalities reported with such guns. Their effectiveness depends on extremely close range and extremely lucky shot placement.
One of those statistics was a cop here who stopped an individual with a .22 hideout gun on a chain around his neck. At just the right time the perp pulled the gun (when the officer's .40 was in the holster) and shot the officer downward in front of the neck, above the vest, into his heart. The officer fell back, returned fire hitting the perp once, and then died. The perp was arrested at the hospital being treated for his wound.
Is the lesson of the story that a well-placed .22 will defeat an armed and trained officer with a .40? No. It is that a criminal wanting to kill you will use stealth and deceit. That is not typically a tactic available to civilian CC.
To physically stop an attack immediately beyond the will of an attacker requires the central nervous system shot 99% of the time. The necessary power to penetrate and deliver such damage has a significantly higher percentage of probabiltity from a larger, more powerful caliber.
I am personally aware of an individual shot in the forehead with 1911 .45 ACP FMJ. He immediately went down, unconcious, with the bullet lhaving traveled under his scalp around to the back of his head. He regained concsciousness within a short time, had the bullet removed and took Tylenol for a couple of days for a bad headache.
There is no guarantee how a handgun bullet or bullets will work in any given situation. That is why avoiding the situation in the first place is the best defense, and the next is to get away from it as fast as possible if possible, even if you take a hit or two. Standing in a target range position firing at one or more moving perps until your gun is empty is an invitation for death if they get lucky and you don't, especially if they are 30, 40 or 50 feet away (which under the law in many jurisdictions might not be considered self defense any way).
Sorry to ramble. That was just such a good article, although skewed toward law enforcement rather than general self defense, that a lot of thoughts popped out. One further point I don't think was directly mentioned--if officers are allowed to defend themselves and need this information and training, why not the citizens who the officers are protecting, but may not be able to get to? What's the difference? Each of our lives is just as valuable as the other. Thanks for posting. CB3