JohnKSa said:
it seems that people without LE background/training are very unlikely to mount an armed intervention into an active shooting situation even if they're in place and armed.
This almost certainly comes down to training, confidence, and mindset. Specifically, it has to do with the type of lizard-brain confidence that comes from being exposed to (and actively absorbing) good training from a competent source. The gut-level confidence that comes from realistic and good training is a very different thing than the emotional sensation of confidence that untrained people often feel.
The vast majority of concealed carry people have no training beyond whatever it takes in their states to get a carry permit. In many states, that's no training at all, or a very minimal 'gun safety class' that may not even include any range time.
Compare that to the average cop, who has been through (last time I looked) around 40 hours of handgun instruction on the range during the academy training phase, along with regular refresher training in that and other skills. And of course, the other elements of academy training -- not firearms specifically, but everything that goes with learning how to deal with tense and even life threatening situations and take charge of a scene -- also supports the physical skill of handling the firearm with confidence.
On the other hand...
Very few ccw people, relatively speaking, seek out training beyond the very very minimal state-required level (most of which is offered by poorly-trained NRA instructors who themselves have had nothing more than two days of instruction, most of that in a classroom).
When asked, most non-trained ccw holders will give an explanation for
not seeking out more training, that sounds something like the following: "I grew up around guns, and I'm pretty good with them, and training costs too much, and besides I practice a lot, and are you saying that I cannot be good unless I've paid money to someone for a class? That's just stupid. I know what I'm doing."
And most of them really, really, deeply believe that -- on a conscious level. They are highly confident in their self-defense skills. Again, on a conscious level.
However, on the level where a person stands up to act in the face of deadly danger, maybe even moving to the sound of the guns and doing whatever it takes to solve the problem, that's when the person's apparently-high level of confidence becomes a lot more realistic about what they can actually do.
Faced with the reality of
real people -- living, breathing, moving, running around and shrieking, shouting orders, peeing their pants and crying for mommy -- bleeding and dying, quite possibly downrange of the good guy's muzzle, maybe not so clear who the assailant is ...
That's when the faux confidence of "growing up around guns" vanishes. And unless the person has absorbed some decent mindset and physical skills somewhere along the way, there's nothing to take its place.
Taken as a whole, law enforcement officers may be generally not-so-good shooters. At least not when measured by the skill sets we see at local IDPA or USPSA matches every weekend. But when measured against the average gun owner, these guys are gods. The average cop has more training than the average ccw holder and the average cop is head and shoulders (and knees and toes) above the average gun owner in both their physical skill
and in their realistic, mindset-based commitment to "run to the sound of the guns."
Most gun owners, even most ccw holders, haven't really thought about the gritty realities of self defense. Or to the degree they have thought about it, they've thought about it as a fantasy -- as if both the physical skill and the gut-level courage it takes would simply appear in the heat of the moment.
And sometimes, of course, it does.
But more often it does not.
Anyone here want to be one of the heroes in a bad situation?
Get good training.
Want to save people's lives so they don't bleed to death or die of shock in front of you? Get yourself to a good class, learn some medical skills and practice those skills realistically and regularly.
Want to save people's lives so they don't get shot by the mass killer coming toward them? Get yourself to a good class, learn some defensive shooting skills, and practice those skills realistically and regularly.
Don't kid yourself.
Don't just rely on whatever your conscious mind is telling you about your skills. Got to get that lesson down into the lizard brain, the one that will make the decision to act when your life is on the line. And the only somewhat-reliable way to do that is to build the skills and follow that up with realistic role play.
pax
