Cops, SWAT are irrelevant to what I found interesting. Two older guys, only one armed 60 y/o with a .45 acp handgun and then 2 active shooters with carbines. In 15 sec 2 active shooters with carbines DRT. Now Mom's Demand Action, ABC "hidden video experiment" people and other antis, tell us again how one guy with a handgun can't stop or slow down an active shooter(s) endangering dozens be it in a school, shopping mall, restaurant or art museum.
Thank you, deepdiver. This is precisely what this thread is about, as clearly evidenced by the title itself. I appreciate your bringing this back into focus in response to those who for some unfathomable reason want to drag it off into the weeds.
I thought it was a cop. That has nothing to do with the 2A, except that they play the "we're civilians, too," card when it suits them.
This event has
everything to do with our Second Amendment! It may have been a cop there that night. Tomorrow it might be you are in waiting in line at a crowded theater or playing with our kids in the park. I've long said, "The First Amendment protects the Second, and the Second Amendment protects the First." I feel so strongly about this that I added it to my signature line a couple of years ago. No finer example of this in action has ever occurred than what recently happened in Garland, Texas.
Do you think that cops are somehow magically different than civilians when it comes to the use of a firearm? They're not robots. They don't possess some magic gene which sets them apart from the rest of us. In fact, they're not even selected on their ability to shoot, but rather, on the basis of education, thinking, and behavioral skills, along with relatively clean record. If they have difficulty on the range, as some do, they'll get extra training until they meet standards.
Don't let the "trained cop" part fool you. I've seen many shooters on the range who were every bit as good a marksman as your average cop, and sometimes significantly better. The only question is whether or not they would have been able to perform under fire as cops are trained to do.
Training isn't about hitting a target on a range. It's about keeping your cool under fire. Those of us who have had formal training, such as through law enforcement or the military, know that a quick, decisive, and accurate response puts you well ahead of the survival curve, as does proper use of cover whenever it's available. As a friend of mine who is an advanced firearms trainer recently shared with me, "when it comes to handguns, sights are best used to refine your point shooting skills." After years of teaching students traditional sight shooting, which ingrains that tendency for live, he's switched to point shooting, first, then using the sights to modify your body's "muscle memory" point shooting accuracy. Couple of shots; see how you did, look through the sights, adjust your aim, look back up at the target alone, and repeat. His goal is simple: For students to be able to draw and empty six rounds into center body mass at 7.5 yards in fairly rapid order (three seconds or less).
This departs from what we were taught in the military -- two to the heart, one to the head aka "3 and 3, rapid reload." The problem is that even then, a great emphasis was placed on sight picture. No emphasis was placed on point and shoot. If your targets are at a significant distance, like down the street, then you may very well want to revert to your use of sights. In the majority of defensive encounters, however, things happen the same as what happened in Garland, Texas: Armed perpetrator approaches and is clearly not doing what should be doing i.e. either threatening to shoot you or actually shooting at you.
Every time we're on the range, we should always be thinking about being in a situation where multiple rounds downrange, on target, in minimal time, are the only thing separating us from certain death. Go ahead - let that adrenaline rise! It's an important part of realistic training.
It's a great OP but I'm sure there answer is the same. It's okay for cops to carry and protect they are trained.
If you want to have a gun go be a cop.
Sheriff Clark is by no means the only sheriff in this land of ours who agrees that citizens should be armed. Literally hundreds have come forth in recent years affirming our right to keep and bear arms, even encouraging citizens to do so. Most of the men in blue on our local police force feel the same way.
[video=youtube;va9OXARK2Sk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va9OXARK2Sk[/video]
Carry on!
