bie@solman.mlb.semi.harris.com (Ben Eaton) (06/30/91)
A few months ago the magazine "Soldier Of Fortune" ran an article
about an ex-police-man who stopped a bank robbery using a hand-gun.
I found one part of the article to be disturbing and that was the
description of the police training that the former officer used in
stopping the gun-man.
Let me recap the events described in the article (I will get back
to my point in a moment):
1) A gun-man enters the bank and demands money.
2) An ex-police-man challenges the robber with a hand-gun.
3) The robber raises his gun in preparation to fire on his
challenger.
4) The former officer fires two shots in rapid succession.
5) The first slug hits the gun-man but the second slug goes wide
and lodges in a door jam some 20 feet away.
Now I have no problem with stopping this gun-man with deadly force.
What I have a problem with is the former officer's tactics. As stated
in the article he used what was called a standard tactic in firing two
shots in rapid succession.
The problem I have with this tactic is that unless you are at
extremely close range, the second shot will go wide and miss your
target because of the recoil from the first shot. Maybe I am wrong but
I thought the police tried to avoid throwing around stray gun fire.
If someone out there knows would they please answer these two
questions:
1) Is this a standard tactic taught to your police?
2) If so, what is the reason for it?
Thank you,
Ben Eaton (bie@solman.mlb.semi.harris.com)