What Really Happens In A Gunfight?

[W}hen one is faced with a deadly threat...talk to those who have won in life's ultimate contest, to see what they saw, felt and heard, the rest of us will be better able to understand what to expect and how to prepare for it.

Without fail, the people who remember seeing or using their front sight are the ones who were prepared to engage in combat. Good examples of this are soldiers on the field of battle or SWAT cops who know going in that they are quite likely to shoot. These folks kept sights in their "cone of vision" and relied on them when a hostile target was encountered. I have also experienced this phenomenon while working narcotics for a number of years. Prior to raids and vehicle takedowns, I would visualize in my head what I planned on doing, including where my firearm would be. This position would always be some type of high ready position where the gun and its sights were within my "cone." I found that during the operation itself, that when I encountered potential hostiles, I could shift between the actions of the suspect and the location of my front sight with little problem. The big difference here is that I was "prepared" to engage and not caught in startlement. Awareness is as important to gun fighting as is trigger control.

[A}rmed confrontations occur at very close distances (often times at arm's length), that few shots are fired and the person involved usually misses. These statistics were compiled from the FBI's Officer Killed Summary, which are released on an annual basis. Note that the operative word here is killed; [H]ave you ever wondered what happened with the officers that won? Did they do anything different to help ensure they would prevail?

What happens in a gunfight?

Physically, your mouth tastes like you been licking on battery terminals, body fluids drain from the face, making you look like you have bulging eyes, your heart goes into a trip hammer mode, your ears have roaring in them, you will soon need to urinate, and most of what you do will be 'automatic response' versus being thought out.

One will go home and hug wifey and kidlets, take them to a fancy dinner, over tip the waiter, maybe drink too much, go home and allow the family dog to sleep on the bed ....

For self-defense and so many other activities, visualization and thought beforehand are absolutely critical. You have to imagine yourself in various situations and think about what you would do, and really imagine that you are there. Play it out in your mind. Think about the details, think about how you would first perceive a threat, how you would mentally prepare for that threat, how you would react if a threshold were crossed. It really is a great responsibility, and there are lots of legal considerations, but the primary consideration is that you do survive. I agree with the post that says if you can avoid the confrontation (run), you should do that. Massad Ayoob used to keep a $10 bill wrapped around a book of matches so that if punks threatened him, he could toss it to them and say look, I don't want any trouble, go and buy yourselves a beer. But at the same time, he would closely watch them for any escalation of the threat, and he would have proven his intention of a peaceful resolution. If the assailant started to move in, he would realize that this guy (or guys) probably isn't trained or accurate, and I don't have the luxury of freaking out and diving for cover while he wildly shoots. Then I am at his advantage, I am cowering and vulnerable.

No, I will be the one to dictate what happens. I will be the one who decides what to do and when. And in the worst case, I will not concentrate on the fear of a punk with a gun, instead I will concentrate on plinking a target. I can hit a soda can a long way off, and this guy is a lot bigger and closer than that. He is overconfident, and I am certain of the outcome. If it happens, I will tune out my fear and concentrate on shooting center mass. The odds are that he will miss and I will not. The odds are that I will be fast and he will be clumsy. I like the odds. I hope that I will never have to test my visualization in real life, but if necessary, I hope that I will be calm and do what I must.

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I remember hearing about a case in New York City. Four cops barged into a 12x14 bedroom and suprised a guy who picked up a gun and opened fire. Between the perp and the cops, twenty five shots were fired by the five people in the 12x14 bedroom, and nobody got hit.
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There was a case, where a policeman discovered a fugitive hiding in a closet. The distance was less than three feet. They both fired six rounds at each other. All shots were misses.

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