> Wouldn’t necessarily get you out of a shooting, but it will enormously increase your odds of being on the winning side!
You think? What stops you from being misidentified as “The Shooter” and gunned down by somebody else who is also carrying a gun?
I think it’s a huge assumption that hasn’t really been put to the test.
"The Shooter" is a stranger that walks around and shoots everywhere. He is likely to have two handguns, or a rifle or a shotgun. He is not hiding.
"You" are someone who is hiding behind some furniture and shooting a handgun at the shooter.
If the difference between the two is not obvious, don't shoot. This rule always applies: "Be sure of your target and what is in front of and beyond your target."
If the incident happens in an office or any place where people know each other (like maybe a smaller church) then chances of misidentification are even smaller.
But if despite all of that your 3rd person makes a judgement mistake and tries to shoot you ... well, chances of that are still lower than chances of a determined madman to eventually find you and kill you. There is no guaranteed way to walk out of such situation; you can only talk about probabilities. If none of the victims are armed then their probability of survival is about zero. Anything that improves that is a plus.
If the odds are that a civilian gun carrier will freeze up the odds would really be low that there would be two civilians bearing guns in a given situation. For the "one good guy shoots another" scenario to occur two of them would have to buck the "freeze-up factor."
The real question is what are your chances for survival and resistance if you're unarmed vs. armed.