I shoot at the range 1-4 times a month and use ever gun out there, as we all share our awesome weapons and our weird ones.
Having seen just about everything and who knows if I’ve seen even 10% oit there, I cannot say that in that split second I can make out the difference between real and sumpin that’ll just put my eye out, which seems like on the one hand it’d sting for a while and on the other I’d come to yearn for it.
I’m pretty narrow minded but, not so much I can see through a key hole at 100 yrds.
But hey, if your comfortable living that way, more power to you.
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I cannot say that in that split second I can make out the difference between real and sumpin that’ll just put my eye out, which seems like on the one hand it’d sting for a while and on the other I’d come to yearn for it."
That's a good and true point. I'm guessing that you wouldn't fire without someone showing some intent to point anything that appears to be a weapon at you. Have a look at the quote in my
comment #41.
I don't do any dangerous duty now and haven't done so for a long time. Here are a couple of tenuously related exercises that might be interesting.
Have a friend or relative clap his hands in front of him. Try to put your hand in between his hands, before his hands clap together. Try it a few times while watching only his hands.
Then try it a few times while watching his eyes instead. If it doesn't work, keep trying. You'll notice that you can still see his hands with peripheral vision. If you do the exercise enough, you'll see the indication in advance, that he's going to move. You'll see it in his face, his eyes or at the worst, a slight dip in one of his shoulders.
The same exercise can be done in many other ways. Good fighters rely on it. Looking beside an object instead of straight at it, by the way, sometimes better helps us to see an object in the dark (old infantry training). And remember that many tend to fire low while firing close and fast with sights in the dark. [Practice point firing at close range in the dark.]
Another one. Sometimes, try to see what another person is going to do next, while they're facing away from you. Only when other people are in front of that person, though. See it in the eyes or other actions of the bystanders in front of the person with his back to you.
Those exercises could be useful in rare circumstances.
Even though equipment and other tactics may be improved, being a good judge of character is very important. No one is perfectly safe.
And yeah, I like to live this way. There's no violence, no consequent sadness and no duty to be confronted with it.