>>The article very accurately describes adrenaline dump (tunnel vision, loss of fine motor skills) and raises an excellent question about whether carrying a handgun would help the average person thru a shooting crisis.<<
This is why a person’s choice of handgun needs to be based on how much dedication they will put into it. If you buy a gun with the intention of “load and forget”, you need a revolver. It’s better than nothing, because if your motor skills are too degraded to shoot a revolver, you sure won’t be able to dial a cell phone, use pepper spray, or a knife, or any other weapon.
(I’m not implying that a revolver is only “better than nothing”. I mean that a revolver plus no practice or training is better than nothing. I love revolvers! I carry one for defense and I have a safe full of semi-autos at home. I stopped a knife-wielding mugger with a revolver.)
> (I’m not implying that a revolver is only “better than nothing”. I mean that a revolver plus no practice or training is better than nothing. I love revolvers! I carry one for defense and I have a safe full of semi-autos at home. I stopped a knife-wielding mugger with a revolver.)
Before I emigrated to New Zealand, I owned a few guns. I preferred revolvers to semiautomatics because I was much more accurate with them, usually. I could work the hammer with my left thumb and the trigger with my right forefinger and never flinch. I felt less in control with a semiautomatic, even tho’ shooting them was “easier”. And I was way less accurate and I did flinch.
I believe it is a really big assumption that having a room full of armed people would stop an armed perpetrator from racking up a large bodycount. I’m not saying it would or it wouldn’t — but I am saying it is an untested assumption. I do not know whether your odds are better if armed or unarmed. It is an untested assumption that your odds are better armed.
But what if you are armed and get mistaken for the Perpetrator, the Shooter? Suddenly you have a dozen-or-so bullets to dodge from the other armed citizens — REAL FAST. Your chances of survival just dropped a fair bit. As they say in the Army, “friendly fire isn’t.”
And what about all the bullets that are likely to be flying around, while everyone is trying to hit the Shooter? It would be nice if they all found their target accurately, and stopped in the Shooter’s body. But we all know that doesn’t happen in real life. And in an enclosed room, what is the likelihood of there being lead flying all over the place?
I’m not sure that it wouldn’t be safer finding cover somewhere and getting down real low — snake-height or lower — and leaving the firefight to those who want it.
I don’t know: it’s all an untested assumption. That is why the ABC’s show would be interesting to watch. Like I said, I wish we could receive it here in NZ. I’d be interested to hear from anyone who does watch it, see how it all turns out.