Something to ponder. The average hit ratio for an officer of the law is 1 out of every 8 shots fired. Thats 7 chances for the suspect to escape unharmed. You give a firearm to a well rehearsed, personal defense educated citizen, and I can promise you it wont take more than 3 or 4 shots for the suspect to be down for the count, and possibly a very long count at that. Consider personal defense training, training in firearms especially, an investment in your own security. Call it a life insurance policy.
The 1 in 8 probability is only true for engagements that occur under 25'. The hit probability falls to half that at ranges over 25' and it falls to half the 1-8 rate at ranges under 25' if the officer is under fire. It also decreases by about a third at any range under low light conditions.
At ranges of 25
yards, the hit probability is only 4% - and that is the range most officers qualify at.
The hit probability is slightly higher for officers firing semi-auto pistols and the average officer also fires 3-4 rounds per engagement (3 with a revolver and 4 with a pistol). The exception here is the bunching effect that occurs when multiple officers are involved - in that case, the number of rounds fired with 2 or more officers involved doubles. At the same time, the hit probability is half what you see with only 1 officer involved and it halves again with more than 2 officers - to around 9% over all engagements at all ranges.
One of the more disturbing numbers is that about 20% of all police shootings are mistake of fact shootings where the suspect is unarmed, or where the officer claimed to have seen a weapon but one was not found. 75% of these occur in low light conditions.
The implications for firearms training for LEOs is that it needs to focus on improved firearm basics, training on the on the tactical and combat related aspects of firearm use, and stress innoculation training.
The irony here is that most LEOs are not "gun people". Their only firearm use may be when qualifiing 2 to 4 times per year and most are not likely to shoot as a hobby or recreational acticity, are unlikely to compete in competition. On average, they will demonstrate a much lower proficiency in firearm use or tactics than many CCW permitted civilians who shoot frequently for recreational purposes, for proficiency or for competition in either target or tactical matches.
That is not to say the average civilian shots better than the average LEO, but it does demsonstrate that a subset of CCW holders are very proficient yet do not fall into the "de-ranged gun nut category. At the other extreme the average LEO shoots much more proficiently than the average criminal or gangbanger - this is consistent with most officers who are shot being shot at ranges of 6' or less.
Edged weapons pose a significant threat as well, in part as over 90% of the time, an officer will not be able to draw and fire in the time it takes a knife wielding assailant to close from a range of 21'.
The above are LEO stats, but they support the concept of the CCW shooter obtaining solid firearms training including training in personal defense tactics.
