Post by Admin on May 10, 2019 4:37:07 GMT
Handing Someone A Badge Doesn’t Make Him A Good Shooter
Accurately shooting a gun is not like using a camera. It’s not a simple “point and click.” Like any skill — yes, shooting is a skill — shooting a gun accurately requires constant practice and discipline. Firearm presentation, sight acquisition and alignment, trigger discipline, and follow-through are each skills that must be painstakingly developed before one can consider himself an accurate and reliable shooter. Shooters who can go from the holster to breaking multiple shots on target in less than a second didn’t get there by accident. It likely took hundreds of hours and thousands of rounds of practice.
The same is true for police. The badge does not confer magical shooting abilities. And contrary to much public opinion, the level of training received by most everyday patrolmen is not close to being enough to make an individual a highly reliable and accurate shooter. Moreover, the annual or semi-annual firearms qualifications required in most departments are hardly stringent. Here are the qualification standards for Wisconsin law enforcement officials:
Over 40 percent of rounds are fired within 3 yards. Over 85 percent are within 7 yards. Officers are required to fire only 12 shots at a distance of 15 yards or greater, and only ten of those must hit a target. Quite simply, you do not need to be a proficient shooter to pass a test like that.
In 2007, the New York Times wrote about systemic problems with police shooting accuracy:
New York City police statistics show that simply hitting a target, let alone hitting it in a specific spot, is a difficult challenge. In 2006, in cases where police officers intentionally fired a gun at a person, they discharged 364 bullets and hit their target 103 times, for a hit rate of 28.3 percent, according to the department’s Firearms Discharge Report. The police shot and killed 13 people last year.
In 2005, officers fired 472 times in the same circumstances, hitting their mark 82 times, for a 17.4 percent hit rate. They shot and killed nine people that year.
In all shootings — including those against people, animals and in suicides and other situations — New York City officers achieved a 34 percent accuracy rate (182 out of 540), and a 43 percent accuracy rate when the target ranged from zero to six feet away. Nearly half the shots they fired last year were within that distance.
Does this mean that all cops are terrible shots? Absolutely not. Cops who want to be good shooters, rather than cops who wear a gun only because they have to, are generally terrific shooters. The police officers that I’ve competed with in defensive pistol shooting competitions are incredible. Many enjoyed shooting to begin with and became cops because the job gave them the ability to practice and develop their skills as shooters more than any other line of work. But they didn’t become highly proficient shooters just because they chose to wear a uniform and a badge. It’s because they put in the time necessary to develop and maintain their shooting skills.
Unfortunately, police budget constraints make this type of training unfeasible for most departments.
Accurately shooting a gun is not like using a camera. It’s not a simple “point and click.” Like any skill — yes, shooting is a skill — shooting a gun accurately requires constant practice and discipline. Firearm presentation, sight acquisition and alignment, trigger discipline, and follow-through are each skills that must be painstakingly developed before one can consider himself an accurate and reliable shooter. Shooters who can go from the holster to breaking multiple shots on target in less than a second didn’t get there by accident. It likely took hundreds of hours and thousands of rounds of practice.
The same is true for police. The badge does not confer magical shooting abilities. And contrary to much public opinion, the level of training received by most everyday patrolmen is not close to being enough to make an individual a highly reliable and accurate shooter. Moreover, the annual or semi-annual firearms qualifications required in most departments are hardly stringent. Here are the qualification standards for Wisconsin law enforcement officials:
Over 40 percent of rounds are fired within 3 yards. Over 85 percent are within 7 yards. Officers are required to fire only 12 shots at a distance of 15 yards or greater, and only ten of those must hit a target. Quite simply, you do not need to be a proficient shooter to pass a test like that.
In 2007, the New York Times wrote about systemic problems with police shooting accuracy:
New York City police statistics show that simply hitting a target, let alone hitting it in a specific spot, is a difficult challenge. In 2006, in cases where police officers intentionally fired a gun at a person, they discharged 364 bullets and hit their target 103 times, for a hit rate of 28.3 percent, according to the department’s Firearms Discharge Report. The police shot and killed 13 people last year.
In 2005, officers fired 472 times in the same circumstances, hitting their mark 82 times, for a 17.4 percent hit rate. They shot and killed nine people that year.
In all shootings — including those against people, animals and in suicides and other situations — New York City officers achieved a 34 percent accuracy rate (182 out of 540), and a 43 percent accuracy rate when the target ranged from zero to six feet away. Nearly half the shots they fired last year were within that distance.
Does this mean that all cops are terrible shots? Absolutely not. Cops who want to be good shooters, rather than cops who wear a gun only because they have to, are generally terrific shooters. The police officers that I’ve competed with in defensive pistol shooting competitions are incredible. Many enjoyed shooting to begin with and became cops because the job gave them the ability to practice and develop their skills as shooters more than any other line of work. But they didn’t become highly proficient shooters just because they chose to wear a uniform and a badge. It’s because they put in the time necessary to develop and maintain their shooting skills.
Unfortunately, police budget constraints make this type of training unfeasible for most departments.
