One thing anti-gun people are always saying is some variation of the following lie:
“Only Military and Police should have access to guns because they are highly trained and the only ones who know how to use them safely and correctly”
You’ve heard it before right?
At first blush, it even sounds correct …
Why wouldn’t Military or Police be the best trained gun owners we have?
The problem is, it’s simply not true.
Today, we’ll talk about why … and … how you can (easily) shoot better than the police.
Turns out … Police Qualifications are a Joke …
In the words of Greg Ellifrtiz:
“To the amazement of my armed citizen friends, most police qualification courses are little more than a joke. With a full day’s worth of pistol training, I can get almost everyone to the point where they can pass their state’s police qualification course. In Ohio, our course is so easy that I blindfolded one of my retired officers and had him shoot the course. He passed.”
In fact, while minimum standards vary for each state for law enforcement officer training, the universal standard is 40-48 hours of basic training. And either annual or bi-annual requalification.
In other words, police receive about a week’s worth of training in Police Academy on how to use their handgun. Then they are tested on a qualification course and then only required to requalify on that course of fire once, maybe twice per year.
The Truth Is, The Police Regularly MISS 80% Of Their Shots!
Now, sure, being a police officer means you have access to “at least” a bare minimum of training. And if you work in the right county, you might even have more access to a shooting range and be encouraged to go there more often than civilians.
But the vast majority of Police are simply not that well trained.
And it shows …
In real life, what this means is that police can generally only hit their target about 20% of the time they are involved in a shooting. In other words, they miss about 80% of their shots!
According to an article published by the Police Policy Studies Council (a research-based, law enforcement training and consultation corporation), in Florida between 1990 and 2001, officers with the Metro-Dade Police,
“fired about 1,300 bullets at suspects, and missed more than 1,100 times. This suggests that Miami police fared no better than a 15.4% hit ratio…”
In New York City, police who used their firearms in “Gunfights, Other Shootings vs Perpetrator, and Against Dogs,” hit their intended targets only 38 percent of the time at distances between zero and two yards.
That hit rate plummits to 17 percent of the time at three to seven yards (Data gathered from 1994 to 2000.)
Your Goal Then Should Be To Shoot Better Than The Police!
Not only are these fun facts to throw out the next time someone tells you that ONLY Police should have guns because they are SO well trained …
But also, as a concealed carry holder or prepared gun owner you should work at your skills to become better trained and be able to out-perform your average police officer.
How can you do that?
Again, work on being fast & accurate at different self-defense distances:
– For distances of about 7-25 yards work on your traditional handgun accuracy. Sight alignment, sight picture, and work like crazy on your trigger press and trigger control.
– For distances of 7 yards and less, work on getting an “acceptable” flash sight picture. As I’ve explained before, this means you present the gun, focus hard on the front sight and when it’s somewhere in between the rear sights–shoot! At three to seven yards even the worst flash sighting gets center-mass hits.
And of course you need training …
Ideally, you would get more than 40 hours of training this year from a competent instructor who can teach you how to fight with your handgun. That may sound like a lot but it’s only five 8-hour days (or 2.5 weekend two-day courses) …
Even before that though, you can start training yourself by reading articles such as this one and practicing yourself at the range and practicing at home with dry fire practice and such.
In no time at all, you’ll be able to shoot more accurately than 99% of police officers.
Remember though, in a real life situation where your adrenaline is pumping and you’re scared out of your wits and it’s life and death — you’re going to only be half as good as you ever are on your best day at the range …
So always try to shoot better … be faster … more accurate … and a better with your gun.
In my next email, I’ll talk about how you can even shoot better than an FBI agent!
“Molon Labe!”
Caleb Lee
