I've read a couple of threads here that prompt me to mention something that I learned in a class to renew my security officer commission. I'm sure the same firm teaches it to CCW students.

The narrator of a film that I had to view said that if you're close to shooting someone, ask yourself if your hands are hot or cold. if hot, you may be angry at them and the shooting may be questionable.

But if your hands go cold with fear, it's probably time to pull the trigger.

While not a perfect instruction for all situations, it's a pretty good thing to think about. I offer the theory here for those who haven't heard it yet.

Interesting idea but I'd think most shootings would take place too quickly for you to think about the temperature of your hands.

That might work in Texas, but not up here in Michigan. My hands are cold from December through March!

__________________
"I also cook."

^^^^ THIS ^^^^

I can see it now. "Excuse me Mr. Home Invader armed with an AK-47, I have to check the temperature of my hands before I shoot you."

I take warfarin. My hands and feet are cold all the time. California is suppose to be ahead of all the rest of the states. I was about the very first to have to go to school for guard training when they first made it a state requirement. If I were to sum it all up in one sentance it would look like this: You guys aint a cop or jack ----, you are there to observe and report!

Merrill-

I understand "observe and report" but have had people near me who I think might have killed me if they had the incentive at the time, and interrupting a robbery or burglary was always a possibiility. At least one guard here ran afoul of a car burglary and was shotgunned.

The nearest hospital refused to treat him and he died before reaching the county hospital.

Another guard was shot when he walked in on a robbery of a fast food place and another was shot dead by burglars in a cleaners.

Moreover, I wasn't working at Lockheed. I was for years protecting a private home from death threats. In one case, the next door neighbor had ticked off some people in his legal practice. They swore to get him. I interrupted them as they prepared to pour gasoline on his house and light it.

Arson by night, particularly of a dwelling, is a capital offense here; one can shoot to prevent it. But unless I was personally menaced, there might be issues. Probably not, but why chance it if yelling at the men caused them to flee? I called the police and the next day informed the neighbor's nephew as he walked past. I also told my client, as her proximity to his home might cause fire to spread to her house, too. The area was forested around the homes, and we could have had a really nasty fire that destroyed several houses and the people in them. There was an excellent chance that the arsonists might have shot at me for discovering them. But until they advanced or displayed a weapon, I wanted to hold my fire.

In the film mentioned, one example showed a woman alone at home with a burglar breaking in. Here, that is cause to shoot. Not so in some other states. I think the narrator wanted to make the point that if things progressed to the point that she had immediate fear for her life, she could shoot. But not just because she was angry at the burglary attempt.

For those who want to make light of the matter, I can tell you from personal exprience that you'll know if cold fear strikes you at a given moment. And the emotion will be felt, even outdoors in winter.

I no longer do security work, but that film's advice applies even in home invasions or street encounters with posssible robbers. I hope it applies to shooting a loose dog that is a clear and present danger. I came pretty close to shooting a few dogs. If one of those unrestrained Dobermans that sometimes got out and wandered the neighborhood where I protected that woman, I would have tried to see if legal action could be taken if I was bitten. One bite from a large dog is quite dangerous. They can break your wrist or probably even an ankle or elbow in a flash. Or grab you by the throat. But if I shot a dog, I wanted to be able to say that I did indeed have immediate fear for my safety. Dog owners can get quite irate and might have tried to sue or charge me for defending myself. No one in that neighborhood was less than a millionaire, probably, and most had more. They could easily have hired a lawyer to go after someone shooting their mutt.

The advice is pretty good, and doesn't deserve flip responses. You'd be surprised at how quickly your body can register a response that tells you whether to shoot or not.

Just for the record, TS, my response was not intended to be flip. (Although, lord knows, most of my responses are.)

Jim, I've never heard of that one before, it does make sense though. I can't help wonder if presented with a shoot no shoot situation would a person be capable of noting the temp. of their hands?

You aint going to belive this one but I am still going to tell it. Through the years a number of times I have been fore warned of imiment danger by the smell of leather! Maybe like getting hit in the nose with a boxing glove. I cant explain it.

Fred-

Some think faster and better than others. But if you have any reaction time at all, your reflexes and mind will get the message across a lot faster than the USPS delivers mail.

The function/perception is instinctive, I think, and is very rapid. In another thread today, I posted about the profane motoryclist who berated me and my kids and was about to break my car window and do what mayhem he could at a traffic light. I think he was on drugs. I drew my knife and knew in my heart that I was about to use it for effect. Had he not sped off when the light changed, he was going to do damage, and be cut badly for his trouble. I never learned what set this guy off. He just drew up alongside my car and began screaming profanities and threats.

In another case, a dog that was "demonstrating" as the colonial Brits in India described a raging tiger also caused me to draw a .357, knowing that it was about to be fired. The sole reason that dog survived is that its idiot owner called to it from beyond my range of vision and it went back to the owner, who had no business being where she was that night. I had actually started to pull the trigger, so sure was I that the dog was going to launch itself at me in a second or two. The owner later OD'd on drugs, BTW. No loss... Yeah, my hands and mind were cold.

The mind just says SHOOT or MAYBE. When it says MAYBE and you have a second or two to reflect, that cold hands thing applies. I think it makes sense for most of the security and CCW class members who view that movie.

In your police career, did you have moments when your mind said, DRAW! NOW! Your extraensory mind acts fast.

Being a Gemini, my mind is admittedly faster than most. I frequently suspect this in dealing with various bureaucrats and store clerks...

Merrill-

I believe you. We all perceive danger differently, and that may be how your mind speaks, or how someone smelled, however faintly. I've read where some say they sensed an acrid smell, and not in proximity to lions. But lions do sort of smell that way.

Now, I sometimes suspect danger when I scent Chanel No. 5. Women pose a different threat than we're discussing, but after your divorces, you know what I mean.

Its been about 65 years ago when I was a kid in primer school, I was getting the worse of it in a playground fight. I probley was almost unconsious and I remember it still, I smelled it and quite a few times after that when something was about to happen.

I can tell instantly whether I'm angry or fearful just by how I feel. It's hard for me to conceive of someone not being able to do so, and thus have to find out by determining whether their hands are hot or cold. But I suppose it's possible.

Andy

You nust be in the lower in the UP it's Oct---April

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Never heard it put quite that way........But, those folks gotta preach something I guess.

But for myself, having been in a few dust-ups and a difficulty er two
And the fact I'm still around...And able to cover the ground I'm standing on.

I must of had the 'hot hand'.

I've saw men get cold feet and I guess their hands must of been cold too,
as they appeared to freeze up and couldn't even pull a trigger.

The times I've been in the way when harm came knocking....Let's just say,
sometimes life, like mother nature can have a hard bosom.

Being shot or shot at, makes me personally purty disagreeable and aggravated.

When one is reacting to a threat of life and limb, one is already behind the curve.
It is well passed the time to do self examination.

Not to be disagreeable here...I think the whole idee, smells like a load of sheep dip.

But, that jest me I guess.


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__________________
"IN GOD WE TRUST"

I have never really thought about the hot or cold hands thing. I have presented a firearm a few times as fast as I possibly could though. Never had to follow through and pull the trigger thank God. A very few times with people, and once with a German Shepherd who the owner verbally urged to attack me. I told him to call his dog. He was being a smart *** and asked me what I wanted him to call his dog. I told him he would be calling him dead in about two seconds. Both the dog, owner, and I survived that encounter.

I used to like Michigan summers, especially when they occurred on a weekend.

Has anybody else noticed a sharp smell in the air if something is about to go down??? Pheromones? Testosterone?? Bodily fluids???

I don't know about a "sharp" smell, but I've been in some potentially bad situations and noticed the taste/smell of old pennies. Whenever I experience that smell/taste, I know something bad is about to go down. It has helped me in the past - I've either gotten the heck out of there, or I found cover, or I took a huge chill pill, and softened my tone and demeanor, and avoided the conflict. I always compared it to Thomas Magnum's "little voice".

Regards,

Dave

The smell of fear, perhaps? There's an acrid sweat smell some people give off when their fight-or-flight chemicals kick in.