Another "I" don't get it...

[Matt_X]

A friend was told by her CC instructor to make sure and empty your gun on the bad guy if you ever use it. Doing so would be evidence that you were totally frightened out of your mind.

That's pretty bad advice. More so from a CC instructor.

1. Deciding that one's self or others known to you are in danger of severe bodily harm or death is a rational decision.

Advising faking insanity or loss of control is not going to get anyone a free pass.

2. In many situation there will be a high probability of a second person. The lookout, the backup, the getaway driver or a second robber.

It's hard to see this bit of misguidance as anything close to the advise not to cock a DA revolver.

 

[tlawler]

I meant to do that!

This discussion reminds me of this guy.


Indoor shooting range instructor accidentally discharges 44 Magnum gun - YouTube

 

[BC38]

A friend was told by her CC instructor to make sure and empty your gun on the bad guy if you ever use it. Doing so would be evidence that you were totally frightened out of your mind.

...doing that could ALSO be interpreted as you were angry and made the conscious DECISION to kill the "bad guy" - rather than just stopping the threat to your own safety.
Especially if ballistics show that one or more of those shots were fired as the bad guy was "going down" - i.e. after he was no longer a threat to you or yours.

Seems like pretty poor advise to me. I think the better advise would be to "continue shooting until the bad guy is no longer a threat" - i.e. he is no longer advancing or able to do you harm - then STOP shooting...

 

[coffeync3]

I've got a dumb question

With a double action revolver, would forensics be able to determine if you fired it single action as opposed to double action, unless you told them?

Not a dumb question. And no. If the gun is capable of being fired single action or double action, There is absolutely no way to tell in what manner it was fired after the fact.

 

[crotchetyoldman]

I think that falls under the same **** as "don't use reloads because they'll use it against you in court".

Not sure what you're saying here: that advice has in fact been given by "experts".

 

[rockquarry]

The concealed carry hobbyist faction is always in need of a new worry.

 

[diyj98]

Not sure what you're saying here: that advice has in fact been given by "experts".

Even is someone has some expertise in some things, it doesn't mean their correct about everything. We're all "experts" on the internet. I'd be more interested in documented evidence that handloads vs factory loads was used to convict a shooter.

 

[WR Moore]

Rather than repeat myself on the subject of handloads v factory, go back and read post #30.

I will add that you really don't need more issues should you end up in court. Even if you win, you're adding legal expense.

 

[Doug M.]

Ayoob has written about at least one case. When I read his article about it, what I concluded was that the prosecutor made a poor argument based on ignorance and stereotypes seeking a conviction instead of justice, and that the defense attorney did not know enough either to fight that off with motions and evidence. If I recall correctly, that case was ... 30 - 40 years ago, and the level of knowledge among all was primitive. Places like Force Science Institute did not exist, and little if any good quality research (practical, psychomotor, and legal) was being done, enabling folklore to be prominent.

When I was in law school, use of force was one to two hours of the basic criminal law class and taught at a very low level. Any attorney interested in use of force is going to have to invest hundreds of hours in real education after law school. This is true of prosecutors, defense attorneys and police legal advisors (I have served in two of those roles), and likely civil practitioners. We had a hypothetical presented in class that was pretty easy (for me) because I was already doing stuff of that nature by personal interest, and when I answered it and explained the answer, the professor looked at me like a chicken watching card tricks.

 

[Sgt. Buzzard]

Three decades OTJ with 18 years academy FA instructor and all my carry revolvers are DAO. I'm totally comfortable with that. I've testified in Grand Jury about police shootings as well as Superior Court. Witnessed the lawyer stunts first hand. Yeah, comfortable in my decision.

 

[diyj98]

I've heard arguments that trigger jobs, spring changes, or a multitude of other things that make a gun more "deadly" as far as a prosecutor was concerned.

But back to cocking a handgun, I've never thought I'd be in a situation where I had to cock a handgun in a self defense situation, but I know one non LEO that killed a bad guy after cocking his Walther ppk and shooting the guy in the head. The bad guy was holding a woman at gunpoint. The shooter stated he needed an accurate shot in order not to hit the woman. He probably had a good point. I'm sure that's why the FBI HRT uses (or least used to use) single action handguns.