OP
GatorFarmer
Member
I'm not sure what part of the Uniform Crime Report that you're referencing. The most relevant part, which still isn't fully relevant to armed citizens, would be the stats on officers killed in the line of duty. This goes into detail on weapon used, shots fired, etc. The biggest point that it usually makes is actually to "wear your armor", since a noteworthy portion of those LEOs killed in most years didn't. I'm not aware of a section of the UCR that details incidents involving armed citizens, or even a use of force section that compiles every shooting by a LEO in the line of duty. There is a table of expanded "homicide data", but that doesn't tell us shots fired, distances, and indeed might not even include justifiable shootings since they might not have been reported by individual agencies as a homicide (many areas under report crime, some over report it, depending on grant money versus political considerations).
In summary I find nothing in the Uniform Crime Report that offers any statistics relevant to armed citizens and shooting incidents involving them. (Edit to add that I have it in front of me in another screen, it's around 25percent of LEOs killed that weren't wearing armor. Other than suggesting that wearing armor if the risk warrants it, again, I see nothing on point in the UCR.)
I'm not sure what trainers you allude to that teach not to reload. If you have a list, I'm sure many of us would love to know, since they could be added to the "avoid" list alongside the school - that shall remain nameless here - that stuck the camera guy in front of the firing line to get some action shots.
In either of the two situations you've presented, you've in fact focused on a negative plan - passively waiting for rescue or hoping for the best under cover if a primary weapon is empty, out of action owing to damage, or jammed. In either certain urban areas, and also many rural areas, rescue could be half an hour away, sometimes more.
It makes much more sense to either reload, restore a weapon to operation via a fresh magazine if necessary, or get back in the fight with a back up weapon compared to your position of essentially hunkering down and hoping for the best. I'd throw rocks before I did that. (Google "The Onion Field", "Christian/Newsom murders", or "Wichita Massacre"... A slim chance in a fight beats what can happen if you don't fight. I'll take a slim chance over none any day of the week.) Yes, someone might still get killed, but at least they'd have a chance.
Nothing about carrying extra ammo negates the idea of finding cover. Most trainers tend to emphasize seeking cover before reloading if at all possible (which it isn't always, since sometimes there is no cover).
A shooting incident need not even be "prolonged" for a lot of ammunition to be expended. Beckwith fired 105 rounds in three minutes to keep himself alive while badly outnumbered. Beckwith also took cover, and indeed planned an escape/rally point on the fly.
