The True Distance of a Typical Gunfight

Wild Bill took out Davis Tutt (with a 9mm BTW) with one shot from 75 yards away.
 
Wild Bill was known to carry a Navy Colt, cap & ball .36 caliber. The 9mm wasn't even invented for another 36 years. Close diameter but hardly an equivalent.

There is a questionable record that they were first seen across the town square at some 75 yards. No reports of a closing distance.
 
I think it’s silly to compare officer involved shootings to civilian involved self defense shootings. And how many of Givern’s students were also LEO? No relevance . . .
Givens never said one way or the other how many of the 64 who had been in shooting incidents where cops.

He did say that the overwhelming majority of the shootings happened in well lit parking lots during what he calls "The Hours of Darkness". He defined "The Hours of Darkness" as 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.

If I remember correctly he said that one happened in a Walmart parking lot and the rest of them happened in a gas station parking lot.

Of the remaining incidents he said that one happened in the person's home and what happened in the person's driveway.

He said that most of the shootings were within one to two car lengths. None of them occurred and what he would call low light conditions and weapon mounted light was not relevant to any of the shootings.

He said three of the students were attacked while they were unarmed and were killed.

One student was caught off guard and surrenders wallet without attempting to fight and survived.
 
About those gas station gun fights and situational awareness. Does that gas pump blast out loud ads when the pump starts? Look at the pump. The screen that has instructions should have four touch screen "buttons" down each side of the screen. If you push the second button down on the right hand side that will be the mute button. Try it , it will be much harder for anyone to sneak up on you. I consider those blasting ads a dangerous distraction. Turn them off.

Another thought on the gas stations. my wife doesn't carry. I've taught her to keep that pump handle in hand. Wonderful close up and
personal weapon should you be attacked.
 
That's an old assumption. People commiting petty theft or low-yield, low-risk robbery do it for money. Every maggot knows that free money is available from even nuisance lawsuits - if they get $20, that's enough to start a high. Maurice Cordova got sued by a freakin' aggravated assault/aggravated burglary puke who he shot in his own home!

Maggots talk, often to other maggots, and they all know hungry lawyers from social media, TV, or prior representation.

Things change.



But they don't know my name. Hard to serve "John Doe" when there's so many of us. Now if there is LE involvement, that's another story, but I would be astounded if one or more pukes ran away after realizing that their soft target wasn't and then put their heads together and said "let's go back and get the guy's name so we can sue him".
 
But they likely have video of you - nothing better for their street cred than video of themselves being 'totally bad.' Whether they use phone or GoPro, assume someone he/they are associated with is getting the action immortalized for the later meth-fentanyl-gang party.

It's not yesterday's world.
 
And this thread surprises me, I've read multiple times in multiple threads how the odds are in my favor that I will never get into a gun fight, especially if I don't go to bad places and I'm in bed by 10pm.

And there are several of you in this thread that admittedly have drawn your firearm...not once...but twice.
 
I am curious how many of Given’s students went bankrupt defending themselves in court from criminal and civil charges.
I used to hang out with Tom for 40+ years (only quit due to health reasons) - I never heard of any of his students even being arrested or sued, that doesn't mean it hasn't happened.

I've trained more than 20,000 students myself but they are mostly military or police, and just a drop in the bucket compared to Tom (who used to be a cop as well). - none of my students has reported being arrested and they have shot a LOT of people - a couple were Sheriffs who had been sued (they won). Of course that doesn't mean some have not been sued but no one has asked me to testify.

Riposte
 
I can't figure out the new quote function, but the belief that bad stuff only happens in "bad places after 10 pm" isn't supported by facts. The odds may favor you not being a crime victim, but people win lotteries all the time.

Helen Keller: "Safety is mostly a myth. It does not exist in nature and, as a whole, the children of man do not experience it."
 
I believe distances may vary due to your immediate situation.
I use the Lt Dennis Tueller approach to my training. If I can land 3 chest rounds at 21' within 1-1/2 to 3 seconds, I'm good. To me, 10 yards is a long damn way for a defensive fire fight. I live my life at condition 2 or 3 depending on the surroundings, always take a seat looking out at restaurants and feel like 10 yards is ample time for me to be prepared. I notice everything around me at all times. I'm also an original USCCA member, carry a LOT of insurance through them, and have read about way to many peoples lives being changed in 'open and shut' defense cases. Being acquitted still ruins lives.
 
Several states I believe have laws that state if you are involved in a SD shooting and not indited or convicted you can not be sued civilly....should be the standard nationally...

Also if sued civilly and you win...they have have top pay your attorney fees...

That would end that most suits right there...
That is the law in Pa. ,and IMHO the way it should be. It is ridiculous that you can be sued by a felon’s family if you legally defended yourself and family in these “Blue” states
 
In the context of “civilian gunfights” outside the home - i.e., legally-armed citizens forced to draw and defend themselves against a street attack - these are virtually always very close-range affairs: inside 21-feet/7-yards, or less.

That’s where the smaller, fast-to-deploy guns shine. At those distances it’s literally draw, point, and shoot.

Arguably you don’t even need sights since you won’t have time to use them.

Colt 3” New Agent, .45acp

IMG_0956.jpeg
 
I am curious how many of Given’s students went bankrupt defending themselves in court from criminal and civil charges.


Probably none if they were all good shoots. Don't buy into the hype that if you defend yourself that you will lose everything. Its a mindset which gets people, including LEO killed.
 
Probably none if they were all good shoots. Don't buy into the hype that if you defend yourself that you will lose everything. Its a mindset which gets people, including LEO killed.
I know of only one on-duty shooting where no lawsuit was filed in the 3 agencies (2 small, one 700 commissioned personnel) in which I worked; of non-officer SD shootings of which I have substantial personal knowledge, 100% of the shooters were sued.
 
Having lunch can be a shootout. (as I recall one of the 23 victims had a pistol in his truck's glovebox)

gettyimages-50593614-1024x674.jpeg
I think it was a she that left here handgun in the truck. She was a competitive shooter, and testified to the TX legislature about leaving her handgun in the truck. She also laid out where she was in relation to the active shooter, it would have been an easy shot for someone of her skill. I think about her testimony every time I think about being lazy, and not putting on the pistol. What if today is the day?
 
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