Amen. I always say "center mass" when teaching people to shoot. With luck, if you've aimed properly at center mass, you will hit him somewhere -- aim for a limb and you're likely to hit either air or a bystander.

I can routinely hit head shots on a silhouette target at 7 meters on the range with my Beretta. But that is at the range. It's not a crowded subway station where I'm moving, he's moving, and there are people all over the place running, screaming, getting in the way, etc. I'm not all jacked up on andrenaline, and scared sh*tless that the guy has a bomb belt and is about to detonate me into the afterlife.

In that situation, I'd be putting round 1,2,3 -- hell, the whole magazine -- into the middle of his chest, because that way I'm at least likely to hit him and do some damage.

Cop, soldier, or civilian. Never shoot to wound, you are more likely to miss, and possibly hit an innocent bystander. Oh, and if there have been some terrorist attacks in the vacinity recently, do not run from the cops. Even the London bobbies.

Yes, the myth of the unarmed London bobby is pretty much is as dead as a Jack the Ripper victim on a cold Victorian night. I was there in May, and every cop I saw was carrying. I imagine now, it's that way even more so.

If a man is a suspect because he is wearing a "bulky jacket," and you suspect the jacket is full of explosives, you don't shoot the jacket!

That leaves shooting his legs off (which gives him full freedom to blow YOUR legs off) or aiming for the head.

But if they shot and killed how are the uber-libs going to help them? All the therapy, hugs and pampering won't do any good if Abdul is missing the back of his head.

Y'all are just a bunch of mean insensitive people.

"Y'all are just a bunch of mean insensitive people."

Blushes.

Couldn't agree with you more! As far as I'm concerned, wearing a heavy coat in July is suspicious and running from 10 cops is suspicious, particularly in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. An innocent man wouldn't behave this way.

Moreover, I agree. Empty the whole cartridge into his head so he doesn't have a chance to activate his "suicide."

We were talking about this in the office earlier today and one super-liberal was all "who doesn't run when you are being chased by 10 men" and "if you have a kidney problem, a coat in July may be necessary."

Whereupon I said, "Shoot first, aim between the eyes, and don't stop shooting 'til he stops twitching." Her reaction was that I must be Genghis Khan's wife, reincarnated. Somebody else said, "Let your ACLU membership lapse, have you?"

I said, "Dude - I've never been a member of the ACLU, try the NRA!"

Let God sort out the bodies, I say. Their only goal is the murder of innocents and there is only one way to stop them.

Sounds like the consensus is "aim for the head."

I heard on the news that all five shots were to the head, I thought to myself.

"Good shooting, Tex!"

Not sure the limey's would approve of my sentiment...

On the other hand the book Blink has an episode where cops got freaked out and thought someone was pulling a gun and emptied upwards of 30 rounds into some poor bloke. Two of them emptied their magazine into the guy, who was trying to give them his wallet.

The cops showed amazing restraint with only 5 shots.

Thanks to the "we're not bullshitting around" London cops, the bad guy was DRT (Dead Right There) as opposed to a LOT of innocent civilians. Its a bummer that the libs can't find out about his deprived, oppressed, childhood, but oh well......

Guess I had better start working on my head shots. I am part of that small slice of the Army Reserve which has not deployed to the sandbox. My number will be up sooner or later. . .

Now it turns out he wasn't one of the baddies. Still, do you want the police to be absolutely sure someone's a terrorist before killing him, or take a real risk that a suspicious person who ignores/runs away from the cops isn't going to blow up himself and a few other people. I don't envy the cops this dilemma

New moral of the story: do not run from the police.

LMC,

Assuming in the Army Reserve you are shooting a Beretta 92FS (or M9, as the Army likes to call it), you'll find it plenty accurate enough for head shots. I have a 92FS and I shoot once a month. I do a 10 round mag of head shots at the 7m target part of my routine (despite not subscribing to the prevalent theory in this thread); I usually also try to do a mag of "Mozambiques" also (2 in the chest, 1 in the head) -- but those are tough.

If you get deployed, make sure to practice with whatever ammo your going to shoot with; my understanding is that the military ball ammo for the 9mm is a bit hotter than what we civilians shoot with (I practice with el cheapo Winchester 100 round value packs, 115grain, not too much pop.)

Colossus: thanks for the tip. I have a 92FS here at home and have been shooting once a month at a range up the street from work. I have been cheaping out on the ammo as well--115 grain luger or parabellum--whatever happens to be behind the counter. Two years ago, I watched an old fart put three rounds from a S&W 500 into an area the size of a nickel at 7 meters--he turned out to be the 1958 Army shooting champion. Practice makes perfect.

"Fast is fine, but accuracy is final" - Wyatt Earp

That's fantastic shooting with the S&W .500 -- I shoot at Smith & Wesson's academy in Springfield MA; they charge a buck a shot to shoot the .500, and it is such an unholy cannon that I can barely hit paper with it. I usually stick with .45s, 9mms, and .38/.357. .44 or above are, for me, just for laughs.