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Old 03-11-2005, 07:40 AM   #138
sanskara
 
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Location: Austin, TX
Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 52
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Re: SD Question - Pizza Parlor Attack

Hey Ron,

I appreciate the nod of affirmation. The armed bystander died because the gunman had body armor. A single cop in the same situation would have met a similar fate. But if there had been no body armor, I think we would have had a success story, as the gunman was unaware of the bystander until after he was fired upon. For all we know, the distraction that he presented actually saved some lives, even though it cost him his own.

Incidentally, I made up my mind a long time ago watching the infamous footage of the bank robbers in Hollywood taking on the LAPD several years ago with automatic weapons and armor, that I would always defend with the classic three shot pattern of two to the torso, one to the head--which I train regularly at the range I'm a member of.

This corrects for body armor, although I would probably take a good look at the clothing of an individual, if given a chance, as some types of armor can easily be seen as bulk under clothing. And unfortunately, the third shot is always a possible miss and hit of an innocent bystander, due to the recoil of the firearm, instinctive manual correction, and the fact that after one is hit by bullets, their head may move erratically. Therefore, if you can just hit the torso and neutralize the problem, all the better.

Regards,
James Bostwick
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