Re: Not always joking, it seems

pullo wrote:
> 
> "David Harmon" <source@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
> news:13s48i6nkr4ev7c@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 06:13:59 -0500 in rec.arts.sf.fandom, "pullo"
>> <pullo004@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote,
>>> Errrrr.. right. I still fail to see what special experience is 
>>> required to
>>> realize the shooter can't shoot while reloading.
>>
>> For the first thing, without experience one would not know which
>> guns can be ready to fire while reloading and which cannot.
>> Search "tactical reload"
> 
> Done. The top three Google returns:
> 
> http://www.handgunsmag.com/tactics_training/treload_061604/
> 
> http://www.policeone.com/writers/columnists/POSA/articles/122347/
> 
> http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BTT/is_2000_Annual/ai_61620972
> 
> 
> 
> Google seems to indicate that it is the the practice of ejecting a 
> partially spent clip and saving said clip in order to both have a full 
> clip for immediate use and to save the  partially spent clip for future 
> use.
> 
> Which is all well and good but has little bearing on my point.
> 
> To whit: A knowledge of firearms has little  to do with reactions in a 
> crisis situation.  It seems to imply that an uber-knowledgeable firearms

> expert knows it will take at least X point Y seconds to reload and hence

> a window of opportunity which is patently untrue simply because of the 
> vagaries of the shooter's knowledge and experience.

	No, it's not that.  It's... call it somatic memory, for lack of a 
better term.  I don't know how it is for other people, but for me, at 
least, when I've performed a task enough times that my hands "remember" 
it themselves, I find I can much more accurately "model" what someone 
else performing a similar task is doing just by watching them.  I see 
their hands move, and can "feel" how "Tab A" being stubborn about going 
into "Slot B."  It's hard to describe better than this.
	If hands-on experience wasn't important, then any geek who'd memorized 
The Great Gun Encyclopedia could predict the duration of the reloading 
window of vulnerability.  It's the difference between *knowledge* and 
*experience* that's the critical factor here.

> What would have a bearing would be:
> 
> [1] military combat experience and/or training in how to react in such a

> situation.
> 
> [2] similar law enforcement experience and/or training in how to react 
> in such a situation
> 
> [3] some other form of first responder  with training/experience in how 
> to respond to a crisis situation, say a firefighter or paramedic.
> 
> [4] even - given the scenario - a student who was varsity football 
> player who at least has experience and training in reacting to very 
> fluid, immediate, situations. Indeed the footballer might be the most 
> adept given the scenario necessitating tackling an armed man by an 
> unarmed one[s].

	I agree on 1-3, but not entirely on 4.  A linebacker who's a tactical 
genius on the gridiron might well freeze when he has a gun pointed in 
his direction for the first time, b/c it's so far outside his 
experience.  OTOH, while it's possible for someone with lots of shooting 
experience but no experience at being shot *at* to freeze up the same 
way, I'm inclined to think that the individual with hands-on firearms 
experience is, on average, less likely to freeze up than the linebacker.
	Now, if the linebacker *also* has a lot of hands-on firearms 
experience, you've got the best of both worlds.
	I think it comes down to familiarity -- if you've got enough hands-on 
experience, you develop an instinctive understanding of what you're 
dealing with.  Even if you've never been in a shooting situation, you're 
going to have a better reflexive grasp of where the shot's going to go 
if he pulls the trigger *now,* how the recoil is going to throw off his 
aim for the next shot, how the awkward way he's holding the gun while 
trying to reload means he can't bring it to bear on you as quickly as 
you can close the distance between you... things like that.
	Still, having that gut-level understanding alone isn't enough.  It's 
important, I think, but useless without the ability to *act* effectively 
on that understanding.

> None of which I can see a knowledge and familiarity of firearms being 
> particularly useful given the scenario.
> 
> I would add to the above the unquantifiable inherent characteristic in 
> how an individual might respond in a crisis. Some people act. Some 
> people freeze. this characteristic is independent of a knowledge of 
> firearms, IMHO.

	Not *entirely* independent, IMO.  "Familiarity breeds contempt" is a 
cliche because it's true.  I'm no Man Of Action by any means, but I know 
I'm much more prepared to act rather than freeze in a gun-related 
situation these days than I used to be, and the only thing that's 
changed is that I've got a lot more hands-on experience on the range. 
No being-shot-at experience, just a higher general comfort level, a 
better idea of what to watch out for, and a reduction in the 
"rabbit-seeing-a-rattlesnake" factor.