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Monday, April 16, 2007

Shootings

There is little to say after an event like today's mass shooting at Virginia Tech. My thoughts are with all those directly affected. I am struck, though, by early reports that the gunman used two 9mm handguns. It may be time to reclassify semiautomatic pistols as law-enforcement-only weapons. There is simply no reason for a normal civilian to have access to something like a Glock with a 15-round magazine. Some recent incidents suggest that the police have little business with such weapons either.

It is worth thinking about how you would respond if someone tried to control you with a pistol. I think the average person really overestimates the accuracy of pistols. It has been said that if someone is shooting at you with a pistol, you will probably survive, and if someone is shooting at you with a rifle, you will probably not survive. I have no idea what the accepted wisdom is, but it would not surprise me if a good tactic would be to try to get some space between yourself and a pistol-wielding assailant. It would not surprise me if the accuracy of a pistol decreased geometrically with distance.


posted at 2:26 PM

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