ZephrC said:
Really??? How many people seriously believe they can hit a running target it the foot with a shot from a pistol?
I'm sorry, but that's dumb. Have you ever even fired a real gun before? If some lunatic's coming at you with a knife in a dark alley and you happen to have a gun handy, you aim at their center of mass and fire several shots rapidly. You don't want to kill them, but you do want to make sure they stop. If killing's what it takes, so be it. There's no time to dick around with fancy video game crap in that situation. If they're not an immediate threat to you, you damn well don't shoot at them. That's completely insane. Murdering someone over an iPad is insane, and shooting someone that's unarmed is insane. If you're dumb enough to try some Hollywood nonsense shot, aside from the possibility of permanently crippling or even killing someone over an iPad or whatever, what happens if you're out in public and you miss? Handguns are incredibly inaccurate.
This isn't like a video game. People die from being shot it the foot, and people live through being shot it the head. Weird shit happens. You just don't shoot at someone unless you're willing to see them die, and unless you're completely insane yourself that shouldn't happen unless you're trying to save another life or prevent a rape or something completely at the far end of crazy like that. And in that kind of situation, trying to get all fancy like some kind of movie hero just makes it more likely you'll screw up and do more harm than good.
Too true, aiming with a pistol even at he best of times against a static target is extremely hard and even then what I've read leads me to believe that the odds are against you putting them down quickly. People are surprisingly resilient to being shot, even through the lungs, guts liver and small calibre non-expanding bullets are not guaranteed to stop someone if shot through the heart! Example: 9mm round-nose makes a 3mm wide hole in heart (stretchy) but as the heart muscle contracts to pump blood the hole is mostly sealed.
The only way a bullet to the head is guaranteed to "stop" a target is the shock-wave through the brain (giving a very direct concussion), unless the base of the brain is destroyed then you only have a Lobotomy, which people can recover remarkably from.
When it comes to firearms I have found they tend to miss at the worst time... and also hit at the worst time. So if you aren't justified in shooting that's the one time you're bullet will actually hit what you were aiming at.
Of course if you did shoot and miss you could easily say you were only firing a warning shot.
Reminds me of this hilarious panel I saw in a French Comic book (can't rememeber the name):
(the hero aims though his rifle scope at the bad guy as he advances on horseback, placing the crosshairs right on his head. He is trying not to shake as he squeezes the trigger)
Next frame: the bullet completely misses and shatters a small rock next to the Villain, who stares around startles and looks up to see the hero.
The hero is just as shocked, he has to be the worst shot in the world missing that but thinking fast he bluffs it:
"Don't move Von Karl! That's was just a warning shot, the next goes right between your eyes!"
In a speech bubble Von Karl thinks: "Mein gott, he hit that small rock from all the way over there?!?"