All 9 people injured in shooting near NY's Empire State Building were wounded by police gunfire

[X_Digger]

54. For a real test, you'd have to have someone shoot a gun behind you without telling you..

.. when they were going to (or that they even *were* going to), then turn around and see how you shoot.

Adrenaline dump, heart rate explodes, hands start to shake, loss of fine motor control, you're hyperventilating, tunnel vision closes down what you see, and your perception of the flow of time starts going wonky.

If you've ever had a close call in a car, or almost been ran down as a pedestrian- it's *that* kind of reaction that you'd want to elicit before comparing oneself to cops in a shootout.

The solution? Muscle memory- training, training, training. It can't completely ameliorate the physical effects of stress, but muscle memory (and we're talking 1,500 - 2,000 repetitions here) will likely cut down on the misses. Why? It will be.. not instinctual, but maybe reflexive to get into the position most likely to result in hitting the target (and therefore lowering the chance of a miss).

I looked at the video someone else posted of the shootout- the officer on the left almost stumbles over his own feet, shooting flat-footed and on one foot it appears, and never gets a good shooting stance- that's where muscle memory would help. The officer on the right (from the video's perspective) keeps his feet, gets a good stable crouch, but he overextends his arm. Training would definitely help both officers.

And here's the sad thing. It's not super expensive, SWAT-like "tactical" training they need. Just shooting more frequently at the police range would be a good start. Make that shooting stance and arm position reflexive. *Then* work on shooting while moving. Get the fundamentals down first.