Gunfight or Flee: New Study Finds No Advantages to Using a Firearm in Self-Defense Situations

[Lizzie Poppet]

5. There is no "one size fits all" response.

Example: I am in very good shape from an endurance standpoint (serious cyclist...). But I'm also quite small and not particularly powerful. I could probably outdistance most potential attackers over time. However, that does me no good if they can out-sprint me over the first 50 yards. One critical element of my fight-or-flight decision would have to be whether or not I thought I could out-sprint my attacker, then keep going if he didn't break off the attack. If I think I can do so, great. Running away is vastly preferable to shooting him and dealing with the legal system shitstorm and the emotional impact that accompanies even the most justifiable killing of another human being. If I think he* can haul me down in the first few yards, I'm going to fight back instead (and in such cases I prefer to fight with a firearm, by far the most effective way of doing so).

I'll take a look at this research, though. A close look, as I'm distrustful of Hemenway's methodologies, having seen a fair bit of cherry-picking in some of his previous research (and yes, I'm very well qualified indeed to do this...I can get into that, if anyone's interested). But this is a rather different conclusion from that presented by the CDC, so it bears further examination.

* I use "he" because probability strongly favors an attacker being a young-ish male...but a larger, stronger attacker than me could certainly be a female (I'm small even for a woman).