- to arm teachers, as the NRA suggests. There just is not enough training proposed to make them effective.  Consider this:  You’d certainly agree that New York City police officers are well trained, don’t you?  They have to achieve a hit rate of 78% before passing firearms training.  But guess what?  The hit rate declines to 30% in actual gunfight (one-sided ones where the target does not fire back), and to just 18% when the target is firing back.  And that is for police officers who every day are prepared to be fired upon!

Clearly, a teacher suddenly finding himself in a shooting situation would fare much more poorly.  Add to that the likely presence of children, and we have a recipe for disaster.  And then, when officers arrive, they would likely shoot at anyone pointing a gun, like a teacher.

A criminal, having the advantage of surprise and of being willing to engage in a firefight, will fare much better as shown in the recent killings of police officers by ex-cop Doerner.  To Jim Barber I say “Your chances in a handgun firefight with a prepared criminal are nil, whether your magazine holds seven rounds or ten.  Real gunfights are nothing like what you see on TV.  You ought to reconsider my suggestion to have a German Shepherd dog (who is unlikely to ever harm your family) and a shotgun (which as an excellent hit rate)”.

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