Realistically, do you think it was the laser, or the loaded barrel pointed at them? Unless they were scared of losing an eye, I don't see the intimidation of a laser. Maybe in movies lasers are all well and good, but not in real life, not so much. A lot of times I had my gun aimed at someone, there were blinky lights and spotlights all over the place, and looking for a little dot amongst that would have been impossible. Also, many times when I had my weapon pointed at someone, so did others. Now you run into the issue of which dot belongs to who. Go through and look at any shooting on the web, and tell me if you honestly believe a laser would have made the outcome substantially better for the person using it. I'm not arguing against a laser if it makes someone a better shot. My argument is you shouldn't allow yourself to be consumed with a laser sight in order to fire. In a shooting, sure we'd all like to think we could hit the target, but when someone is shooting back, it's not that easy. One guy I know is a great shot. He expended 22 rounds and didn't hit the guy he was "aiming" at. He was dumbfounded by this fact in the aftermath, but he was more concerned with getting out of the way of the other guy's bullets.doc540 wrote:Dave Grossman has some interesting input on that phenomenon.Chris wrote:I know many guys who have been in gunfights. None of them even remember seeing their gun sights. I can't imagine trying to look for a small dot. It's one thing to point it at paper, and altogether another to point it at someone actively trying to kill you.
Although under high stress many warriors don't remember seeing or hearing something, that doesn't necessarily mean they didn't actually see or hear it.
And properly trained, one doesn't look for a small dot, the small dot naturally follows one's eyes to the center of the target.
And, finally, a visible laser dot can be a deterrent to all but the most out-of-control perps. (Not a primary support for laser use, but every little bit may help.)
I know personally of two, local LEO incidents where an armed and agitate perp saw Jesus in the form of a laser on his chest and became very passive.
I learned long ago that just because police departments do it doesn't mean it should be considered a good idea. Some of the absolute dumbest training and equipment I've been provided was courtesy of local police departments. Some of the dumbest comments involving firearms I've ever heard were made by police officers. The overwhelming majority of police officers I've known and worked with were not 'gun people'. For most of them, the only handgun they owned was department issued.
Everyone can have their opinion on what's good and what's not, but my opinion is for me personally. It's up to each person to find out what works best for them and put that into practice.