Sunday, November 20, 2011

People with guns collection # 42

"St. Petersburg Police staged a line-up Friday afternoon, but it wasn't the usual row of suspicious characters. In this case, it was 52 members of the police department trying out the new police pistol range. The range is to be used for training by area law enforcement agencies and is next to the Police Pistol Club on 47th Ave. N. The old circular bull's-eye targets have been replaced with human silhouettes, and policemen practice firing their service revolvers with either hand and from behind car fenders, walls and other obstacles. The officers are timed for efficiency and rated on their shooting skill. Photo credit - Fred Victorin" Dec 6 1968

Look at THIS. There is nearly 30 years between these photos but they're almost identical. Point shooting was espoused in law enforcement training for decades before finally being replaced with more practical and useful techniques. I'm not trying to get into a point shooting debate. It still has it supporters and I know that it does have some value in very limited situations. Even so you have to wonder why it remained so popular for so long, and what its proponents thought those sights were for anyway.

3 comments:

MauserMedic said...

Hm. I've been in situations were a weapon was out and ready for use, but I've never taken a position that looked like defecation was imminent. However, that stance does take me back to some high school football drills/torture sessions.

David's Dad said...

I have tried point shooting. I never could achieve acceptable accuracy beyond 6-8feet.

Wilson said...

@ MauserMedic - "a position that looked like defecation was imminent" - Well I've never thought of it like that, but now that you mention it...

@ David's Dad - The results of my experimenting were a little better than yours, but not by much.