From: "Earl W", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Just seen the Siege program on ITV tonight, why is it that
the police marksman will only shoot when the target is
pointing the firearm at the hostage with their finger on
the trigger, about to kill the hostage?
I'm thinking of the shooting where the hostage taker was
loading & unloading the (410?) shotgun & pointing his
fingers at the hostage & the police as if he would shoot
them, though he was not committed to do so.
Also the "sniper" officer in training did exactly the
same thing, the hostage taker fired the sawn off pump
action SG above the hostage then later pointed the SG at
the hostage's head, only then did the officer fire!!!
As we all know, the body does the last thing the brain
told it to do eg the decapitated Chicken that runs away
headless - the last command the body received.
Also there is the risk of reflex actions or spasm which
would cause the target to pull the trigger inadvertently.
Shooting someone when they are about to kill the hostage
is probably too late, is it not better to shoot when the
target is not pointing the firearm/weapon at their
hostage(s), there by minimising the risk of the hostage
being killed by accident.
Someone needs to get all those mis-trained officers
retrained, &also do something about their marksmanship
abilities.
Note that the spokesperson stated that they "need officers
capable of shooting a weapon when under great stress" NO
MENTION OF BEING ABLE TO HIT THE TARGET AT ALL!
On a different note, I now understand that a police Force
(poss Notts?) has purchased a shipment of.....M16's & 50BMG
Barretts, 3rd burst/ full auto/ 1/2" projectiles..in the
police armoury!
Makes one wonder what else they have...M203's, Mk19's???
Minimi's, GPMG's! Did a force not have a stock of SA80's
in the late 80's IIRC?
Anyone else see the programme?
EW
--
Home Office guidelines are that the police cannot have full-autos,
although PT17 apparently have a few in case of another Iranian
Embassy siege type situation.
No police force to my knowledge has ever used the SA80 or anything
belt-fed (except the Jamaican Police<G>).
Several forces do have .50s though, for long-range shots.
Some forces kept some of the semi-autos handed in during 1989
for use by police countersnipers, certainly some H&K G3s, 91s
and 93s ended up that way.
Actually a shot to the brain will shut someone down before
they can do anything else, countersnipers are trained on special
targets to hit the correct part of the head, I seem to recall the
aiming point on the target is just above the nose, a bit higher
than a shot would be right between the eyes. This was heavily
researched after the case in San Francisco I think it was,
after a Black Panther ducktaped himself to someone and when he
was shot he was able to kill the hostage.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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