USBP Weapons, Part 4

Since few of us have ever or will ever be involved in a physical assault, most of what we "know" about violence is from what we see on TV. First, most assaults are over in just seconds. Second, assaults are usually very violent because the perpetrator is usually very eager to see you not fight back.

Here's how Agents respond to an attack:

People's personalities can be grouped into three general catagories:

5% are "High Speed" and ready with a quick and accurate response.

30% are "Followers" and may spend an inordinate amount of time reacting to any situation.

65% are "non friction" types and just slide from one work shift to the next and pay little attention to their surroundings. Most of these also couldn't even hit the ground if they fell on it.

One of the key concepts that is overlooked in most television action dramas is that "If they shoot at you once, they will shoot at you again." Thus, while on TV you see the bad guy firing and then the good guy firing and the bad guy drops and the good guy kisses the girl.

In reality, the bad guy fires, the good guy then takes three fourths of a second to realize that the bad guy IS ACTUALLY DOING THIS TO HIM and then the good guy fires, and continues to fire at the bad guy, until the bad guy is face down. Then the good guy sits on the ground and regains his senses. And this is all if the good guy has his gun out and even aimed at the bad guy when it all happens...

But while these bullets are flying in all directions both parties become confused and concerned because there is usually no indication that any shot fired has hit its mark. There is no blood. There is no puff of dust or inflation of the shirt at point of impact. There is nothing. This is not Hollywood.

Now imagine that all of this is happening to you down a dirt road in a canyon at midnight and 30 miles from help.

And oh yes, and it can easily get worse.

At night, when the pistol is fired, the sudden bright flash from the muzzle makes you night blind for several seconds. So.... bad as it all may have seemed up to that moment, it now gets worse because the only way you might know where to aim now to save your own life is to wait for the bad guy to shoot at you again so you can see his muzzle flash and then aim there.

This is not Hollywood.

But again, it is important that you do not give the attacker the time to remedy his aim. Further, pistols (as mentioned above) do not provide any instant result. Thus, when you are engaged in some cordite scented altercation it is best to continue to engage the threat until the threat has proved itself to no longer be…….. a threat.

Every three months the Agent must re-qualify with the pistol. Out of 360 points possible at the range the Agent must attain 252 points.

Certainly, in any encounter an Agent must step through a series of ever escalating levels of threat to him or another before lethal force can be used: