Repercussions of CCW Use

A comment by Andrew -- retired Treasury Agent -- to recent killing of a knife wielding perp in a BBQ restaurant in Cerritos CA by a CCW holder.

I think the CCW holder will have no problems.  From all the accounts, he was justified.  Maybe if he shot the perp repeated while he was lying on the floor, or some other extremely gross overuse and dangerous use of force, he would have problems.

About 35 years ago a video was made called “Surviving Edged Weapons.”  It was used in police training for decades.  This was the basis for the “21 foot rule.”  They demonstrated that someone with a knife or razor standing 7 yards or 21 feet away can kill you, even if you shoot them and they die.  Unlike the movies, if someone is charging at you from 21 feet or closer, and you shoot them anywhere except the brain, they will reach you.  They may die from their wounds, but they can still cut you.  My position is and has been, if someone with a knife is 7 yards away or more, they get a verbal warning to drop the knife. If they don’t and they move, they get shot.  If someone is closer than 7 yards, they get shot.

Current training is also to take a step to the side before/as/after you shoot.  If someone is charging at you and you shoot them, they will continue in the same direction.  Taking one step left or right and they will most likely miss and fall to the ground past you.

Surviving Edged Weapons also showed autopsy photos of people killed with a knife/box cutter/razor.  It is enlightening to see how much damage can be done by a small knife.  If they showed this film to everyone in high school, there would be less people on Nextdoor saying they should have used less than lethal force.  Someone going through a mental health crisis, while tragic, is more complicated to deal with.  You can’t reason with someone crazy, they won’t respond to having a gun pointed at them the same way a rational person would.  The guy in Cerritos had already cut himself before entering the restaurant.  There is also the phenomenon of “suicide by cop.”  Very challenging to deal with.

I’m hoping for a Star Trek like phaser that we can set to “stun.”