Originally Posted by
khaos
With regard to stopping power- mythbusters took a 200lbs pig (=200lbs of bone, flesh, etc.) and shot at it from max velocity range (almost point blank) with various guns and only things like a 50cal MG could really know a man backwards. Knock them off balance, maybe, off their feet, no.
Another point I'd like to make, because I personally have no experience shooting at other humans, is from a discussion I had with a police man. Your odds of defending yourself against an assailant are slim at best, nothing like the movies.
To demonstrate this he gave me his holster and (unloaded) side arm, had it on me unlocked and everything so I could get it out as fast as possible, and stood on the other side of the room from me (20ft). His challenge? He had a knife, I had to draw and shoot him before he could stab me. He used a pen as a mock knife. Needless to say he got me twice before I could bring the gun to bear. Now bearing in mind that the holster was essentially a bucket holster (and carries should never be in bucket holsters) and I was ready, how fast do you think you could react in real life? Even if you were trained, he said you have probably 15ft range, inside that you'll have to be lucky.
On top of that, when I asked him, why don't police shoot for like, the legs or arm or something non-lethal? His response was, hitting an arm or leg on a paper target in teh range is as easy as hitting anything else. Try hitting a leg or an arm while someone is running at you/taking cover/trying not to die. Bottom line according to him was if they are attacking you enough to warrant using a gun, you shoot at the torso first, ask questions later.
Moral- if you're drawing a gun on a human you better have a good reason and you better be ready to kill. Cus if they are coming at you you may not have time to get of 4 shots, let alone non-lethal ones...