<P><B>Friday Night Firefight
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<P>There's a lot of vague ideas and theories about modern weapons encounters - most of them from the Hollywood Never-Empty-Six-Gun-School of Armed Combat. These misconceptions have crept on little flat feet into the design of many computer games, leading to characters who can be repeatedly shot with large caliber handguns until they run out of "hit points" and who can fire Ingram MAC-10's one-handed and hit with every bullet.
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<P>In other words, good, clean fun.
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<P>Reality is not good, clean fun. Most of the data herein has been compiled from ballistics reports, police data, FBI statistics and other not-clean fun sources. These sources tend to point to a couple of basic truths about firefight combat.
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<P>80% of most gunfights occur between untrained amateurs at a range of less than 21 feet. 40% of these raging gun battles happen within 8 feet or less! Most (60%) occur in dimly lit and difficult conditions - dark, rainy alleys, with both participants panting and out of breath, pausing momentarily to snap off a badly aimed shot at a fleeing shadow, then ducking back for cover. Hits are surprisingly rare. When they do occur (assuming a large caliber weapon's involved), the victim is usually hors de combat on the first shot from a combination of wound, shock, and terror. A solid hit with a .44 magnum will usually splatter a real person all over New Jersey.