Andy,
You see when an LEO or anyone is involved in a shooting to which the authorities respond, then yes someone is counting bullets in your magazine. If it is my agency's policy to carry fully loaded, then by counting how many rounds are missing they can figure how many I fired. You see, as often is the case, people in shootings have no idea how many rounds they have fired, and shell casings and bullets are not always found. As a matter of fact, the perp's gun is not always found. So if you have, lets say: 10 witnesses saying they heard (but none saw) a distinct 7 shots, and you say you fired 4 shots, and you say that the bad guy fired three at you, what do the authorities have to go by besides the witnesses and your words. The authorities may have the following evidence: The dead perp who you shot with 4 of your bullets in him; your pistol; 4 empty shell casings from your gun; a live round that was in the chamber of your gun, and a magazine from your gun that could hold 15 rounds but only has 8 rounds in it. Do the math, the authorities will: 8 + 1 from the gun is 9; 9 + 4 in the perp is 13; 13 + 3 more that very well could have come from your gun (had it been fully loaded) is a total of 16; 16 = a fully loaded pistol 15 in mag and 1 in chamber.
What does this look like? They found no gun that you said the perp was holding and firing at you, and found no spent casings or bullets from the bad guy's gun. (The revolver he was firing at you could easily have been removed from many such scenarios by street punks or an accomplice). Shell casings would not be evident from a revolver, and while your semi auto would spit them out, they could get lost in the shuffle and not found especially dependent upon the geography of the location of the shooting. It now looks as if you may have fired all 7 shots. What will they now tend to believe; likely that you fired all 7 shots, and this may effect how they investigate. It would be much in your favor to have been found with one in the chamber and 11 in the magazine which totasls 12 so the 4 in theperp would make 16; remembering that 16 = a fully loaded gun for this scenario. Now how would that make you look, maybe a tad more believable, maybe a bit more incentive for the investigating authorities to look for the perp's gun? Maybe the difference between your going to jail for life or your being hailed as the hero because it could be the evidence that tipped the scales either way. (I hope I got all the math right, but regardless you should be able to get the idea.)
This all can be evidence for or against you in any criminal or civil proceedings. In addition, in any shooting in which there is a questionable scenario or statement on the good guy's part, any evidence that backs up the good guy as a regulation follower is a good thing. So if you follow regulations or just good sense when loading, you are less likely to have problems later - that is if you did everything else by the book in the shooting. To do otherwise is only to invite legal and civil headaches that could wind up with you in jail or in debt or both. I don't need the hassle so I do follow those regulations.
Of course, there is another thing that could happen because you under- loaded your pistol, and therefor another reason why at least I load fully to capacity. You, or I, could wind up dead due to an underloaded gun. Most, and this is the great majority, of shooting scenarios involve more than one bad guy. Three is a pretty frequent number. It could be two, or five, or ten, or even just one. Any of these could require a number of shots at each assailant. Of course we all know there are some people out there who claim extremely accurate marksmanship and tactical shooting skills each and every time under the most adverse of scenarios - you know: the one shot = one kill wonders. For them, just as for Deputy Barney Fife, an under-loaded gun may be fine. However, for the person grounded by the life or death reality of any such situation, having a gun loaded to its full capacity is the tactically sound thing to do. You see mere mortals, even those of us who are darned good combat shots, may actually miss on some shots or need to hit the guy more than once to put him down due to the pucker factor (which takes over as we subconsciously try not to dirty our own pants in a fire fight). Having the gun loaded to capacity is the way to go for those of us who are not bonafide 'each and every time one shot = one kill wonders', and for those of us who really want to be ready when the SHTF.
By the way, you see despite an earlier thread I started I am not ignoring your posts when they are, so far, like those in this thread. That is because while in disagreement with mine, at least they were civil in tone and content. I only disregard the arrogantly nasty, insulting, ones.
Best regards,
Glenn B
This is, in my opinion, the voice of blatant inexperience speaking. Now don't get all out of control and pissed off already, read on. Your inexperience in any such practical matters is evident, at least to me, when you say things like that. Here are some reasons why I say so:
You see when an LEO or anyone is involved in a shooting to which the authorities respond, then yes someone is counting bullets in your magazine. If it is my agency's policy to carry fully loaded, then by counting how many rounds are missing they can figure how many I fired. You see, as often is the case, people in shootings have no idea how many rounds they have fired, and shell casings and bullets are not always found. As a matter of fact, the perp's gun is not always found. So if you have, lets say: 10 witnesses saying they heard (but none saw) a distinct 7 shots, and you say you fired 4 shots, and you say that the bad guy fired three at you, what do the authorities have to go by besides the witnesses and your words. The authorities may have the following evidence: The dead perp who you shot with 4 of your bullets in him; your pistol; 4 empty shell casings from your gun; a live round that was in the chamber of your gun, and a magazine from your gun that could hold 15 rounds but only has 8 rounds in it. Do the math, the authorities will: 8 + 1 from the gun is 9; 9 + 4 in the perp is 13; 13 + 3 more that very well could have come from your gun (had it been fully loaded) is a total of 16; 16 = a fully loaded pistol 15 in mag and 1 in chamber.
What does this look like? They found no gun that you said the perp was holding and firing at you, and found no spent casings or bullets from the bad guy's gun. (The revolver he was firing at you could easily have been removed from many such scenarios by street punks or an accomplice). Shell casings would not be evident from a revolver, and while your semi auto would spit them out, they could get lost in the shuffle and not found especially dependent upon the geography of the location of the shooting. It now looks as if you may have fired all 7 shots. What will they now tend to believe; likely that you fired all 7 shots, and this may effect how they investigate. It would be much in your favor to have been found with one in the chamber and 11 in the magazine which totasls 12 so the 4 in theperp would make 16; remembering that 16 = a fully loaded gun for this scenario. Now how would that make you look, maybe a tad more believable, maybe a bit more incentive for the investigating authorities to look for the perp's gun? Maybe the difference between your going to jail for life or your being hailed as the hero because it could be the evidence that tipped the scales either way. (I hope I got all the math right, but regardless you should be able to get the idea.)
This all can be evidence for or against you in any criminal or civil proceedings. In addition, in any shooting in which there is a questionable scenario or statement on the good guy's part, any evidence that backs up the good guy as a regulation follower is a good thing. So if you follow regulations or just good sense when loading, you are less likely to have problems later - that is if you did everything else by the book in the shooting. To do otherwise is only to invite legal and civil headaches that could wind up with you in jail or in debt or both. I don't need the hassle so I do follow those regulations.
Of course, there is another thing that could happen because you under- loaded your pistol, and therefor another reason why at least I load fully to capacity. You, or I, could wind up dead due to an underloaded gun. Most, and this is the great majority, of shooting scenarios involve more than one bad guy. Three is a pretty frequent number. It could be two, or five, or ten, or even just one. Any of these could require a number of shots at each assailant. Of course we all know there are some people out there who claim extremely accurate marksmanship and tactical shooting skills each and every time under the most adverse of scenarios - you know: the one shot = one kill wonders. For them, just as for Deputy Barney Fife, an under-loaded gun may be fine. However, for the person grounded by the life or death reality of any such situation, having a gun loaded to its full capacity is the tactically sound thing to do. You see mere mortals, even those of us who are darned good combat shots, may actually miss on some shots or need to hit the guy more than once to put him down due to the pucker factor (which takes over as we subconsciously try not to dirty our own pants in a fire fight). Having the gun loaded to capacity is the way to go for those of us who are not bonafide 'each and every time one shot = one kill wonders', and for those of us who really want to be ready when the SHTF.
By the way, you see despite an earlier thread I started I am not ignoring your posts when they are, so far, like those in this thread. That is because while in disagreement with mine, at least they were civil in tone and content. I only disregard the arrogantly nasty, insulting, ones.
Best regards,
Glenn B
