I bet I am not the only one to mention this story in a blog post.
NYC cops go after a crazed up hobo, miss him completely, hit 2 bystanders instead.
It's stories like this that make gunnies think they are better shooters than the average police officer. We seem to practice more than your standard NYC police.
But that may be self-deluding. You have to put a lotta caveats in there. Do we practice more than a NYC SWAT member? That cop in Wyoming that does IPSC on his days off and shoots 3000 rounds a month? Probably not. Not on average, no.
Do we, all of us, on average, practice more than all cops, on average? Hard to ascertain, objectively. If you narrow it down to "twice monthly range visits shooting enthusiasts" and "average NYC beat cops with no range to go to for 20 miles" then yes, those gunnies are probably better shooters than those cops. And these cops that shot the bystanders on Broadway could easily fall in that group.
It's the example of these 2 ill prepared police that does tar the rest of the profession, and, I agree, that is probably unfair. But welcome to our world. We get painted with a broad brush. As we all know 'civilian' shooters are inbred bible clinging mall ninjas with a Walter Mitty fantasy just waiting to spring into action, Dodge City style.
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Well, we do have statistics.
Legally armed civilians shoot fewer of the wrong people (by absolute numbers AND percentages) than cops do.
Urban cops who are willing to spend their own money on range time are few and far between. Hell, a lot of departments have trouble getting their guys to some in for extra shooting even if the department provides the range, target, AND ammo. (Think about it - how willing are you to spend your own free time and money to improve a work skill you will almost certainly never need to use?) Most cops are not "gun guys" -- it's just another tool of their job, and one that they are LEAST likely to use during their whole career.
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