In my book, I talk about how often ordinary civilians are in situations that sadly turn out to be violent crime incidents. Domestic violence, neighbor disputes, family troubles, date rape by a friend, and many other “people you know” situations that escalate into violence are more prevalent than people think. However, there is a criminal element that targets ordinary civilians, and we must ensure that we prepare for this. How do ordinary civilians prepare for violent crime? Some analysts (in many cases, former law enforcement officers) spend a lot of time examining police and criminal interactions, believing that it sheds light on criminal and ordinary civilian interactions. Is this a valid assumption?
I would say NO.
Criminals (there are exceptions) do not want to see or interact with the police. The police are apex predators of criminals, and criminals are a lower predator than the police, to put it simply. Criminals and ordinary civilians are different. Criminals are the predators, and ordinary civilians are the prey. Criminals choose their prey. Furthermore, there are many consequences for the criminal if they choose to use violence against a law enforcement officer — consequences like a whole army of other law enforcement officers chasing you and long prison time if you are caught. Victimizing ordinary civilians will not lead to further consequences if the criminal does everything right to get the job done and conceals their identity. In addition, after successfully victimizing an ordinary civilian, the criminal need not worry about large numbers of people hunting him. I suspect that many criminals who kill law enforcement officers likely don’t want to go back to prison (Law Enforcement Officers Killed or Assaulted (LEOKA) reports show that these offenders have often been previously arrested for violent crime).
Law Enforcement tactical teams also influence analysts, who, in some cases, are former members of these teams. Smaller-caliber, high-capacity magazines, carbines, and handguns, carried with a round in the chamber, have influenced numerous articles and books tailored to ordinary civilians. The use of body cams by law enforcement officers also shows the need for high-capacity firearms always at the ready. These make their way into videos on various social media platforms, influencing the choices of ordinary civilians for self-defense.
In contrast, our best statistics from William English’s National Firearm Survey and Claude Werner’s Armed Citizen analysis indicate that these capabilities are not typically required in most civilian defensive gun uses. Ordinary civilians would greatly benefit from simpler firearms, which reduce training requirements and increase safety. For example, I’ve detailed the advantages of training with a double-action revolver compared to a semi-automatic pistol, both in terms of simplicity and quickness in recovery from misfires, as well as significantly reduced ammunition costs. You can train with a double-action using snap caps without employing any other techniques specific to training. In short, you train dry firing just as you would normally shoot the firearm.
While videos can always influence people, recognizing videos without supporting statistics is akin to watching videos of someone getting struck by lightning, to the point where you are afraid to go outside if there is a cloud in the sky. The probability of getting struck by lightning hasn’t changed; only your perception of it has.