Joe Biden seems to be having trouble with his memory. He is not only forgetting what did, he appears to be having false memories as well. However, he does seem to remember what he heard listening to The Lone Ranger as a kid. The Lone Ranger never shot to kill. Indeed, he tried disarm his opponents as painlessly as possible, often shooting their guns out of their hands. Things may have worked that way on old time radio, but in the Real World, the basic accuracy of the Lone Ranger’s Colt Single Action Army Revolvers and round-to-round variability of even match quality ammunition makes repeatably hitting something the size of another handgun at range beyond a few feet statistically unlikely. One lucky shot, maybe. Two in a row, nope.

Joe Biden says that cops should try to shoot people in the leg. He’s wrong.

Most defensive handgun shootings (whether by civilian police or other citizens) occur at ranges less than 25 feet. 21 feet is the distance often used for part of many handgun qualification course. Most people are doing well to keep all of their hits within a 6 inch group at that distance when shooting on a target range. Under the stress of a gunfight, most people don’t do as well.

Any gunshot at someone is a use of deadly force. It may be justified against an attacker; it’s never justified against an innocent bystander. While a trained sniper with the proper equipment may be justified in taking a shot a a small target, most of us need to aim for something large. That’s why the proper place for a cop to aim is for the center of mass, the torso. He’s less likely to miss and risk injury to a bystander. Aiming for someone’s leg risks missing with the certainty that the bullet will hit someone or something unintended. Of course, if a luck shot should land in the leg, the risk of hitting the femoral artery is substantial, and such a wound can cause someone to bleed to death very quickly.