I will stick my two cents in on the female shooter debate. Most of the female officers I have worked with, did not shoot as well as I do. A few shot much better with 90% or better on their qualifications. Very few female officers I have known have been gun people, like us.
I respectfully beg to differ.
Understand I was born in the mid 50s, and was raised as I was and mentored as I was.
Everyone carried a handgun, as you said, one cannot go around with a long gun slung.
Handguns back then tended to fit more hands better, both men with smaller hand and ladies with smaller hands.
Add-
We had Veterans , both ladies and gents, from previous wars and we had Polio victims, so hands were not the the only part of gun fit to user, also amputees, hand , wrist, arm strength and other factors.
So the offering in revolvers and semi's with the Rule of 96 that is from shotgunning, applies to handguns, if one thinks about gun weight, to recoil curve of bullet weight of calibers being fired.
Shot placement was a big deal back in the day, being able to get the first shot off and place it, was important.
Now the ladies and gents, even kids, chose gun fit, and recoil curve to them.
Police were pretty much using S&W and Colt Revolvers, and these guns fit hands well they did back then, and still do today.
Two other platforms over all these years in semis, are the 1911 and BHP.
These 4 guns, two revolvers, and two semis, will fit 90% of all hands and allow the user to place shots quickly and effectively, which is a huge component in my book ( how raised) in stopping a threat.
What has happened over the years, is folks are not being raised with firearms in the household, and therefore not as proficient with carrying and shooting- both men and women.
In the old days, everyone was raised with guns, knew how to shoot, and it did not matter if lady , gent, kid, elderly , healthy or physically limited.
Another huge factor is, while folks grew up with guns, they did not put all the focus on just "gun" to stay safe, other skill sets and mindsets were important too and folks were more "well rounded" in all this.
Not just civilians, Police, as the same Police that shot
50 yard quals, both ladies and gents, did not think "gun" or "round count" as the only tools to stay safe.
Today, many could care less about a gun, it is just something else to have to wag around doing a job.
The gun is not about the officer, instead what a dept can get for price and package on keeping the guns maintained.
Guns do not fit ladies or gents, and add not being raised around guns...something else to wag aroung, and "oh crap, I gotta shoot this damn thing to qual, then the armorer is the only one that can do a damn thing with it, and I have to be in court to give testimony and ..."
Shotguns are the same way...
Having assisted on private ranges - among other things my life, experiences and observations include...
The gals were fine and dandy with revolvers in .38spl and .357, be these S&W J and K frames or Colts, so were the guys.
The day one Dept went to Glocks, it was downright nasty out there with all the hate and fussing.
Ditto for the HKs, and that day, some folks lost any confidence they might of had, when the guns would not run, and this repeated itself with the gun shooting once, maybe twice and the chambers were funky and the cases were stuck.
Sigs...
"Just throw the first shot in the dirt and maybe the damn gun will hit something the second shot" - was said up and down the line.
Same gals that would shoot .357s with .357 loads, and shoot J frames that would scare many...
Some serious fussing going on and some gals did not have to change guns, they kept their revolvers, including the gals using .41 mag and .44 mag.
Yep.
Some gals toted .41 and .44 and could flat scare the daylights out of folks.
Guys used these too.
State and Sheriff officers used these guns...
Nobody likes the sharp recoil of the .40, not the officers or CCW students.
Oh some serious cussing when BHP came out in .40, that was wrong!
9mm and 45ACP, these were the prefererred guns by ladies and gents, in BHP and 1911 for the semi shooters.
The way we saw and see it boils down to 3 kinds of officers, it does not matter if lady or gent.
1. Seasoned shooters , that do not put all things into "gun or ammo" and believe all we need for handguns and calibers was mfg by 1955.
2. Folks that were not raised with guns, and just something else they have to wag and mess with and the damn things have to be qual'd with.
3. Kewl folks, that are into image and status and the gun is not a tool to stay safe, as they cannot shoot, won't put time into to shoot, but the latest greatest gun and equipment is a ego thing.
