What yard-stick does one apply to the word "proficient"? How many of us, the "gun-savvy" people, actually spend the majority of our money in ammunition while setting up "real-life" scenarios, and then practicing them? I'm willing to bet that the majority of ammunition expended is against paper targets at distances of 15-25 yards, from a standing position. Most of us have to use public ranges. Ranges that are adverse to "reality-based scenarios".
The other side of this, of course, is why everyone always assumes that the perpetrator is so competent with HIS arm. Most burglers, smash-and-grab, or home-invasion, are using whatever weapon they can get their hands on. They don't practice with them, and rarely carry more ammo than came with the gun. Against that, the proficiency yard-stick is pretty short.
Deciding just what is sufficient practice, without ever being able to tell what the individual will actually do, and then claiming that such a person is "better off without a gun" sounds suspiciously like the VPC approach.
FYI, the slide on High Point pistols is NOT made of zinc. Zinc, in it's pure form, is way too soft. I believe that it is, instead, a Zinc-alloy, similar to Zamak. For what it is designed to do on these pistols, it works quite well. It's necessary to be made more bulky for the same strength as steel alloys, but costs significantly less.
