sort of off the point but 80% of the guns picked up on Civil War battlefields un fired? Hmmm. Since we killed more Americans in that war than died in all our other wars combined I wonder (but don't REALLY question) about the percentage.

I've been to police training. The issue is addressed in those classes. The answer most commonly presented when that question was raised was: "You won't know until the circumstance presents itself!" This answer from instructors who had dozens of years of street experience.

There is something all cops face with a certain amount of apprehension and that is "lag time". A person who is in a position to cause YOU harm knows what he is going to do. You don't. The time between his formulating the thought to do you damage and you perceiving that thought (usually by their action) is called lag time. It can get you killed. But more important, perhaps, is your acting before you need to or over taking lag time. As with that fella Getz on the subway in NY a couple of years back. He shot before he knew what was happening. He had experience that led him to anticipate the worst.

With all this. Once that decision has been caried through on your part nothing can change what you did. What a terrible thing to have to carry with you. Terrible, even if it was justified.

Please, don't EVER make that decision.