Predominately handguns were used in the assaults on officers and all but one were obtained illegally, usually in street transactions or in thefts. In contrast to media myth, none of the firearms in the study was obtained from gun shows.

...

Researcher Davis, in a presentation and discussion for the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, noted that none of the attackers interviewed was “hindered by any law--federal, state or local--that has ever been established to prevent gun ownership. They just laughed at gun laws.”

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More than 80% “regularly practiced with handguns, averaging 23 practice sessions a year,” the study reports, usually in informal settings like trash dumps, rural woods, back yards and “street corners in known drug-trafficking areas.”

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Twenty-six of the offenders [about 60%], including all of the street combat veterans, “claimed to be instinctive shooters, pointing and firing the weapon without consciously aligning the sights,” the study says.

“They practice getting the gun out and using it,” Davis explained. “They shoot for effect.” Or as one of the offenders put it: “[W]e’re not working with no marksmanship….We just putting it in your direction, you know….It don’t matter…as long as it’s gonna hit you…if it’s up at your head or your chest, down at your legs, whatever….Once I squeeze and you fall, then…if I want to execute you, then I could go from there.”

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“It appeared clear that none of these officers were willing to use deadly force against an offender if other options were available,” the researchers concluded.

The offenders were of a different mind-set entirely. In fact, Davis said the study team “did not realize how cold blooded the younger generation of offender is. They have been exposed to killing after killing, they fully expect to get killed and they don’t hesitate to shoot anybody, including a police officer. They can go from riding down the street saying what a beautiful day it is to killing in the next instant.”

“Offenders typically displayed no moral or ethical restraints in using firearms,” the report states. “In fact, the street combat veterans survived by developing a shoot-first mentality.

(Emphasis added.)

All of these quotes are taken from a five-year study by the FBI on how offenders train with, carry, and deploy their weapons when they attack, as published by the Force Science Research Center.

So, go ahead, all of you anti-rights, anti-self-defense, hoplophobic morons... You keep trying to spread your lies and misinformation and untruths about how "assault weapons/rifles" (a phrase not even mentioned in the study) are killing cops left and right, how the mythical "gun show loophole" is letting so many criminals have easy access to firearms, and how more gun laws will keep criminals from procuring and using firearms... I mean that honestly - keep doing it. Because the more you try to lie, the more you try to mislead, the more you try to distort reality with the American public, the more people like me will be standing behind you, quietly pointing out just how full of crap you really are. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is going to end poorly for you.

On another note, for all of us law-abiding concealed carry permit types out there, this study gives a very interesting view into the skillset and mindset of our counterparts on the other side of the law. In fact, and I hate to admit this, but apparently gang-banging thugs practice more with their firearms than I have averaged over the past few years. Granted, it was kind of hard for me to practice while at sea, but how many of you can honestly say that you go to a range and practice self-defense shooting twice a month? Furthermore, these criminals are stone-cold killers... the kind of people who would off you, and then go out for a Big Mac with their friends. This is why we, as both law-abiding American citizens and law-abiding gun owners, must remain vigilent and do our best to counteract these ruthless and surprisingly well-trained criminals, whether that means calling the police on unlawful activities, legally defending ourselves and our families from assault, rape, murder, or other crimes, or simply being observant and staying out of areas where such activities take place... It is nothing more than our personal and social responsibility.