Shoot not to kill
If you shoot to wound instead of to kill, why would you put three bullets into a closet door without knowing exactly where the person behind it might be standing?
share[deleted]
MovieChat Forums > Copycat (1995) Discussion > Shoot not to kill
What scene are ya talkin about?
sharebecause in the end she knew she was dealing with a pure dangerous,in the shoot scene she might not have known how dangerous the asian dude was.Beside she went for his shoulder as it was the only place she could hit.
shareWhile I agree with the answers given so far, I am going to quibble a bit here, and say that doctrine on the use of deadly force in self-defense has, for quite a while, been not shoot to kill or to wound, but shoot to stop. This means shooting for the Center of Mass (COM). This means, in turn, the central torso, where the vital organs are.
In a sellf-defense shooting, your intention should never be the death of your foe, but to stop him/her from doing what ever it was that forced you to shoot in the first place. At the same time, you should not shoot unless you are justified in killing, because a hit to the COM will likely result in the foe's death.
So, in this regard, Inspector Monohan should be aiming, not for the shoulder, but for the COM. Besides, it is a much larger, hence easier to hit, target. This film, while it was very entertaining, was, in this instance at least, not terribly realistic.
One other thing: there are some very major blood vessels in the shoulder, so putting a shot there runs the grave risk of killing as well.