Most people really arent educated on the use of a fire arm as a defensive tool. Its rather easy to sit down at a table at a range and put some holes in the center of a target. Defensive shooting is very different. Your target (at least in the course i took) was a regular sheet of printer paper representing the center of mass of the assailent. Put your bullets anywhere on the paper and you have "stopped the threat". In a defensive shooting course you also learn to shoot from behind cover (doorways/walls/furniture/cars), from different concealment positions such as crouching and prone (laying down). Multiple shots to stop the threat are quite common, and actually encouraged and instructed in defensive shooting classes. The "double-tap" procedure is quite common, this is where you aim at center of mass and fire your first round and as fast as possible fire a second round right after the first. Again this may sound dangerous and scary but if you practice this technique you can safely but your second round roughly 2-4 inchs above your first aimed round (and usually slightly to the right for most shooters). I dont have any idea about the success rates of citizens with CCWs i would bet a large number go unreported (as in no shots fired and perp flees), but i do know that if you are properly trained in the use of a firearm as defensive tool it is quite safe. I am not a Law Enforcement officer, i am a corrections officer, my job does not invlove me carrying a firearm for day to day duties but there are occasions when i may have make a transport outside of the jail where i will end up with a gun. I also think the vast majority of police offer's dont train with their firearms enough. They pull them out for annual/semi-annual qualifaction and thats about it. I beleive if you carry a weapon it is your duty to make sure you are skilled in its use, if you cant devote the time and money it takes to get proficient with your firearm then you have no business carrying one.

As a civilian if you ever are invloved in a situation where you have to take the life of someone no matter how defendable it was you should expect to go to jail, for at the very least 24 hours, you should expect a civil lawsuit and possible criminal charges. That being said you better be sure of your actions before you ever even draw your weapon. As i stated earlier the majority of people with a concealed weapons permit dread the day they will ever have to use it, but if that situation ever does arise very few options will be available and a concealed weapon might be the only thing that is going to get you out of it alive.