If you hit the brachial or femoral artery they can bleed out within minutes. If you puncture a lung they can still survive. It all depends on where they get hit. Many people live from potentially fatal areas being hit and others bleed out from non-fatal regions being hit.

In either case, their survival puts you in legal trouble under current law. You should be shooting to kill if you feel deadly force is justified. If your intent is not to kill, then deadly force was not justified.

Good luck aiming for a hand. I advise you go to a firing range and see how often you can hit the arm of a moving target without taking time to aim (remember: taking time to aim = you are now the one being shot). You'll have fractions of a second to get someone in your sights and take the shot.

It'll cost $30-40 to use a range, rent a gun, and buy ammunition for an hour. You'll leave with a more informed opinion of how operating a firearm works.

[0] https://www.pfoa.co.uk/110/shooting-to-wound

I know you can't possibly accurately hit someones extremities, never made that claim either.

My post was in response to you making it sound like wounds to the extremities would be equally likely to kill as wounds to the center of mass, which is definitely not true.

And thanks, I've already got a range membership.

My point is you're far less likely to even hit the hand. Aiming for it would be the worst decision you could make when your life is on the line and depends on you actually hitting and disabling the threat.

My point was you should never shoot to harm, only to kill. That means no hand shots. Period. Regardless of the chances of a fatally wounding shot.

My point - furthermore - was that it isn't a guaranteed "disabling" shot. It's still possible to kill. The thought of "shoot to disable" is a misinformed thought educated on nothing but Hollywood movies and video games.

Anyone suggesting a "shot to the hand or leg" has never used a firearm.

Sorry, I don't care about a violent criminal's life enough to try and take a well-placed shot at a small, moving extremity.

No police officer would attempt this, either, if they're following their training.

Center-mass shots are more reliable, and more importantly, more reliable under stress (larger target).

"Patching up" my aggressor is the least of my concerns morally and legally.

You're either replying to the wrong post or didn't read mine, shooting at "hands or legs" is ridiculous but wounds to ones limbs are still far less likely to be lethal... Which is all I'm suggesting.