Aim small, miss small

Not making light of the shooting in New York today, but the article from MSNBC provides an interesting commentary (story):  

"A disgruntled ex-employee of a women’s accessories business gunned down a former co-worker and then died in a hail of police bullets Friday morning outside the Empire State Building, officials said. Eight bystanders were grazed or shot -- all of them, apparently, by police bullets, sources said."

Here's an account from CNN:  "The officers fired 14 rounds during the incident after Johnson turned his gun on them, according to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.  Some of the wounded people may have been hit in the crossfire or by ricocheting bullets, he said."

So, they shot the bad guy = good. They also shot 8 bystanders, all who will be ok = bad.  I'd like to take a shooting course with the NYPD.  I'm sure that MSNBC is taking liberties with the "hail of gunfire" but 14 rounds within 15 feet and 8 innocent people allegedly shot by police is a lot.  

When I was learning to shoot, a trainer at a gun range told me, "aim small, miss small."  Aside from a mention in the movie the Patriot, I wasn't sure what that meant until he said, "aim for a smaller portion on the area, and you will still hit the area." When you do that, you pretty much solidify the point that you will hit your target - especially when shooting within 20 -30 feet.  I'm not one for criticizing police, well, good police, but just thinking that maybe we should spend a few more hours in the range hitting targets.