If you have a handgun at home, you most likely bought it with the thought in mind that you could use it for your self defense. And, you probably were trained to use the sights to aim it.

Well, if you think you will be able to use it and the sites in a real home self defense situation, you could be dead wrong.

Here's why.

About 70% of those taught Sight Shooting, will not use the sights in a real life and death close quarters situation where their chance of being shot or killed will be the greatest.

That was a finding of a study of over 4000 police combat cases made by the NYPD, whose officers were taught Sight Shooting.

Only 20% of the officers said they used some type of aimed shooting. 10% could not say whether they had aimed, or fired instinctively. And 70% said they used instinctive shooting.

The majority of the NYPD incidents occurred in poor lighting conditions, where according to the US Army, you won't be able to use the sights.

In any event, most people will loose their fine motor skills and their near vision in a real life threat close quarters situation, which will make the use of sighted fire moot.

The loss of fine motor skills and the loss of near vision, are just two of many instinctive and automatic body alarm reactions that one can expect to experience in a real close quarters life threat situation.

As to distances, in 75% of the cases where officers survived, the distance was less than 20 feet.

In 90% of the cases in which an officer died from wounds received (254 cases), it was less than 15 feet.

And it is generally accepted in the shooting community that combat pistol accuracy is only around 20%.

Finally, and as bizarre as it may seem, in the past fifty years, the successful use of the sights in a real close quarters gunfight, has not been captured on film or video.

I have seen several shooting videos. In them, the shooters do not aim. They just point their guns at a target and blast away.

Sight Shooting training, if they had any, goes out the window and what you get is point and blast shooting. There may be exceptions, but they will be few and far between.

Now, if 70% of police officers don't or can't use the sights in close quarters combat, what's the chance that your average home defender will be able to use them in a real life threat situation?

My guess is slim to none.

A Commando, Seal, or professional gun slinger, who trains most all of the time, should do better.

But, the rub is that most police and home defenders are not them, and don't do what they do.

So what's your average Joe or Jane Doe to do?

Given the facts about what happens in real life and death, close quarters pistol combat, unless they learn how to Point Shoot, most will have nothing of practical value to use in their self defense.

The US Army recommends Quick-Fire Point Shooting for use at less than 15 feet and at night.

There is Target Focus Fighting that relies on hand eye coordination and emphasizes a proper grip which makes the handgun an extension of the arm, hand and index finger.

The Center Axis Relock Method of Gunfighting, or C.A.R., is another method. It provides a strong and flexible platform that allows quick target acquisition and rapid fire bursts with standard pistols. however, it is mainly taught to police and the military.

There is the method taught by Gairbairn/Sykes/Applegate, and Quick Kill as taught by Robin Brown.

And there is AIMED Point Shooting, or P&S as I call it. It utilizes our instinctive ability to be able to automatically and accurately point at objects with our index finger.

You just place your index finger along the side of the gun, point it at a target, and pull the trigger with your middle or left index finger. I was told to use it back in 1954 when qualifying with a submachine gun. It worked then, and it still does.

Articles on all of these methods can be found on my site www.pointshooting.com

I also have patented a very simple aiming aid that makes correct index finger placement along the side of a pistol, easy and automatic at day or night. It also keeps the index finger away from ejected shells and the pistol slide which moves back and forth when the pistol fires.

Private individuals and police officers are welcome to add the aiming aid to their weapons with no payment to me, if done at their own risk and expense.

Click here for gun test information with pictures.

Click here for information on how to do add an aiming aid to a weapon.

P&S and the aiming aid can help you get on target fast, instinctively and accurately for your first shot, and every shot.

When your life is on the line, wouldn't it be nice to have all the help you can get to survive?

And if P&S and the aiming aid can help you shoot more effectively, doesn't it make "life over death" sense to use them?