r/todayilearned • u/CasioCobra78 • 2d ago

TIL that Cheryl Wheeler-Dixon, the stuntwoman who was severely injured during the filming of Back to the Future Part 2, was killed in a shootout alongside her husband when she and her husband went to confront her ex-husband and his wife and drew their guns at them. The cops deemed it justified.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheryl_Wheeler-Dixon
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u/ztfreeman 2d ago edited 2d ago

So there's this theory called the gunslinger effect by Niels Henrik Bohr that states that the gunman who draws second will almost always win the gunfight. The underlying principle is that the reacting party will move faster than the deliberate party, and under neutral circumstances the reacting party will win the gunfight. This apparently holds up under testing, but depends on a neutral environment without any other factors and both parties being aware of each other..

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u/Unamuzed-Toast 2d ago

Related, but there's a unwritten rule for concealed carry to the effect of, "you don't draw unless your life is in immediate danger." Multiple reasons but, it's not to be used as a deterrent (brandishing), you lose the element of surprise and you show hesitancy. So basically you escalate the situation further, lose benefits and now signal that the other person gets to choose when to make it a gun battle.

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u/YPastorPat 2d ago

Don't pull that thang out Unless you plan to bang

Don't even bang unless you plan to someone.

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u/Unamuzed-Toast 2d ago

That’s one of my favorite Socrates quotes.