I’ve often said that the one who decides first that there will be a gun fight has an overwhelming advantage. He is already at the “A” of the OODA loop.
If you are behind the curve, at condition yellow, then solid, practiced skill is your best hope, just like Earp has described.
A slow hit beats a quick miss every time.
Ever since cowboys first swaggered onto the silver screen, scientists have been struggling to solve a conundrum. Why do the bad guys always get shot in a gunfight when they’re the ones who reached for their guns first?
The Nobel laureate and quantum physicist Niels Bohr was so intrigued with the puzzle he came up with a theory: the one who draws second moves faster because he reacts without thinking.
Advertisement
Research by psychologists at Birmingham University has shown that Bohr was right, at least up to a point. In mock gunfights, volunteers were 10% faster when they drew second than when they made the first move.
One of the researchers, experimental psychologist Andrew Welchman, said our brains seem to be wired up in a way that makes reactions faster than conscious thought.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/feb/03/good-guys-draw-faster-gunfights