WHY WE SHOOT AFTER THE BUZZER

Shooters participating in competitive shooting sports often have two audible signals they must contend with. The first is the signal to start shooting, while the second is to stop shooting. Of course, there are penalties for shooting before the start signal as well as after the stop signal. It's also worth noting that these stop and start signals are not necessarily audible; they could be visual, such as when targets turn or otherwise appear and disappear.

I believe hunters contend with "stop shooting" signals as well, which I've encountered in my own hunting excursions. No, there are no buzzers in the hunting fields, but there certainly are disappearing targets. For example, on two occasions last winter, I put the crosshairs on a coyote, and as they settled on my quarry, my brain told my finger to press the trigger. However, the stationary coyotes I was shooting at decided to flee just then, and I couldn't stop my trigger squeeze in time. In both examples, a 55-grain Hornady V-Max bullet smacked into a hillside precisely where a coyote used to be standing.

It's obvious we all have a reaction time that delays our response to a start-shooting signal, but there's also a reaction time involved that delays our response to a stop-shooting signal. It's why hunters fire shots after the animal has already left, and why competition shooters fire shots after the stop buzzer sounds.

A lot of research has been done to determine human reaction times to a start stimulus, and there are even fun little apps available for smartphones that allow people to test their own abilities. It's pretty much settled that the average reaction time to begin doing something is about 0.25 seconds, with young people usually demonstrating a faster time than old folks. However, all the tests I've seen measure starting response, not stopping response. It was only recently that I came across a pair of studies that measured how long it takes to stop doing something, and it turns out the researchers measured how long it takes to stop shooting. No, the researchers weren't interested in how long it takes a competitor to stop shooting after a stop-shooting signal; the researchers were interested in how long it takes a police officer to stop shooting after the threat no longer exists. I suspect we're all aware of the microscope under which any law enforcement shooting gets put these days, with no shortage of lawyers offering to sue government agencies and employees for excessive use of force. A common scenario is an offender shot in the back, something which can result from an officer's inability to stop shooting immediately when the criminal turns from facing the officer with a weapon to spinning about to flee.

One of the studies tested 102 experienced police officers who were told to stop shooting at a target when a green light illuminated. The average time to stop shooting was 0.29 seconds after the stop shooting signal, with an average of 1.06 rounds fired after the signal. The second study tested 113 untrained civilians in a shooting simulator. Again, the signal to stop shooting was a light that indicated they should stop. The average time to stop shooting was 0.36 seconds, with an average of 2.18 shots fired after the stop shooting signal.

It's worth remembering that these tests happened in a controlled laboratory-like environment. There were no distractions, there was limited stress and adrenaline involved, and no intense focus on delivering bullets precisely to a target. I think there's little doubt these factors can extend how long it takes to stop shooting in the real world.

Study authors suggested there are at least three cognitive and physiological contributors to the delay we experience in stopping shooting.

Stop-Signal Reaction Time (SSRT): This is the time it takes to suppress an already initiated action. Once the "go" process reaches a certain stage—especially under stress—it may be too late for the stop process to interrupt it. Even a clear decision to stop firing can result in additional rounds being discharged.

Psychological Refractory Period (PRP): The brain can only process one stimulus response pairing at a time. If the decision to fire is still being processed, the decision to stop gets queued behind it.

Motor Execution Delay: Even after the brain makes the decision to stop, the body still must carry out the command—a process that can take 100–300 milliseconds depending on muscle engagement and biomechanical constraints."

So, the next time you fire a shot after the stop-shooting buzzer sounds, or like me, shoot at an animal that's no longer there, you now know why it happened. It takes time to stop shooting. Here's a link for further reading on the mentioned studies: Time To Stop