You only mentioned one in your post:
And then seemed to base your opinion on that one, and not being able to see the dot on target. It sounds like basic target shooting stance, not one that you'd often have time to attain in a RL self-defense situation.
Here's the thing. With the laser under the weapon, I can't see the dot if I'm looking over the top of the weapon with it pointed at the target, because the gun is in the way. To see the laser dot, I have to break the alignment of my hands/arms and eyes, which is contrary to decades of training and experience.
Even if I'm shooting one-handed (which I do practice some), SOP is to raise the weapon to eye level if possible.
There are very few circumstances I foresee where I would be unable to do this, unless the subject were very close as in CQB, as in less then ten feet away, in which case I don't really need sighted fire to hit him near COM. In CQB I use one of three body-index positions to shoot without being able to sight over the weapon. Those are the only conditions I think a laser would likely be useful, but at such close range I have little need of a laser to achieve hits COM.
NOW having said that... yes CQB is very possible in self-defense situations. Most shootings occur at less than 7 yards, and many if not most at less than 7 feet. However the question arises of whether many of those CQB shootings (7' and less) happened that way because the shooter was able to close the distance unopposed (no opposing fire) or because the defender/victim failed to become aware of the threat until the attacker was on top of him/her. Most of the hot mess situations I've been in, I became aware of the possible threat well outside CQB range. Now, when I say "possible threat" I don't mean a
shootable threat, necessarily... but in such circumstances I took steps to avoid closing with the threat, by changing directions or putting something between us, or stopping and locking eyes while verbalizing a suitable challenge as to why they were approaching me.
Well, that's what I've done when armed. On occasions where I didn't have a gun, and total avoidance wasn't feasible, instead I closed up on them quickly where I could employ HTH skills if they started to deploy a weapon.
Using awareness, eye contact, verbalization, and tactical movement/positioning to control the distance is part of how I handle potential threats. Letting someone possibly threatening too close is very dangerous; if they capture the initiative at such a range they may remain inside your OODA loop and you may never catch up.
Am I addressing your point or are you referring to something else?
