[jabl]

I vaguely recall reading somewhere about some study where they found out that when the police fire their pistols, at a range of 5 meters they hit about 50% of the time.

Having spent a fair amount of time in my youth shooting with a BB pistol in my parents garage, I find the above statistic entirely believable. Shooting a pistol accurately is much more difficult than it looks, so I can certainly imagine that in a high stress situation where your own life may be on the line you'll make simple mistakes that cause you to miss..

[ekianjo]

even with a rifle, in a stable position, shooting a moving target is extremely hard while popular culture makes it look trivial.

[jabl]

Over here moose hunting is quite popular; to keep their moose hunting license every hunter needs to pass a test (every year, IIRC) that involves hitting a moving target.

Most hunters pass this test without much difficulty. Of course, on the range the distance is known (100m, IIRC), and the target moves at a constant and known speed, so one knows how much lead is needed. Still, AFAIU in the wild the results are decent.

[pps43]

On the other extreme, top Steel Challenge competitors can consistently shoot 5 different targets in 2 seconds, starting with hands above shoulders.

[azernik]

Most of those officers can do pretty well on the range, too. Problem is, adrenaline plays hell with fine motor skills - there are even specific techniques for reloading that I've been taught that require only gross motor skills, because that's all you'll have in an emergency situation.