A laser will not take the place of basic marksmanship skills, i. e., trigger control. If one jerks on the trigger, he will miss whether using a laser or any other method of indexing on the target. However --
A few years ago, I was at Gunsite for a rifle class. But most of the instructors were sporting Crimson Trace Laser Grips on their sidearms. So I spent some time talking with several about them. The story as I recall was as follows:
- The Gunsite instructional staff was in the process of evaluating the use of lasers on self defense guns.
- For someone well trained and practiced in the use of a flash sight picture, a laser was slower.
- But a laser is definitely useful in situations in which one can not readily index on the target in other ways, e. g., shooting from behind cover or unconventional positions in which one can't get a sight picture.
- So they have their uses.