About 20 years ago, when there was an outbreak of shootings in the metro, The Des Moines Register ran a list of tips suggesting what people should do if they were caught in the crossfire.

One of the tips was duck and find cover.

This list generated a lot of laughter, both in and out of the newsroom, because the advice was seemingly so obvious that it engendered a, "No, duh" response.

These days, though, "duck and cover" is out of fashion.

Earlier this month, Gov. Terry Branstad signed sweeping changes to Iowa gun laws that include expanding the so-called "stand your ground" laws.

As standout Register Statehouse reporter Brianne Pfannenstiel writes, the new law says you don't have to duck and cover or run away.

Instead, if a person is "any place where the person is lawfully present," they may defend themselves with deadly force.

Further, the law says "a person may be wrong in their estimation of danger or about how much force is necessary 'as long as there is a reasonable basis for the belief … and the person acts reasonably in response to that belief,'" Pfannenstiel reported.

I wish Polk County Attorney John Sarcone and his colleagues the best of luck figuring out how to interpret what a "reasonable basis for belief" of someone feeling they're in danger.

I'll use an example from my own life. I used to walk a 3-mile loop in my parents' east Des Moines neighborhood. Periodically, I crossed paths with a woman who was also out walking.

Every time the woman saw me, she crossed to the other side of the street. I understand that. She didn't know me.

I'm 6-foot-4. I'm heavy. And, especially in the fall, it was getting dark out.

While most violence, including rape and homicide, is committed between people who already know each other, the woman was being cautious. I was a large man she didn't know at twilight.

Better safe than sorry.

I tried to keep an eye out for people around me, but I was also listening to my workout mix cassette tapes (yeah, I'm that old). On hills, sometimes I put my head down and gritted through the climb.

What if I was walking at a fast clip and happened to come up behind this woman or bump into her?

It seems to me the way that law is written, she could shoot me dead, and the law, as written, would say she was free to go.

This is far-fetched, of course. The lady I remember was white, just like me. She is far more likely to get off in the court system if she shot and killed a black man.

A study from the Urban Institute found homicides involving a white perpetrator and a black victim are 281 percent more likely to be justified by courts than those involving a white perpetrator and a white victim.

Not a lot changes for law enforcement in these situations.

Whether suspects are armed or not, police always must figure out who the aggressor is in situations from domestic disputes to bar fights and try to de-escalate the scene before it becomes deadly.

Russell Rigdon is the legal instructor at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, a lawyer by trade who instructs Iowa sheriff's deputies and community police in state law.

He believes people react instinctually in threatening situations.

"I don't think the changes in the law will encourage people to act in a way that they wouldn't normally have," Rigdon said.

So, in theory, the woman in my old neighborhood would still cross the street if she felt threatened, rather than open fire. I would still hit the deck or look for cover.

But there is a section of the population, and I don't know how big it is, who want these laws.

It is almost as if they're itching for a conflict in which they can finally shoot and kill someone and get away with it.

In fairness to my gun-toting friends, of whom I have many, the state didn't turn into a shooting gallery when lawmakers forced sheriffs to issue handgun and conceal and carry permits to most people about a decade ago.

But there is a philosophical shift that goes along with these kinds of laws, said Polk County Sheriff Bill McCarthy.

"It's a difficult thing for a lot of people to do — to back down," McCarthy said. "There has to be a common-sense approach to problems. There has to be de-escalation. That's what we've evolved with, and it's worked well."

But this is America. In this country, almost anyone can own a gun, like it or not — and, for the record, I don't.

There is so much empty, macho bravado in carrying a gun and pretending that you would be able to stop a dangerous situation, to intervene in a crime or shoot and kill someone.

We spend months training police officers and members of our military how to use deadly force, and they often struggle with it.

I don't care how many paper targets private gun owners perforated, they are not as ready as they think they are to take a life, even when their own is threatened.

But this is the law in Iowa now. You can kill someone if you have a "reasonable basis for belief" that you are threatened. You can even be wrong.

"How do you measure the success of 'stand your ground?'" asked Dana Wingert, the Des Moines police chief. "Maybe good guys with guns kill bad guys with guns. You still have more people shooting and killing other people.

"I don't see how that's good for anybody."

Maybe that "duck and cover" advice wasn't so damn funny after all.

Daniel P. Finney, the Register's Metro Voice columnist, is a Drake University alumnus who grew up in Winterset and east Des Moines. Reach him at 515-284-8144 or dafinney@dmreg.com. Twitter: @newsmanone.