My opinion on Kirk...not that it matters.

[sir pball]

13. They were a good shot, but not a professional.

Throat shots aren't professional. Too unpredictable, and not immediate enough. A marksman trained to kill will aim for the brainstem, which is truly instant–the victim literally goes limp and drops like a marionette with the strings cut, no arching or spasming like we saw with Kirk. And the range was so comically close for someone of that skill, and the conditions so good, that there's no way they missed by two inches.

And if they were going for maximum gore/shock value rather than a clean kill, they'd have put it square in the side of his head…let's just say that would have made what we did see look downright G-rated in comparison.