You're right, you should wait for the police, because when seconds matter, the police are minutes away.

In what situation do you imagine a civilian legally using a gun for self-defense is not “panicked”?

Well, at a range, sometimes can't properly rack the slide and still hit everything I wanted to hit. I got used to doing lock/release instead due to that skill issue.

I probably spoke imprecisely. I meant rushed, which has a similar but different meaning than panicked.