"Red dot sights were not new in the late 1980s; they had been around. The first-generation Aimpoint Electronic was a red dot originally meant for rifles in the late 1970s.
However, in IPSC, Jerry Barnhart was the first to figure out how to use a subsequent model on a handgun. He showed up at the 1990 USPSA Nationals with a red dot sight and beat us so badly it was embarrassing.
Two months later, Doug Koenig mounted a scope on his gun, practiced with it and won the World Shoot with it that same year."
-gunsandammo