The assassin had two derringer guns. The first one misfired at point blank range, and Jackson became enraged, and just as he was about to beat the crap out of him, the assassin whiped out the second gun and fired again. The second gun also misfired. Then Jackson started beating him over the head with his cane, knocking him to the ground.
After the attack, Vice President Martin Van Buren began carrying guns with him whenever he went to the Senate.
On an interesting side note, the odds of both guns misfiring was calculated by later historians to be one out of 125,000.
Reagan didn't manage to dodge in time. He was shot in the chest.
See for yourself:
http://www.townhall.com/hall_of_fame/reagan/shot1.mov
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