First the good news: handgun accidents are on the decline. The bad news: they still happen, often with tragic consequences.
An off duty cop in Eastchester, NY, was showing a friend the laser sight on his Glock 9mm handgun, and he accidentally shot the friend in the throat. The friend was pronounced dead at the hospital. Link.
Police department armorers like Glocks because, among other reasons, they have fewer parts than some other brands, and many people believe they are more reliable. But, they have a light trigger pull and no manual safety. In the Eastchester case the police officer was pointing the gun at his friend, and the police officer's finger must have been on the trigger. A Glock is very unforgiving of carelessness. So adherence to gun safety rules is a must.
Let's review Richard Fairburn's Causes and cures for the negligent discharge:
1. All guns are always loaded. (Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.)
2 Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. (For those who insist “this particular gun is unloaded,” see Rule 1.)
3. Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target. (This is the Golden Rule. Its violation is directly responsible for about 60 percent of inadvertent discharges.)
4. Identify your target, and what is behind it. (Never shoot at anything that you have not positively identified.) What I mean by the term negligent discharge (ND) is, a round fired from an officer’s weapon that they didn’t intend to fire. Several factors can enter into the causation of a ND, but they almost invariably involve mishandling on the officer’s part.
Finally, the photo of the handgun you see above was borrowed from lohud.com because of the neat way their CSI crew packed up that handgun. Looks like a very efficient way to store a handgun for evidence.
Thanks to Clif Sikes, CHL instructor and MPD Crime Analysis Supervisor, for the pointer.
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