Posted on 05/10/2015 9:58:40 AM PDT by re_tail20
Timothy Stansbury died in a New York housing project stairwell in 2004 because he startled a police officer. The officer's surprise at encountering Stansbury caused the officer's hand to clench and his weapon to fire. The death was ruled accidental by a grand jury, though the officer was later stripped of his gun for the remainder of his career.
Akai Gurley died in another New York housing project stairwell last fall. A rookie officer with his finger on the trigger of his pistol tensed as he pushed open a stuck door; the added pressure on the trigger caused his weapon to fire a shot down the stairwell. The round ricocheted off the wall to strike Gurley. Though the shot wasn't intentional and the officer didn't even know Gurley was there, the death has been ruled a criminal homicide, and the officer's trial is pending.
In both of these incidents, the police officers were using the same weapon, a Glock: a polymer-frame, striker-fired pistol with a short trigger pull and no external safeties.
It's a popular handgun for law enforcement in New York and beyond. The Los Angeles Police Department has a number of firearms approved for use, including nine Glock models. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department recently began issuing new recruits the Smith & Wesson M&P, a handgun with a short trigger pull that operates in much the same way.
Glock uses the marketing term “Safe Action” to describe its firing-pin system, but the truth is that Glocks are accident-prone. They contributed to more than 120 accidental discharges in the Washington Metropolitan Police Department from 1988 to 1998. Anecdotes of increased accidental shootings have followed the pistol for more than 30 years wherever it has been adopted by police officers and citizens alike...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Glock’s ‘’Safe Action’’ isn’t very safe. I am very leery of it.
Teaching proper gun etiquette would be an excellent use of public funds for police training. One NEVER puts one’s finger on the trigger unless there is deliberate intent to fire.
Teach your officers to keep their finger off the trigger. Cooper safety rule #3.
I’n sure that the LAT would prefer flintlocks for the police.
From my perspective the vast majority of local police are poorly trained in firearms. This is aggravated by the fact that almost all now carry high capacity semi-auto, which require a great deal more training to handle safely and shoot in crisis situations without recourse to the “spray and pray” method. I have never seen any evidence suggesting there was/is a compelling reason for most cops to carry those kinds of guns.
1911s doing it better for over 100 years. In a critical situation you can carry it cocked and locked. A flick of the thumb makes it ready fire.
below link = “The Gospel According to John Moses Browning”
http://www.frfrogspad.com/jmb.htm
These cops were never properly trained in the use of their weapon.That,or they’re incompetent or careless.
Guns don’t discharge by themselves.
All these cases required someone to have their finger on the trigger which is firearms safety 101.
These are good guns, you don’t want a safety on a self defense weapon.
Why The Los Angeles Times Should Release its Tape of Obama With Rashid Kalidi
I have several, never shot myself or anything else accidentally. Perhaps you need a slingshot.
Some departments add a NY trigger that is harder than the factory 5.5lbs trigger pull. Most striker fired pistols have similar trigger pulls, more than an SA trigger and less than a DA trigger.
DA revolvers in SA mode (cocked) have lighter triggers, but in DA mode, many are over 12lbs. Revolvers don’t have external safeties. They do have a much lower capacity.
DA/SA pistols have two trigger positions, cocked and locked and single action. On many, the 1st shot uses a heavy trigger pull and subsequent shots are SA very light.
A lot of folks chose Glocks because they are nearly as simple as revolvers. Under immediate threat with all kinds of things going thru your mind, all you have to do with a Glock or most revolvers is pull the trigger. Many guns you have to remember whether you used the decocker or the safety or some other lever.
Glocks are just plain simple, but it does have dangers you have to respect. Think of it as a semi auto revolver with a high cap mag and a fairly light trigger.
Keep your bugger hook off the bang button.
Firearms advice from the LA Times is like legal advce from Eric Holder.
When they do it it’s ‘accidental’.
When we do it it’s ‘negligent’.
/s
-to plagiarize posters in the past "keep your booger-hooks off the bang switch until you intend to shoot"--
Many years ago I repaired police radios. As such, by policy and for whatever warped reason, I was required to attend one of the police academy’s safety classes.
The police captain who held the class had written on the blackboard and said, “NO MAGNUM!” as his very first statement. He went on to explain that an officer was in the parking lot of a supermarket where a robbery had just been committed. He was standing between the rows of cars as the ‘getaway car’ approached him at high speed. He took out his .357 Magnum and shot the driver. The police captain explained that the getaway driver’s arm was almost torn off and that is why no Magnums were allowed.
I then raised my hand. He acknowledged me, I suppose, because he thought that I was going to ask a question.
I said, “Under the circumstances and I had been in that same situation, I would have aimed for the driver’s neck in the hope that it would tear off his head!” Everyone laughed but I was dead serious. He dropped the subject because everyone had laughed.
On second thought, I would have hoped that I had a bazooka instead of simply a .357 Magnum.
Accidents happen. I understand that but when faced with a life-threatening situation, no gun is ‘too large’ or ‘too powerful’ or ‘too light on the trigger’.
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