Submitted for your perusal and edification, E-mail Blog report received from:
The Tactical Wire sponsored by Bushmaster
*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*
Editor's Notebook: The Unexpected "Bang"
By Rich Grassi
This pistol sits atop a carry bag by Safe Direction. The armor panel therein captures an unintentionally fired bullet during loading/unloading/dry practice. See Safe Direction at http://www.safedirection.com/.
I was just perusing the information on Dean Speir's part of the EOTAC Forum, a subforum called The Gun Zone. It's good to check in there periodically due to the high quality of the forum members. There was a posting about a 911 dispatcher who fired a 9mm inside her car while she was in a drive-through at a fast food place. It was alleged by the media that she was "checking the safety switch" when the gun "went off."
Other stories were quickly added. There was an officer from the same agency just a year ago who launched a round from a .40 Auto that was "under the pillow." A council person in South Carolina was "trying to clear the bullets out of the chamber of her .40 caliber gun . . . when it went off."
We can act superior about these lapses but we're not above them.
Recalling an email sent to The Tactical Wire on Friday, I went to the in-box. A reader sent along an August 17, 2006 LA Times story about a study they did on the Los Angeles Police Department. They found that between 1985 and the time of their investigation, over 350 accidental shootings by LAPD officers had been reported.
Yes, I added the "had been reported." I'm not sure how many actually occurred.
The paper included more than a dozen blue-on-blue (what media likes to refer to as "friendly fire") shootings.
They produced a few war stories, relating the circumstances under which these unintended, accidental and mostly negligent gunfire incidents occurred. It's obvious that some were intended to ridicule instead of instruct, like the story of an officer who fired a round into his girlfriend's leg while trying to get the cartridge out of the chamber. Why was he clearing the gun? To give her the cartridge "as a "memento" of their date."
When asked by the LA Times about the 161 officer injuries and the 350 ADs, LA Police Chief Bratton was reported to say, "I don't see it as a problem any more significant than other agencies might have, and maybe, in fact, less significant."
Well, maybe yes, maybe no. I'm trying to imagine being a police chief, serving at the pleasure of the mayor/city manager/governing body or whatever and telling the media, "Oh, cops screwing up with guns? That's no big deal!"
Then what is a big deal to you? Then we flip the coin.
According to lapdonline.org, there are 9,979 officers in the department. That's a lot of cops handling lots of guns over a lot of time. In spite of the "training," they don't handle guns near as much as they drive cars. Care to guess how many motor vehicle accidents they have?
As accidents go up, officers go to driver training. Follow along on this; these cops drive up to eight hours a day, every day. So a driving class that includes one or two days behind the wheel is going to have a positive impact?
Compare that to firearms "training." Due to ammo shortages and high prices - as well as a number of other issues - many police agencies train very little on firearms.
Is it any wonder there are gun accidents?
It's an appropriate time for a bit of reminder. If our SC county council person, a 911 dispatcher or an officer who sleeps with a pistol read this, digest the following bit of information - good information for all of us.
Rule One: All guns are loaded.
It's not sometimes, it's not "could be," "probably isn't," or "I could have sworn . . ." When a gun leaves your physical control and you take it back (like out of the console of a car), CHECK IT. If you clear it for a demonstration or to dryfire, follow the remaining rules! Even if it is temporarily devoid of ammunition, handle it as if there is ammo in it! If a gun is in your hands, you control it and you are responsible for anything that issues from the muzzle.
Rule Two: Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
We've been known to call this the "laser rule." Don't cover anything you can't repair, replace or bring back to life. Unless you are the deity, you can't bring anything back to life.
Rule Three: Keep your finger off the trigger until the muzzle is directed at the threat/target and you have formed the decision to fire.
Rule Four: Be sure of the target. Visually ensure it is something you want to shoot. Never shoot at anything you have not identified. Ensure there is nothing behind your target/the threat, in front or either side of it you don't want shot. Understand that walls in homes are not bullet absorbent. The bullet will pass through them. A safe direction is one that collects the bullet without allowing injury to persons.
These aren't "range rules." They are rules of life.
Could you still have an accident - be careless, have a brain fade? Sure, but if you've covered the bases, you won't injure anyone. You'll just be embarrassed.
