Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Officer accidently shoots himself

Wonder if it was a Glock: http://www.wral.com/cumberland-deputy-wounded-when-gun-accidentally-fires/11723604/

Just wondering....

I'll bet it was certainly a striker-fired semi-auto that wasn't in a holster that covered the trigger.

Too bad.

No doubt, the trigger is what make em go bang so ya gotta make sure it don't move till ya want it to.

Sounds like the gun did what it was suppose to do. The trigger gets pulled and the gun goes bang. Too bad it had to happen to him though.

Lesson one never place a load striker fired weapon in a bag full of other chit with it moving and bouncing around. The pistol worked fine , pull the trigger it fires.

There's nothing at all wrong with the traditional DA auto design where the first shot is DA and the rest SA. It is about as simple to operate, yet idiot proof as they've come up with yet.

On the other hand, the officer was negligent and broke at least 3 gun safety rules. One wonders how many times he had performed this same drill and got away with it. A cavalier attitude toward safe gun handling yields sad stories like this. No one is immune. Certainly not me.

Are you sure the weapon was a double action semi auto, not a striker fire (like a Glock)

Cumberland county uses Glock .40s. Verity depends on job.

Thanks.....

The guy is a Major in the Corrections Division; chances are the only time he shoots is when he has to qualify.

Yep.

Almost certainly that long and heavy double action pull would have prevented this from happening.

shoulda had an xd with the grip safety.

OR a 1911, HK USP, etc

None of which, IMHO, excuse poor (unsafe) handling. Cross Pen Syndrome is unacceptable.

George

I'm of the "if it can possibly go wrong, it will to me" mindset. Take all the mechanical "safe" mechanisms of the 1911 and throw said semi in a bag of misc. schit without a holster. My running shoe would knock the thumb safety off while the grip got pinned agains my Kindle. From there it's as simple as a pen through the trigger guard.....

Highly unlikely, absolutely. Impossible.....I'd rather not find out.

George

Or a 1911, or a double action revolver, or even a traditional double action auto. All would be safer in such a circumstance. Ideally, though, no loaded handgun with a hot chamber should be carried that way.

How about not loading it until he actually holstered it? It's doing him no good in a bag full of loose goodies anyway.

DITTOS! Me too!

On the contrary. I'm making the assumption it was a striker/ mechanically assisted type of trigger. Course it could have been a SA that had the safety bumped off in the bag too. Either way it was "cocked (to some degree or another)and unlocked".

The type of action is not as important to me as the careless gun handling that preceded the loud noise. I don't believe ANY loaded handgun would be "safe" if handled in the way portrayed in the article.

1) Was the muzzle pointed in a safe direction?

2) Was the magazine and action cleared before the firearm was "stored"?

3) Did he keep his finger, or in this case foreign material, out of the trigger guard until ready to shoot?


If he had followed any ONE of these simple rules, he would have avoided the incident no matter what type of action his particular handgun featured. Gun safety is a state of mind, and a conscious decision to abide by a few simple rules EVERY TIME.

This man should have been issued a framing hammer.