How not to carry a gun.

[BillinPittsburgh]

An off duty police officer carrying a gun inside his waistband dropped the gun during a visit to the men's room, causing it to discharge twice as he fumbled to catch it, wounding one person.

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/irresistible/4401487/detail.html

[R9SCarry]

Hehe Bill - this one is all over the web today!!!

He obviously carried out that reflex of ''catch it'' - forgetting that the rule is to let it drop.  I do wonder tho how many of us would not reflexly make an attempt.  Heck - hate the thought of ''bruising'' any of my precious pieces.

[Wayne]

I was just impressed that someone at an auto auction actually washes his hands before leaving the men's room!  

Too bad he got shot . . .

[kerrynp5]

Musta grabbed the wrong barrel !

[FireBreather01]

Good thing it was in a bathroom - more than a few guys probably had to uhh... you know, clean out the backside!

[R9SCarry]

We have A/D - ''Accidental discharge''.

We have N/D - "Negligent discharge''

Now we have L/D - ''Lavatorial Discharge'' ..........  

[BillinPittsburgh]

Chris,

That is actually a rule I had never heard before.  The only rules I had heard were don't drop your guns and don't use holsters that don't hold the guns securely.

[R9SCarry]

IIRC Bill - the ''rule'' or call it if you will .... ''strong recommendation'' ... was put forth by Massad Ayoob.

Quote from someone else's comment on this on THR ...

[size=13]Mass Ayoob mentions this in one of his books and states that "you should never grab at a falling gun, that is why they have drop safeties."[/size]

[BillinPittsburgh]

Chris,

It is definitely a good point and maybe should be a rule.  I don't own a single handgun that would discharge if dropped in its normal safe and ready carry condition (long guns may be another story, they don't have the same safety features), although it does seem to be a risk with some older gun designs.  I'd be more concerned if the gun had an external cocked hammer with no safety on safe when dropped.

I've read of potential problems with Walther PPK's and clones, Makarovs, first generation (2-digit model number) S&W autos, and some older DA revolvers.  I have also read stories of people about 150 years ago accidently shooting each other while passing a gun (in one case a pepperbox) between them.

[DDGator]

I think this is covered by Rule #3 -- don't put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot...

This guy apparently grabbed for the gun and got his finger inside the trigger guard.  I would guess that the recoil or the flinch or whatever caused the second shot while something was still inside the trigger guard.

I dropped a loaded gun... Once. A Kahr PM9.  I was trying to put on an IWB holster, with the gun in it and it flopped over and dumped the gun out onto by closet floor.  Since then, I only use IWB holsters that are reinforced/don't collapse and I put the holster on first -- then insert the gun.

[BillinPittsburgh]

I am generally not happy with the retention of a belt or IWB holster unless I can turn the holster upside down and shake it moderately without the (unloaded) gun coming out for at least the first few shakes.

My Blade-Tech and Sidearmor IWB holsters and Kramer belt scabbards easily pass this test even after much use and borderline abuse.

[DDGator]

I agree than an IWB holster still has to have some retention to it, but for some of my holsters that retention is created in part by the belt and pants once cinched in place.

[gr8guns]

That could be the experience of the officer in question.  He relied on the tension of his closed belt to help retain the gun.  

Now, he goes into the stall and wants to open his belt, but the holster will flip over and drop his gun.  What does he do? Does he take his gun out? Does he hold it in one hand and do the rest with his other hand? Does he put the gun down and maybe forget it, knock it off, or kick it? Does he put it into another pocket?  Which other pocket? His pants are loose and down around his knees.  If he holds the gun, now he must rebuckle his belt with one hand, or assist the process with a hand full of gun.

The article is no longer there, but there are a lot of ways to drop a gun in a bathroom stall, including just forgetting that your gun will fall out. Yep, a gun retention mechanism on the holster is important. An anti-grab thumb break might not be a bad idea.


  

[bobnearpittsburgh]

Hi BillinPittsburgh!  I saw the article too - pretty embarrassing. Where in Pittsburgh are you?

bobnearpittsburgh  (oakdale)