The "keep your finger off the trigger" doctrine was well-entrenched before 2000, but in a study of 267 shootings by the FBI, ATF, DEA, and US Marshals Service between 2000 and 2003, more than 5% were determined to be unintentional discharges during enforcement operations. If we narrow it down to the portion of shootings that were during enforcement operations, unintentional discharges accounted for 13%. Of the total number of shootings, 33% were unintentional discharges during non-enforcement activities like training, cleaning, and routine everyday tasks. This data was provided by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General.
Total number of shooting incidents: 267
Total number of shootings at suspects during enforcement: 105
Total number of unintentional discharges during enforcement: 14
Total number of unintentional discharges during non-enforcement activities: 88
Why wasn't the "finger off the trigger" mantra working all those times?
The IG's report only gives the data accounting for the cause of the discharges. While the number of unintentional discharges during non-enforcement activities is high, consider how much more time is included in non-enforcement activities. Those 88 discharges occurred over the course of more than 100 million man-hours. The 14 discharges during enforcement activities occurred over the much, much smaller fraction of time that guns are drawn on suspects.
The rate of unintentional discharges during enforcement to non-enforcement activities is 16%. Do we really think FBI, ATF, DEA agents and US Marshals spend fully 16% of their life in enforcement activities (essentially guns-out on suspects)?
It would seem that during these highly stressful activities, the probability of an unintentional discharge goes way, way up. A manual safety alone is not likely to prevent this because it will be switched off. It seems that something in addition to the manual safety and in addition to "finger off the trigger" training is needed to reduce the incidence of unintentional discharges in lethal-force incidents.
Total number of shooting incidents: 267
Total number of shootings at suspects during enforcement: 105
Total number of unintentional discharges during enforcement: 14
Total number of unintentional discharges during non-enforcement activities: 88
Why wasn't the "finger off the trigger" mantra working all those times?
The IG's report only gives the data accounting for the cause of the discharges. While the number of unintentional discharges during non-enforcement activities is high, consider how much more time is included in non-enforcement activities. Those 88 discharges occurred over the course of more than 100 million man-hours. The 14 discharges during enforcement activities occurred over the much, much smaller fraction of time that guns are drawn on suspects.
The rate of unintentional discharges during enforcement to non-enforcement activities is 16%. Do we really think FBI, ATF, DEA agents and US Marshals spend fully 16% of their life in enforcement activities (essentially guns-out on suspects)?
It would seem that during these highly stressful activities, the probability of an unintentional discharge goes way, way up. A manual safety alone is not likely to prevent this because it will be switched off. It seems that something in addition to the manual safety and in addition to "finger off the trigger" training is needed to reduce the incidence of unintentional discharges in lethal-force incidents.