Cop shoots self by mistake

Why do you always have to say things are "that way in America" every time you're mentioning something negative?
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I doint see it as negative its an obversion on a different approache to the police responce to that type of situation here and in America, thats why i asked is it common practice part of training or up to the individual officer. There is no excuse for an N/D but the less times its out of the holster unnecessarily the less N/Ds. The incident in the video is a totally different sernio, they could see the the guy was armed so having the firearm out of a holster and ready would be common sense for the police in any country.
 
If I'm in that situation you outlined I better be able to improvise.
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Have you heard of the old police officers who stopped in the middle of a shooting to police their brass as they reloaded their revolvers? If you are going to train to look at your holster every time you holster you are almost certainly going to look when the adrenaline is flowing at levels normally unimaginable.

On approaching a vehicle with a gun drawn, I believe police here fall victim to the '24 hour news network effect' as much as the rest of us(likely also social media is at play). Every time an officer is killed anywhere in the country they hear about it and all of the details. Then there are all the DHS notices concerning threats like 'sovereign citizens.' They must have hundreds of scenarios running through their heads all the time. 50 years ago an officer in Florida would never hear about the death of an officer in California during a traffic stop. I bet officer deaths are way down for many reasons, but if you polled officers they would think they were up.
 
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Have you heard of the old police officers who stopped in the middle of a shooting to police their brass as they reloaded their revolvers? If you are going to train to look at your holster every time you holster you are almost certainly going to look when the adrenaline is flowing at levels normally unimaginable.
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I have heard those stories. I would argue that people can still adapt to a certain level. If they couldn't then in any number of stories people would be dead. Maybe I personally can't adapt. If the side effect of my decision is that in the event I have to scale a 6' wall with glass on the top that I die, then I guess that's a consequence I have to accept. Every decision has consequences. It's important to constantly evaluate your training decisions, but you can also second guess yourself into madness. Do what you will.
 
Have you heard of the old police officers who stopped in the middle of a shooting to police their brass as they reloaded their revolvers?
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Never heard of them doing that. Did hear the myth, oft repeated in several books, that an officer in the Newhall massacre pocketed his brass which lead to delays that resulted in his death, but that is an urban myth.
Newhall massacre? Urban myth.
https://americanhandgunner.com/new-info-on-newhall/
https://books.google.com/books?id=0...bIEBqY4ChDoAQgbMAA#v=onepage&q=pocket&f=false

Do you have a source for the story that says officers stopped and picked up their brass?
 
Whether true or not, it is oft repeated for a very good reason.
'Practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect'
'Train as you fight because you will fight as you train'
It holds true for anything. Do you want to argue a specific instance or the ethos?

"if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" and there would never ever be a reason to let go of that hammer until all the nails are firmly set.

You do what you want. It really doesn't make a difference to me and in the context of CCW in the USA, it probably doesn't make much of a difference to anyone. In law enforcement and general military, where one usually has an overwhelming force to begin with, it doesn't put one at much risk either. As in the linked article, if you wait until it is 4 or 6 officers against 2 looking down for a moment is not as big a deal, because you will still have 5 sets of eyes watching the target. If you are participating in a sport where there is really nothing being risked and there are a bunch of spectators around, then a different set of safety standards are observed. I've shot at ranges where it isn't permissible to draw from a holster in any fashion. I didn't tell the RO they were wrong.

I do wonder if one can even see the fold in a leather holster that catches the trigger when holstering.
 
I do wonder if one can even see the fold in a leather holster that catches the trigger when holstering.
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It should have been caught in your routine gear inspection before the holster ever went on.

It didnt get that way on the draw, unless its a junk holster and collapsed.

If somehow there is a fold in it, its probably because the shooter wasnt looking when they reholstered, and caught the edge, and created the problem. ;)
 
Love handle guys need to look down before re-holstering. I know because I'm one of them. There is no telling how many times I've drawn and re-holstered. I'm not a LEO and have never had to draw under stress (hopefully never will). But part of my training is to always inspect the holster mouth before holstering. In my case, its to easy to pull my shirt in while doing so. I don't know why the officer shot himself but either (2) things happened. He had his finger in the way or an obstruction was pulled into the holster with the gun. If the situation was controlled to the point were he felt he could holster the gun, then he had time to follow protocol by keeping the finger out of the trigger guard and making sure the holster was clear for safe re-holstering. It's clearly a training issue.
 
I did some looking around on this story and called the WDTV Channel 5 news desk. As is typical, they had no clue. But they were curious as to why I asked. I didn't go into detail, but called the Sisterville, W.Va., Police Department. I asked them what kind of pistols they carried in their department and the guy immediately wanted to know why. So I told him I'd read the news story and just wondered what kind of pistol the officer used when the discharge happened. He asked me which news outfit I worked for and then told me he couldn't tell me anything about the case. So I said, fine, can you just tell me what your standard-issue pistol is.

Well, the guy said he couldn't tell me, that I'd have to talk to the chief on Monday. Just to find out what the standard issue pistol was, I asked?

Yep.

I don't know why cops are like that. There's nothing that could get them in any trouble, no invasion of privacy...just the type pistol issued. Ah, well...the wicked flee when no man pursueth! But I'll find out what kind it was. In my view, all guns should have external safeties.
 
 
Maybe the Brits are on to something, eh?
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The British police are all armed here. :)

Officers are issued the Glock 17 pistol, phasing out the now considered obsolete Ruger Speed-Six revolvers previously issued. Previously long arms were routinely issued: either the Heckler & Koch MP5, Remington 870 shotgun or rifles such as Heckler & Koch G3s, G36Cs or HK33s which replaced Ruger AC-556 select fire rifles. Long arms are still routinely carried in areas of higher threat such as Derry Cityside, North and West Belfast or various border areas.
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I wonder why?
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Terrorists keep trying to murder them, thats why i asked the question regards approaching a car firearm out of holster in America. I doint see it here even with the dangers the police face.
 
manta49 said:
Terrorists keep trying to murder them, thats why i asked the question regards approaching a car firearm out of holster in America. I doint see it here even with the dangers the police face.
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Luckily there's no terrorism in America so it's not a concern here. Oh wait...
 
Outside of the UK, the police generally carry guns. The UK is the exception rather then the rule when it comes to Europe, and nobody is any less safe for it.
 
If you folks would like to ship your "obsolete" Ruger Speed Six's over here, we promise to give them a good home. The Australians sent us their S&W's.
 
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