Three Year Old Shoots Father with Glock

Cop shot by 3 years old son

Guys,

Remember, treat all guns as if loaded. Murphy's law would dictate that whatever weakness a gun has that is the area around which incidents/accidents will occur. For e.g. AD with BHP whilst decocking, AD with Glock because finger on trigger. For those of you who have been in a real gunfight you will appreciate that it is very difficult to keep your finger off the trigger due to the 'Fear or flight' syndrome. For me at home I have a clearing pit right next to my safe and always keep, load, unload, handle etc. the pistol in that area.

Practice becomes perfect.
 
:rolleyes:
I believe it confirms my belief that Glocks are less safe than some other pistols. I do not believe this accident would have happened if the officer had done the same things with a Ruger with the safety on, for example. The existence of the manual safety and the heavy double action trigger would have made the accident less likely.
Click to expand...

Less likely.. maybe.. but impossible??? Did the Glock jump out of the holster?? If not, then the kid had pretty good hand strength to remove it from a duty holster don't you think? I think you're trying to justify your choice in firarm or trying to stir the pot a bit. Leaving any gun un-attended for any length of time is the most UNSAFE act one can do reguardless of it's firing mechanism. I feel for the wife and the little boy, but not for the stupidity of the father..

Rick
 
It doesn't matter what type of gun. If you do a search on this forum, their was a story about a child that shot his grandpa in the back. As far as I know it was not a Glock.
 
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I love Glocks but they are MILITARY firearms meant for soldiers to use in warfare and are not well suited to use by poorly/untrained operators who will have the weapon in an environment where unauthorized user might be able to gain access to the weapon.I personally do not surrender control of my weapon until it is secured.

The best method I have found for securing my Glock is the Ghost Block.
ghostnew.jpg


I believe that the addition of a manual safety might be useful for novices as well.
MVC-007S.JPG
 
The type of gun it is, is highly irrelevant. Period. You can bring up "less likely" "what if" or "Sh*t happens" regarding the style of gun, trigger, action etc...the point is the LEO broke a cardinal rule.
He paid for it ultimately, but fear his price was paid alot quicker than that of his wife and his poor son.

Gun safety MUST be taught to kids who live in a gun friendly household and must be practiced by the teacher....YOU!

This story hit HOME with me. My kids, 5 and 7, are very gun smart. I have my CCW on me and at night in my night stand
drawer. My other weapons are in a safe, locked and secure.
My kids know about guns, not only because I have a loaded gun
with me all of the time, but just in case. You tell me for sure where and when your kids will find/have access to a loaded gun and how they will react! My 5 year old daughter knows where the trigger guard, mag release and firing pin are on my guns. She knows how to tell if they are loaded or not, she wont even check without my help. She doesnt take my word for it...she knows I am not perfect and has to see for herself. My son is
the guru. He can field strip my CZ Compact as fast as I can, if
I take the pin out for him.......................................................
The have a learned respect for guns and what they are capable of. They learned gun safety from me and I am very proud to say I practice what I preach. My kids mean too damn much to me not too. Some people may not agree with what I have done with my kids regarding guns and safety. Better to know too much than too little. Shoot well and I wish the son/mother peace.
 
As reported by FLORIDA TODAY (Brevard County Edition) from the ASSOCIATED PRESS...

"NASHVILLE, Tenn -- A rookie Police Officer was shot to death by his 3-year-old son in front of his pregnant wife after the boy grabbed his father's gun off the kitchen table. He was taking off his duty equipment and laid his gun on the kitchen table. Apparently while he had his back turned and was talking to his wife, their 3-year-old picked the gun up and shot him, Smyrna Sgt. Ken Hampton said."
""This officer had just gotten home. He was getting settled, and in the process took the pistol out of the holster and put it on the table."

I guess I'd like to make three points here...

1) This was a tragic accident! Was it avoidable? Of course! Most accidents are when you exercise "hind-sight" (which is always "20-20).

2) The Glock DID NOT SHOOT Officer Haffner! The young Officer was shot by his 3-year-old son.

3) There is not a gun manufacturer that can advertise that one of their guns has NEVER BEEN INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE!

All of this being said...the bottom line... KEEP YOUR WEAPON (WEAPONS) SECURE AT ALL TIMES!

BE SAFE!!
 
Well of course the usual cliches apply to this tragedy. But ask yourself this: if this had been a 1911 or BHP or any SA and had been left cocked and unlocked (as the glock essentially was) I don't think people would have been saying that the condition in which it was left was not complicit in the accident. Not the entire story but complicit. Of course you would say that the shooting was a tragedy, that the officer was careless (or worse) but you would also all be saying that if the 1911 had the external trigger safety on this would not have happened. You know that you would. The fact that the Glock does not have an external safety or a "Visible external hammer" does not alter that fact does it?

It's not a matter of blaming the pistol for the shooting. It's a matter of naming all contributing factors.

As far as blaming the officer....We all do things that in retrospec seem foolish. How many thmes have you said if I only hadn't done such and such.

PigPen
 
I have three year old (actually three and a half) at home. He's bright, curious and incredibly quick. To leave any weapon unsecured is an accident waiting to happen. I can see how it could happened--not to justify it but to understand it. That being said, he has been thoroughly taught leave them alone and not touch them. At the same time they are not mysterious to him--he has gone "shooting" with me and has "helped" me clean them, but I will definitely not leave a handgun unsecured around him no matter how briefly.

Now, for the hard part. I have no doubt he could pick up and fire any Glock with 3.5 or 5.5 connector (maybe even a NY1) in a heartbeat--an adult would not have time to react. I do not think he could discharge any revolver or DAO pistol without some "fumble" time--buying so time to intervene. I think a traditional DA/SA pistol with the safety engaged would buy an adult even more time to react. I do not think he could pick up and fire a 1911 at this stage.

The bottom line is it was a tragic accident caused by a moment of carelessness/irresponsiblity on the officer's part. (One of the article's mentioned he was a rookie officer--I really wonder how familiar/well-trained he himself was and where his ballistic vest was.) But the nasty truth is the Glock's light trigger pull and lack of a manual safety did play a part in the incident.
 
Well I think the word "Rookie" says alot and makes it sound like maybe they didn't stress "safety" on and off duty enough, although you can't teach common sense but you can try to drill some sense in their heads. I was a police officer in DC, we carried Glocks, I never even had a close call with it, but there were many who did have "Neglegent" discharges. Kids have been accidently shooting each other and adults probably since guns were invented. Glocks are great guns ,although I don't think they're for a novice, and unfortunately alot of officers are from day one to retirement novices. I've seen people litteraly have to be threatened with suspension if they didn't get to the range and re-qual. Yes that is sad, and it's also sad that re-qual in most places dosen't include safety a refresher.
Our FOP issued a combo lock box, maybe more PD's need to look at this as a vital part of issued safety equipment, I mean the public they are sworn to protect includes the officer and his family!
 
The more I sit and think of this the more saddened I am. But it has me thinking, and anyone whos still active with a pd out there I have an Idea for you to take to your range instructors and academy personell.
What if they issued Duty belts and "dummy" guns to cadets in the academy and made them carry them and observe all the propper safety precautions from day one, and say after a couple of weeks of training if you commit a "gun safety" violation you get washed back, just like failing an academic exam. It's pretty obvious that something more needs to be done about this issue besides just try to make the gun more idiot proof, we need to train the people more.
 
(1)Reliable,(2)inexpensive,(3)and proven

As many has said,our prayers got out to the surviving members of this family.
The issue is 2/3rds of the police forces in the country use GLOCKs.Because of the 3 basic reasons.
If to say they were required Walther P99 in .40sw you would be hearing more Walther horror stories than Glock horror stories.Walther is just as reliable as Glock.Cost wise Depts can't afford the Walther over the cost of the Glock.
It's not the problem of the weapon,it did what it was designed to do.The problem lies in the owner,poor storage conditions.
If 2/3rds of the country drove VW's than VW would be portrayed as a faulty vehicle,oppoused as to how the car was driven.
Rehash a different story,or a different gun.
It was a Glock G22, not a M22.
SAFE-SHOOTING!
 
I'm no Glock fan, but...

like Powderman, I smell a rat! I have neither a Glock, nor a Level III holster for it, buy from what I do know, I doubt that a three year old could have drawn the gun and fired it.

Sorry, but I'd have to turn a jaundiced eye toward his wife.
 
Here in CA, had he lived, the officer could have been charged with leaving a firearm accessible to a minor who subsequently used it in a crime.
 
First of all I just want to say the whole incident was very, very sad and terribly upsetting. That said, why don't the Glock enthusiests of the world just wake up and smell the damn roses.
We don't live in a perfect world. People make mistakes and do stupid things (like the officer did). Why tread on such a fine line? Why jump out of a perfectly good airplane? Why try to sneak across a lowered railroad crossing gate?
An un-holstered Glock is an accident waiting to happen. Hell, I might as well leave my S&W M13, COCKED, just layin' around the house. There's absolutely no difference between it and a Glock.
As a matter of fact, all the damn Glock's should be rounded up and shipped back to Gaston so he could produce a safer pistol. Glock's are UNSAFE and it's been proven. Have a nice day:) I'm sure his widow isn't:(
 
It finally struck me that the light Glock trigger was a factor in the shooting, because a 3 year old could pull it. HOWEVER, a heavier DA trigger might have stopped a 3 year old, but NOT a 5 year old.

Guns should not be made like aspirin bottles. A child proof gun is too likely to be an adult proof gun as well.

Maybe a true heavy trigger DAO would give the best margin of error for idiots. No light trigger to AD on, no decocker or safety to forget to apply. But that would make it only a hair less dangerous in clumsy hands.
 
If the pistol would have been a S&W5906 the incident wouldn't have happened....If the pistol would have been a Beretta M92 the incident wouldn't have happened....If the handgun would have been a S&W M19 the incident wouldn't have happened.
If the pistol was a "cocked and unlocked 1911" the incident would have happened regardless.
The only good Glock is a "chamber empty" Glock......
 
A gun is not 'safe' or 'unsafe' depending on the position of some lever. Life is dangerous. A gun is a gun. This poor guy put his loaded weapon on the table in front of an unauthorized person (a mometary lapse of reason with permanent consequences) and paid the sad price.

Welcome to planet Earth. We ride motorcycles here.

Glocks do not have a manual safety. Therefore, we do not put them down in front of children and turn our backs.

To paraphrase Tamara: "This ain't Nerf world......yet."

- Gabe
 
No one can say for sure this would not have happend with a different pistol,to do so is just stupid.The officer did not retain control of a loaded pistol,the pistol should not have been left on the table unattended.My prayers go out to his family.
 
Absolom: If we lived and functioned in a perfect world the Glock would be perfectly safe. Well, guess what, that's not the case.
This "incident" is not a minor happening. It's a glaring example how damn dangerous the Glock pistol really is.
The officer's stupidity didn't kill him, a three year old child with a Glock did. Think about it....what does a three year old do when they pick up a pistol? Toy or otherwise? They pull the damn trigger. He'd be here today if it wasn't for a damn Glock!
 
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