More on the Airplane Discharge
In comments here, Marko (who looks like a young Rutger Hauer – seriously check out the pic in the upper right) says:
You can lock and unlock the weapon without ever removing it from the holster, and the holster is designed so that the bar of the lock (or the handcuff, for cop use) goes behind the trigger, not in front of it.
The pilot in question removed the weapon from the holster and manipulated the trigger, that’s all. It didn’t discharge by accident while he was trying to lock or unlock it. I’ve sold a few of the holsters in question, so I’m pretty confident about how they work.
Now, I’m not familiar with the holster in question and that may be correct. However, TSA’s policy of stowing the weapon adds unnecessary gun handling into the equation. And that is problematic. Additionally, the photo of the holster in question (seen here) looks to me like it is possible for the lock to come into contact with the trigger. The guy was stowing the weapon (which he was doing per this article) in accordance with policy. That’s an unnecessary bit of handling of a firearm. The only time the pilot should handle the gun is when it’s being drawn to fire. Otherwise, it should remain holstered and out of sight.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:07 am
That’s what you get when people who know nothing about guns try to make policy concerning gun safety.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Hrmm.
decocker HKs have small, slippery hammers. I wonder if the pilot was unloading for storage, dropped the magazine to unload, forgot about the round in the chamber, decocked with the trigger and slipped?
That would seem to make sense but there would likely be an injury involved too, whacking the thumb hard with the slide…
March 27th, 2008 at 10:52 am
“The only time the pilot should handle the gun is when it’s being drawn to fire.”
I agree wholeheartedly with that. Despite Marko’s claim to know that the pilot believed “the approach into Charlotte would be a dandy time to play with his FFDO issue handgun”, no one really knows what happened. Maybe the holster isn’t as safe as some claim. Maybe the pilot just didn’t have the gun in the holster properly when he was putting the lock in place. Hell, if I thought I could be charged with a felony for not having that lock on when I left the cockpit, I’d probably do it early sometimes myself.
Any policy, anywhere, that requires you to handle your firearm unnecessarily is dangerous. The gun store/range where I teach has signs all over saying that all weapons need to be holstered (good rule) with the action open and empty (stupid rule). I’m not going to risk a negligent discharge if they can’t even be bothered to provide some form of clearing station. I’ve even pointed out to them that, should someone be hurt by a ND when someone is trying to abide by their policy, the business is probably liable because the action was a direct result of their policy.
March 27th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
“The gun store/range where I teach has signs all over saying that all weapons need to be holstered (good rule) with the action open and empty (stupid rule). ”
I hope you don’t mean CCA. Those are two seperate rules… the open/empty clause at CCA is only for guns that are out of the holster or case.
March 27th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
here is a link to the incident report from the charlotte airport
http://media.charlotteobserver.com/smedia/2008/03/26/11/report0326.source.prod_affiliate.57.pdf
March 27th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
interesting that no where in the incident report does it describe the incident. And that’s an awful lot of stuff blacked out.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:15 am
when i first saw that pic of that holster, I was positive it was a bit of creative photoshop. I should not have underestimated the stupidity of our government when it comes to flawed design.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:33 am
“I hope you don’t mean CCA. Those are two seperate rules… the open/empty clause at CCA is only for guns that are out of the holster or case.”
No. The sign at my range has nothing to do with concealed carry. They have a sign that says “All firearms must be holstered and unloaded with the action open”. Granted, the lord only knows what the owner may have intended for it to say, since the rest of his signs make it pretty clear that he has the writing skills of a second grader.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Probably meant “or” not “and”, which would make a lot more sense.
(re: gun store sign).