Potentially problematic predicaments - Cop Talk

American Handgunner, July, 2002 by Massad Ayoob

At a national-class shooting tournament recently one of the 140 or so contestants accidentally discharged his pistol. The shot went safely downrange, so he wasn't disqualified, but the unintentional shot is a learning point.

It was a darkness stage and he was using a small, powerful flashlight in the popular Rogers Technique. This requires you to hold the light like a cigar between the index and middle fingers of the support hand. You then pull its butt-mounted activating button back into the drumstick of the thumb to activate the light, as the lower two fingers of the support hand wrap around the firing hand. It's a useful and proven technique and one I use and teach myself.

The discharge occurred after he had drawn his gun and pointed it downrange and as he was attempting to mate flashlight hand with firing hand. The edge of the butt of the flashlight hit the trigger, driving it back sufficiently to trip the sear.

Another incident that just came to my attention was more tragic. An officer was taking a suspect at gunpoint. The suspect surrendered and the officer attempted to turn off the laser sight on his pistol when the weapon discharged unintentionally. The shot proved fatal to the surrendered suspect.

Take time and care when activating some other piece of equipment along with your weapon. Don't bring the flashlight in from the front end of the pistol when doing a Rogers technique, but let the two bottom fingers of the support hand touch with the hands apart and parallel. This will shape the hands like a "V". Now slowly close the hands together and the flashlight will come against the handgun parallel, without its butt having a chance to contact the trigger.

If you have a laser sight with manual activation, it's okay to holster with the light on when you're in a hurry. One unit, the Crimson Trace LaserGrip, is activated by a pressure switch upon grasping and does not require a manual turn-off. Finally, if you have a manual safety on your pistol, leave it engaged at least while initially mating light hand to gun hand.