LEO Gun Cleaning Accident At Local College
- Thread starter BlueHeelerFl
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GunnyUSMC
Member
A lot of departments allow officers to go to the range while on the clock, it also depends on what their job is also.
The Officer in the article was the Deputy Chief, pretty much the second in command. He most likely has plenty of time in his work week to make a trip to the range.
When I worked in Crime Scene, my supervisor went to the range every Thursday morning. He was one hell of a shot. He told us that he had no problem with us going with him or when we were not busy.
Do any of y’all remember the thread about if anyone had ever been shot? The number of members here on the forum was crazy. Most shooting them self.
Rule #1 when cleaning a gun. MAKE SURE IT IS UNLOADED.
If you mess up this rule things will most likely go wrong.
GunnyUSMC
Member
It’s a selling point for people that don’t know much about guns.
SwampWolf
Member
What happened is really inexcusable, whether the "offender" was a cop or not. Whether you have to pull the trigger of a pistol before field-stripping it or not has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the cause of the negligent discharge. None.
Why shouldn't he do equipment maintenance on duty? A lot of departments require a firearm to be cleaned after every use. A rural officer is going to shoot a lot of deer hit by cars so it's logical to go back to the office and clean it. Or maybe he was standing out in the rain for awhile, or just finished qualifying. Maybe it's just been awhile and he wanted to stay on top of it.
Boots get polished, cars get washed, etc. A smart person will take care of company equipment on company time when there's a lull in the action.
Choctaw
Member
How many years of law enforcement experience do you have? How many?
I’m tired of range monkeys and internet ninjas bashing my blue brothers and sisters. 95% of you people have no idea what you are talking about. I’ve buried too many friends to listen to this. I’m done with it.
If you can do better then step up.
Good Ol' Boy
Member
I respect and appreciate the Thin Blue Line.
LE have more than the average administrative handling of firearms day to day. Many CC civilians have just as much but no ones perfect. The difference is you dont generally here about the civi that has a ND like you do with LE's.
No matter the gun keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to fire or you're 110% that the gun is clear. And even if you dont adhere to that if you simply keep it pointed in a safe direction then the worst that will happen is ringing ears and possibly some damaged property.
Folks like to nit pick the 4 rules but they are really very simple.
LE have more than the average administrative handling of firearms day to day. Many CC civilians have just as much but no ones perfect. The difference is you dont generally here about the civi that has a ND like you do with LE's.
No matter the gun keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to fire or you're 110% that the gun is clear. And even if you dont adhere to that if you simply keep it pointed in a safe direction then the worst that will happen is ringing ears and possibly some damaged property.
Folks like to nit pick the 4 rules but they are really very simple.
Wisco
member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2013
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They’d have to quit their LGS, rentacop, and gas station jobs, get 60 college credits, attend a police academy, pass a psych evaluation, etc, etc, etc.
I jest. Kind of.
Remember that some opinions here are worth far less than what you paid for them. The ignore feature is good at cutting out some of those who are constantly critical, but never constructive.
The agency i worked for required a minimum of 8 hours of firearms and tactics training per quarter. 32 hours a year. It was usually more. Transition to a new firearm was at least 8 hours for a new handgun to 24 hours for a M4 or subgun. My agency was willing and could afford to allocate the time to this amount of traning. Many, especially small agencies, could not afford to spend the manpower and expense to do things like this.
It was usually required agents to clean their their firearms at the range before leaving for several reasons:
1. All cleaning supplies and equipment were there. Including stuff that made cleaning easier like an air compressor they may not have at home. One could do a super clean on semiautomatic pistol in less than 10 minutes.
2. It also presented the opportunity to inspect guns fieldstripped. Many guns will work with broken parts...for a while.
3. There were few, very few, agents who would never clean their firearms if they weren't made to.
Trunk Monkey
member
Ok, maybe I'm missing something but even as a security guard if something happens during my shift I am expected to be able to respond to it. That means I don't get to randomly disassemble my primary weapon on the clock. I do that when I get home.
Second thing (again security guard not a cop) all of my training dictates that you don't unnecessarily unholstered your weapon for a cleaning session.
Second thing (again security guard not a cop) all of my training dictates that you don't unnecessarily unholstered your weapon for a cleaning session.
I don't think anyone is saying any LEO is randomly dissembling their firearm anywhere it might be needed. If anyone has ever seen a LEO sitting in his patrol car cleaning his firearm please let me know. If something arose that needed responding to while the LEO was cleaning his firearm at the range how long would it take to assemble it? A minute or less?
If you don't unholster you firearm to clean it what do you do? Clean it in the holster?
Trunk Monkey
member
Maybe I misread the article but I thought he was a school resource officer who took the gun apart to clean it while he was on duty at the school. You don't think your primary place of Duty is a place where you might need a gun?
He wasn't at the range he was sitting in his office again, unless I misread, at the school.
I am aware that it doesn't take all that long to assemble a Glock but I've never had to do it in the middle of an active shooter incident either. How many people do you think could die in the minute or so it takes him to get his gun put back together before he responds to anything?
I don't think I was ambiguous at all when I said that I disassemble my gun at home when I'm not on the clock when I'm not expected to have to respond to anything and when nobody's actually paying me to be ready to do my job at a moment's notice.
Old Dog
Member
I read it as he was at the range getting some target practice in.
I get paid to go to the range and shoot my pistol, shotgun and carbine. I'm not gonna question a deputy chief going to the range during working hours (it's not like he's actually needed at the station house) and actually practicing with his duty pistol -- I'm gonna give him major kudos.
Been around long enough to find out that lots of people that carry guns on their job have a negligent discharge … once. Not to make light of, nor excuse, those inadvertent firearms discharges, but … stuff happens.
Trunk Monkey
member
I read a different article that called him a school resource officer and made it sound like he was sitting in his office fiddling with his gun and put one through the wall.
A negligent discharge at a range isn't news.
Having said all that, my original point still stands even if it doesn't apply to this specific situation.
It takes less than 30 seconds to put a Glock back together and insert the magazine. Have you ever seen a cop strip down to go to the bathroom? It takes far longer to take off a duty belt and vest and put it back on. Should they not go to the bathroom on duty?
Blackstone
Member
I apologise, my initial post was rather ill-judged. The point I was trying to make is that for many police officers, carrying a gun is just a small part of their job, with little incentive to train beyond what is required for qualification. They will also be in contact with guns for much longer than your average civilian. So I still think it makes sense to reduce as much as practicably possible the number of things that could directly lead to a accidental discharge. And having to pull the trigger to disassemble a gun is one of those things in my book.
Trunk Monkey
member
I took my vest off but I left my duty belt on. Do you have any idea what kind of a pain in the ass is to get a duty belt on and off with keepers?
I'm quite familiar. It isn't hard, it just takes longer than taking a Glock apart.
Old Dog
Member
If that account is more accurate, shame on him ... (Must have been a slow news day down there, though; still seems as though an ND with no injuries isn't that newsworthy, no matter who commits it ...)
Well, it's a lot harder when you're trying to keep your gear off a dirty public restroom floor, for sure ...
Trunk Monkey
member
I worked nights for the city utility. So if I had to go I just went to a utilities site and used one of their bathrooms in solitary splendor.
Trunk Monkey
member
This is one of my favorite places to go (no pun intended)
It was so far out in the county and so far off the main road(7 miles)that there was no running water anywhere on the facility. So the toilet was electric and you used it and pushed the button and everything in the bowl would fall into a burn pan underneath and be incinerated to ash.
I always called it The Burning Man and I assumed that it was designed by a ten-year-old because who else would think that a toilet that burns up whatever you put into it would be a good idea.
It was also one of the safest places I ever had to go because I would bet that less than a hundred people in the entire County even know it's there. I also had to go through three locked gates to get there and it was surrounded by an 8-foot fence with a foot of barbed wire on top of it. I also never one time went there and encountered another human being.
We seem to have wandered off into the weeds.
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