Unsafe gun handling or?

[RobTzu]

I am at the DMV changing my license due to having moved and having my wife take her drive test. Gun free zone since it is .gov and all labeled up. But have no fear, a 350lb security guard was there. Whilst waiting I could not help but look at the guard. He had his gun holstered on a hip, and could not keep his booger pickers off it. He would tap on the pistol grip (you know the I am bored roll all the fingers move) and hammer area. He would use it is a hand rest. It is my understanding this is unsafe. Am I wrong, paranoid, or is it undeed unsafe handling of the firearm. I could not tell what it was, but it seemed to match my Glock 17 which I know has only the trigger safety, but I am not going to lie and say I can safely name the brand and caliber he had.

 

[doc2rn]

Bad ju-ju of someone who lacks personal control.

 

[pitbullman]

as long as it stayed in the holster there isn't really an issue tapes by fingers or pressure from his hand will not set it off

it was a revolver right?

 

[Pat-inCO]

I would have asked for a supervisor and asked why the idiot was "threatening" all of the customers.

From what you describe, I doubt that was his intention, but working in a "government" installation he needs to be aware of the image he projects and hand on the gun (bored or not) does not project the correct image.

Was it safe? Probably, but still a poor image.

 

[El Tejon]

Unsafe? More like unprofessional.

 

[RobTzu]

It was not a revolver. It was probably a Beretta or 1911 clone, I do not know what they use, but that style.

Professional was is lost when the gut goes below the zipper. I am not in tip top shape, though I do pass my Army PT test. A security guard should have some kind of personal fitness standard... The whole office smacked of laziness, long lines, employees huddled in conversation... At any rate it just irked me, a gun is a tool not a toy especially when it is used in the duties of your job.

 

[dhoomonyou]

"UNPROFESSIONAL" is that big beer/donut gut hanging over the holster.

When I was living in NYC, the NYPD only had to pass a physical ONCE, then they just ballooned.

 

[daddyo]

Reminds me of a classic quote from "Men In black":

Overweight Cop:"If you were half the man I am..."
Will Smith: "What you talking about? I am half the man you are."

 

[dewage83]

The pose the cops do in the "wildest police chases Vol. 2" when they come up to a car door? Gives the cop a quick draw, but what was security guard doing? Totally unnecessary in my opinion. Also projects the wrong image.

I agree to have a guard in DMV though. It is overall my LEAST favorite place to visit

 

[Sniper X]

RobT, I'd be SURPRISED if I walked into a motor vehicle department and it weren't as you described! Here in New Mexico they smack of nepitisim, and fraud . Fraud in that they give all their family members special and illegal (free) treatment, but those of us who are law abiding citizens, and who are of a different heritage get the oh no, you need this and that even when someone on the phone told you something different. I have yet to go to a DMV and get in and out the first time here in NM, only at a contract office that the state doesn't run. I have even had the same person tell me three different things in as many days, she contradicted herself three times in three days and then denied it when I pressed her on it.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Handling carried firearms unnecessarily is the path to negligent discharges. The minute we start to allow ourselves to think of loaded guns as ordinary objects, we set ourselves up to get complacent and careless.

My hands and feet have always been what my grandmother called "nervous." I tend to "talk with my hands," as a high school teacher put it. As you might guess, I smoke. I tap my fingers, fool with small objects, adjust my glasses, et cetera.

I leave guns alone in holsters. Almost the day I started carrying, I noticed I was developing an unsafe habit, and immediately formed the safe habit of otherwise occupying my hands.

 

[TallPine]

The guy needs to learn the "Secret Service" hand position

 

[Old Grump]

Minimum wage security guard

Probably the best they are going to get in a government office. He was bored but as long as he wasn't gripping the gun he wasn't hurting anything. Probably has been a long time since he had any training on the weapon and unlikely his job calls for qualifications. A pro would have kept his hand off, its the kind of thing I did when I was 21 and was issued my first 45 for guard duty with only a 5 minute this is a 45 pistol class. When I became a shooter that never happened again, seeing what a 45 can do does that to you. A letter or phone call to his supervisor would have gotten him a reminder to not do that but you are right he shouldn't have been doing it.

 

[HammerBite]

It seems to me that he is either self-conscious about wearing a gun or he is trying to project his "authority." Weird.

When I strap on a gun I usually forget it is there within about five minutes.

 

[M1911]

A holstered gun is a safe gun. As long as the holster covers the trigger guard, nothing the guy was doing could have caused a discharge.

He was unprofessional, but not unsafe.