Deterring Dry-Fire Disasters

Had a call from a client this morning.

A good, solid, experienced shooter.  Lots of trigger time and dry-fire time.

He had been dry-firing at home in his basement and had put his pistol down on his table.

He picked up the pistol to shoot it again, aimed at his target, squeezed the trigger and .  .  .

                                     BANG!!!!!!

The incident was described to me as time standing still, he could hear the 'tink' of the brass that ejected hitting his table, he saw the dust fall from the ceiling and only then had a nice ringing in his ears.

His immediate reaction was WTF!?!?!

He had picked up his carry gun he had taken off and put on the table and which was identical to the gun he had been dry firing, rather than the gun he was dry-firing. 

Ooops.

Luckily, he still had the gun pointed in a safe direction at a wall when the shot went off.  It went through the drywall and then stuck behind it and did not exit anywhere.  Some ringing in the ears and that was the extent of the damage. Apparently no one outside the house heard the shot go off in his basement either.  No physical harm nor legal repercussions for the negligent discharge.

"That'll never happen to me",  you say.

Hopefully not, but you're human, and at some point in the future you are likely to make a mistake.  Whether through complacency, carelessness, or clumsiness, you may very well put a hole where it was neither intended nor desired.

The idea is to mitigate the damage from that future moment of negligence that may hopefully never take place but is just waiting for you to slip up and for the opportunity to happen.

When dry-firing, make sure there is no live ammunition in the room where you are practicing. Unload and clear the gun you are going to dry-fire in another room before you even go to the room you are dry firing in.

Make sure there are no live firearms or ammunition in the room you are dry firing in, as in none.

Before you begin to dry-fire, check again that the firearm is unloaded in chamber and magazine, really look, and check again, and then check one more time.  

Make sure any practice magazines for reloads are similarly completely empty of live rounds, which should all have been left behind in the other room, right?

Make sure when you dry-fire that you still do not point the firearm at anything you do not want to destroy, and you have a solid backstop at all times. This will save you from complete disaster when you've managed to still manage to get a round chambered even after you swore up and down that the gun and magazines were empty.  My client's incident is now having me rethink my habit of aiming toward the TV with targets arrayed in front of it while dry-firing.

If the gun leaves your immediate possession or you've put it down, and it is not in your hand or holster, stop and start your safety checks all over - check it again to make sure it is unloaded and you didn't just pick up its twin, or Murphy came by and did a swap of pistols  - or more likely you did it in a fit of absent-mindedness.

If you practice under the impression that you will have an incident someday and you need to do everything possible to prevent it from happening and causing irreparable damage, you'll be a lot safer than saying "That'll never happen to me."

Prosecutor's Office Declines To Press Charges, Clears Detroit Officer In Backyard Dirty Dancing Shooting

Back in July 2012, I noted in regards to the Adaisha Miller shooting, that dirty dancing, floppy holsters and feeling a cop, rather than copping a feel are a bad mix.

The story then was that she was hugging him low from behind and squeezing him around the waist when the firearm carried by him off-duty in a floppy nylon IWB holster went off, probably from her inadvertently squeezing the trigger.

The investigation is now complete and the Wayne County Prosecutors Office is declining to press any charges against the officer.

The Detroit News: Detroit officer cleared in backyard shooting death

There's not a lot of information at the linked article as to what the results of the investigation were, other than that there was insufficient evidence for any charges. Most likely the investigation showed the evidence matched the story given at the time and that the shooting was a result of Ms. Miller's unintentional trigger manipulation resulting in her shooting herself with the officer's firearm.

It would be helpful if the report indicated that the investigation revealed the incident was indeed as originally reported, with the victim dirty dancing with the officer, grabbing him about the waist and accidentally firing his firearm. The story seems to match the July ballistics evidence that the shot hit her in the chest traveling downward, suggesting she was behind him and at or below waist level.

Regardless, it's a warning not to carry in a floppy holster where the trigger can be reached by another party regardless of whether they're dirty dancing, joking around, copping a feel or actually assaulting the firearm carrier.

I'd suggest at the very least carrying using a MIC Holster or the Vanguard 2 Holster. I think after wearing it consistently for months now the Vanguard 2 is even better than the MIC. But either will do if you're looking for a minimalist holster - and both of these are quite inexpensive and both cover the trigger completely, preventing a squeeze-off incident or other accidental discharges. Beyond those, there's tons of other solid quality holsters out there, whether from Raven Concealment, Blade Tech, Galco and many others. Even a simple and inexpensive Fobus holster would have prevented this incident.

Don't put a quality gun in a crappy floppy nylon holster and call it good to go. It's not, and you or others may pay the price as a result.

Negligent Discharges in the War on Drugs

In an example of a negligent discharge, a cop shoots a Copp.

The Detroit News: Ex-Mich. college student shot by deputy files suit

The Detroit Free Press: Ex-Michigan college student shot by deputy files suit

[Headline originality went right out the window on this story]

The suit claims Deputy Ryan Huizenga was guilty of gross negligence and assault when he shot the then-20-year-old in the chest during a 2009 drug raid. Copp says officers with the West Michigan Enforcement Team were negligent, reckless and used excessive force.

Copp was shot in the chest and suffered two fractured ribs, and liver and lung damage after Huizenga's gun, a .40-caliber Glock, discharged as officers entered his apartment. An undercover officer previously had purchased small amounts of marijuana at least three times there.

"Huizenga pulled the trigger while the gun was pointed at an unarmed, non-threatening, harmless citizen," Copp's attorney, Fred Dilley, wrote in the lawsuit.

Both stories are unclear as to what role Copp had in the marijuana possession/selling business at his apartment:

Dilley says police should have known Copp didn't pose a threat, because they had been in the apartment for previous undercover pot buys....Copp was sentenced to probation, community service and a fine on a marijuana charge.

So was Copp dealing from the apartment, just a resident there enjoying the benefits of someone else's business or what?

Of course, in contrast to Copp's attorney's statement that he was clearly harmless based on previous purchases, as always Past Performance is No Guarantee of Future Results.

Police don't know if someone is going to pose a threat or not when they show up to arrest them.

There's a profound difference between an undercover agent buying something illegal from the dealer and then uniformed police showing up to arrest them for it, which typically triggers a more negative reaction from the person about to be arrested. Given the occupant(s) is already engaged in illegal drug dealing activity that is rather associated with violence, there's a pretty good arguemnt that they can pose a threat.

With all that said, it seems from the stories that Copp did not take any action at the time that justified being fired upon. Ottawa County is probably going to end up paying some damages for this incident.

This is yet another reminder to keep your finger off the trigger until you actually are ready and have cause to shoot. Mistakes with deadly force have serious consequences.