Because cops are too highly trained to be negligent with their issue guns!
State police are inspecting a lieutenant’s service weapon that fired accidentally during a training session in Augusta on Wednesday morning.
Col. Robert Williams, chief of the state police, said Lt. Shawn Currie was adjusting his holster when the gun went off during a computer training class. Nobody was injured.
“It doesn’t seem right now, from the people in the room … there was any misconduct. He wasn’t playing with the gun,” said Williams.
“He had an ache or a pain. … He put his hand on his weapon to push it away from his body,” Williams said. “It was in his holster. The trigger wasn’t exposed.”
The incident was reported and the gun was taken for analysis by the department’s armory, Williams said.
The department will run a series of tests trying to re-create the conditions of the discharge to determine whether there is a problem with the weapon….Williams said that, based on his understanding of the incident, it is unlikely Currie that will be disciplined.
Currie’s weapon is a newer-model .45-caliber H&K. It has an extra safety mechanism, not found on older models, that is designed to prevent accidental discharges, Williams said. The firing pin can make contact with the primer of a cartridge only if the trigger is pulled.
“We don’t know of any other instances where this has happened,” Williams said.
Sounds like an HK45, unknown if it is the unit with the decocking safety or the DAO model. Still even if he had this gun in his holster with the hammer back and the safety OFF the gun could discharge without him pulling the trigger, or jamming the gun into a clear holster. Either he pulled the trigger, or SOMETHING, like a shirt tail or a finger was INSIDE the holster when he pressed the gun down.
Then there’s this crap:
Gun malfunctions that lead to accidental firings are exceptionally rare. However, Portland police became involved in a dispute over the Remington 700, which allegedly had numerous unintentional discharges.
In a training exercise in 2010, a rifle fired without anyone touching the trigger and the incident was videotaped by an officer on a cellphone.
In response, Portland’s special reaction team stopped using the model.
For those not familiar with the hysteria, Jeff over at gunblast wrote a great article on the Remington 700 and the alleged cases where the gun accidentally discharged.
The take away paragraph from that article is this:
Now, let’s discuss trigger adjustment. I can take almost any bolt action rifle ever produced and adjust the trigger down to a very light let-off. That is wonderful on the target range, but is safe ONLY under such highly-controlled conditions. Such a trigger, improperly adjusted, will release if the bolt is slammed shut, or if the butt of the weapon is banged upon a hard surface. When young and careless, I once had a rimfire bolt action rifle for metallic silhouette shooting which had the proverbial “hair trigger”. It was dangerous, and the bolt was never eased shut on a cartridge until the rifle was on target. Had someone unfamiliar with that particular rifle handled it carelessly, the result could have been catastrophic. Remington adjusts the 700 trigger at the factory, and then seals the adjustment screws to prevent tampering. Still, many folks do tinker with the triggers, and in the wrong hands, subject the weapon to a likely negligent discharge. Note the word used was “negligent” and not “accidental”. There is a difference. Again, any trigger mechanism made can be mal-adjusted into an unsafe condition, but the responsibility of the shooter is still, as always, to keep that muzzle pointed in a safe direction.
Did the Portland PD modify their guns beyond factory specs for their marksmen? That’s the only legitimate reason why this would happen, otherwise a finger was on the trigger when the bolt was closed, which is a safety no-no.
Hey, but always blame the tool!
Yep, it’s NEVER their fault… But it’s ALWAYS our fault if something happens.
A member of my gun club, the team sharpshooter for the SWAT team and a good friend of mine, had an incident with a 700, where he did not have his finger on the trigger, and the weapon discharged when he disengaged the safety. Luckily, the weapon was pointed safely downrange.
Did anybody figure out why that happened?
I’m wondering what kind of holster was in use here. If it was some variant of the Uncle Mikes floopy nylon pistol sock, well…
I don’t know of ANY Police Department that issues ANYTHING but kydex holsters. Haven’t seen any Maine State troopers except passing them on the highway recently, certainly not enough to notice that they’re carrying the HK45 or any other gun. I assume they’re using some sort of active retention kydex holster.
Don’t some retention holsters use the trigger guard as a locking point? I could see how a malformed rentention mechanism could result in the exact situation as described in that kind of design.
Most Semi-auto molded holsters lock that way. Still if it was malformed enough to allow the gun to travel further into the body enough to trip the trigger, the holster wouldn’t work to retain the gun, and I assume that would be VERY obvious in inspection. Unless the officer got his kydex holster wet and felt the need to dry it thoroughly with a hair dryer or a heat gun this SHOULD have been something the officer or the armorer should have discovered upon issuance.
Occam’s razor says he was messing with the gun. The least incompetent way would be he adjusted the gun in such a way that it unlocked from the holster, and before he pushed it in a piece of his shirt or other fabric got into the holster body before he pressed the gun home. Also the possibility of him putting his finger in the trigger guard is a very real possibility.
But was he in uniform, and carrying in a duty holster, or was he in plain clothes and carrying in a cheap holster? The context of the article led me to think the latter.
On the Remington 700- I do know of one first hand experience involving a factory set trigger in which the gun discharged while disengaging the safety, BUT there was a factor of extremely low temps and ice buildup inside the action. No harm was done, as it was pointed in a safe direction, although I believe several people in that hunting camp required a change of undergarments afterwards. With that particular firearm, it was a one-time event.
Don’t know how the safety works in the 700 series, but I can see if ice builds up inside the firing pin channel you can get a slamfire if you close the bot vigorously.
I’ve had two Negligent discharges myself, and one honest-to-god Accidental discharge from doing a combat slide rack on a Clark Custom target 1911. All ended with nothing being hurt but my pride because the 4 rules were still being observed
Our best figure on this was that ice had gotten into the trigger box and stuck some of the works together- mechanically, I don’t know how it really happened. What I DO know is that a) it has not happened since (20 or so years of sporadic use) 2) all rules were observed, and D) trigger was unmodified. I, too, have had a couple of genuine ND’s, both involving brushing the trigger while closing the bolt, neither involving any injury other than some chagrin.
When I was shopping for a new carry gun a few years ago, one of the things that pushed me towards the Ruger SR40, rather than a Glock was the ability to field strip without pulling the trigger- I never liked that, even under very careful circumstances.
Strongly suspect it was one of those Democrat guns that go off by themselves and kill innocent people.