That absolutely did not happen because of officers being appropriately trained not to put their finger on the trigger at all times the pistol is out of the holster. Like, that did not happen because of following rule #3 of safe gun handling. Training to always keep your finger on the trigger when unholstered would not have fixed that scenario
This^.
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Here are a few quick references.
Feel free to provide counter references that indicate one should, as you espouse, leave finger on trigger once the gun is unholstered
3. Never Put Your Finger on the Trigger Until You are Ready to Shoot
While there have certainly been documented incidents where firearm accidents occurred even though no one pulled the trigger, negligent discharges mostly occur because someone pulled the trigger by mistake.
Eliminate that possibility by never placing a finger on the trigger – meaning do not have a finger inside the trigger guard – unless planning to fire the firearm.
ALWAYS Keep Your Finger Off The Trigger Until Ready To Shoot
When holding a gun, rest your finger alongside the frame and outside the trigger guard. Until you are actually ready to fire, do not touch the trigger.
Rule 3: Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger Until You Have Made the Decision to Shoot
This rule is about trigger discipline, a key component of responsible gun ownership. By emphasizing this principle, we aim to prevent accidental discharges. Maintaining trigger-finger discipline is imperative to safety and shooting success. Guns do not simply “go off.” They are made to fire. A very specific sequence of actions must take place, and that sequence ends with the operation of the trigger. Very rarely will a gun fire if the trigger is not pulled.
RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET
Rule III is violated most anytime the uneducated person handles a firearm. Whether on TV, in the theaters, or at the range, people seem fascinated with having their finger on the trigger. Never stand or walk around with your finger on the trigger. It is unprofessional, dangerous, and, perhaps most damaging to the psyche, it is klutzy looking.
Rule Three:
Keep your finger off the trigger and outside the trigger guard, indexed along the frame or slide until you are on target and have decided to fire.
Rule #3 - Keep your finger straight and
off the trigger (and if available, the
weapon on safe) until you are aimed in
on your target and ready to fire
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As always, the best way to prove what is right and what is wrong, is to provide some examples:
- Keeping the trigger finger on the trigger once you draw the firearm from the holster:
- Keeping the trigger finger on the trigger while you run with the handgun (LEO)
- Sometimes it’s smart to listen wise people
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Whoever made that first video was a master comedian.
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Long time ago, when this happened I used an original video posted by Tex Grebner, but I found this one to be less scary.
Original video is great to discuss completely different aspect of firearm training - “negligence” vs. “tragic firearm accident” .
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You would know your the ex-pert and I guess it makes sense and explains why most law enforcement agencies, including Federal agencies have their own ranges to train on.
When it comes to safe gun handling they must be way too unsafe to let on a public range.
There is no such thing as a “firearm accident” every misuse of a firearm is the result of negligence.
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Every responsible gun owner should know that.
That incident took place in July 2011, perhaps that time negligence wasn’t recognized the same way as it is these days, and the guy who shot himself used these words:
" I had tragic firearms accident with my Kimber Pro Carry II"
I like very much what he said later:
“I was raised to accept responsibility for my own actions and the only thing that made me shoot myself in my leg was I got in a hurry and I got hurt.”
The last sentence translates into: keep your f@#$%^ng trigger finger off the trigger and trigger guard unless you are ready to shoot.
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Interesting fact: My local range doesn’t allow drawing from the holster unless you are a LEO, and they made that rule change when a LEO put his finger on the trigger too early and shot the metal bench thing that you put your gear on and the ricochet hit someone
If knowing and following rule #3 makes me an expert then sign me up lol
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The most common of which is finger on trigger when not ready to fire
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Never followed it and never had a unintentional discharge, which says a lot for how little some people actually train.
More so if they lack intelligence to not pull the trigger until they want the gun to fire.
It’s all part of the new dumbing down of the public which is all too common nowadays.
I strongly suggest changing your ways and choosing to be responsible IE following the core safety rules
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I don’t need to come down to your “dumbed down” safety rules, you need to move up to mine.
@WellBonded - you must understand, that those “dumbed down” safety rules were created not only for the shooter’s safety, but for the safety of each person around the shooter and any person within distance that your bullet can travel.
You do you… but it’s not a good idea to advocate unsafe habits at Community like this.
I see there is nothing we can do to change your thinking, but hopefully we can change our thinking about your approach to safety of other people.
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It is not a unsafe habit it is how it used to be trained, do you think folks are too dumb to learn to handle a handle a firearm that way?
When I started this Topic I did not expect so much back and forth. I am glad everyone is passionate about firearm Safety, as you should be. It appears that some have become stalled on the trigger finger position safety and I know that there are good reasons to each persons method . but are there any other safety rules that we need to talk about??
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I cannot speak for whole Community… but yes, I’m too dumb to learn to handle [a handle] a firearm that way.
I think my students are too dumb to learn how to holster the gun not looking at the holster, they probably never understand why we don’t clear the house being alone and there are many dumb things that civilians cannot understand… because they are too dumb? 
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I’m going to try to explain why having one’s finger on the trigger can make a difference between getting off a on target shot versus a a miss.
First of all this applies primarily to those who carry a single action semi-auto firearms with a round in the chamber, which is how I carry.
Holding that firearm with the finger not on the trigger, but say up below the slide will cause in most cases the following to happen.
When the person knows they must shoot to survive they will drop their finger to the trigger and lacking proper trigger discipline and control training, which is why they took the shortcut they where trained to do, with the finger on the slide, will jerk the trigger.
This will cause the shooter to pull the firearm down and to the right for a right handed person.
So instead a center of mass shot, they get maybe a lower right abdomen shot whiich could be a through and through or worse a total miss and hit a child walking with his mother downrange.
That’s not good and could result in taking return fire before being able to recover a sight picture or even more fun the person survives, getting totally cleaned out and then spending time in a institution getting to know meet new “friends” may be in their future.
Now some safety experts will remind everyone of the know your target and whats beyond, that 's great for target shooting.
However when a person finds theselves in a position where they must defend themselves, it’s a documented fact they develop tunnel vision and don’t see anything other than the threat, so that rule is negated.
As for comments such as “if your finger is on the trigger and someone yells drop the gun you wil pull the trigger” that’s BS, a shoter in that situation wil neve hear that command the first time or maybe more times than that, they are got going to suddenly be starteled and pull the trigger, they wil be so locked up in what they are into someone will have to order them over and over again to drop the firearm to get them out of the tunnel they are in.
Nice attitude to post publicly as a so called instructor!
Do you have any idea what a attorney could do to you when you get hauled into court after one of your students someday gets civically sued for a wrongful death after defending themself?
That is the stupidest thing I have ever seen a so called instructor post online in my life.
Good luck down the road, you just dug yourself a huge hole to fall into.