Based on the links, I would say the trigger disipline exhibited in the Massie family photo is light years ahead of average - as shown in @Scott52 examples - and technically does meet the criteria “Keep your finger off the trigger”.
However it appears to not be the optimium implementation of “Keep your finger off the trigger”.
Edit: The little girl on the sofa and the lady standing behind the sofa demonstrate the way I was taught to carry a firearm when walking thru the woods (1960’s timeframe).
Yes, they are following my “moving with a running chainsaw” protocol. I didn’t learn that in my hunter safety course, but sounds like I was not first to discover the principle.
Interesting.
I was taught at the police academy a litany of ways to handle “safe” handguns at the range, The gist is to allow an RSO to readily see the gun was safe.
Imagine being the RSO with 30 cadets on the line!
With revolvers, the cylinder open and carried with the first two fingers through the top strap.
With semiautos, the slide locked back, magazine carried between the last fingers of the gun hand.
So I can see the wisdom behind Jerzy’s version of finger off the trigger.
It makes sense that the trigger can be seen.
The USCCA curriculum teaches having your trigger finger above the trigger guard near where the slide and the frame meet.
The reason for this is that it can be safer if you were to be startled and your grip response caused your fingers to contract. Having your finger over the trigger guard is “off” the trigger but could still be pressed if you were to be startled and fingers were to contract. That is why being above where the slide and frame meet is a safer location.
With that being said, I see both sides of the argument with respect to this picture but, it isn’t my place to say what an American citizen and his family can do for their Christmas picture.
100%! when I saw that prosecutor do that, I was quite shocked, and further so, when no one in the court called him out for such a complete disregard for the safety of everyone in the courtroom.
Yes, indexing one’s finger over the trigger guard is not the proper way to index the finger. As others in the photo showed, above the guard, on the slide, or on the receiver, is the proper way. However, they still did not have their fingers on the triggers, unlike the prosecutor.
I agree that the reason not to have the finger over the guard is that one’s finger can more readily slip onto the trigger. On a positive note, there were no mags in the firearms, so likely no rounds in or near those firearms. The only people that would likely notice the improper finger placement are other firearm owners like us - those committed to safe handling. We do, unfortunately, see some that disregard, or otherwise do not practice, safe handling. Depending on circumstances, we are able to assist those in their education.
From a timing perspective I don’t think it matters, AOC would’ve found another reason to mock this photo.
From a political perspective I don’t like it. Now more than ever politics is more about optics than actual content or actions of an individual. He just gave his next political opponent campaign material to attack him on and rouse all the anti-gun voters or even just the voters that are on the fringe. I think those voters in the middle are more important than anything because that’s where votes get swung and we saw it with Trump in people that voted for Biden because they essentially didn’t like Trump’s personality and shenanigans despite his governance being fairly conservative and productive for the economy. Republican politicians need to be wiser.
In Nevada we just had a candidate for governor make a campaign ad getting out her truck and shooting ■■■■. The public feedback was awful. In a largely Democrat controlled state, I have no idea why she thought that would work.
I kind of agree, however, hiding and ignoring gun ownership, in my mind, can also be counter productive. How often do we hear (Baldwin) “hates guns” but they have never actually held a gun. We can agree, campaigning with an AR strapped on your back would raise some eyebrows. But showing people with guns, like it’s normal, can send the message that We the People do own guns, a lot of us do…
Technically, nothing is wrong with the photo. The problem I have with the photo is the timing of the posting days after a school shooting, by a politician.
