negligent discharge – Guns Holsters And Gear

I feel the need to review the rules of gun safety with my readers. Â Not that I think any of you don’t know them. Â Actually, I think most of you could recite them in your sleep.

I’m more concerned about people who get so comfortable with guns, they no longer respect what they can do. Â The moment you don’t respect the lethality of a firearm, and fail to follow the rules, you will mostÂ assuredlyÂ find yourself in a bad way.

Some of you know that I am a full-time cop with an urban agency in Florida. Â Well, the first call out of the gate yesterday was for a real “gun guy” who failed to follow the rules. Â The good news is he lived. Â The bad news is he may not be able to use his left hand…or what’s left of it…after this little gun handling faux pau. Â A .357 Magnum will do that, you know.

Let me try to explain the damage that one casual disregard of the rules made. Â I don’t have photos for you, so I can only hope my words are enough to impress upon you to pay attention!

Negligent discharges (ND) are not only dangerous to people who are around when the bullet exits the muzzle, but they are also dangerous to all gun owners. A single negligent discharge may run on the evening news or on the front page of the local paper, whereas the millions of people who safely handle firearms every day are never mentioned. A single mistake tarnishes all of us.

In this case, we have a commercial airline pilot who appears to have negligently discharged a firearm while the plane is on a cross-country flight. We can assume it was a negligent discharge because there is no mention of any reason the firearm would have been intentionally discharged.

So, the Flight Deck Officer program, which the TSA has been dragging their feet on for the past six-plus years, now has a black eye. This will, no doubt, be a reason that the TSA and Congress can point at to “prove” the program of training and arming pilots is a bad idea.

The pilot involved in this incident was fired because of the ND. Â He took the case to arbitration and was rehired after an 18-month suspension. Â Subsequently, the Department of Homeland Security demonstrated that the holster design was largely at fault for this and at least two other negligent discharges.