Why police shouldn't use Glocks (LA Times article)

Baccusboy · May 14, 2015

Flame away... hahah

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-owens-glock-accidents-20150508-story.html

Timothy Stansbury died in a New York housing project stairwell in 2004 because he startled a police officer. The officer's surprise at encountering Stansbury caused the officer's hand to clench and his weapon to fire. The death was ruled accidental by a grand jury, though the officer was later stripped of his gun for the remainder of his career.

Akai Gurley died in another New York housing project stairwell last fall. A rookie officer with his finger on the trigger of his pistol tensed as he pushed open a stuck door; the added pressure on the trigger caused his weapon to fire a shot down the stairwell. The round ricocheted off the wall to strike Gurley. Though the shot wasn't intentional and the officer didn't even know Gurley was there, the death has been ruled a criminal homicide, and the officer's trial is pending.

In both of these incidents, the police officers were using the same weapon, a Glock: a polymer-frame, striker-fired pistol with a short trigger pull and no external safeties....

Glock uses the marketing term “Safe Action” to describe its firing-pin system, but the truth is that Glocks are accident-prone. They contributed to more than 120 accidental discharges in the Washington Metropolitan Police Department from 1988 to 1998. Anecdotes of increased accidental shootings have followed the pistol for more than 30 years wherever it has been adopted by police officers and citizens alike.

StantonCree · May 14, 2015

So they use stats that are over 30 years old from a time the weapon was first adopted......that tells me right there no need to read because the research is like the training old.

I can present anything as fact

DC-W · May 14, 2015

BTW, that article was written by BearingArms.com's Bob Owens.

Boondock Saint · May 14, 2015

Booger hook off bang switch. It's so easy...

JettaRed · May 14, 2015

Even TV shows show the proper way to hold a gun...finger off the trigger until target is acquired, identified, and verified.

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Baccusboy · May 14, 2015

mpdc4511 said:
So they use stats that are over 30 years old from a time the weapon was first adopted......that tells me right there no need to read because the research is like the training old.

I can present anything as fact

Well, the three high-profile cases cited in the article, from the top, were last month, 2014 and 2004. The one quote I posted was older, yes. My bad.

swinokur · May 14, 2015

2 words

trigger discipline.

it ain't rocket science.

JettaRed · May 14, 2015

So, an external safety is better? I think these cops would have already had the safety off.

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pwoolford · May 14, 2015

swinokur said:
2 words

trigger discipline.

it ain't rocket science.

JettaRed · May 14, 2015

DC-W said:
BTW, that article was written by BearingArms.com's Bob Owens.

GLOCK hater. That's all.

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StantonCree · May 14, 2015

I've pointed my glocks at tons of things and they've only gone boom at the range. Maybe they are broken.

Come to think of it so is my 870 since it didn't blast that pitbull the other day.

DC-W · May 14, 2015

Doctor_M · May 14, 2015

It is because Glocks are black, isn't it?

KPSpeller · May 14, 2015

I like the Glock safety, but it is not idiot proof. We are all idiots at some point.
Pro - It positively will not go off if dropped.
Con - I have a 25 year Law Enforcement college who shot the tip off his offhand index finger while holstering his Glock with his trigger finger in the trigger guard.

swinokur · May 14, 2015

Positively will not go off if you don't pull the trigger either.

this whole thing is a victim of overthink.

My .02

kstone803 · May 14, 2015

I hate DA/SA pistols but there is something to be said about that long terrible heavy first pull in the name of safety I guess :shrug:

clandestine · May 14, 2015

The writer needs to pull his head from his @ss. External safeties have issues too, wether it's training, getting deactivated from movement, or just mechanically failing. Some people get shot because they can't, under stress turn off the safety.

If you haven't seen a gun fire from a busted part failing then you have not shot enough. All machines break and sometimes it can be fatal.

Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction and accidents will just poke holes in non living things and make your ears ring. Nothing more.

Drmsparks · May 14, 2015

mpdc4511 said:
I've pointed my glocks at tons of things and they've only gone boom at the range. Maybe they are broken.

Come to think of it so is my 870 since it didn't blast that pitbull the other day.

That's because you work in DC and are not affected by the weird gravitational anomalies in PG that cause firearms to discharge in the direction of non police canines.....

Pretoria78 · May 14, 2015

kstone803 said:
I hate DA/SA pistols but there is something to be said about that long terrible heavy first pull in the name of safety I guess

No shortage of ND's in the military with the M9.

Name Taken · May 14, 2015

Light trigger pull? I think NY puts in 8.5 springs if not more.

Why police shouldn't use Glocks (LA Times article)

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