23 May 01

At a defensive pistol course we were conducting in Michigan several weeks ago, one of my instructors was having to correct a student, a local police officer, repeatedly about getting his finger off the trigger and into the strong, register position that we teach prior to moving and particularly when he reloaded and reduced stoppages.

The officer took the correction well for a while, but kept making the same mistake. Then, in an expression of exasperation, he turned his head to my instructor (as he was performing a reload) and said, "I think you're getting more than a little nit-picking about all this finger-on-the-trigger business." As he said it, he completed his reload (Glock) and struck the magazine with the heel of his weak hand. As fate would have it, his finger was inside the trigger guard, and, the moment he completed his sentence, his pistol fired unintentionally. Fortunately, his shot went harmlessly downrange.

The officer looked for long moments at his pistol, in total disbelief. He then looked at my instructor and said, "I now see what you mean." Amen!

Lesson: As Benjamin Franklin put it, "Experience keeps a dear school, but a fool will learn in no other."

/John