ND!

18 Dec 08

1911 ND!

An officer with a domestic police department with which I work regularly had an ND yesterday that resulted in injury to himself. This particular officer is a recent hire and has never been one of our students, but many of his colleagues have.

The officer was carrying a 1911 pistol in 45ACP, manufacturer unknown, in an IWB/concealment holster. It was loaded with high-performance, service ammunition, but no one could tell me the brand.

When the officer holstered his pistol, his index finger was inside the trigger guard, and his thumb was on the manual safety, pushing it "off." Grip-safety was, of course, fully depressed. As the pistol was pushed into the holster, the holster itself pushed the index finger into the trigger, and the pistol discharged, sending a single bullet into the officer's right buttocks!

The bullet, of course, passed through and through, subsequently impacting into a concrete sidewalk, causing no additional mayhem. The ER physician who treated the officer is a student of mine, and he described the wound as a " furrow," four inches long. The bullet only penetrated into the buttocks an inch or two before exiting.

It is the doctor's opinion that the officer will suffer (in addition to embarrassment) some permanent disfigurement, but no permanent disability. In relative terms, he was lucky!

An important lessons here: All of us who carry loaded pistols in holsters need to

(1) Reconfirm that we have learned, and regularly employ, a strong, "register " position for our trigger-fingers any time we're handling guns. This is critical when holstering a loaded pistol, as most any holster will cheerfully fire the gun for you when you carelessly have your finger inside the trigger guard during the process!

(2) Those of us who insist on carrying a 1911, or any other pistol equipped with a manual safety lever, must be constantly aware of the status of the lever. The safety needs to be "on" during the holstering process. You can't "forget!" Who do, need to think about carrying another kind of pistol.

/John