Editor's Note: This was originally run on February 24, 2009. With few changes, we re-run the piece now. by Rich Grassi There was an accidental shooting in roll call at a major American police agency, an outfit that's quite good. In the news story, presented by the Associated Press, the report was summarized as "Officer Thought Gun Was Empty." Apparently, there was a "weekly firearms inspection," and, according to the story, the officer was trying to unload his sidearm - the story just says "gun," so I suppose it could have been a shotgun or patrol rifle. It "discharged" wounding the handler and another officer. The story goes on to relate that the officer, thinking the gun was empty, "pulled the trigger to release its tension." A round was in the chamber, as they usually are, and it "discharged." I'm not making light of the negligent discharge nor of the officer's injury. It seems we need to get the language right before we solve the problem, so here goes: Guns don't "discharge." They are fired. By people. People who touch the trigger and put pressure on it. Now, let's analyze the process. There was probably a shift briefing/roll call and a supervisor decided to inspect firearms. I won't address the issue of who is responsible to ensure the weapon and its ammo supply are in proper order - not presently. It's the "officer thought the gun was empty" and "pulling the trigger to release its tension" that immediately grates on the nerves. First, a pop quiz: Which Rules were violated? Ah, someone said Rule One. Rule One is "All guns are loaded." Someone else said that Rule One is demonstrably not true - sometimes guns are unloaded. I can say this, without fear of significant argument: nearly every case of negligent discharge is quickly followed by the phrase, "But, it was unloaded!" That is usually accompanied by, "It just went off!" No. The fact that the negligent discharge happened proves Rule One. Ignore it at your peril. All guns are loaded. If they're not, they need to be. These things aren't toys, they are working tools. To take the ammunition out, do this: Point the damn thing in a safe direction. A safe direction is one where, if a shot is fired, there is NO personal injury and only minor property damage. Now, with your finger off the trigger, remove the magazine and stow it. Put it somewhere. Don't hang onto it, you're busy. Now, rack the slide open and lock it. Look into the chamber. That's at the end of the barrel opposite the muzzle. Now stick your finger into the chamber. Feel for a cartridge. If you need to disassemble the pistol and it's a striker-fired design, you may have to pull the trigger to release the striker (not take tension off the trigger - for that, you need to give it a tranquilizer). If you must pull the trigger, point the gun in the safest direction available, turn your head away and pull the trigger. You may want ear plugs for this procedure. What other Rule violation do we have? Well, the handler was hit in a finger and another officer had a leg creased by the escaping projectile. Good! Rule Two (Don't allow the muzzle to cover anything you don't intend to destroy) and Rule Three (Keep your finger off the trigger until the sights are on the target and you've formed the intent to fire). Actually, the pop quiz answered the questions at the start of this memo. For more information about the Rules, check out http://www.gunsite.com/info/news.html and scroll down to Ed Head's article entitled "Gunsite Firearms Safety Rules." The addition of Rule Five, Maintain control of your defensive implements, especially firearms, comes to us from a pair of attorneys through trainer/author Stephen Wenger. His web page, http://www.spw-duf.info, has a great deal of important and up-to-date information. The officers in this case did not sustain life-threatening injuries, thankfully. We wish them nothing but the best and, like them, wish this event had never happened. The Rules? They need to be posted in Roll Call and the Patrol Office in every agency - and they need to be followed.