Author Topic: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.  (Read 609 times)

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Offline guzzijohn

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Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« on: September 14, 2012, 04:32:34 AM »
Caught the last segment of a COPS episode last evening. Possible stolen car and drug stop. Turns out the perp also had a full sized semi-auto pistol that the cop found in the car. This cop who appears to be in his 40s picks up the pistol out of the car and holds it up for the camera by holding the gun with an open palm over the rear of the pistol and the other hand is opened palm with the end of the barrel against the center of his hand. He does NOT CLEAR THE GUN UNTIL AFTER THE CAMERA CLOSE UP!!! What a bad example of gun handling by someone who should be smart enough and trained well enough not to risk blowing his hand off on national TV.
GuzziJohn

Offline Conan The Librarian

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2012, 04:36:02 AM »
Not surprising. I see a lot of people who should know better do worse. Knowing that this is the normal state of gun handling, it keeps me out of the woods during deer season. Too many yahoos.

Offline Empty Quiver

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2012, 05:21:33 AM »
Well if you keep your booger hooks off the bang switch it outta be ok, right? Glock has been advertising that feature for quite some time now. Dang few pistols have mechanical trigger safeties, yet they are routinely handled all day every day. How often do you hear of unmolsted pistols just going off?
 
I did not see the show and there could well be something I'm missing here. No, I do not hold my guns covering the muzzle but at the same time I'm not really afraid they will go off either. Holding with two open hands seems like a poor idea, dropping it and somehow discharging would seem like a slight possibility.
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Offline Swift One

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2012, 05:42:49 AM »
If all you could find wrong, unethical, or immoral on that episode of COPS was a police officer handling a weapon a little incorrectly, then you were watching a very mild episode.
It's all a hot mess...........

Offline guzzijohn

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2012, 05:44:46 AM »
Quote from Empty Quiver:
"Well if you keep your booger hooks off the bang switch it outta be ok, right? Glock has been advertising that feature for quite some time now. Dang few pistols have mechanical trigger safeties, yet they are routinely handled all day every day. How often do you hear of unmolsted pistols just going off?
I did not see the show and there could well be something I'm missing here. No, I do not hold my guns covering the muzzle but at the same time I'm not really afraid they will go off either. Holding with two open hands seems like a poor idea, dropping it and somehow discharging would seem like a slight possibility."


I will agree that the chances are minimal of the gun going off but I was taught in no uncertain terms that you never have the open end of the barrel pointed any body parts unless you plan on shooting that body part. To me it was an example of very sloppy gun handling and on TV no less by a cop that IMHO should be trained to know better. He should not have done it even after clearing the gun. He may end up with the nickname of Stumpy if he is not more careful.
GuzziJohn

Offline Conan The Librarian

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2012, 05:56:30 AM »
I agree with being very concerned with safety. Considering what can happen, care must always be exercised. Not least of which is that any unsafe handling can lead to an eventual reinforcement of unsafe gun handling as a habit.
 
I occasionally make a mistake when gun handling, and fortunately have never had an injury or damage resulting from it, but whenever it does happen, I am truly mortified and pause to think about what has happened. I can still remember two neglegent discharges, one at the range, and one in the hunting field, both of which were completely due to operator error. They truly haunt me, and that's what I want. I want to know it's bad. I want to reinforce good safe handling to prevent another discharge like that.

Offline Empty Quiver

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #6 on: September 14, 2012, 06:59:03 AM »
Quote from Empty Quiver:


I will agree that the chances are minimal of the gun going off but I was taught in no uncertain terms that you never have the open end of the barrel pointed any body parts unless you plan on shooting that body part. To me it was an example of very sloppy gun handling and on TV no less by a cop that IMHO should be trained to know better. He should not have done it even after clearing the gun. He may end up with the nickname of Stumpy if he is not more careful.
GuzziJohn
Agreed, I don't want to start any bad habits either.
My writing skills don't always translate well, to what I was getting at. Proof reading isn't my strong suit either, as I am reading my own thoughtds which somehow made sense just seconds ago and may still make sense. Does that make sense?
 
I believe I shall start drinking now as it is my weekend and need an excuse for this brain pattern I'm started on.
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Offline Conan The Librarian

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #7 on: September 14, 2012, 07:13:24 AM »
EQ: Pour one for me, too.
 
One of the things I like about competitive shooting is the culture of safety that dominates it. A high priority on range manners and gun safety is a good thing when dealing with guns, and hopefully translates well to other kinds of dangerous things.

Offline Awf Hand

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #8 on: September 14, 2012, 09:28:14 AM »
While I don't think open palm over the muzzle is good handling, I believe that LEO's are supposed to handle a confiscated arm in such a way that they won't obscure prints on the normal contact areas.  Having done a small bit of forensic mapping, I've seen them place a pencil into the end of the barrel on a found firearm.  They typically would then 'bag' it and may never cycle the action or clear the chamber.  That's for the lab to do.  Almost every action of the field officer can disturb the scene or damage evidence.
Just my Awf Hand comments...

Offline yellowtail3

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #9 on: September 14, 2012, 01:34:13 PM »
I won't watch COPS. I have, and it just pisses me off to no end - slamming citizens to the ground, the patronizing lecture, the LEO-worship of the narrator... watching that show puts my TV at risk, so I don't.
Jesus said we should treat other as we'd want to be treated... and he didn't qualify that by their party affiliation, race, or even if they're of diff religion.

Offline 1marty

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #10 on: September 14, 2012, 03:14:32 PM »
A couple of years ago I was at the local outdoor range which was fairly empty except for some local "tactical" cops shooting down at the last 3 ports with their AR's and shotguns. If I told you how they were laughing, horsing around and swinging their guns around toward the firing line you'd cringe. Anyway I told the range officer is there anything he could say to those guys but he said "you must be kidding". Anyway I packed up and went over to the pistol range for the rest of the day. I'm not saying all cops act this way but I guess these guys "rambo" outfits went to their head.

Offline Gun Runner

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #11 on: September 14, 2012, 09:44:45 PM »
2 yrs ago going into work ((2 a m) I got stopped for a tail light being out. I had brand new ones sitting on the seat,  only prob. was they had tork screws holding the cover and son had my tork drivers in his car. 2
S O's got out to check me out. One new kid on the block and the other an F T O. I informed them I had a loaded hand gun in the truck and had a permit. Young kid gets all excited. Out of the truck, stand on the left side of the hood. Told the rookie how to unload it, and how to get the clip out of it. He pulls the slide back to get the round out of the chamber, lets the slide go foward and then drops the clip. I tell him the gun is still loaded, he's waving it around inside my truck. FTO takes the gun away from him before he blows a hold thru something in the truck. They check my lic., permit and put my pistol back on the seat with both rds next to it along with the clip. and left. Talked to the FTO couple days later and he said he had a long talk with the rookie about gun safty.
(FTO= field training officer)

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Offline kennyd

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #12 on: September 15, 2012, 03:40:09 AM »
Unhapily cops are not part of the community any more.  They have their own culture and don't like "civilians".  Most of them use guns only in their work, not for anything else. 


As for handling MY guns, I know if any of them have hair triggers, problems, and "know" they are loaded or not.


A sore subject with most of us is the speed traps versus stopping people who really need it.  I asked and was told they just work the "easy" places where the speed limit is too low and they can get their ten or twenty tickets (no quota?).
just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they are not watching you

Offline yellowtail3

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #13 on: September 15, 2012, 04:21:07 AM »
A sore subject with most of us is the speed traps versus stopping people who really need it.  I asked and was told they just work the "easy" places where the speed limit is too low and they can get their ten or twenty tickets (no quota?).


they fish where they fishin' is good... public safety isn't the first priority, getting some stats is.


ca ching ca ching ca ching! And maybe they can intimidate some of those they stop into consenting to a search - "you don't have anything to hide, do you?" - and fishin' goes on!
Jesus said we should treat other as we'd want to be treated... and he didn't qualify that by their party affiliation, race, or even if they're of diff religion.

Offline Cuts Crooked

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #14 on: September 15, 2012, 04:34:38 AM »
As I have stated before, You get what you vote for. LEOs are hired by the people you vote for........you vote for socialistdemolibs, you get what they choose, and you get the training, cops....and laws......that they choose.

You wanna change that? Then change the way you vote! Quit voting for phoney "moderates" who are actually liberals in disguise, and vote for true conservatives........and quit making up excuses for not voting for conservatives.
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Offline Sourdough

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #15 on: September 16, 2012, 06:47:59 AM »
My son got stopped on a traffic stop a couple of years ago.  First thing he said to the cop was "I am carrying and have a permit".  Cop asked where the gun was, Sky told him it was under his left arm in a shoulder holster.  Cop told him to keep his hands on the wheel and reached inside Sky's jacket and pulled the gun out.  Then the cop went into panic mode, the gun had the hammer back in the cocked position.  Cop held the gun by his thumb and forefinger and yelled, "Why is this gun cocked".  Sky quitely said, "It's a 1911, it's cocked and locked, that's the way you carry a 1911".  Cop called for backup, he did not know how to handle a 1911.  Back up arrived and same thing he also did not know what to do with a 1911.  Third cop arrived, same thing.  They are in panic no one knows how to make this firearm safe, and they won't let Sky tell them.  Finally a forth cop arrives, an old guy.  He walks up takes the gun, drops the magazine.  Then ejects the cartridge, and lays it on the front seat of the car. 

Sky called the new Mayor, who is a shooter himself.  Sky informed the Mayor about how the first three cops did not know what to do with a 1911.  The Mayor was shocked, but held a training class with himself as trainer.  A class on how to disarm and unload different types of pistols and rifles.  I called the radio station and discussed this with a gun nut local talk show host.  He got a kick out of hearing about Fairbanks Finest not knowing how to handle a 1911.  It's been two years and still a common topic on the radio.  This local Talk Show host has a daily talk show every day from 4 to 6.  He has "Wildlife Wednesday" where we discuss wildlife issues.  And Firearms Friday where we discuss things related to firearms.  He often has guest from across the nation, and the public is encouraged to call in and participate.  Anytime the local cops are mentioned the Host says "Oh no it's a 1911".  Just another dig at the local cops. 
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Offline yellowtail3

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Re: Could hardly believe my eyes what I saw on COPS last night.
« Reply #16 on: September 16, 2012, 07:01:17 AM »
Anytime the local cops are mentioned the Host says "Oh no it's a 1911".  Just another dig at the local cops.
now that's a good story!
Jesus said we should treat other as we'd want to be treated... and he didn't qualify that by their party affiliation, race, or even if they're of diff religion.