Just because your job requires you to be armed doesn’t negate your responsibilities. The same applies to the armed citizen. As an armed citizen I know that one of my responsibilities is to protect the handgun from unauthorized access. The flip side is protecting people from the unauthorized use of the weapon.
It is a double tragedy when an AD kills someone. One can only imagine the pain and grief the survivors have to deal with when someone they love is taken from them so suddenly.
And every shooter takes it on the chin because we are vilified along with shooter.
The local newspaper has a little 60 word blurb that a 25 year old Detroit woman hugs an off duty police officer at her birthday party and is killed. Adaisha Miller “embraced the officer from the rear, causing the holstered weapon to accidently discharge.” The article indicates the round punctured her heart and lungs and she died at the hospital.
That’s how my blog started.
More information came out that the officer was home hosting a fish fry. Adaisha was invited to attend. He was wearing an S&W .40 M+P secured in a softside waist band holster. Detroit law may require an officer to be armed off duty to be ready for duty at all times. I don’t know.
An M+P semi auto is Glock–like in that the trigger must be depressed to release the internal safety. Of course this is mechanical and therefore subject to Murphy’s Law and failure at the worst possible time.
The key words are waist band holster.
David Balash, a former Michigan State Police firearms examiner, according to the Associated Press, said the investigation also should look at the gun's angle given that Miller was shot in the chest.
"What's going to be very important here is the angle of the entry of the wound to the victim (and) if there is in fact any gunpowder residue," Balash said. "I'm having a great deal of difficulty understanding how a weapon that's pointed at the ground can be turned literally 110 degrees minimum to be in an upward position to strike.”
No, David isn’t having any problems understanding. He understands. Adaisha was on her knees and up close to the officer. Hmmmm….
Titillating and you may want to smirk, but it doesn’t change what happened.
If you carry, your responsibility is to do so in a manner to protect the gun from access and to assure the safety of the people around you. Don’t we answer the question “Why do you want to carry a concealed gun?” with “…to protect ourselves and our loved ones.” I know I do.
If you carry, make sure your gun matches the holster and is secure. Don’t modify a holster with finger cut-outs or to fit a different gun. Make sure your gun is mechanically sound and in good working order. Face the facts, not every gun is right for you and not every carry style will work for you. Don’t let the cool factor outweigh good sense.
Finally, avoid situations where the control of the weapon can be compromised. As the Byrds sang and the Old Testament reads, “…there is a time for everything under heaven…”
There is at least one person in Detroit who is partially responsible for the reason Adaisha will never be 26 years old.
Don’t let that happen to you.
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