Actors and Guns

You’ve see the ads, maybe watched the program.  Canadian SWAT team dealing with all the plot complications writers can throw at them.  Who?   Flashpoint.     

Looks good, works poorly

Okay, it’s not great drama, but it is entertaining.  Studly guys and sassy babes with guns.  What's not to like?

Here’s the thing.  Look at the drop leg holsters they are all wearing.  All the actors are wearing them wrong.  Of course TV is about image and not reality.

I understand the drop leg holster started with the British SAS, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Air_Service) who dropped their holsters just below the level of their equipment/body armor vest.  The vest blocks access to the strong side holster, so the Brits wore the gun just inches below the edge of the vest, not a foot lower.  Our actors are wearing them too low.

If you need to wear one for real, the straps should be pulled very tight.  You don’t want the gun and holster flopping around catching and banging on doors and objects.  None of our actors has them strapped down enough.

The professionals tell me you pull them so tight it hurts.  And frankly, when I see the real deals wearing them, it looks tight.  Remember the gun we wear should be comforting not comfortable.

Hey, they’re actors, what do they know?  At least someone told them finger off trigger.