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Why We Have Gun Safety Rules
There are three cardinal rules of gun safety. One negligent Florida police officer outrageously violated all three at the same time and accidentally killed a woman.
Mary Knowlton arrived at the Punta Gorda, Fla., police station Tuesday night to learn how to be a community steward.
The 73-year-old was there as a student in the citizens police academy, a two-hour course intended to give an intimate look at what makes the department in the quaint Florida town work. On this night, the group of 35 would tour the station and talk with officers, an essential part of academy curriculum that has gained popularity across the country amid a heated national debate about police violence.
When it came time to get involved, Knowlton volunteered.
The hosting officers chose two students to role-play a lethal force simulation, a scenario intended to demonstrate how and when officers decide to pull the trigger. Knowlton played the victim, Charlotte Sun photographer Sue Paquin told the newspaper, and a Punta Gorda police officer played a “bad guy.” These scenarios are usually safe, acted out with either fake or empty weapons.
But when the officer’s gun was fired, Knowlton — a mother, wife and career librarian — was hit with a live round.
She was rushed to a local hospital and was pronounced dead.
Her husband of 55 years witnessed the shooting and is “devastated,” her son, Steve Knowlton, told the Associated Press. …
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Lewis shared few details about how the tragedy unfolded but said his department was unaware that live ammunition “was available to the officer” during the class.
Lewis has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct an independent investigation which, the chief said, will determine how the ammunition ended up in the handgun without anyone noticing.
That same weapon has been used in previous simulation classes, which the department holds annually, Lewis said.
This is precisely the reason these rules were developed as best practices and must be followed universally. In no particular order:
- Always check the chamber when you pick up a gun to make sure it is unloaded. Even when you’re sure it is unloaded, take all precautions as if it were loaded. Someday you will be wrong.
- Always point a gun in a safe direction, never at a person, even if you’re sure it’s unloaded. Someday you will be wrong.
- Never touch the trigger until you are pointing at the target you intend to shoot. Never pull the trigger idly just because you’re sure it’s unloaded. Someday you will be wrong.
No exceptions for training, make-believe, or “just this once.”
There are several photos and videos available at the Facebook page of local reporter Corey Lazar, including one which purports to show the officer who fired. It’s not clear who or what he’s pointing at, but it looks like his finger is curled right around the trigger of a loaded gun.
I can’t imagine why a real gun was required for this exercise. Surely they’ll modify that practice now.
Published in Guns
Simulation guns are normally used for any type of training where there is role playing involved. Sim guns shoot a tiny projectile that will leave an ink mark but is completely safe so long as everyone is wearing the proper clothing and head protection. Even if not it won’t kill anyone. I can’t imagin why real guns were being used. Even if the firing pin has been removed that is not obvious to anyone and therefore those guns present an unnecessay danger.
Hollywood uses real guns loaded with blanks [at least they used to] and they have had some problems but very rarely. Someone is there whose sole job is to make sure no live ammo is any where near the set. NRA rules say no live ammo can ever be in a classroom under any circumstances, and all guns in the classroom are treated as if they are loaded. All guns anywhere must be treated as if they are loaded.
You’re right, Jules. If I were closer to the incident and my words had any chance to comfort those involved I would. I’m only hoping this post is instructional and can make a practical difference for some else’s safety.
Good lord. Clearly you are not a Marine.
No, and not Army Infantry, either. Those guys get it.
This is just infuriating and heartbreaking each time I read it.
This is such a gross violation of among myriad things, trust. Even thought I am sure the officer is wiped out by this, and the police force must be wearing bags over their heads these days, he should STILL be ruthlessly made an example.
Throw the book at him. Use his name for swearing. Use his picture for dartboards and urinal freshers. This is the “Strategic Corporal” that just risked losing an entire war for his petty failure under non-petty circumstances.
Gosh.
Fry him, fry his leadership, fry whomever organized this exercise (NOBODY!), and everybody who took part. Everybody is guilty. If this guy worked for me, my career would be O.V.E.R., and rightly so. And everybody who failed to be serious about buddy checks and protection of the public.
Gosh some more.
So basically, the government is yet again shown (Police, Military) to be less adept than private citizens, in managing something.
The UK’s Daily Mail has an article that says this officer has “a record of excessive force” and shows a horrifying dashboard cam video in which his K-9 companion savages a bicyclist he pulled over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o46jMqg0GJ8
Lee Williams writes for the Sarasota Herald Tribune (just north of Punta Gorda). He’s a terrific investigative reporter and has been on this story like stink on a pig. Here’s his latest, and it’s not looking good for the officer involved.
Based on my (outsider’s) knowledge of how police forces work, this sort of assignment was something that’s handed out as administrative punishment and not a plum assignment. This cop was given the task because no one trusted him out on the street, but maybe some of the LEO / military could give more insight as to the quality of personnel assigned to PR tasks.
Wow. It just keeps not getting better.
Agree, entirely.
This whole comment is a lie. I know that because the Air Force doesn’t have guns.
Don’t know how much has changed in the last 30 years, but when I was a lowly USAF SP dog handler the “demo squad” comprised the best K9 teams on the base. The best patrol dog team, the best drug/patrol dog team, and the best explosives/patrol dog team. The support troops were the best LE specialists on the base. All other “PR” teams were the top troops. We considered assignment to these teams an acknowledgement that you had your [stuff] squared away.
If for some reason you unfit to carry a weapon, you were assigned to the “goon squad,” where your day was spent cleaning the barracks, squadron HQ, policing the grounds, and shoveling [stuff] at the kennels.
Maybe things have changed in the new PC military, but I can’t believe they’d put their screw-ups in PR assignments.
Different news outlets are reporting on Lee Coel’s past:
He was initially removed from a previous police force for using excessive force, then later allowed to resign.
While working for Punta Gorda police, after his K -9 mauled a cyclist and the video went viral, his department received death threats.
No, but I’d say it looks even worse for the leadership of the police department, the ones who put an unqualified, untrained, and incompetent officer in a classroom with a real gun. Or even hired him in the first place.
I wonder whether Florida law includes a provision that would allow the county or state police to take over local law enforcement. This is such an appalling failure on the part of the Punta Gorda police department that I don’t think they can be trusted, not until the entire command structure has been replaced and the entire department retrained.
I can only speak for the agency that I worked for. You had to have at least two years of college credits to begin the application process. Criminal justice majors were not given any special status during the application process, in fact the agency I worked for was looking for candidates that had experience outside of the criminal justice field. The written test eliminated about half the candidates and the oral board eliminated half the candidates that survived the written exam. The background investigation can take about a year to complete. In my testing group there were was over 400 applicants and 20 of us made it to the academy and three washed out of the academy. In my daughters testing group there were close to 1,000 applicants and she was one of 19 applicants that made it to the academy.
I spent some time as a Field Training Officer (FTO). I found it much easier to train new officers in their late 20’s and early 30’s because they had much more life experience than a 21 year-old. They knew that they were not immortal and they also knew how to talk to people based upon their experiences outside of police work.
Some people test well, and just like in any other profession testing well is not the same as applying what you learned in life in stressful situations. The world is filled with people that can pass tests but memorization is different than critical thinking.
The sad fact is, there are not enough people good at critical thinking, and at some level, it cannot be taught.
I do not believe the American way of life can be exported world wide. We already need to import good thinkers to maintain us.
In short, there are not enough smart people to go around.
Not to drift this thread further, but how many rounds did your troops normally carry? When I stood a DSS post (or really any security post) on a SAC base, we carried 180 rounds. This was on a base in the continental US during “peacetime” (a.k.a. the Cold War). I can’t see carrying any less over in Afghanistan.
Even now that my boys are grown men, each time we drive to the range I make them recite our family’s version of the gun safety rules:
Wow. That’s really wild. I’ll definitely have to check the link. Bob Owens over at Bearing Arms has a good post on this. He writes about real failure of protocol. His conclusion seems reasonable and scary: “I’d be willing to bet that safety protocols were ignored because they viewed this as “only” a citizens academy, and not “real” force-on-force training.”
Sorry for a dumb comment in a serious post, but from your past, I saw you instructing a class on how to operate and clear a 20mm rotary cannon.
IIRC, on my first tour, kitted out, the minimum was 7+3, that is 7x 30 rds 5.54 and 3x 15 rds 9mm, so over 250 rds total.
Second tour, I did not carry a rifle, just the M9, so I ran that thing like most people finger their phone — all. the. time.
I worked in an office on the largest NATO base in the country, and a lot of people enjoyed their lattes and air conditioning. Well, so did I, but with ammo everywhere.
I used to give a speech to folks coming into country as well as departing, and the inbound folks got my “carry enough ammo” homilies.
Well, that worked out. Mebbe the paradigm should be: if you’re not trusted, you’re not trusted.