A state trooper killed earlier this month after an early morning highway chase was shot twice with his own weapon, a prosecutor said Wednesday."Takeaway" shootings like this were the stated rationale for the initial federal grant to Sandia Labs to develop so-called "smart guns." As predicted, cops quickly got themselves exempted from any such requirement, and if the damned things ever are put on the market, only citizens will be forced to jeopardize their lives with mandated gadgetry.
The most effective solution to such incidents (from my interview with Ken Good in the above-linked "smart gun" article):
"If a weapon is taken from an officer, I personally believe it is primarily a training issue. Most folks seem to try and solve most tactical problems through some sort of hardware improvement without looking at the core system. The human operator should be the primary system to be improved upon. Many departments are dangerously low in their delivery of ongoing advanced officer training. If an officer cannot be trusted to deploy and keep his or her weapon, please don't give them one in the first place!"
1 comment:
The inherent problem with police officers and security guards (armed) is the lack of training. Other than annual (in most cases) or semi-annual range qualifications, most police officers and armed security guards go through absolutely no firearms training once they are finished with the academy.
There are countless negligent discharges (as they are now referred to in the military as opposed to "accidental discharges") that happen by police officers that are simply not reported. In a lot of backwoods county sheriff's departments, they are even laughed about.
Negligent discharges are seriously being addressed by the military, but it seems many police and security agencies are falling behind the curve. They already have regarding weapons training.
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