this post was submitted on 03 May 2024
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A police officer who was involved in clearing protesters from a Columbia University administration building earlier this week fired his gun inside the hall, a spokesperson for District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office confirmed Thursday.

No one was injured, according to spokesperson Doug Cohen, who said there were other officers but no students in the immediate vicinity. He said Bragg’s office is conducting a review.

He did not provide additional details on the incident, which was first reported by news outlet The City.

The New York Police Department did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment.

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[–] themeatbridge 81 points 6 months ago

It's a peaceful protest.

"Not on my watch," growled the NYPD officer.

[–] givesomefucks 51 points 6 months ago

The gunfire came as police officers stormed Hamilton Hall late Tuesday. Pro-Palestinian protesters had been barricaded inside for more than 20 hours. Video showed officers with zip ties and riot shields streaming through a second-floor window. Police had said protesters inside presented no substantial resistance.

Because it's a peaceful protest...

But I'm sad to say it's more likely the cops said that in a bragging way about how good of a job they did, not that they used excessive force and felt comfortable that they would never be held accountable for abuses towards the protesters.

[–] reversebananimals 44 points 6 months ago

Let me guess. "We've investigated ourselves and determined we did nothing wrong."

[–] [email protected] 28 points 6 months ago (2 children)

It's just a little desk pop. C'mon everyone does it!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

He was just trying to honor the flag

[–] Reddfugee42 1 points 6 months ago
[–] [email protected] 20 points 6 months ago (1 children)

So he was trying to work the flashlight when he accidentally pulled the trigger. Is there no safety on these guns, or did he disengage that when he was trying to use his radio?

[–] PrettyLights 15 points 6 months ago (3 children)

There's no manual safety to disengage on Glock handguns, a common standard issue sidearm.

They have safeties such as a split trigger, but they're intended to stop negligent discharges. There's no switch or button to turn it on and off a "safe" mode.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Technically any unintended discharge of a gun is a negligent discharge because the user isn't following the 4 rules of gun safety. The trigger dongle makes a glock drop safe, but not safe from idiots putting their finger on the trigger (where most NDs happen).

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It's even worse since the NYPD has absurd trigger pull weight.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Yeah, 12lbs is crazy.

[–] PrettyLights 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I may have misused the term, thanks. As far as the split trigger my understanding is that's for cases where your finger or other object unintentionally partially pulls the trigger.

There's an additional safety on glocks for drops where the firing pin is blocked by the trigger bar unless the trigger is pulled in a manner that satisfies the split trigger mechanism.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah no problem - not to get too deep in the weeds, but the glock trigger is intended to fire a round whenever you have your finger on the trigger and pull it. In other words, if you pull the trigger, it will go bang. The trigger dongle is not meant to function as a safety device if you are pulling the trigger partially.

In general, the only safety feature of triggers is a long and hard pull weight, commonly seen on "double action / single action" (DA/SA) guns like the Sig P226. The double action refers to 1) cocking the hammer, then 2) releasing the hammer. Glocks are all striker fired, which means they only have a single action (releasing the firing pin, no hammer). That means that each trigger pull on a Glock is the same, in contrast to DA/SA guns where the first pull is extremely hard, then each pull after that (because the hammer is then cocked) is very light. This is considered a safety feature because you have to be very intentional about your first shot, but once you know you're going to be shooting, other shots are easy.

What's weird, as the other commenter mentioned, is that NYPD makes glock install a super heavy trigger in their glocks so they all basically function as a safety. However, the dongle doesn't impact that at all - it's just a tiny little flap that instantly folds with no pressure.

The firing pin block is indeed a safety device too, but it's unconnected to the trigger dongle per se (there's no mechanical connection). A firing pin block does block the firing pin from moving forward. On a glock (and similar striker fired guns with trigger dongles), the movement of the trigger (let's say 50% through the pull) pushes the firing pin block up so that the firing pin is free to impact the bullet (once the trigger is pulled 100%). The trigger dongle's job is to prevent the trigger from STARTING to move at all, thus keeping the firing pin block in place - the difference in weight between the dongle and the trigger is what makes them drop safe (in contrast, see early sig p320 designs, which were not drop safe because there was no dongle).

Edit: btw, that's why good trigger discipline (example) is extremely important for glocks, since you have no external safety (and outside the NYPD, a relatively light trigger weight).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

TIL

Thank you.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Thank you. I hadn't checked what they're issued with.

So then I'm wondering why he didn't demount the flashlight. I guess he was worried that he might accidentally fire the gun into his foot while doing so. He's obviously a little bit prone to that kind of thing. Safer to leave it on the rail, I guess.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Although it's not that hard to unmount a weapon mounted light (WML), you typically do not - it's just how your gun is configured. Sort of like if you put new laces on shoes, you can technically take them off, but why would you? WMLs are used to help identify targets in dark areas - especially when the possibility of actually shooting is very high - i.e. if you know someone with a gun is hiding in a basement, you'd want your WML on to positively identify them so you're not shooting at innocent people. HOWEVER, based on everything we've heard about these protests, there's really no reason that the officer should have had his duty weapon out AT ALL. They have regular flashlights for use in regular scenarios (like here) where you need to see in the dark but are not going to be shooting anyone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You asked "you can ... but why would you?". You answered yourself.

Because he wasn't in a situation where he was going to need to shoot anyone but he decided to proceed as if he was. And accidents happen, as he demonstrated.

You can say this is SOP, but that's worse, isn't it?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Why would you = removing a WML. This guy is clearly a super huge idiot if that's what he was trying to do. I would think that this is super far from SOP, which should be to use his flashlight since he's surrounded by 999 other cops, this guy did not need his gun out at all.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yes, but he did have his gun out and the spokesperson effectively said "don't worry, he didn't mean to fire it - he was only planning to point it at people".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Yeah, sorry, at this point, I don't know what you're trying to say. I think we're both in agreement that this cop is an idiot and should not have his gun out, right?

I've only been trying to tell you that your question of "why he didn't demount the flashlight" is not really how it works.

[–] afraid_of_zombies 2 points 6 months ago

No surprises there. Clear what the priorities are

[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The police aren't your friends. Many are trained to believe it's them or you and can only see you as a subhuman threat.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago (1 children)

And so it begins ... again.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 6 months ago (2 children)

The protesters should try being rightwingers. They could beat the cops with fire extinguishers and flagpoles and just get a slap on the wrist.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Unironically, if they were armed the cops wouldn't fuck with them

Or they'd just toss frag grenades in, not sure

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

It's not a frag grenade, just a little assist one.

[–] Sam_Bass 4 points 6 months ago

It was a assident

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I think it's super annoying how cops handle weapons in incredibly irresponsible ways. You shouldn't be be walking around with your pistol drawn, you only pull it out if you're going to immediately use it. The reason why is exactly what happened. Handling your gun unnecessarily will increase the number of negligent discharges, because of course it will. Aside from needless property damage, more negligent discharges mean more innocent people get shot for no reason.