Trigger Finger Positioning And Accidental Discharges

    Some of you may remember a 2017 incident involving an off-duty police officer who was attempting to restrain a black/Latino kid who had trespassed, when other black youths attacked him and tried to pull the kid away from the officer. The officer then drew a handgun, but in the ensuing tussle, was pulled so that he fell into some shrubbery and discharged his handgun. Greg Ellifritz had commented at the time that the officer had probably unintentionally clenched his hand due to "interlimb interaction", leading to the discharge, and linked to several articles on the subject, including a 2012 article he had written on the subject. (I thought at the time that it was maybe related to the officer clenching his hand as he fell).

    Anyway, long story short, Greg has republished (or updated and republished) his 2012 article. In the article, he relates the story of a firearms instructor that had accidently shot himself in the leg while reholstering his Glock handgun while at the same time grabbing the target in order to demonstrate how to use the off-hand defensively. This grabbing apparently elicited a sympathetic response from his firing hand resulting in a discharge. The instructor had apparently rested his finger on the front of his trigger guard so the reflexive clenching of the hand brought the trigger finger straight back, actuating the trigger.

    As Greg explains, this clenching can result from three main causes:

1) Postural Imbalance.  When the shooter loses balance or trips, his hands will clench.

2) Startle Effect.  When the shooter is under stress and surprised, there will often be a hand clench.

3) Interlimb Interaction.  Under stress, when the non gun hand closes violently, the gun hand will clench,  spontaneously duplicating the actions of the non-gun hand.

The obvious solution is to rest the finger higher, along the frame or bottom edge of the slide. Greg offers a few options: First, "[t]he one I use and teach is to place the trigger finger as high as possible on the slide without disturbing the grip." Second is that taught by Massad Ayoob: "placing the finger fairly high on the frame with the trigger finger bent or curled.  The bent position causes the finger to curl onto the frame if the hands are clenched.  This position also gives the shooter a little more strength to resist a gun grab attempt." Third is a combination of both. He includes photographs in his article showing the different positioning, so check them out. 

    I don't really like Ayoob's placement because I find it awkward to get the finger back down into the trigger guard and I believe that it actually loosens my grip a bit. Like Greg, when using a Glock, I tend to rest my finger over the slide release nub--it seems a natural place to rest the finger and provides some tactile feedback. On a revolver, I will keep my finger extended and resting along the frame above the trigger and against the bottom of the cylinder. (See below).