Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Weapons Retention

If you've got a gun, you've got to keep it with you.  That's one of the drawbacks of open carry; everybody knows you've got a gun, and they might try to snatch it.  Police holsters have improved dramatically over the last 20 years.  We don't want anyone to snatch our gun, and we take steps to defeat a gun snatch.  The best defense is the defense that's built into your holster and the holster companies have gotten very good at defeating a snatch, yet making the gun very easy to draw if you're wearing the holster.

The lesson about a gun snatch is evident in this story about a fellow who wanted to assassinate Donald Trump.   His plan was simple.  Go to a rally, get close, and snatch a cop's gun.
Police say Sandford started chatting with one of their officers at the event and claimed that he wanted to get Trump's autograph. But instead, Sandford tried to take the officer's gun, and officers quickly took him into custody.
 Sandford allegedly told investigators he practiced shooting at a nearby gun range the day before the rally. When officials asked Sandford why he tried to take the officer's gun, he allegedly said, "To shoot and kill Trump."
The 19-year-old was transferred into the custody of the U.S. Secret Service
Luckily, just about every police agency these days uses a Level III holster, usually made by Safariland.  I've carried one for the past dozen years, and my holster today is the Model 6365, and that's fairly standard today. The holster requires three separate motions with the thumb before you can draw the pistol, but Safariland has designed the holster so that it is very ergonomic and natural if you're the person wearing the holster.

If you're not the person wearing the holster, your hand won't be in position to release the pistol.  Forget it.  All that's going to happen is that you're going to feel blows rain down upon you and you'll be arrested and jailed.  There's no faster way to jail than to try to snatch a cop's gun.

And, no, I'm not going to tell you how it works.  It works fine, and I'm sure that there are YouTube videos out there to help you with the mechanics of the holster.
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2 comments:

  1. Old NFO4:50 PM

    They DO work. And retention is a key for an officer wearing one openly, especially in this day and age.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John in Philly7:58 AM

    During my time with INS, the service changed to a retention holster when wearing the non leather ship boarding belt and gear.

    I looked over to see two coworkers wrestling with a belt and holster because they could not get the Beretta out of the holster. When I asked if the pistol was loaded, they said, yes, but we took the magazine out so it could not fire.

    This model of Beretta does not have a magazine disconnect.

    Not our finest hour.

    ReplyDelete

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