This video will show you the obvious cause of the accidental discharge of a Federal Flight Deck Officer's Service weapon. The cause was a flawed and dangerous policy requiring redundant and unnecessary firearm handling by the pilots and an equipment design disaster. You don’t place foreign objects next to a trigger of a loaded gun!
57 comments:
That video is simply unbelievable! I'm only surprised there haven't been more accidental discharges with an assinine policy like they have.
EXCELLENT and ACCURATE demo. I would like to see it done with a live round to truly drive the point home.
Long before this incident occurred, the pilots had nicknamed this rig the "ADH" for Auto-Discharge Holster.
Mr. Huebl.
Your disgraceful and insulting remarks about the fine men and women who keep you safe at the TSA should be a federal offense.
Releasing classified information as you have is a serious offense.
I think you should be taken to Guantanamo Bay detention camp and water-boarded until you confess just who provided you with that TSA Flight Deck Officer’s, gun, holster and safety padlock.
You and your gun-slinging pilot pals all need a long vacation in a federal cooler for treason.
The FAA and TSA have been doing a fine job of protecting Americans from the National Rifle Association.
Sincerely,
The TSA
Wow that was a great demo!
A fine example of gun safety.
So, it is the TSA's fault that the pilot did not check the thumb break before he inserted the lock... I see how that could happen.
Next thing you know we will be blaming the FAA when he forgets to put the landing gear down!
Stupid policies, they always get in the way of a good time!
If you are going to be that irresponsible in your weapon handling, then perhaps your next video could be on how to check to see if a weapon is loaded by looking down the barrel! :-)
You will only get one take though so do it right the first time!
I truly hope you do not pawn yourself off as a gun expert. If you do you should know...
1. The gun is always loaded
2. Don't point it at anything you don't want to shoot.
3. If you don't respect the weapon it will bite you some day.
But you are correct a pilot who demonstrated no respect for his weapon should be running around the plane strapped at all times...
I hope his next AD hits you and not me!
Thanks, for taking that one for me big guy...
Great video, have once again proved the old adadage:
You have to be smarter than the equipment you are using!
I like the "ADH" thing...
Too bad it should be the "HSM" for Holster is Smarter than Me.
And good luck with the TSA.
I am expert enough to say that the “expert’s including the trainers at the TSA should have refused to instruct anyone to place a foreign object against the trigger of a loaded firearm.
The Flight Deck Officer had that gun pointed in as safe a direction as he could have on that plane or someone would have been hurt for sure.
Pilots are forced to do an extraordinary amount of unnecessary handling of their firearms by incompetent authorities at the TSA.
In a way you sir, are correct. That the FFDO was “Only following Orders” was and is no excuse. The FFDO’s should all use their heads and put safety before the demands of TSA political hacks trying to micro-manage what they are not qualified nor educated to handle.
Anonymous writes: So, it is the TSA's fault that the pilot did not check the thumb break before he inserted the lock... I see how that could happen.
It's a design flaw in the holster. But also, I don't understand why the handgun doesn't have an external safety engaged.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the gun in question is an HK USP 40 Compact. These come in a variety of configurations. My wife has one, and it's a DA/SA model with an external safety that also functions as a decocking lever. With the safety engaged the gun can't be fired.
Also, I don't like calling this an "accidental" discharge. Given the design of the holster, there is a particular statistical probability that the hasp of the padlock will end up in front of the trigger, and a statistical probability that the gun will then discharge.
Thus, when the gun discharges, this is not an "accident," but something that is built into the design of the holster. It would be more accurate to call the discharge a "feature" of the holster. It would be an uncommon occurrence, but not an "accident."
Your disgraceful and insulting remarks about the fine men and women who keep you safe at the TSA should be a federal offense.
Except for that pesky 1st Amendment thing.
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I think you should be taken to Guantanamo Bay detention camp and water-boarded
Apparently a police state would please some people.
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...need a long vacation in a federal cooler for treason.
We don't have a police state yet, so treason is not yet defined as "that which displeases the police." Sorry.
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The FAA and TSA have been doing a fine job of protecting Americans from the National Rifle Association.
Indeed! The NRA hasn't flown any planes into buildings.
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I actually thought the above response was meant to be satire until I saw the NRA reference, and then I realized it was typical hypocritical leftist blather. As is customary, the leftists are all for the 1st Amendment and civil rights... as long as you agree with them.
Thanks for the demonstration Mr. Huebl.
How sad. Certified idiots at TSA have concocted the idiots method of gun handling.
If the pilot desired, he or she could fly the plane into a building. Don't you think the pilot could be trusted to strap on the gun and wear it around, without unnecessarily taking it off, and putting it back on?
Anytime the Govt. gets involved in anything, incompetence prevails.
To the person railing on the video, about how the TSA is protecting us all. What the hell does that have to do with the absolute lack of common sense seen here? The TSA should not be the final arbiter of passenger safety. No Govt, entity ever should.
I saw the video that was presented to the California state legislature in the 90's, who at the time, was proposing mandatory trigger locks. The video showed a popular semi-auto pistol and a revolver with the most popular trigger lock installed. Both guns were fired with the trigger lock in place by using the trigger lock. God help the passengers and crew if the pilot ever needed to use that gun in a hurry.
The most frightening words one care hear are "Hi, I'm from the government and I'm here to help!”
The FDO/Pilot should be able to wear the gun when on duty, meaning in uniform when they leave their house or hotel room enroute to work, until they are done with their day and can securely lock up the weapon in a normal manner (e.g. a safe, in the hotel room, hotel safe deposit area or at home). The padlock is a poorly thought of solution for a problem that does not exist. The TSA is a joke in its current form, and frequently, as with the latest nipple ring fiasco, oversteps and abuses its authority. As to the idiot who posted the comments about treason etc. go read the Constitution and get a clue.
The person who posted about waterboarding as the TSA seems to have been making a satire thing.
Whatever else, it's time to give the pilots more flexibility in their gun stuff, more in line with other concealed carriers. A lock through the trigger while a holder masks a loaded gun is a foolish policy. Tons of cops, bail agents, citizens, etc. do concealed carry safely. Surely with the lock out of the equations trained pilots who fly airliners for a living will be capable at to doing so as well.
i'm a retired armoured truck guard, when i was still working i carried my duty pistol "from portal to portal" checking and loading it last thing before leaving home for work. leaving it holstered until i returned home again when it was cleared and secured until the next morning. it seems to me that an airline pilot, responsible for several million dollars worth of airplane and the lives of passengers can, and should be trusted to carry a sidearm at least as much as i was when my only responsibility was for large amounts of other people's money and the safe operation of an armoured truck.
"gunner"
As usual, when the government gets involved with anything it becomes FUBAR, thus compromising common sense and safety.
The article enclosed was written by A professional firearms trainer shortly after the events of 9-11-01.
I still think a lock box in the cockpit is a better idea.
This article was published in the October 2002 edition of Security Management The official publication of The American Society of Industrial Security.
What do you think has been done since that time to make commercial flights more safe ?
Arm the Cockpit
There has been much controversy and discussion relative to the subject of arming commercial airline pilots. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on the next assault on America. It may not come from the sky this time, but it could.
We should not arm individual pilots. We should, instead, arm each commercial aircraft used to transport passengers. The cockpit would have a handgun, accessible to both the pilot and co-pilot; it would be under lock and key or code except when the aircraft is staffed for flight. There are a number of small portable devices now available to provide this security and prevent unauthorized persons from gaining control of a firearm.
Obviously, the persons who have access to this handgun will need some basic training in the proper use of weapons. This is a simple and inexpensive process. I operate a firearms training facility and have offered to provide such training to any commercial airline pilot or co-pilot cost free.
The opponents of the provision of firearms aboard aircraft claim that the danger to passengers and the liability risk to airlines outweigh any benefits that could be derived from having a firearm in the cockpit. They are wrong, in my opinion, for the following reasons: The weapon in the cockpit area would be a last line of defense against persons attempting to take control of the flight deck of an aircraft. Therefore, the risk to innocent passengers would be minimal. To further minimize that risk, the firearm could be loaded with frangible rounds (also called "rat shot"), special ammunition charged with very small pellets that are effective only at short range.
Opponents also sometimes voice the concern that a handgun might bring down a commercial airliner. That result is remote or nonexistent. Most modern commercial passenger airliners are designed to maintain cabin pressure even with sizable holes in the exterior covering. And in fact there have been cases in which aircraft have continued to fly with holes the size of a doorway ripped into them by cannon fire or with half the cabin ripped away.
Alternatives to putting a firearm in the cockpit include hiring of more air marshals and the fortification of cockpits. Hiring marshals for every flight would be expensive and is not likely to happen any time soon, if at all. As for fortifying cockpits (which is being done), it does not solve the problem because without a separate outside entrance for flight deck crew, there is always a time when this inner door can be breached. For example, when nature calls, as food is passed through, or when enough force is brought to bear to collapse the door structure.
Alternative non lethal weapons have also been proposed. Most of these weapons require the user to have direct contact with the adversary, putting the user in a more hazardous situation than a firearm. Some of these devices shoot twin barbs attached to wires. These may be defeated with a coat or blanket held at arms length.
Over the long term, better hiring, screening, and training of airport security personnel is a good idea. Over the short term, a better plan is to allow all current and retired police officers to carry their side arms with them whenever they fly. These people are trained to deal with violent criminals. They protect us on the streets, why not in the skies?
A major newspaper ran an anti "arm the pilot" editorial recently. The closing line in that piece was, "The unintended consequences of arming pilots would create more risk than safeguards."
If the thousands of innocent people who were burned to death on September 11th in crashes caused by air terrorists armed with box cutters were by a miracle brought back to life and allowed to vote on the closing line, how much support do you think that position would receive? Meanwhile, the clock is ticking.
KEN WILKINSON, CPP
Director of Training Services, SAFE LLC
A good demonstration of how this may have happened. Leon Panetta, the head of TSA, has been anti-gun for decades. Why do you think the training is in Artesia, New Mexico, the most remote training area possible? And the pilots have to pay their own way there!
And DeSantis sells this holster to the public.
Now, let's think about this: We trust pilots with multi-million dollar aircraft, and the lives of everyone aboard. But TSA says they can not be trusted, after training, with a handgun.
So, who is going to protect us from the TSA?
Sleuth
Perfect example of how this idiotic holster endangers FFDOs and passengers. One thing not mentioned: wearing the holster on the "strong side" (the dominant-hand side) assures easy access to the weapon---to an intruder! It would be the first thing someone breaching the cockpit door would see, and grab. A shoulder holster is the only truly secure way of carrying the pistol.
Is Wile E Coyote in charge of the TSA?
And this is the same government dimocrats want running our health care, retirement, energy policy, and financial institutions?!
God help us!
In reference to Jim Holman's post of March 30th, perhaps they carry the USP 40 Compact variant which is a double action only model without an external safety. If an intruder were to breach the flight deck, an external safety would likely hinder an appropriate response by the FFDO.
I began writing letters to the TSA over a year ago asking them to revise their policies on weapons handling by FFDO's. I never received a response. In each of these letters I pointedly stated that the onerous procedures that FFDO's must follow would inevitably lead to an accidental discharge.
Let us assume each flight requires the weapon to be manipulated twice, to include removing and replacing the shank of the padlock next to the trigger. Some pilots fly as many as 8 or more flights in a single day meaning that they are risking an AD (accidental discharge) 16 times each day. If both pilots in the cockpit are flying armed, that's over 30 potential AD's in a single day on a single airplane. It is astounding that this hasn't happened before now.
It has been my assertion that authorizing FFDO's what in the law enforcement community is called "portal to portal carry authority" would virtually eliminate the potential for this type of AD. It would also reduce other risks associated with current procedures which are not germane to this discussion.
As the Airline Pilot's Association has pointed out, there are issues with some of the procedures required of FFDO's, but the FFDO program is a very valuable and integral part of an overall defense and preparedness stratedy to guard against the possibility of future assaults on our cockpits. It is the very last line of defense and as such should remain in place. If you were a passenger on 9/11, would you have wanted your pilots to be armed?
Congress gave rise to the FFDO program and can wield significant influence on the application of procedures within the program. At the present time, FFDO's are the ONLY Federal Law Enforcement Officers who do NOT have portal to portal carry authority. If enough people contacted their congressmen asking that ALL Federal Law Enforcement Officers (FFDO's included) be given portal to portal carry authority, we could get the policy changed. Contact your congressmen and let them know what you think.
Mr. Huebl.
Your disgraceful and insulting remarks about the fine men and women who keep you safe at the TSA should be a federal offense.
Releasing classified information as you have is a serious offense.
I think you should be taken to Guantanamo Bay detention camp and water-boarded until you confess just who provided you with that TSA Flight Deck Officer’s, gun, holster and safety padlock.
You and your gun-slinging pilot pals all need a long vacation in a federal cooler for treason.
The FAA and TSA have been doing a fine job of protecting Americans from the National Rifle Association.
Sincerely,
The TSA
HAHAHAHA, I've seen the degenerate's the TSA hires to protect us at the airport. The min. wage H.S dropout that does security for the TSA is the one we should be concerned about.
I'm Retired DDFO/ Airline Pilot
Please talk to your congressman and ask for portal to portal athority. These pilots are fallowing proceedures of the TSA that expose failure daily.
The pilots excepted in to the FFDO program are usually 30 to 60 years old. They are given first rate training and have proven themself in flight training, and firearms training, how it's time we trust them to use the materials given them in a safe, responsible manner.
I know some of the people (TSA)in charge of these programs and they also agree but there hands are tied. If one wants to win the war than let the Generals do there job. Tell them to win and not now to fight the war. Please let the FFDO's function as any other trained law enforcement officer.
I am an expert. I was in the first Instructor Class for the Texas Dept Of Public Safety. The Government Policy and Procedure for pilots to carry handguns is both dangerous and stupid---and worse of all--typical. The Video simply points this out. The holster is custom made and just as easily could have been designed with the unnecessary lock outside the trigger guard. Wake up and smell the coffee! The designers, not the pilots should be headed to Gitmo.
In response to Jim Holman. Yes, the FFDO's use the H&K USP .40. But it is the LEO model without an external safety.
As an airline pilot I published the petition to arm pilots within days of 9-11. The program today doesn't resemble what we had in mind for the pilots.
The only "safe" way to carry a firearm is on the person all the time. Pilots should not be subject to an unsafe procedure like this multiple times per day.
The program was designed by the TSA from the beginning to fail. This unsafe procedure illustrates their lack of understand of firearm safety.
Eggman,
There are many things government should & can do better. Commonsense is not one of the things they do well. Why search old people when it is young muslims who are threatening America. PC, won't allow what is a proven counter to criminal activity-profiling. It works.
With 42 yrs. airline experience, 20 yrs. FAA (retired), believe me when I say incompetence in the FAA abounds; and in my frequent contacts with TSA it is rampant, many individuals with low education, low IQ, and little or no common sense. I would rather trust the individual airlines, or an organization of all major airlines, to hire a professional security company to train and equip FFDO's. After all, it is their aircraft, personnel, and businesses on the line; AND anytime government jumps in to do a job, private industry can always do it better and more efficiently.
The best idea is to just arm all of the passengers. Make the fuselage and cockpit doors bullet proof (in case of a stray round). If a passenger pulls a gun or threatens to hi-jack or blow-up the plane let everyone shoot it out. The right to bear arms doesn't stop when you are airborne. Whoever had the comment "pesky little 1st amendment thing" -- that was great!
Excessive regulation will kill us all one day.
Blame Bill Clinton. It was his executive order that made these silly padlocks mandatory, not for TSA, but all Federal Guncarriers. The practice simply carried over to TSA.
I think the TSA has a great idea concerning the handeling of the gun, why don't they make the city cops lock their guns in a holster too?
I thought it was the 2nd admendment? "A man with a gun is a citizen............a man without a gun is a subject!"
Let me see, on 9-11 the planes, the planes were taken over by using uh uh uh O ya BOX KNIFES ??? and if the pilots would have done their jobs of defending the PLANE and not their GIRL FRIENDS the flight attendants, the planes would not have been used for huge GAS BOMBS. About the guns in the hands of pilots, have you seen the hole in the airplane yet?????? We have hunderds of thousands of highly trained police officers WHO are NOT allowed to carry their GUNS on airplanes, BUT we do have highly trained pilots, O ya TSA is a JOKE!!!! But don't say that to their face because they will ARREST YOU!!!! NO KIDDING. We were going through houston airport, when an announcement over the PA system said. We take our jobs serious if we catch you laughing at us for ANY REASON you WILL be ARRESTED!!!!, welcome to our new FREE AMERICA, HELL-O HITLER OR SHOULD I SAY OUR NEW FRIENDS AT TSA, O ya LAUGHLING is UH UH AN ARESSTING OFFENCE UNDER TSA. TSA our new rent a cop. GOD HELP US ALL!!!!
We're already living in a police state. The First Amendment, the Second Amendment and the Fourth Amendment (protection from unreasonable search and seizure) are all destroyed at the TSA's airline insecurity checkpoint.
When someone finally gets hurt because of TSA's absurd regulations for handling firearms, the incident will be used to justify eliminating the program altogether - for "safety reasons."
Really?!? The TSA protects people? What a joke. The TSA is nothing more than a giant embarrassment on the world's stage. How many failures have we heard about in the past year. Oh but the TSA commenter says they are doing a great job. When have you performed this function. When you missed the make explosives test, time and time again?
WorstNightMare said...
"The TSA is a joke in its current form, and frequently, as with the latest nipple ring fiasco, oversteps and abuses its authority."
Couldn't agree with you more. TSA stands for Terrible Security at Aiports.
On another note, someone else posted that lockboxes are in the cockpit. If the guns are required to be locked and are only allowed in the cockpit, then keep them locked in a box. Unlocking the box and removing a firearm cannot be any more of a struggle or take longer than unlocking it from one's holster.
The whole thing is absurd. The man is the captain of the plane. If he can be trusted to have a gun then trust him to have a gun.
Let him put the gun in the holster when he get dressed for work and leave it there until he goes home. It works for lots of people every day. All of this unnecessary fiddling with the gun is a great way to cause accidents.
If the pilot has to leave the cockpit or use the restroom, his nice blue jacket should cover the gun and holster nicely. Nobody has to be "frightened" and nobody has to see it.
If the man/woman can be trusted to fly the plane and carry a firearm, then don't regulate him/her into doing dangerous things
That video is exactly right. That was an actual FFDO issued lock/holster. However, he skipped a few steps in order to be brief.
After closing the cockpit door I was supposed to:
1 Unfasten my belt and un-thread it from the first two loops.
2 Open the NDB (Non-descript bag) in which that holster/lock is carried.
3 Grasp the holster/lock in a "clamshell" grip, that is thumb on one side and fingers on the other while maintaining a good barrel orientation of straight down. All of that is to be done to the side so as not to cover my own lap with the muzzle. (try this at home - it is hilarious)
4 Roll in the lock combination (4 numbers). Note: The numbers will be presented to you upside down if you have installed the lock properly, so remember to enter them in reverse order. Also insure sufficient ambient lighting prior to executing the "clamshell" step. (I am not making this up.)
5. Remove the lock carefully.
6. Place lock in safe place while maintaining the safe "clamshell" grip on the gun/holster.
7. Thread belt through the holster loops and fasten belt. Remember, this is all done while sitting down in an aircraft seat. (Try this in your car for more fun.)
8. Attach the double mag pouch to the weak side of the belt.
The funny thing was, when the marshals issued us these padlocked holsters they made us remove the gun barrels from the weapons prior to letting us try the maneuver. They wouldn't even stay in the room after the training as we loaded our weapons and locked them up.
I was never in any danger of an accidental discharge after receiving this padlock/holster joke because I simply left the whole mess in the NDB (their official term - really) laying on the floor of the cockpit. I have learned that a significant number of my friends started doing the same thing.
After arrival to the destination gate and setting the brake the above items were to be done in reverse while noting carefully that the padlock shank actually slipped in BEHIND the trigger. Once the NDB was zipped up then we could open the door and go back to normal operations. I flew on average 5 flights/day that is handling this gun 10 times.
Even with all of that, I quit the program for another reason. It was the times I carried the gun in the NDB. Try it, get a gun, load it, put it in a bag, and carry that bag with you wherever you go. Never let it get beyond your reach, EVER, while you concentrate on your work, travel, eating, moving about, using the restroom, etc............ Think often of the consequence if you were to inadvertently misplace that bag and it disappeared, especially inside an airport.
That was the part that made me crazy.
As a former Marine who worked for Flag Officers, Generals, I have had the priviledge of meeting member of all of our sister services. Among them, Air Force, Navy, and of course, Mairne Corps pilots. They have been carrying sidearms for many, many years.
There is a wide gap between the civilian sector and the military when it comes to aviation. I won't go into war stories. I will state that had the civilian sector listended particularly to the Air Force, some major airplane crashes could have been avoided, without doubt.
This being said, why in the hell doesn't the civilian sector go to, if not my Marine Corps pilots, who do a hell of a job, the Air Force and ask them the best manner in which to carry sidearms. Safely and effectively. Don't hide them. Let the passengers know that they have them. I know I'd feel a lot safer and I have logged many hours in commercial aircraft. This won't happen because it makes too much sense. No doubt there will be another study which you and I will pay for. They will learn little.
Wow .... my Glock doesn't have any weird safeties (besides the trigger) and I carry it AIWB with the barrell pointing at the family jewels with zero doubt that the jewels are fine, and are going to be fine, even if I have to shoot a bunch of rampaging school shooters and draw and reholster 500 times in the process. I wouldn't want to follow TSAs procedures though. And I find it highly ironic the comments by the TSA supporter saying that criticizing TSA agents should be a federal offense. The front line defenders of my life should be criticized as much as possible, and those criticisms are protected under the same Constitution that granted the government their ability the power to higher them.
I think the pilots/flight crew should be allowed-no,ENCOURAGED to walk the aisles of their airplane wearing the biggest weapon they choose and say "Go ahead, terrorist, make my day"
Say, are you the same "The TSA" that instructed pilot to cooperate with hijackers under the obsolete theory that they just wanted attention and a ride someplace?
I thought so!
Say, for a while, didn't you say that pilots couldn't carry toenail clippers?
Isn't it you who insists that Air Marshals dress the part?
And isn't that you asked me for 30 years if any strangers had asked me to carry their suitcases for them?
Why, you haven't changed a bit!
What do you expect from the Federal Government when they didn't want you to have a gun in the first place? Why do you think the training process is going so slow and only one training center in the middle of no where? This is politics and not common sense.
TSA must stand for totally stupid agency .
TSA stands for "Too Stupid for Arby's"
If there is any negligence on the part of the pilot it was to obey the TSA’s reckless policy to place a common padlock or any object on the trigger of a loaded gun.
The TSA policy violates over a hundred years of gun safety training.
My comment is in direct response to the comment signed by "TSA."
In my opinion, the TSA couldn't secure a cheeseburger in a sack at McDonalds much less the aviation industry. The folks hired by TSA are a bunch of affirmative action gimps who couldn't hold any other minimum wage job at a local Wal-Mart.
I have personally witnessed their incompetence on many occasions in airports across our great nation from major metro airports to small town commuter airports.
It is a miracle that terrorists don't cause havoc every day in this country because of hte TSA's lack of training and quality people.
HELLO T.S.A.CONTACT THE N.R.A.HOW TO STORE A FIREARM ON THE FLIGHT DECK THE PAD LOCK NOT A GOOD THING
TSA - Thousands Standing Around
The FFDO H&K has no external safety.
P.S. A $10 bill lies in an intersection. Approaching from four different directions are the following individuals: Santa Claus, the Toof Fairy, a moderate muslim, and a radical muslim. Who will reach the $10 bill first?
.
.
The radical muslim, because all the rest exist only in our imaginations!
I am FFDO and only joined the program so I wouldn't have to suffer the affront every time I went to work of being frisked by some guy named Mohammed, who couldn't hold a job at 7-11 or driving a taxi in Manhattan.
Only in America can you produce such an inept leadership of an orgination of morons who don't have the balls to work smarter...not harder. Let me see if I have this right; I'm in uniform with no gun, I have to go through same screening as regular passengers. Take my computer out as well as the gum in my shirt pocket. I carry a gun, I show two photo ID's, sign a book and NOTHING in my bag is searched! That makes a lot of sense.
When will this country wake up and stop all the insanity? If it is for the passengers, simply remind them that we are the most vetted employee group of almost any industry. And, if they are not comfortable, Greyhound and Amtrak would be more than happy to carry them safely to their destinations!
When will the pilots come together and say enough is enough and give the TSA 6 months to come up with universal access or we don't fly? Shut down the plans for one hour and they would have a solution in a week!
We are going to "politically correct" ourselves right up to another event that will make 9-11 look like a picnic!
HEY T.S.A. IT'S THE N.R.A.
My father is an FFDO and I also own the same LE version of the HK USP 40 Compact used by the FFDO's. I know the gun, padlock, holster, and NDB (non-descript bag) rig well and agree that the padlock and the NDB are highly unnecessary risks and much less effective when compared to conventional concealed carry. It promotes too much handling and manipulation of a foreign object next to the trigger of a chambered semi-automatic pistol in cocked single-action mode*.
It can be argued that there is no excuse for an AD….but when you force each of the thousands of FFDO’s (who are also flying the planes) to jump through these hoops many times on every flight, statistically speaking, you are guaranteed accidents.
*HK USP .40 Compacts use an unconventional single action mode which requires staging the trigger
TSA = Tub Stackers of America.
Dont beleive me?
Just watch them.
LOL...
Firstly that looks like a leather holster I have made by Adirondack leather or something like that,in Cooperstown NY.If it is,all they did was drill a hole throught the leather for a padlock.Really guys,cmon now...
Secondly,that is why I dislike any weapon lacking an exposed hammer.Rifles or handguns.Were it a double action or a 1911 style with an exposed hammer,there'd have been no way you could discharge the weapon.
But then again some people could fuck up a wet dream on the other side of the world....
I own the FFDO/Law Enforcement version of the HK USP .40 Compact and it does have an exposed hammer that needs to be back in order to fire, but it operates in an unusual way. It is sort of a hyrid of double action only and a traditional double/single action auto pistol.
In chambered single-action mode, the hammer is always down when your finger is off the trigger. Only the Law Enforcement version operates this way because there is no external safety or traditional de-cock, not unlike the Glocks.
The operation is as follows:
The trigger needs to be pulled back 1/2" or so with very light force (one lb or so) to stage the hammer back to its normal civilian model single action cocked position. At that point, it operates like any other single action pistol with the Law Enforcement 7.5lb trigger pull. Once the trigger/hammer is staged, the entire magazine can be emptied with just the fraction of an inch of the 7.5lb trigger-pull, just like the civilian version with the hammer cocked and locked back.
Not until you fire your rounds and remove your finger from the trigger, does the trigger return to its forward position and the hammer returns to the down position.
It is designed this way to be a step-up safety wise from Glock's trigger-safety, since they didn't want an external safety on their tactical model. It sounds unusual but once you fire the first couple of rounds at the range, it becomes second nature and you would never know the difference.
It also makes it very difficult to accidentally discharge it, in a conventional sense.....unless of course the TSA requires you to blindly jam a padlock through the trigger guard of your chambered weapon (a trigger guard that you cannot even see through the tiny hole in the holster).
JBP
I’m getting a few comments from both sincere readers and TSA trolls that I have rejected, not because I disagree but because they are very wrong and misleading. The comments all seem to involve the following factors.
1. The FFDO weapons issued DON’T have the external safety lever found on similar HK pistols.
2. No law enforcement agencies in the world require officers to secure LOADED firearms with a padlock across the trigger.
3. It’s nearly impossible to read the tiny numbers on the padlock without turning the LOADED gun in an UNSAFE direction in the cockpit of an airplane.
4. Keeping a live round in the chambers of this double action pistol is mandated by the TSA. Racking rounds during an assault is a bad idea because it wastes valuable time, giving an attacker an advantage and in darkness the sound gives away your position. Save racking rounds for movie and TV directors that think that’s cool.
The way to end the danger is a simple two fold program:
End the repetitive and unsafe locking/unlocking of the loaded guns.
Have the FFDOs simply place the gun in a holster as they leave their hotel or homes and never handle the firearm other than on a firing range or during an emergency for which the FFDO program was created.
I do and have carried a weapon for the majority of my working life, somewhere around 25 years. For something like 13 years I carried a very similar holster and weapon combination. I also happen to work for Customs and Border Protection.
One thing that was learned early in my Army years was simply "Load it and leave it". At one point we were required to unload our pistols every time we left the work area. Bullets ended up flying everywhere. The answer was simple and straight forward, simply load the thing and keep it in the holster and all will be well.
Asking anyone do his normal routine and go through the absured procedure outlined here is simply insane. This is a classic example of the way The Dept of Homeland Security operates with top down micromanagement. I seriously doubt whoever dreamed this cockeyed procedure up has any real firearms experience whatsoever. The dangers of items accidentally being jammed into and firing these single action only firearms has been known for some time and well documented. Stuffing cables and such through them is just plain stupid.
When I first heard of this incident my reaction was to wonder what sort of fool was playing around with the gun in flight. Now I understand completely. Considering what I have seen it amazes me that it hasn't happened before.
I was an original TSA Screener hired in 2002. I expierenced first hand the corrupt and inept practices of the TSA Administrators. I spent thousands of dollars and five years in Federal Court and there I expeirenced the corruption and dishonesty of the Justice system. My main problem is to find anyone that is interested in looking at the over 400 pages of documented proof of Constituional violations and Federal Crimes against a Whistle Blower by Administrators in the name of National Security. Guess all the "real" Americans are too scared of the Bush Administration and the Patriot Act. If you read my legal Complaint and read what TSA and DHS's Administrators did to me you's want to make a mini series, if you had the guts I had in at least standing up to the illegal practices of the TSA, Underworld of Governmental Affairs....,
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