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Excaliber wrote:

JustMe wrote:If they would quit nearly tripling the trigger pull on those glocks, maybe this wouldn't happen as often

This is a significant part of the problem, but not the only one.

In NYC, most police officers handle a handgun for the first time on the police academy range. They have no lifetime of training and usage behind them. This isn't a fault, it's just a fact.

New York City has one training range for it's 35,000+ officers. Although the instructors are top notch, getting all the troops there at all each year is a major logistical challenge, let alone getting them there enough for frequent enough training to be effective.

Many officers pride themselves on not liking guns (it's fashionable up there) and take a "union" position that they won't do any training they're not being paid for.

Add all that up, and the wonder isn't that these things happen, it's that they don't happen much more often than they do with this background, the activity level, and the extremely crowded environment.

Vol Texan wrote:Note: This is NOT a LEO-bashing thread, but the headline caught my eye.

Cops trying to subdue an emotionally disturbed man accidentally shot two female bystanders outside Port Authority Bus Terminal on Saturday night.

One victim, 54, was struck in her leg — breaking two bones in her calf — as she stood leaning on her four-wheeled walker across from the terminal; a second woman, 35, was grazed in her buttocks.

Two cops pulled off a total of three shots in the mistaken belief that the deranged man was armed after he reached into his pocket as they approached him, officials said.

The man took his hand out of his pocket and “simulated shooting the officers,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters.

I understand that mistakes happen, and that nobody is 100% accurate with their shots all the time. I'm sure there will be an internal investigation, and these officers will (rightfully) be able to keep their jobs. Based on the limited data presented in the article, it appears that they were in fear of their life, and they acted accordingly.

What bothers me is that if such a thing happened to me (or any of us) and we accidentally injured someone else, then we are criminally liable for it. I know it's the law, and I agreed to such when I got my CHL, but why the extra punishment for us?