This is a tragic story

PORTLAND, Maine - A nine-year veteran of the Portland Police Department died of injuries after his handgun discharged in what police described yesterday as a tragic accident.

Sergeant Robert Johnsey was apparently preparing his duty weapon for his next shift when it accidentally discharged late Monday at his home in Westbrook, wounding him in the leg, investigators concluded. Johnsey died a short time later at Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Portland's police chief, Timothy Burton, made the announcement, calling Johnsey's death a sad and tragic moment for his department.

Westbrook's police chief, William Baker, whose department led the investigation, said evidence at the scene clearly indicated that Johnsey's Smith & Wesson semiautomatic handgun went off accidentally.

"Our preliminary assessment led me to conclude that Sergeant Johnsey was doing something that all of us in law enforcement do 240 times a year - that is, getting our duty belts ready for the next day of work," Baker said.

Now, I can't comment on the accidental vs. negligent part. I know my father has 500 doohickeys hanging off his utility belt and it amazes me he could get to anything with any sort of accuracy as it is, so it is quite possible something got caught somewhere it shouldn't have, depressing the trigger and firing the pistol. I also cannot fault a rule violation as holstering your weapon points the muzzle towards your leg (and occasionally your wedding tackle), something you simply don't want to destroy.

For me, I remove my holster and pistol as a single unit. This keeps the chances of anything getting in the trigger guard to a minimum as it is covered by the holster itself. I also do not decock or unload my pistol each and every time I take it off (yes, it is kept well away from being accessible by children. I do love my girls). Oddly, there are many reasons I don't do this. Bullet setback from repeated chambering and the fact the pistol is useless in that state are two reasons, but the biggest one in my mind is the increased chance of this scenario happening.

This also highlights something that I tend to see differently than other gunnies and that I personally do not like safeties on pistols. One, they get in the way of shooting when needed, two - I think accidents like this happen because people tend to rely on them in place of the 4 rules. If you think the safety will prevent the gun from going off you might handle it differently. This, of course, is just my opinion.

Every time you adjust your firearm, there's a risk. It's terrible for this officer that this happened, especially when you consider the type of danger he had to put himself into each and every day part of which involved holstering and unholstering his weapon all the time. My prayers go out to his family.