Two police officers were injured after a firearm was accidentally discharged at a police station in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, police said Wednesday.
According to police officials, the incident occurred on Tuesday morning. Fuji TV reported that during a routine gun inspection on the rooftop of the Suijo police station, a 54-year-old assistant inspector mistakenly pulled the trigger of a weapon and wounded two officers nearby.
Officials told reporters that they believed every precaution had been taken when guiding the officers on how to handle firearms.
© Japan Today
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Wc626
Had the safety feature off, unless it was a Glock. What do police carry here? This rookie accidentally pulled the trigger while he attempted to lock the slide assembly back. Obviously the weapon's muzzle was pointed in an unsafe direction. What an embarrassment.
clueless
Whether it be a police officer or a soldier...an ND is an ND = booted out the job.
Absolutely no excuses!!
Kagemusha
Since the article mentions absolutely nothing about the firearm used and does not even mention the wounds sustained there is way too much assumption in this post. Never mind the assumption of fault.
The wounded officers could have gotten pieces of stone fragment in their eyes from the round hitting the roof for all we know. Also, standard law enforcement firearm is the Nambu M60 or S&WM37, both being revolvers.
turbotsat
In Japan, too?
Wc626
Touché. & thanks for that firearm info Kagemusha.
ReformedBasher
Wc626
This may assist
http://www.hverovhe.com/weapons%20guide.jpg
nath
Reformed bashed, very good, average journalist firearm knowledge is exactly what you described! Hahaha
GW
Sorry but this means a loaded gun was pointed at TWO PEOPLE & fired................wtf!...........during a gun inspection.
Sorry but this is totally inept!
Disillusioned
Bwahaha! Yeah, every precaution except rule number one! Never point a loaded firearm in the direction of people! I guess they must have skipped the first couple of rules!
Living Memory
Firearms training 101. Your finger should not be on the trigger unless and until you are prepared to fire it. You keep your finger on the trigger guard, the grip or even behind the trigger.
If this was a double action revolver it only makes it worse. If the hammer was back, then this guy is a fool. If it was not back it takes a bit of effort to fire because now the trigger is not on a hair and the hammer has to be brought back by the action on the trigger. Which makes this guy a different kind of fool.
Magnus Roe
Very hard to defend this guy, the first rule is not to point a firearm at anything you're not trying to kill, loaded or not. Of course they could have both been hit by the ricochet or debris, I'm sure the article would be somewhat more fanciful if the bullet had gone through both of them, but it still doesn't excuse an assistant firearm inspector for discharging a weapon on accident. Even less so if it's a revolver, since you generally load them completely and it's easy to observe.
HongoTAFEinmate
Officials told reporters that they believed every precaution had been taken when guiding the officers on how to handle firearms.
What parallel universe are these idiots living in? To officers have been injured. That means something is wrong.
Cogito Ergo Sum
Must have scared the living daylights out of the j cops ;)
ebisen
He's going to clean toilets until retiring, trust me...
sangetsu03
From the looks of it, most Japanese police carry a small .38 revolver, there is no safety. But revolvers generally have no safety device, you must cock the hammer manually, or pull the trigger very far to cock and fire.
Wherever there are guns, there will be accidental discharges. I worked in law enforcement, and was in the Army as well, and have seen (usually heard) guns being fired accidentally. Guns are only as safe as the people who handle them. Arms inspections are usually a step-by-step ritual done in a specific number of movements, always assuming the gun is loaded and ready to fire, even in the last steps when the gun has the bolt locked open and the magazine removed or cylinder opened. But even in such controlled rituals, accidental discharges still occur, but are generally harmless as the gun is always held with the barrel pointed upward.
I don't know if the Japanese police have a universal ritual for arms inspections, but if they don't, they should.