3 ms·

Gen John Thompson should know better about how to hold a weapon. If you don't mean to fire the weapon your finger shouldn't be anywhere near that trigger.

• jccooper 12y ago
  That's a (very good but) modern rule. I can't say for sure, but I suspect it originated as a specific weapons safety rule with Jeff Cooper in the late 80s or so. The concept of "the gun is always loaded" or "never point it at anything you don't want to shoot" is an old one however. But it took a while for the belt-and-suspenders approach to become popular, and historically people seemed comfortable enough with their finger on the trigger. (It's rare to see anything else in historical photos.) A fair reminder for today, but nobody'd have told the General so at the time.
  • hga 12y ago
    It was a rule long before then, at least by the late '60s when I first started learning. Can't remember when Cooper codified his rules, but I'd suspect it was earlier than the '80s. However I was taught by my father in the hunting domain, where Rule 2 rules, "Never let the muzzle cover something you're not willing to destroy", i.e. keep it pointed in a safe direction. That was because you never knew if a twig or the like might pull the trigger (see the problem with holstering striker fired handguns which catch e.g. a windbreaker cinch tie), and you don't trust safeties. The iffy history of the Remington 700 underlines the importance of Rule 2 (known to fire upon manipulating the safety).
• chrisbennet 12y ago
  Yes, he is demonstrating poor "trigger discipline".