# How do right-handed Highway Patrol Officers fire their handguns while riding? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 18, 2018, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521 "2018-09-18T09:38:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/1 "2018-09-18T09:38:28Z")
Or do they? ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/2 "2018-09-18T10:11:01Z")
They shouldn’t. However, it happens. I can’t locate the video, but I recently saw a news report about a patrolman shooting through his windshield at a fleeing suspect during a car chase. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/3 "2018-09-18T10:31:53Z")
Here is an example from South Africa: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LRXVO2Yvjg) ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/4 "2018-09-18T12:06:15Z")
Single, you shoot with your off hand. Off hand shooting is a pretty basic and common shooting drill. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/5 "2018-09-18T13:57:25Z")
> [@ZurBob](#): > > I can’t locate the video, but I recently saw a news report about a patrolman shooting through his windshield at a fleeing suspect during a car chase. [This one](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vlvmn_EAes), probably. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/6 "2018-09-18T15:17:39Z")
While the realities of a situation might cause a diversion from the norm, police in the United States at least generally are not supposed to fire from their moving vehicle into another moving vehicle, for a number of reasons. That being said, you can fire through a windshield and hit a suspect, there’s several YouTube videos of this, so a right-handed cop could hold the steering wheel with their left hand and fire through the windshield with their right. Again though–firing from a moving vehicle into another moving vehicle violates two things that most police departments say you generally shouldn’t do anyway; many police departments don’t even allow police to fire into a moving vehicle at all. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/7 "2018-09-18T15:37:32Z")
I assume he’s talking about motorcycle cops. Throttle lock, maybe, but seems risky as hell in any case. Just get the screenwriter to alter the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/8 "2018-09-18T15:55:43Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > Single, you shoot with your off hand. Off hand shooting is a pretty basic and common shooting drill. What if you’re married? 😛 > [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > While the realities of a situation might cause a diversion from the norm, police in the United States at least generally are not supposed to fire from their moving vehicle into another moving vehicle, for a number of reasons. Shooting thru something, especially (laminated) windshield glass has the potential to change the direction of the bullet if it doesn’t hit the object (windshield) squarely. A slight change to the direction of a bullet so close to the exit of a barrel is magnified the further the bullet travels. Congrats, you’ve just shot the innocent bystander on the sidewalk instead of the bad guy on the driver’s side of the car. ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/9 "2018-09-18T17:11:25Z")
This is why cops used to ride Indians, left hand throttle.🆒😃 ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/10 "2018-09-18T19:12:21Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > [This one](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vlvmn_EAes), probably. [Broken link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vlvmn_EAes) ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/11 "2018-09-18T19:36:37Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > [This one](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vlvmn_EAes), probably. Or this one: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkST-W5Ee0E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkST-W5Ee0E) Oklahoma Highway Patrol shoots AR-15 through own windshield during pursuit of Michael Vance. Oh, my ears. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Thankfully, the pursuit was in the middle of nowhere. But still… ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/12 "2018-09-18T19:50:05Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > [Broken link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vlvmn_EAes) Thanks. I wonder how that happened? ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/13 "2018-09-18T21:32:06Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > What if you’re married? 😛 > Shooting thru something, especially (laminated) windshield glass has the potential to change the direction of the bullet if it doesn’t hit the object (windshield) squarely. A slight change to the direction of a bullet so close to the exit of a barrel is magnified the further the bullet travels. Congrats, you’ve just shot the innocent bystander on the sidewalk instead of the bad guy on the driver’s side of the car. It’s unlikely to cause that much of a deformation or change in course. Here’s a video of a cop shooting and killing a suspect through a windshield–it goes without saying it’s graphic. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/tePGLcYjcVk/maxresdefault.jpg "Raw: Pasadena officer shoots, kills armed suspect during traffic stop") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tePGLcYjcVk&t=1m14s) I believe I also said that police generally are trained to not shoot from their car or into a moving car, and any such action would be an “in extremis” one. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/14 "2018-09-18T21:37:31Z")
> [@Sloe\_Moe](#): > > Or do they? The instances where a motorcycle cop would draw and fire while riding have got to be extremely rare. I can’t readily recall a single one in this country. If they did, I imagine it would best be accomplished by shooting left-handed. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/15 "2018-09-18T21:42:26Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > It’s unlikely to cause that much of a deformation or change in course. … On this point, [shooting out through a windshield will change the trajectory of the bullet](https://www.theboxotruth.com/the-buick-o-truth-1-windshields-insideout/). If the target is very close to the car, it probably won’t be enough to matter, but at more typical vehicle-to-vehicle engagement distances, I’d expect that at least the first few shots would be off their mark by a good bit. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/16 "2018-09-18T21:56:43Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > It’s unlikely to cause that much of a deformation or change in course. Here’s a video of a cop shooting and killing a suspect through a windshield–it goes without saying it’s graphic. > > [https://youtu.be/tePGLcYjcVk?t=1m14s](https://youtu.be/tePGLcYjcVk?t=1m14s) > > I believe I also said that police generally are trained to not shoot from their car or into a moving car, and any such action would be an “in extremis” one. I don’t see him shooting through the windshield. He was standing up, outside the car, with the door acting as a shield, and he shot between the door and the body of the car. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/17 "2018-09-18T22:07:18Z")
Here in Minneapolis, we are currently dealing with a case where a police officer, sitting in the passenger seat, fired his gun across in front of the driver, killing a civilian who was approaching the drivers side window in the dark. Lots of problems with that action. But police are such poor shots generally (criminals are worse), I can’t imagine an officer riding a moving motorcycle, firing a pistol with one hand, hitting anything except by accident. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/18 "2018-09-18T22:28:24Z")
This is why Batman had rockets and machine guns. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/19 "2018-09-18T22:44:20Z")
Police don’t actually fire their weapons as often as is commonly believed. From a [Pew report](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/08/a-closer-look-at-police-officers-who-have-fired-their-weapon-on-duty/) last year: > [@](#): > > Many Americans believe it is common for police officers to fire their guns. About three-in-ten adults estimate that police fire their weapons a few times a year while on duty, and more than eight-in-ten (83%) estimate that the typical officer has fired his or her service weapon at least once in their careers, outside of firearms training or on a gun range, according to a recent Pew Research Center national survey. > > In fact, only about a quarter (27%) of all officers say they have ever fired their service weapon while on the job, I can’t see actual data or a quote of how often those who fire are firing. Once and dozens both fall under “ever.” Clicking through to the more [in depth analysis](http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/01/11/police-culture/) of the poll at least hints at how common it is by breaking down the rate between newer hires and those with more experience. > [@](#): > > Some 14% of those with less than five years of experience say they have fired their weapon, while 29% of officers who have been on the job five years or longer say they have done this. Interestingly, those with 20 or more years of experience are no more likely than those with 10 to 19 years of service to have used their weapon while on duty. Police who fire their weapons outside of training is a distinct minority. That’s before we even get into serious accuracy issues that make firing while driving a very risky proposition in many circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-right-handed-highway-patrol-officers-fire-their-handguns-while-riding/821521/20 "2018-09-18T23:08:25Z")
“How do right-handed Highway Patrol Officers fire their handguns while riding?” In the films I have seen they hold the reins in their teeth.