Was waiting in line for a tour of the US capitol. There were 3-4 armed police there, one of which wore combat gear and carried an M4. At one point, he removed the clip, pointed the rifle down and away from the crowd, and pulled the trigger. Not sure whether it never had a round in the chamber, or maybe he ejected it before dry firing.
Why?
To verify that it actually ejected? Alternatively it could have jammed and he cleared everything and wanted to make sure that it was firing. Either way, it’s not best practice and could be dangerous. There’s always a chance that there was a live round there and that it hits a rock and ricochets into someone. I don’t think that’s a smart move to make.
Wait, all he did was eject the magazine then pulled the trigger? He didn’t open the bolt & visually inspect the chamber to make sure the weapon was unloaded? Then he did it because he’s an idiot who shouldn’t be allowed access to firearms, or anything more dangerous than a fork.
Goddamned stupid and unsafe to do and he should be disciplined for it.
When I worked armored, we had a covered barrel full of sand that you were supposed to point your weapon into as you removed the ammo. Which included pulling your magazine and racking the slide to remove any round in the chamber.
Presumably he did not do the slide because he ‘knew’ there was no round in the chamber. But his actions were still epic levels of indefensible.
Another thread recently had discussion over whether police and military always had a round in the chamber.
You never, ever assume that the chamber is empty, even if you were the one to insert the magazine earlier, even if it was mere moments ago. As other people have already noted, if the officer did in fact pull the trigger without clearing the weapon first with the charging handle, then he was inexcusably negligent.
Also, the other thread was discussing practices when carrying a pistol for self-defense. Procedures are different with rifles and when the expected use of the firearm is different.
The number of people shot with firearms that the shooter “knew” were unloaded is depressingly high.
Exactly. If there had been a round in the chamber and he’d fired it, even safely into the ground, it’d have made international news and his career likely would have been severely impacted.
Sadly, he’ll likely keep doing it until someone reports him or something bad happens.
The last time I fired a gun what when I was still at school. We were told then that it is always the “unloaded” guns that kill people accidentally.
Did you notice an orange or yellow flag on the weapon near the chamber?
As for why the officer would clear his weapon like that, did it look like he was leaving his post or going off shift? Some agency procedures call for decocking weapons prior to storage, which is accomplished by dry firing (some handguns do have decocking levers). However, this would typically be done in barracks and with the aid of a clearing station (bullet catcher) to mitigate mistakes. I can’t think of a useful reason to do it in public.
This.
To clear a rifle,
- Keep your finger off the trigger at all times.
- Keep muzzle pointed in safe direction.
- Engage safety. (Safety on.)
- Remove magazine.
- Pull back on bolt to clear chamber.
- Visually inspect chamber and bolt; ensure you do not see a round in the chamber or a round attached to the bolt.
- Use a finger to feel around the opening of the chamber; ensure you do not feel a round in the chamber.
After these steps are completed, it’s also a good idea to have someone else verify the gun is unloaded.
That’s pretty much it, although I was taught to pull the bolt back twice - pull back, release, pull back again, inspect.
It’s well known in Washington DC that the reach of firearms safety procedures have no jurisdiction on the grounds of the Capitol:
ETA: Well, okay nitpickers, the second wasn’t technically on Capitol grounds. Fine.
The Canadian military also instructs to pull the bolt back twice, visually inspect the chamber then pull the trigger in a safe direction.
Pulling the trigger while pointing the muzzle in a safe direction is the last step of making sure your weapon is safe in case other measures were insufficient. It might seem a little much to visually check it then pull the trigger but that extra step isn’t onerous and can build habits which are useful if you ever have to clear a weapon in low visibility conditions, while tired/emotional or if you’re dumb/lazy. Think of how many people you know fuck up basic instructions. Now imagine them handling a weapon. It’s nice to have the extra step.
Would using the finger be expected for weapons like the M-16? I’d really rather not put my finger anywhere in-between the bolt and the opening of the chamber on a semi-auto rifle while the mainspring is under tension.
My memory of the event is not clear. It’s quite possible that the officer followed all the correct procedures for clearing the gun. But why? Why clear the gun, then re-insert the clip and continue on station?
Presuming the magazine was loaded, it could be to make the weapon safer against accidental discharge but still quick to use by having a loaded magazine but an empty chamber. With that, you can pull the trigger accidentally and it won’t go off but if you want to fire, you just need to cycle the bolt.
I can’t imagine considering a gun safe without visually checking it. I suppose pulling the trigger without a magazine in it would make it safe, but only because if there was one in there, it would have discharged.
When I took my gun safety class, they added the step of putting your finger in there and touching the back of the barrel. Mostly as an extra step, but also so that you know what an empty barrel feels like. If you aren’t paying quite enough attention (visually) your finger will notice the different if there’s still one in there. Also, it gives you the ability to know if it’s loaded or not in the dark.
I guess my question isn’t clear. It looked to me like he went thru a series of motions with the gun, after which, it was in the exact same condition as before: magazine inserted, no round in chamber. Was he just checking that a round hadn’t crawled into the chamber? I’m wondering if it’s SOP to perform this periodically.
On the first point, as other posts have mentioned, the modern US (and probably other) military standard is to require the trigger be pulled with the weapon pointing into something like a sand filled drum to confirm for every weapon that the person did the previous steps of removing the magazine, cycling the bolt (as least once) and inspecting the chamber. If everyone really did those steps no gun would ever go off into the drum but from what I’ve read, and not surprisingly in combat zones with lots of weapons constantly chambered/fired, every once in a while one does. I don’t know whether other organizations might, in light of that, define ‘safe direction’ as just pointed down.