Remember to reholster your weapon. Moron.
(Prelude: Okay, I have a confession to make before taking this a bit farther. My IWB holster, an otherwise very nice Galco, has no positive retention. Since I only wear it when I go to a big town and start caring about concealing my weapon, and since I am a hermit and find such situations uncomfortable, and since being made uncomfortable in this way sometimes causes physical symptoms a description of which would constitute WAY too much information, I sometimes need to drop trou in public restrooms. Which has, in the past, caused my 1911 to hit the floor with a loud, disconcerting CLANK. So I unholster first. So I am aware that forgetting to REholster could – easily – become an issue. It has never been an issue, in my case, because I am not a moron. Thank you. We now return you to our blog post, already in progress.)
So there has apparently been a rash of incidents in which Capitol Police have left their pistols behind in public restrooms. This has caused great concern among the U.S. Capitol Police bureaucracy because – wait for it – somebody told the world that there has been a rash of incidents in which Capitol Police have left their pistols behind in public restrooms. These damaging leaks must stop, you see.
After two CQ Roll Call reports Friday called attention to safety lapses involving firearms in the Capitol and raised eyebrows among concerned members of Congress, police officials announced a new investigation — into how CQ Roll Call got the story.
U.S. Capitol Police said an independent body is investigating the source of a report of instances of guns left unattended in three occasions on the Capitol complex.
“Recent media reports regarding three cases of U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) officers improperly handling their Department issued weapons in the Capitol Complex, should not have been released to the public, as these are law enforcement sensitive, internal personnel matters currently under investigation,” USCP spokesperson Lt. Kimberly A. Schneider said in a statement. “At the request of Chief [Kim] Dine, the United States Capitol Police Office of Inspector General (IG) is investigating these matters. The IG is independent and reports directly to the United States Capitol Police Board.”
Get a load of that. They’re not investigating the incidents, apparently. Which makes sense, really, because what’s to investigate? They’re issue weapons. You either did or did not lose yours by leaving it in a john where anybody could have picked it up. Not even these masterminds are going to have a lot of trouble getting to the truth of that. And anyway it doesn’t matter because they’re cops, which means when they do it it isn’t illegal.
But a leak! To the public! That this hasn’t happened once but at least three times in a short period! Oh, that’s some serious shit right there. Alert the media…that somebody had damned well better stop alerting the media!
Gad I love it. You…interesting creatures…spend billions of dollars and subvert every good American tradition in your effort to make sure no state subject can possibly bring a firearm into the precious presence of some VIP’s tender torso – and then your own myrmidons leave their taxpayer-supplied gats laying about – and your only concern is that the fact has become known.
Yeah. We’re in the very best of hands.
I must confess that I did, just once, leave my gun in the bathroom. It was my OWN bathroom, luckily, and I discovered the empty holster about 15 seconds after I walked out. Doing that scared me so bad I’ve never had the problem again. But then, I paid more than $500. for the freaking thing, and I’m much too cheap to consider it expendable.
Make all these bozos buy their own guns, and we’d probably see far fewer of them left behind. And never doubt that someone, somewhere WILL “leak” that information to the media. It’s just too rich to ignore.
But yes, the whole kerfuffle is pretty silly. Somehow I doubt there are too many toddlers using those restrooms unsupervised. As for criminals… well, they all qualify as such. This “unauthorized” persons stuff is totally stupid too. Far as I’m concerned it should be “finders, keepers.”
I don’t CHL, but one of my friends who does told me that he removes the weapon before ‘taking the seated position’ too. To remind him to not forget it in the stall, he puts on his glasses through the trigger guard (he is extremely near sighted) and so reminds him to retrieve the handgun.
It isn’t just the Washington DC cops this occurs to. Approximately two weeks ago, a CBP agent forgot their handgun in a toilet stall at a university restroom. It was his personal weapon, not duty (like that matters) but the school does not allow firearms on campus regardless of who they are.
Oooohhh, somebody is in trouble!
http://www.krgv.com/news/local-news/CBP-Employee-s-Missing-Gun-Found-at-UTB/32505148
I don’t think a specific retention device is necessary to keep a gun holstered when you drop trou–My IWB both purchased and self-made will hold a gun upside down. Between that, tucking the tongue of my belt back into the beltloop and adopting a slightly wide stance (without going so wide as to disturb neighbors) I’ve never had a problem.