NEW YORK, NY – A recent incident at Columbia University involved an NYPD Emergency Service Unit officer inadvertently firing his weapon inside Hamilton Hall while using a weapon-mounted light. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office confirmed that the discharge occurred during an operation to clear the hall of protesters, although no students were in the immediate vicinity, and no injuries were reported.
According to the NYPD, the officer was attempting to illuminate a barricaded area using a firearm equipped with a flashlight when the weapon discharged accidentally, striking a nearby wall. This incident is now under review by the DA’s Police Accountability Unit.
Weapon-mounted lights are valuable tools for law enforcement, concealed carriers and home defense because they allow for clear identification and target acquisition in low-light conditions. However, they also carry inherent risks, especially when used as the primary source of light. The design of some light activation switches, which may be located near the trigger, can lead to unintentional discharges if not operated carefully.
Reflecting on this incident and similar past events, it becomes apparent that while weapon-mounted lights serve a critical role in tactical operations, they must be used with caution. Homeowners and officers alike should be trained extensively on the safe operation of these devices. For general illumination, it is safer to use handheld lights or to reflect the beam of a weapon-mounted light off surfaces like floors or ceilings to avoid directly pointing the weapon at non-threats.
That’s not good. Glad no injuries. I had read that the NYPD mandated 10 lb. triggers to make ND’s more difficult, so it seems this ND took some effort to accomplish.
I am a firearms instructor and generally do not recommend using the flashlight on a firearm other than when necessary when shooting. Remember the safety rule, “Don’t point a gun at anything you don’t want to shoot.” If you’re using it as a flashlight alone when trying to identify a home invader, you may wind up pointing your gun at your spouse or children. Furthermore, if you are using the flashlight on the firearm while holding the gun in the high compressed ready position, you are given an armed opponent a clear center mass target.
Well, I am glad no one was hurt but.. With New York laws so crazy and against firearms. I would love to see training records. An ND is something to take serious. Not sure how the ND happened but fingers shouldn’t have been near the trigger that is one of the first and most important of rules of handling a firearm. This is the down fall to those laws is the lack of time to train and how to properly use the tools.
I would want to see data on how increasing every pistol trigger pull to 10 pounds increases collateral injuries/deaths due to degraded accuracy, before thinking doing that will automatically reduce overall injuries/deaths. A 10 pound trigger pull is not a good fit for every person and many have major problems with that heavy a trigger pull, and they could end up causing a bigger problem than the ND problem they’re trying to solve.
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Paul Levy said (1 hour ago) “That’s not good. Glad no injuries. I had read that the NYPD mandated 10 lb. triggers to make ND’s more difficult, so it seems this ND took some effort to accomplish.”
NYPD has a lot of data accumulated from decades of officer-involved shootings, probably a lot more than any other PD in the country. The reason they require a 10-pound pull is that they do not want a gun to be too easily fired by an officer who spends no more time on the range than required. Apparently firearms proficiency is not something many officers choose to do. So with 35000 officers out there, they treat everyone as if they’re the least-qualified level and set the regulations based on that.
Kinda reminds me of something I heard in the Army back in the 1970s, that all Army manuals are written at a 10th grade level in order to make the information understandable by the lowest level of intelligence.
“the weapon discharged accidentally”
The weapon did not discharge accidentally, he/she pulled the trigger. The four rules of firearms safety were not followed. He was pointing his gun around with his finger on the trigger when he should have been using a handheld flashlight.
Well, they do mandate a 10-pound trigger and no ‘single-action’ reduced trigger, too, otherwise known as “double-action only.” They do this as a means of preventing NDs. (DA only was also required when NYPD used revolvers, too, with the same 10-pound pull.)
I’m not a fan of extra “ornaments” hanging off my gun, too. But if anyone should be considered more proficient than the average officer it’s ESU, the officers of which are NYPD’s SWAT team in addition to their rescue duties -the real pros. No doubt there is much sarcasm raining down on that unit tonight.