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By Derek McDonald, Vice President of Marketing, SureFire:<\/p>\nBy Derek McDonald, Vice President of Marketing, SureFire:<\/p>\n
Recently an article appeared in an email newsletter distributed by the Force Science News <\/em>of the Force Science Institute, quoting its own Dr. Lewinski. The article and Dr. Lewinski make several troubling assertions that must be rebutted in the (long-term) interest of officer safety. The gist of the article and Lewinski is that grip-activated pistol-light switches are unsafe. I paraphrase (to clarify), quote, and respond to some of the more disturbing assertions below.<\/p>\n 1)<\/strong> You cannot train officers to keep their finger off the trigger under stress. According to the article, \u201c\u2026despite training to the contrary, officers in high-stress situations tend to move the finger onto the trigger\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Response:<\/strong> If true, this has nothing to do with grip-switches, but it would support a ban on the use of firearms in general. But obviously, it is not true; officers can be trained to keep their fingers off the trigger in high-stress situations. If the fact were otherwise there would be thousands of unintended discharges each day.<\/p>\n 2)<\/strong> The device is unsafe. The article states, \u201cAt least twice in recent months the device has been associated with shootings in which officers reportedly said they thought they were turning on the flashlight\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Response:<\/strong> In 1986 SureFire introduced the first light designed specifically for mounting on handguns. This light (equipped with remote switching) was quickly adopted by SWAT teams, including LAPD\u2019s D-Platoon. In 2004 SureFire introduced the current X-Series WeaponLights, intended primarily for attachment to handguns. There are well over 100,000 SureFire X-Series lights and tens of thousands of optional grip-activated \u201cDG\u201d and \u201cSL\u201d switches in use today, and our competitors have sold hundreds of thousands of other pistol-mountable lights themselves. During this 24-year period the only reported safety-related incidents involving such lights are the two incidents mentioned above. \u00a0These figures alone prove that SureFire WeaponLights, and weapon-mounted lights in general, are safe.<\/p>\n 3)<\/strong> According to the article, Lewinski asserts that, \u201c\u2026an officer pressing his middle finger against the flashlight switch pad will produce a sympathetic reaction in the index finger. If that finger happens to be inside the trigger guard and on the pistol\u2019s trigger, the reaction may be forceful enough to cause an unintentional discharge.\u201d And please note, if an officer experiences Sympathetic Response while his or her finger is on the trigger when it shouldn\u2019t be there, it would not matter which light switch the officer is using, or whether the officer has a weapon-mounted light at all. The point is, the officer\u2019s finger is on the trigger when it shouldn\u2019t be there.<\/p>\n 4)<\/strong> The article quotes Lewinski as saying, \u201cWhen you think you\u2019re doing one thing but are actually doing another, the result often is directly opposite of what you intended.\u201d<\/p>\n Response:<\/strong> I believe he is referring to the phenomenon of reverting (under stress) from an intended action (activating the grip switch) to another action (pulling the trigger).<\/p>\n Let\u2019s borrow Lewinski\u2019s own analogy of drivers stepping on the gas pedal when they meant to step on the brake pedal. Can this happen? Of course, it\u2019s called a mistake. Does every driver do it? No, in fact, most do not. Do trained drivers\u2014such as highway patrolmen, or professional racecar drivers\u2014make this mistake? No, not in any number that is statistically significant. Again, the issue here is training. You cannot make officers safer by taking away their equipment\u2014you must provide them with adequate training.<\/p>\n Dr. Lewinski lists research as one of the services he provides. Yet\u2014with the newsletter in question\u2014he has published what most would assume to be a professional opinion\u2014based on just two isolated incidents (out of 24 years of safe use) that he read about in news reports, incidents that are still under investigation and that he is not privy to at this time. While he may have conducted legitimate research regarding human dynamics during deadly force encounters, he does not appear to have done any research particular to SureFire products or the use of weapon-mounted lights. For that reason alone I find the article to be unprofessional and certainly not qualified to stand as an expert opinion.<\/p>\n I assume Lewinski is acting out of a real concern for officer safety\u2014and not to generate future engagements as an expert witness. But I fear the article may actually have the opposite effect by frightening some administrations into depriving their officers of crucial safety tools. Regardless, Lewinski\u2019s opinion is just that.<\/p>\n
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\nResponse:<\/strong> Sympathetic Response is a real phenomenon, but it\u2019s not the boogeyman and it can be addressed with training. Think about it: our trigger finger doesn\u2019t magically pull the trigger when we use our thumb to manipulate the safety or the magazine release. Nor does the trigger finger unconsciously jump into action when we use our opposite hand to activate our radio, handheld flashlight, or pepper spray. The answer to Sympathetic Response is training and adherence to Rule #2 of The Four Basic Rules of Firearms Safety: Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you are ready to fire.<\/p>\n