Finger position is ‘King’
Everyone in the small arms training world pays homage to the concept of ‘gun safety’. Some of these gun safety rules are simple to follow, some are not. Visit any indoor shooting range or local gun club and within minutes of your arrival you will likely see someone violating a basic firearms safety rule. Everyone seems to place varying degrees of importance on gun safety. Some folks will tell you that there are tens rules of gun safety, other will quote five rules to follow. In the ‘Real World’ (defined as where the targets are shooting back and there are no firing lines) there are only two rules that matter: understand that the most critical gun safety rule is the mindset that ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED. Once you understand this, the only other safety rules you must get clear are muzzle awareness and finger position.
Now, I’m going to say something that will make some folks heads explode; sometimes in the ‘Real World’ we point guns at other people. Often on purpose, and occasionally by accident. We try like hell to never point a firearm at a target we do not wish to engage, but guess what: shit happens. So, no matter how hard we try to avoid unintentional flags of people that we do not want to hurt, it is critical that one has a back up firearms safety system that prevents injury to friendly forces. Finger position or finger register is the key. It has to be programed into your firearms handling skills and never violated.
The best news is it is a very easy skill to master. Whenever you handle a firearm, never put your finger in the trigger guard unless you want to hear a loud noise. When on the range or practicing, program your brain that when your sights come off the target, your finger comes off the trigger and out of the trigger guard. It is really pretty simple. Once you start programing yourself to do this, it is pretty easy to adapt to. I suggest and teach that you place your trigger finger somewhere on the firearm where you can exert pressure against the frame or side of the weapon, so that in a startle response you will not end up on the trigger. On a pistol, I teach trying to place your index finger on or as near to the ejection port as possible. On a rifle/carbine put your finger on the stock above the trigger guard or receiver so that with pressure nothing will go ‘bang’ when you exert positive pressure. On the AR-15 platform take care to NOT put your finger on the magazine catch. I often recommend a small patch of skate board tape placed on the part of the firearm that you want to index with your trigger finger. When your finger becomes raw form the skate board tape, you can remove it as you will now understand where your trigger finger belongs.
Some folks tell me that it is better to engage the safety instead of worrying about finger position. WRONG. What if your sidearm does not have a manual safety? Recently, one of the other Alias instructors detailed his method of always engaging the safety (of an AR or AR control style) firearm for all things when not shooting even include reloading when empty and clearing a malfunction. Mike and Pat are professionals that I have the highest level of respect for. However, I do not teach, nor recommend engaging the safety for every task. Not all small arms have the controls located as ideally as the AR-15 platform, as many of the current popular sidearms don’t even have manual safeties and many that do can’t be engaged and still allow the small arm to cycle or load.
Remember, instructors don’t always agree on everything, but that doesn’t mean that Pat or Mike are wrong. We just don’t agree on this particular safety manipulation. I teach to utilize the safety when moving or when performing shoulder transitions, but when reloading an empty weapon or while clearing a malfunction, I’m not a fan of ‘safety on’. What I am really touchy about is finger out of the trigger guard and ‘in register position’; the way I instantly measure a new face with a firearm in their possession is whether they follow this rule. If you have to work with or be around folks with firearms, remember: the finger position rule is ‘King’ in gun safety.
-Ken Hackathorn
Ken Hackathorn has served as a US Army Special Forces Small Arms Instructor, Gunsite Instructor, and NRA Police Firearms Instructor. He is currently an FBI Certified Firearms Instructor, Certified Deputy Sheriff with Washington County SO, Ohio, and a SRT member and Special Response Team trainer. Ken has trained US Military Special Operations forces, Marine FAST and SOTG units and is a contract small arms trainer to FBI SWAT and HRT.
Ken has provided training to Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and been active in small arms training for the past 25 years. He has written firearms related material for Guns & Ammo, Combat Handguns, Soldier Of Fortune, and currently American Handgunner and contributed to at least six other gun/shooting journals. Ken was also a founding member of IPSC and IDPA.
To see Ken’s Training Class Schedule visit aliastraining.com.
Gunfighter Moment is a weekly feature brought to you by Alias Training & Security Services. Each week Alias brings us a different Trainer and in turn they offer SSD readers hard earned words of wisdom.
I believe the military teaches to always engage the safety!
Ken Hackathorn > standard bigarmy doctrine
The military also bans its employees from owning or carrying guns on their premises.
I’ve never had anything to do with the military. The military (general) doesn’t train gunfighters.
But when it does…
That’s really great advice and very well expressed. Over the years I’ve been around guys who were negligent handling guns. I have always aspired to be a professional when it comes to gun handling.
Hell my dad hammered this into my head before I ever touched a gun for the first time.
What I think this article fails to recognize overtly, is that CONTEXT is important and secondly, generational gaps/differences that exist with some instructors.
Let me precede my explanation in that all 3 people in the article above are not only my peers and or friends, they are also well respected by myself.
Context is important. The article makes a good point in that some weapons don’t have a manual safety and or it cannot be engaged without a magazine in the weapon. This is a factual statement/observation.
However, I have never heard the other two people mentioned in the article ever say that the method they describe is the only way. But more importantly, (and this is where the context part comes in) they are in all cases/articles, where they are stating this, speaking in reference to running an AR and or similar functioning weapons. If a weapon doesn’t have a manual safety, then common sense dictates that one wouldn’t attempt to engage it and it also applies that ones finger should not be on the trigger unless they plan on discharging the weapon ( Universal truth actually).
The generational gap I spoke of is evident to anyone who came up in the military from say the 70’s until early 2000ish. As pointed out by the author (ken) keeping ones finger off of the trigger and out of the trigger guard is paramount, especially if one doesn’t engage the safety when doing magazine changes, etc. This is what was taught and done doctrinally in the Army/military. The concept/habit of placing your weapon on safe during magazine changes was not part of the process, then. Since then, the mentality within not only the military, but also the civilian shooting community, is what both Mike and Pat (and others) advocate when running the AR/M4 and or similar platforms where a manual safety can be engaged and where it makes sense to do so.
In both technique explanations above, neither is absolutely right, nor absolutely wrong. What is evident, like most things, techniques, tactics and procedures evolve over time and one must evolve with them and the times or you run the risk of becoming outdated and no longer relevant to your audience.
In this instance, the technique described by Mike and Pat (and others) increases over all safety and has been shown by them (and others) that doing it doesn’t increase ones time and is not detrimental to performance. Anything that increases safety without a degradation in performance and is easy for everyone to implement is something that should be strived for.
One thing that never changes is keeping your finger off the trigger will prevent any gun from discharging.
I believe in generational knowledge. This discussion will go round in circles because neither technique is always right or always wrong. Engaging the mechanical safety during reloads doesn’t cost you anything running the AR but it does running the AK. Firearms safety rules are like rungs on a ladder, it’s a prioritized list.
1. Treat all guns as if they are loaded.
2. Never Let your muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger and out of the trigger guard until you are ready to fire.
4. Be sure of your target and your targets surroundings.
5. Mechanical safeties are only a backup to the first four rules.
So if it’s free and it makes you more safe then knock yourself out. However, rule number 3 is universal where rule number 5 is not. Disclaimer: I am not a badass. Ken Hackathorn could probably kill me with his mustache.
I’ll just point out a possible cost of engaging the safety during reloads. It is possible that in a stressfull situation one might leave that safety on when needing to deal with another threat. I know its a training issue but it seems to me that engaging the safety while reloading could bite you in such situations.
Yes & that’s why special ops are trained to use the safety at all times in the event it is pointed at a team member.
When I first got involved in shooting sports 6yrs ago (first 3 yrs steady) I had an AD that could have been avoided by using the safety on my AR. We were shooting through a wooden facade with mail slots in them. I knelt down but didn’t stick the barrel through enough so that when I transitioned the AR it slipped out of the mail slot causing an ND right in front of me. I was told “The ONLY way that happens is if you have your finger on the trigger” but that was not the case. My reaction was like having your hands on a table & roll of quarters have just rolled of the table & I went to grab them. IF I had the safety on along with my finger alongside the frame I could have continued shooting without an AD. I will continue to use both & have learned from my mistake.