Details of a McClain County Sheriff’s Office school resource deputy’s accidental discharge, which occurred on the playground of Blanchard Elementary School in December, have emerged, highlighting the importance of gear choices and holster design when carrying a firearm in public.
See the Full Press release below.
McCLAIN COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Landy Offolter, Sheriff
December 17th, 2024 – PRESS RELEASE
Ref: Accidental Discharge at Blanchard Elementary School
On December 13th, 2024, a McClain County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Deputy’s service pistol accidentally discharged while interacting with students on the playground at Blanchard Elementary School.
The McClain County Sheriff’s Office immediately began conducting an investigation into the accidental discharge. During the course of the investigation, it was learned that a Deputy was seated on a wooden bench handing out stickers to several students. The Deputy began assisting a child in zipping up their jacket when the Deputy heard his gun discharge. The Deputy became aware of a child on his gun side and began checking this child and other students for any potential injuries. The child told the Deputy and a teacher he made the gun “shoot.”
The Deputy’s service pistol, a SIG Sauer P320, was still secured inside the Deputy’s Safariland holster and remained secured in the holster until Detectives arrived. The Deputy, with the assistance of Blanchard School employees, removed the students from the affected area while the Deputy waited for responding Detectives.
Detectives, upon inspection of the Deputy’s service pistol, learned the SIG Sauer P320’s slide was still locked in place with the spent shell casing still chambered, indicating the service pistol was seated and secured inside the Deputy’s holster at the time of accidental discharge. Detectives had to manually eject the spent shell casing.
Upon further inspection of the Streamlight TLR1 HL flashlight mounted to the SIG Sauer P320 inside the Safariland 6000 series holster, a significant gap was located between the P320’s trigger guard and the holster’s trigger guard, allowing for the trigger to be easily manipulated and gun to be discharged while the service weapon was secured inside the holster with the holster’s retention mechanism engaged.
Detectives performed a series of tests in an attempt to recreate the event. Detectives were successful in recreating the event with the unloaded weapon and holster using adult fingers, confirming a child’s finger would easily be able to manipulate the trigger through the gap in the holster. Based on the findings of the investigation, Detectives concluded the child manipulated the trigger of the Deputy’s weapon, causing it to discharge while in the holster.
These findings have also been consistent with other agencies’ accidental discharge investigations related to similar service pistols and holsters, including the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Currently, Deputies provide their own service pistol and duty holster. The McClain County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a thorough review of all weapons systems carried by its Deputies and will be reviewing Department-issued weapons systems options moving forward.
This has always been a point of contention for me when choosing a holster, as coverage of the trigger guard has always been a concern. And it isn’t just the idea of a prying finger slipping inside the holster either, as debris, clothing, drawstrings and any number of things might find their way into a holster, causing an accidental discharge or a malfunction at a most inopportune moment.
Let’s take a look at my Glock 47 equipped with a Holosun SCS MOS optic, Surefire X300 and factory threaded barrel inserted into my Safariland 6354RDSO ALS Level 2 and Alien Gear Rapid Force Level 3 holsters.
I am not picking on one versus the other and have been using them without issue for quite a while. I am mostly happy with both systems but would like to point out the difference in trigger guard coverage, however slight it may be. It has been proven time and time again that any obstruction that can make its way into this crevice can be cause for concern. In the case of this Oklahoma school resource deputy, that obstruction seems to have been the diminutive nature of a child’s finger.
The same principle is true of concealed carry holsters that, while tucked away, should have adequate coverage to protect a firearm from being accidentally discharged by any article of clothing or debris that might find its way into the holster.
To my more experienced gun owners who have heard this a million times, let this incident serve as a reminder. The intent of pointing this out is to educate newer firearms owners and carriers, of which there have been many since COVID-19 and the 2020 BLM and Antifa riots, on what to look for and consider depending on how and where you carry a firearm. While the risk of something working its way into your holster is ever present and should always be something to check for and be aware of, perhaps higher levels of retention and better trigger guard coverage are necessary if you are working or traveling in more densely populated settings, and especially around children who’s curiosity to fiddle with anything they can get their hands on has yet to be quenched.
Aside from this awareness, I’ll add that vigilance, training and repetition are the keys to safe gun handling. Most accidents happen while holstering and unholstering a loaded firearm. Do yourself a favor and practice these procedures with your handgun unloaded and the holster you intend to use. Work in some dry fire training while you’re at it. You may catch a crooked smile from your spouse for hard-core LARPing, but that’s okay. You’ll be a safer gun owner and better shooter because of it. And please, make sure it is unloaded! I had to say that twice.
Product and gun reviews are performed independently and product mentions made based on the quality of the product and value of interest to gun owners. However, when you buy through links on our site, we may earn a commission to help support the costs of operating the site and keeping it free for our visitors.
law enforcement comitts school shooting….err…law enforcement supplied weapon access to child to aid in school shooting.
I guess, like all school shootings, the police did not arrive in time to prevent shots being fired… errrr..wait…
if this were you or me the cops would be all over us and anti-gun would be screaming that we intentionally endangered children and we would be prosecuted for something.
Yep.
Some are more special then others.
Holster deficiency or note…my takeaway from the article is that an RSO/LEO was lax enough to allow a child to even get close enough to it in the first place. OMG (facepalm). Everything else spoken about the holster is moot.
bingo!
“School resource officer” most often is the dumping ground for the marginally competent but emotive cops (see also the females/DEIs).
Glock warned users from the very beginning that a hard shelled holster that completely encloses the trigger was required – and shipped one with it. Ask around with older carriers and that is commonly known. Somehow it never trickled down to the modern carrier.
With lights on rails, holster makers are still responsible for getting the trigger covered, not making the holster stylish. Worst case in point, an off shore maker of leather shoulder holsters was selling them on a major internet site with holes punched in the holster exposing the trigger completely. I guess if you needed to shoot the guy behind you first it was workable . . .
Once out of the holster whoever puts their finger on the trigger before it’s presented to fire has their own training issue and need to own up to it. The truly unfortunate issue is when it discharges and impacts the carrier. We are supposed to train until we can’t get it wrong, I would suggest loading with primed empties might help reduce injuries until someone could get enough practice.
Read where shotgunners go thru 10,000 repetitions to get it right, so, there’s one standard.
Funny how a kydex trigger holster for pocket carry is considered unsafe by some, yet a IWB with half exposed trigger is touted as the latest tactical necessity. When we will accept that no trigger/guard exposed at all is the requirement?
And I haven’t even mentioned thumb operated safeties…
Honestly amazing no one else seems to remember that re Glock holsters being damn near required to be hard shell. Good idea then and just as good for similar pistols now.
To paraphrase Johnny Cochrane:
” If the finger fits, it may cause you shits. ”
… or something like that
And once again the everyday odds of a stationary or in motion object engaging the trigger and causing a discharge is higher than the odds of defensive use. Therefore only stupid people bark at having manual safeties, trigger plugs, etc. I suggest stupid people stfu and improve on situational awareness and the fluid use of safeties.
“And once again the everyday odds of a stationary or in motion object engaging the trigger and causing a discharge is higher than the odds of defensive use.”
thats not contextually true.
Stupid people do get up in arms over thumb safeties, but only absolute retards suggest trigger plugs. Also unintentional discharge is only a greater danger than defensive gun uses in safe areas ie away from the usual suspects. Have a nice evening.
I also have an Alien duty type holster for a full size with a TLR1. A child could fit his finger in there too, though it might be difficult enough that you might notice. I don’t think there’s a way around that except to use a smaller light with a tighter fitting holster. That might be a consideration if you’re going to be around mischievous kids.
“I made the gun shoot.” (haha) The deputy should have gotten his story straight with the kid so he could get in line to sue Sig. “Hey kid, want to make some money?”
I’m sure the shills will be lining up to blame SIG for this.
Meh known design weak point paired with improper holster. Glock leg was a thing before this and the lessons were largely ignored by consumer and manufacturer alike (kudos to tierod for that gem of memory).
The Colt 1911 has 1,911 safeties on it for a reason.
Glocks are safe as long as you don’t pull the trigger, just like a cocked 1873 SAA.
When it comes down to choosing the wrong holster something is wrong.
” Hold my beer !! “
Need to get rid of those damn SIG P320 pistols. Not a fake scare, there are over 100 incidents including several on from body cam videos.
Ditch those things before anyone else is hurt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And sure it was a long time ago-
But my first duty rig a Don Hume revolver holster featured a COVERED TRIGGER GUARD!!!
As did everyone else making duty holsters– and a thumbreak, rear rake, fast draw but not something someone behind you could quickly take away
Boots
This is why I carry S&W 3rd generation pistols with a manual safety.
From the description the attached flashlight prevented the pistol from seating properly in the holster.
1. This doesn’t really fall into the “accidental” category. The child intentionally discharged the firearm while it was in the cop’s holster. Or, at least, the kid intentionally pulled the trigger on the pistol.
2. This is something that’s going to be an issue for some time in the gun world.
It’s simply not possible to create high quality holsters that cover all the bases and allow for the addition of mods to the gun while covering all *common* firearms and doing this at a rational price point.
Anyone who’s seriously looked at doing something like adding lights to a series of firearms has realized that it’s a serious PITA. You basically have three options. Pay out the nose by going full custom for each firearm that’s not incredibly common, going back and forth on which light you’re using or pick a holster/set of holsters that all attach to the same light and add a copy of that light to each gun.
Option three is attractive when you see something like the Omnivore but it comes with the downside that a general holster for a size of gun (full size, compact etc) is going to focus on attaching to the light and not fit every gun in that size category as well as you might like. There has to be wiggle room based on the differences between the guns.
Now, let’s add pistol optics into the mix and the problem only grows.
But in a world where a dot and a light are rapidly becoming the go-to, everyone’s going to put a rail on that pistol for market-based reasons and often start offering an optic’s cut on the slide. Holster manufacturers are not going to create a custom solution for every gun with every conceivable set of options that could be added to the firearm.
Flap holsters with an empty chamber.
Better to just preemptively shoot yourself.
Tac light companies getting with quality holster companies to make holsters specifically for their lights to sell as a bundle with a joint add campaign? Honestly I just don’t bother with a light or optic for my carry piece as the only times I would be somewhere dark enough to really need one is the woods or at home where other firearms come into play. Do like the night sights though.
You can get holsters that are meant for a specific gun plus a specific light and don’t have as many issues in this regard because they’re a better cut. They’re just kinda pricey in many cases and don’t come made for a lot of firearms.
You almost have to plan out buying the gun and the light in terms of matching them to the holster if you want to go that route, and your options are kinda limited from most companies unless you want to go full-custom. Which in some cases means sending them the rig so they can build the holster around it.
There’s like maybe six or so really popular lights and the same for optics which really just need a cut taken out of the other side of the holster and won’t affect anything safety wise.
The sheer number of pistols on the market is the real issue. Just consider how many guns there are around the size of a G19 and how the frames and trigger guards vary. It’s a nightmare.
I got called a liar here for mentioning I could jam my pinky into my Safariland holster containing a P320 and TLR light.
It’s not a big gap and it hurts to do it but I can 100% jam my pinky in there and manipulate the trigger. I’m sure it’d be easier if I had the tiny digits of a grade school kid.
With weapon-mounted lights, if the light is wider than the gun’s frame then the opening in the top of the holster must by definition be wider than the gun. It seems to be an inherent problem with the 2-cell lights like the x300. I doubt there’s much the holster manufacturers can do to fix it. The solution is to stick with the thinner lights.
Sig asked the outgoing ATF director what happened and he said after talking to Biden, Harris, Shumer, Pelosi, Newsom and the Squad, that it’s all Trump’s fault
The blog motivates readers to organize a group effort to pick up litter, improving the environment and community pride.
Always thought holsters that provided for a mounted weapon light looked wrong, but I just couldn’t put my finger on why!
Hah , good one.
There have been a number of “Gun Meme Review” videos on Brandon Herrera’s YT channel with similar events.
Better to raise the child with a healthy respect for firearms and to not touch unless allowed. Unfortunately many children do not have positive role models for gun safety.
NEW DECISION JUST OUT! BIG WIN IN GUN TAX CASE.
Today gun owners won an important victory under Illinois state law in the Guns Save Life v. Cook County case. Mark Smith, Four Boxes Diner, discusses. (note: TTAG and SNW writer John Boch, is the Executive Director for Guns Save Life).
h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tRsb0MzTsg
BREAKING NEWS: Repeal The NFA Act Submitted!
h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n26nG5R_pXg
SELF DEFENSE: How Would You React?
h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBftInfP55w
Some Huge News on the Assault Weapon Ban Case. (And Not All of it is Good).
h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzEelmvwGrA
Japanese mob boss pleads guilty in New York to conspiring to traffic nuclear materials to Iran.
” A man who federal prosecutors say runs a notorious Japanese organized crime syndicate pleaded guilty last week to conspiring to traffic nuclear materials to Iran …” (and due to Biden-Harris intentionally arming the enemy in Afghanistan) “conspiring to traffic … U.S. weapons abandoned in Afghanistan to Burma.
Takeshi Ebisawa, the 60-year-old alleged leader of the Japanese yakuza, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday to conspiring with a network of associates to traffic nuclear materials, including uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, from Burma to other countries. He also pleaded guilty to international narcotics trafficking and weapons charges, the Justice Department announced.
…”
h ttps://tacticalgunstores.com/japanese-mob-boss-pleads-guilty-in-new-york-to-conspiring-to-traffic-nuclear-materials-to-iran/
Defending your loved ones from evil doesn’t always mean a gun – sometimes you need to run away from the evil like these Canadians did to save the life of their child from social -lized medicine > Canadians Flee To U.S. After Doctors Threaten To ‘Unplug’ Their Son And Harvest His Organs.
h ttps://thefederalist.com/2025/01/13/canadians-flee-to-u-s-after-doctors-threaten-to-unplug-their-son-and-harvest-his-organs/
Maryland Cop Who Recklessly Shot a 5-Year-Old Boy Got Qualified Immunity
“The Cato Institute is urging the Supreme Court to take up the case and reaffirm that the liability shield does not apply to ‘obvious rights violations. ”
h ttps://reason.com/2025/01/13/maryland-cop-who-recklessly-shot-a-5-year-old-boy-got-qualified-immunity/
Second Amendment Roundup: Circuit Conflict in Felon Gun Ban Cases.
h ttps://reason.com/volokh/2025/01/13/second-amendment-roundup-circuit-conflict-in-felon-gun-ban-cases/
Biden wants to run again and asks permission from Obama, Obama says No 😂
h ttps://x.com/WorldHallOfFun/status/1878971106650103947?mx=2
We’ll have to all go back to the 1911.
Is it really an “Accidental Discharge” if the trigger was pulled?