Laura Elizabeth Gomez (courtesy Facebook.com)

The Laura Croftian model above is Laura Elizabeth Gomez, a Facebook friend from Barcelona. Laura’s worked at Zona de Airsoft.com; she knows a thing or two about gun safety. And yet, there she is, with her fingers on the trigger. Some photographers demand trigger finger placement on the go-pedal; they believe it gives the resulting image immediacy. But I’m a safety first, sexy second kinda guy. I swear. What’s your take: trigger finger on the slide for models or what are you kidding who gives a damn and why are you putting sexist clickbait on a serious Second Amendment website when you swore you weren’t going to?

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85 COMMENTS

  1. Considering she’s playing a fictitious role in a fictitious situation, she can finger the trigger all she wants. I don’t get bent out of shape over this, unlike some here.

    Were she an actual ambassador for the shooting sports, then trigger discipline would be de rigeur.

    • People catch hell for riding motorcycle and bicycles in fiction and in various media without wearing a helmet.

      This is the same thing. Unless someone is being depicted in a form of media as being reckless, I don’t see an excuse for it.

      In the last few years, it’s become increasingly more reviled when people are depicted as playing paintball on TV without the proper eye protection too.

      • This. Also, how many people get their only firearms knowledge from stuff like this? Might be beneficial if the entertainment world showed a little respect for safety.

      • Seconded. Finger on the trigger looks amateur to me and detracts from the “badassitude” of characters that should know better. Finger off the trigger in a ready position is easy to do and communicates a level of seriousness and proficiency that adds authenticity to characters that are supposedly gun pros. All this tells me is that people in entertainment are predominanty ignorant of gun safety; this is something we should push to change, IMO, because it helps with normalization.

        • ^this. A true highly trained operative knows trigger discipline. Seeing someone with none makes those who know cringe and those who don’t know will grab a real gun if they get the chance and immediately touch or even pull the trigger without considering the bang part.

    • This is my belief on the matter. I hear people say the same thing, “Oh she has no trigger discipline!” and yet when they watch a movie where someone is pointing a gun at someone with their booger hook on the bang switch it’s never an issue.

      Is she pretending to aim the pistol at something she pretend intends to shoot? Then her finger should be on the trigger. Is she pretending to hold the pistol and pretend not intending to shoot it? Then her finger should be off the trigger.

      Whether they checked that the gun had no magazine or an empty magazine and an empty chamber or not is on them. Shooting this same picture without the finger on the trigger loses some of the point of the image… some of it, since I guess the point is really sexy lady with gun.

      • “Booger hook on the bang switch”?! I love it…where do people come up with this stuff? lol

        In all seriousness, though, trigger safety should be paramount. It would in no way detract from the picture if the model exercised proper trigger finger placement. From what I have I seen, it is generally only firearms enthusiasts who even notice such matters. Gun grabbers are too busy being irrationally angered by the “scary looking deadly assault weapons,” while for the majority of the public, the hot chick in short shorts trumps the firearm entirely. Therefore, the model’s trigger finger placement is, for the most part, entirely subliminal, anyway, and therefore should send the proper subliminal message.

    • I expect it’s all pretend/fiction/imaging to these media types – whether it’s a movie, T.V. series, modeling, or the news, the mentality is predominantly the same – mostly clueless players playing a fantasy to a largely clueless audience.

      These people SHOULD be setting a good example for their viewers to digest, but as in most areas of media activity, they have to know what…safe…handling…is before they can practice it.

  5. I think it’s pretty damn unimportant. Most of the guns these models are posing with are airsoft, and all of them have one thing in common, they are all unloaded. The funny thing is, you are upset about the finger on the trigger, but you’re not upset that the beautiful lady above is obviously not pointing the “firearm” in a safe direction.

  6. Modeling/calendar/artsy shots like this, I don’t really care.

    Now… IRL pics, selfies, open-carry demonstration pics, etc. then hell yes the finger better be off the trigger.

    • With you 100%. She isn’t representing gun owners as much as cosplayers in the photo, and if anyone takes safety advice from a posed photo for a Facebook photo then they have other issues to work out. If this was the head of the NRA with their finger on the trigger, that would be massively different, but its some random chick holding, what I can probably safely assume, aren’t real guns.

      The way I see it, if its a model posing for something and its likely not a real gun, then its up to the model/photographer to decide if trigger discipline is needed. If the add/art/whatever isn’t effected by where her trigger finger is, then why not have it off? But its not necisary to me. Its a “meh” situation.

      It can help to make a photo more realistic or whatever also. How many of us would bitch about a movie star shooting a gun with their finger along the slide? Why would a photo be so different than a movie? Provided they aren’t using real guns or quadruple check a real gun to ensure its not loaded and follow other safety precautions, its not the worst thing in the world.

  9. Context is everything–If it is a fantasy photo that is supposedly depicting a shootout, the finger would pretty much have to be on the trigger. If it is a portrait-type photo with someone showing off their gun, I would prefer the finger off the trigger to reinforce the basic safety rules. Wendy Davis’ portrait with Ann Richards’ shotgun was certainly safe, since the action was open, but her holding it in a shooting-from-the-hip pose while it was thus “broken” looked utterly ridiculous. You can observe safety rules and still make artistic photos, but some compromise may be required in some contexts.

  13. Lol it’s like the reverse of grabber parents who won’t let their kids play with toy guns. “Now, Timmy, what did I tell you about playing nerf guns?”

    “I know, I know ‘booger hook off the bang switch!'”

  14. Unless you are modeling a situation where a finger should be on the trigger, the model should not have a finger on the trigger.

  16. One of each. The gun pointed at the camera (simulated bad guy) is about to go bang, and so finger on trigger. The other gun, pointed up in the air, not about to go bang, finger should be off trigger.

  17. If the photographer wants to show/pretend the model/actors are about to shoot, they should have their finger on the trigger. As in, keep your finger off the trigger until you’re about shoot, then put your finger on the trigger. (Safety checked of course) They are not models for Eddie Eagle publications.
    They are modeling impending action, not “posing with a gun”.
    Trigger discipline is for shooters with or might have, live ammo in their gun. Movies are photography, right? How do you get the guns to shoot during a live action scene with strict trigger discipline?
    Seems like some people have their finger on trigger just waiting for the next TTAG photo with any finger inside the guard.
    If KJW has her finger on the trigger, blast away, but Laura “Angelina Jolie” Croft looking dangerous, keep it in your pants.

  18. Her left hand (Go Lefties!) trigger finger is correct, as she is, in terms of photographic context, about to shoot something. Right hand pointing at the ceiling, I’d prefer to see finger off the trigger.

    For a staged shot like this, it matters only in photographic terms, not for firearm safety.

  20. @RF, Of course, and I nominate you to be the Interet Sheriff to enforce the model law. Maybe you should also ban the offending models?

  22. Those probably aren’t guns, but just look like them, so who cares?

    Also, its a photo and she couldn’t shoot me anyway, so who cares?

  23. Depends on context.

    Does it make sense for the model to have his/her finger on the trigger? If yes, go ahead, there’s nothing wrong with depicting situations where it is OK to put your finger on the trigger and such situations do exist. Yeah, we have to *assume* the chamber is empty, but I don’t go around assuming everyone is an idiot.

    Does the situation indicate it would be prudent to follow basic safety rules? Please do so, teach by example and keep that finger off the trigger. We will not think less of you because you choose to appear less “tough”.

  24. I am the Volunteer Reader Safety Officer of this website, and I pronounce this vital public safety message both family friendly, and newsworthy of COD gamer gun entry level POTG, who may need neck braces, however.

    As the volunteer safety officer, I am going to have to insist on furher review of her fingering technique, in one-on-one sessions, until its done right, thanks to my long experience and dedication. You don’t have to thank me, I am happy to serve.

  25. Give the girl a break. For all we know she may have been shooting a rapist with a camera and a duck at the same time.

  27. Nope. As important as the rules of gun safety are, so is the ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality.

  28. Immediacy? Unless the photo is truly intended to make someone feel like they’re about to get shot, then it’s no more than immediate dumbassery.

    Keep the finger off the trigger unless you’re ready to shoot something. That goes for photographers and their subject matter.

  29. Robert, just because you click “like” on someone’s Facebook profile doesn’t mean you’re actually friends, no matter how much you would like to be. 😛

  31. If anyone googled Laura Elizabeth Gomez, you know, for research, and were a little disappointed, the models actual name is LeeAnna Vamp. She has a lot of cosplay experience. You’re welcome.

  32. Well… I’m a perv, so I was just thinking: “my finger on her trigger…” (j/k… sort of 😀 )

    Seriously, I don’t care, it’s not a sport shooting but about portraying a fiction character in a fiction situation… so no one cares (or shouldn’t care) about that 😀

  34. Shooting shots of models shooting is more akin to a few frames in a film (ok….movie) than an observation of a range infraction.

    The knitwear top, on the other hand, is a complete fail.

  35. Unless they are depicting firing the weapon, then yes, they should keep their finger OFF the trigger.

    Bad TD in photos (even fantasy/cosplay) begets bad TD in real life. As they say, life imitates art.

  36. I prefer the finger off the trigger unless it is a photo of someone actually shooting. As a training aid keeping your finger off the trigger until you are going to fire, even with toy guns, is the right way to go.

    I don’t think there should be a law about it though.

    • There is that.

      So… were a hottie to ask you for your sage cornbread stuffing recipe, would you yield?

    • I think the whole sideways thing originated with LASER Tag – in which it makes sense as it hides the side-mounted sensors on the gun and thus makes it less likely that someone will tag you by shooting it. This gives you about a 20% loss in “shootability.”

      As LASER Tag was (is?) very popular, I can see how this behaviour might migrate to some of those firearms users who lack any proper training.

      • As I’ve heard it told, the practice of sideways “gangster” shooting started in the movies, with directors who instructed actors to hold guns sideways, in order that the guns would obstruct their faces less.

        Don’t know if that’s true or not.

    • I thought sideways shooting was made to make people look dumb and primitive…. which gangsters, thugs, and drug dealers are.

      • MICHAEL
        “I wish we had never done this. What are we going to do? You know what I can’t figure out? How is it that all these stupid, Neanderthal, Mafia guys can be so good at crime and smart guys like us can suck so badly at it?”

        SAMIR
        “We’re new to it, though. Maybe, if we had more experience…”

  39. Yes. And no.

    If they’re striking a pose in which they are to appear to be shooting – or about to shoot – something in need of shooting, then they should go all the way. While pointing the gun-thingie in a random direction, however, not so much.

    That is of course unless they are trying to model a negative example, which Miss Cute and Dangerous does quite effectively.

    BTW: Lara.

  40. There are a few non-photoshopped gals who look like that. Maybe the trigger finger thing is fake. I’m in the clickbait camp…who cares.

  41. It’s an action shot… WHO THE FK CARES?! It’s meant to show action, and if I were in a position where it’s supposed to look like I’m shooting at people or in the middle of getting shot at, that’s not a situation where I’m going to worry about trigger safety – are you going to ask soldiers if they slip their finger back on the slide after every shot in a shootout too?

  42. I would usually make a mental note that she is mishandling the firearm…in this case however, all I’m thinkin’ is holster the handguns and unholster the twins.

  46. It’s fictional, therefore it doesn’t matter. There are better things to worry about.

    Gun owners and firearms enthusiasts are some of the most pedantic people, and yes I’m one of them. Yet sometimes to an extreme that even I find annoying and idiotic. Ever seen people in the comments section of a YouTube video chastising the person in the gun video for not first showing people that the gun was clear and safety checked? It’s a video, and you’re not there, so shut the hell up about it unless you’re in the same room and just had your center torso swept by a muzzle. This is basically the same thing.

    • As long as she doesn’t limp wrist it. Then again, that could be helpful in encouraging “discharge”. Sorry, couldn’t help myself either.

  48. My opinion is that she can finger anything of mine that she wants, including one of my many triggers!

  51. meh,
    What gets me going trigger-wise is when some anachronistic dork like Matt Damon indexes his finger along the frame of a single action revolver in a movie set in the late 1800s.

  52. Let’s face it: they are models and aren’t necessarily seen as the smartest or most gun savvy people to begin with. While I don’t condone unsafe gun handling, its not suprising to see many models posing with their finger on the trigger. For me its ok, but only specifically when they are posing/modeling for a photo.

    If this was an actual female that knows how to shoot or compete e.g. Tori Nonaka, then that is a different story.

  53. Fact! finger is on trigger! weapon pointed at something, invitation to get shot! defend yourself, two in the chest one in the head! too bad so sad
    There is not a good reason to violate this safety procedure especially when asked by some jerk off for a picture they can make money on! does not matter
    if firearm was real or not!

  54. always bothers me when they don’t have correct trigger control i dunno why other then shit someone might get shot even though i know they aren’t loaded

  55. I am slow, but
    I vote for finger off trigger unless actively squeezing off a shot.
    I am curious to know how Oleg’s models look so comfortable in their poses compared to his competition and the models competition.

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