Gun maker Glock frequently sued over safety;

Model of deputy’s sidearm that killed driver in accidental shooting has detractors and defenders

By Marc Dadigan staff writer

November 9, 2003

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY -- The manufacturer of the handgun a St. Lucie County sheriff's deputy used in an accidental fatal shooting of a 35-year-old man Oct. 10 is one of the gun companies most commonly sued for product liability, according to a Washington, D.C. watchdog group.

The .40-caliber, semiautomatic Glock 22, manufactured by Georgia-based Glock Inc., has been named in at least 50 lawsuits in the past eight years, said Josh Horwitz, acting director of the non-profit Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence.

"There lawsuits are for a variety of defects. We think it's a dangerous design, but it's a gun that's become ubiquitous in law enforcement," Horwitz said.

A 1999 Washington Post article reported Glocks were being used by half of all law-enforcement agencies in the United States. Officials extol the superiority of the weapon because of its power, light weight and accuracy. However, critics claim the Glock handguns have a hair trigger that leads to accidental discharges and lament its lack of external safeties.

The Indian River County sheriff's deputies traded in their revolvers for .45-caliber Glock 21's more than a year ago, and Sheriff Roy Raymond has continued to trumpet their praises.

"If you fire a Glock, every shot has the same trigger [pressure] from the first shot to the last shot," he said. "I've bought one personally, and I don't see any downside to the Glocks."

Earlier this month, St. Lucie County Deputy Ronald Stickney accidentally shot and killed Nathan Tompkins with his .40-caliber Glock 22 as he was trying to remove Tompkins from his vehicle. Stickney had pursued Tompkins on U.S. 1 for a few minutes before Tompkins pulled over in Indian River County.

St. Lucie County sheriff's officials aren't commenting on the case until they complete an administrative review.

Safety features

Holden Kriss, range manager for the Indian River County Shooting Range in Sebastian, said the lack of the external safety for the Glocks is offset by three internal safeties. A safety attached to the trigger of the Glock makes it impossible to be accidentally fired if dropped.

"It's a very safe gun, a very high-quality gun," he said. "I haven't encountered any problems with it in more than 20 years of running ranges."

The trigger pulls of the Glocks, which are usually set between 5 to 5.5 pounds of pressure, is normal for semiautomatics and shouldn't make the gun any more likely to accidentally discharge, he said. The pistol that Vero Beach Police officers have carried since the early 1990s, the 9 mm Beretta 92FS, has a trigger pull of about 7 pounds, according to Beretta's Web site

The family of James Lancaster, a Port St. Lucie man who was also accidentally shot and killed by a St. Lucie County deputy in 1996, sued Glock after the shooting. The family alleged the company improperly marketed the guns to law-enforcement officers by not informing them of the sensitive trigger, according to published reports.

"We argued that it's more of a tactical weapon for a SWAT officer who receives more training," said Montana-based attorney Fashandor Badaruddin, who represented the Lancaster family. "We also argued there should be a warning not to put your finger on the trigger until you're ready to shoot."

Horwitz added the light trigger pressures and the lack of an external safety can easily lead to accidental shootings, though Glock now offers various trigger-pull pressures for its weapons.



Officials from Glock declined to comment.

"You might say that an officer is supposed to keep his hand off the trigger," Horwitz said. "But it's not a natural thing. Years and years of training goes the other way."

In 1999, the Washington Post reported in a four-part series that the District of Columbia Police Department's switch to Glocks, combined with an infusion of thousands of new officers and a lack of training with the weapons, led to a spate of accidental shootings.



No problems locally

According to Indian River County Sheriff's Office reports, there have been no documented cases of deputies accidentally discharging the Glocks.

Raymond said his officers had to go through a day-long class on the use of the Glocks before receiving their firearms. He also estimated his officers fired 100 practice rounds as part of their training, and deputies are tested quarterly on the use of the weapons.

With the right training, transitioning from revolvers to semiautomatics like the Glocks should be smooth, he said.

"The familiarity with any firearm is the key to it," he said. "I do not rate a Glock as being any more of a risk for accidental discharge than any other weapon."

Sebastian Police Chief Jim Davis said his officers have been issued Glocks since the late 1980s and haven't had any problems with accidental discharges since he took the helm. The rumors of the Glock's inherent danger were quickly dispelled for Davis once he trained with the weapon, he said.

"It does take less pressure to pull the trigger than it does on the Beretta, but it turns out to be a matter of training to make sure they are familiar with their weapons," he said.

His officers are tested on their firearms training twice a year and are also instructed to keep their fingers off the trigger until they're ready to fire. But he doubted the Glock's sensitive trigger was much of a factor in the Tompkins shooting.

"I don't know if it'd be any different than with any other kind of weapon," he said. "They can say there's no safety on the Glock, but chances are you click the safety off as you get out of your squad car anyway."