What do you call this position?

[DocGKR]

Seriously? Don't be a bunch of pansy ass monday morning quarterbacks--you were not there and have no idea of what was going on. You cannot judge a situation from one photo that captures a brief moment in time. What was the officer doing in the prior 30 seconds; what did he do in the next 30 seconds.

[DocGKR]

Looks like some of you were typing the same time I was--good on you for having some common sense and not judging the actions of someone in a VERY tense situation from one photo.......

[1slow]

Moderators please withdraw my earlier post as the 1st pic I was looking at did not give a true picture of what was going on.

[Tamara]

I just noticed the toothbrushes spilled all over the ground behind the dogpile. Now I can't not see them.

[Kevin Mc]

My question is, in all seriousness, what would prevent him from being shot by a legally armed citizen, granted this is CA and there probably are not any in the crowd, but still should he have a badge in hand instead of the baton?

[NickA]

If anyone knows of a legitimate reason for the gangsta hold, I'd love to hear it.

Not exactly legit, but I read somewhere that it started in movies so they could have a frontal shot that showed the gun without it obscuring the actors face.

[MDS]

Seriously? Don't be a bunch of pansy ass monday morning quarterbacks--you were not there and have no idea of what was going on. You cannot judge a situation from one photo that captures a brief moment in time. What was the officer doing in the prior 30 seconds; what did he do in the next 30 seconds.

Doc, please believe I mean no disrespect to the officer. If it were a civilian, I'd ask the same questions. During a stressful moment, I'll applaud anything that gets the job done. And, in my ignorance, in the spirit of the marksmanship and gun handling section, I'm wondering if there's a technical reason for holding the gun that way? If the officer was taught that hold, I'd love to learn the reasoning behind it!

If someone wants to discuss other aspects of these photographs, like stress or etc, a thread in the mindset forum could be very interesting. But please let's keep this thread about the hold.

[Tamara]

I can't think of a legitimate reason to hold a gun this way. The only illegitimate reason I can think of, for folks with poor safety habits, is this seems like a natural position to point at things with the muzzle. Or, of course, as a fashion statement, expressing approximately the same things as wearing your pants below your ass.

If anyone knows of a legitimate reason for the gangsta hold, I'd love to hear it.

Ask this guy, too. I haven't a clue, myself.

I know I cant the gun as much as 45° when shooting one-handed, which probably looks strange and wrong to a traditional bullseye shooter.

[Totem Polar]

When was this taken? The whole thing has a bit of a surreal early-mid 90s vibe about it.

[frozentundra]

If anyone knows of a legitimate reason for the gangsta hold, I'd love to hear it.

Shooting to the rear? I could see this being preferred when being chased down from behind by three or more crackheads swinging knives.

Don't know about this situation but in general, if you take a video it seems easy to find frames within that video where people look real stupid when viewed without context. Some of the facial expressions on youtube links are a good example.