So I was having a conversation tonight in which I realized that thumbing the hammer is apparently not viewed as the norm.
Thumbing the fucking hammer as an additional safety good grief. Just stick to the Nerf Enforcer if you really think that is practical.So my piece of shit duty gun has a hammer. I have holstered and unholstered it in duty holsters and IWB off duty holster many thousands of times. I've never once had the trigger move at all in all those times and so I've never understood the need to thumb the HammerIn all four military and LE basic/academy level firearms courses I've been through (2 USMC, 1 FLETC, 1 my agency), thumbing the hammer has been emphasized, in addition to every follow-on training or private-sector class I've taken.Thumbing the hammer shows a lack of confidence in your firearm and also shows lack of knowledge of how the firearm works. If you need "that extra layer," then what you really need is a new gun or more knowledge. If you thumb the hammer, you're doing it to ensure the hammer doesn't move while you're doing whatever you're doing. There's only three ways the hammer is going to move though. Either 1) squeezing the trigger, 2) manually finger fucking the hammer or 3) racking the slide. If anything else causes it to move, then the firearm is faulty. So if you aren't racking the slide, squeezing the trigger, or manually cocking the hammer, why would you put your finger over the hammer while holstering? There's 2 reasons someone would do that 1) fear of the firearm which drives the person to do stupid things to "absolutely ensure safety" 2) lack of knowledge of how the firearm actually works (not loading, unloading, firing, etc, but knowing the 8 cycles of function). Someone who is afraid, when confronted will become defensive and claim "you can never be too safe with a firearm."
These negative comments (apparently lacking any critical thinking ability whatsoever) towards the practice of thumbing the hammer all came from current Border Patrol agents. There's some good articles on Pistol-Training.com addressing the gun communities aversion to embracing safe practices (or tools to improve safety) as it's some sort of unconscious smite on ones manliness to think critically about safety (Another good article by Tim Chandler).
So, what gives? Is thumbing the hammer not as widespread a practice as I thought it was? Is it actually viewed as unpopular, or not taught anymore?
To be completely transparent, this conversation was spurred by the post made by Rob Pincus today trashing the Gadget.
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Originally Posted by Tom_Jones
In all seriousness, this is typical gun bravado bullshit. "This is mah safety, sir." It's worse with cops, too. They aren't gun people, mostly, but many believe they are because BADGE. Same type of stupid shit I get when I express my wish that I could carry a 9mm instead of my department .40. "A 9mm????? Why would you even think that? We should be carryin' .45's...1911's even!!!" All from guys who buy every new blaster that hits the market, but only shoot twice a year for quals.
