Do you *really* need to do inspections on duty weapons?

[J. J. Magnum]

In my years as armorer and just as a road officer I never wanted to have my brother/sister officer's lives depend upon some firearm that was poorly maintained or substandard. I routinely went from squad car to squad car checking each shotgun and finding all kinds of stuff dropped down the barrels (mostly chewing gum wrappers or other stuff). Each time I had inspection for the departments handguns I would find a lack of lubrication or internal rust. The outsides looked great, but inside? Not so much. Its a sad state of affairs when craftsmen don't respect their tools.

[AMC]

We had a guy show up for qualification with his HK USP and hand it over to be inspected.

The R.O. dropped the slide and pulled the trigger.

Nothing.

Rack and pull. Nothing. Hmm.

He takes it in the Armory and disassembles it. Somehow, He had gotten a small piece of gravel down in the firing mechanism.

"When's the last time you fired this thing?" he asks the copper.

"Uh...last qualification."

6 months ago.

Apparently, he'd cleaned it at the range, somehow getting the gravel inside. Then without performing a function check, loaded up and started answering calls.

One better: years ago we had a bad batch of pistol ammo with excessive primer sealant on them, that was flaking off and Gumming up the firing pin channel of our issued Berettas. I had to perform a function check on all 120 pistols at my District Station. Twenty of those had no firing pin protrusion at all....they would not go bang if the trigger was pulled. But the best part was when I asked them guy I was working with that month (both our partners were on vacation) to unload for inspection. He pulled the empty magazine out of his gun and cleared the empty chamber. Then pulled the two empty mags out of his pouches on his belt. Forgot to load after his last qualification....6 months prior. He thought it was funny.

[RJflyer]

Upon reading the thread title, this was the first thing that popped into my mind:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tam...outputType=amp

[jnc36rcpd]

I believe Hillsborough County was carrying FNS pistols at that time. I'm not sure substituting a pellet gun wasn't an astute tactical upgrade.

[feudist]

One better: years ago we had a bad batch of pistol ammo with excessive primer sealant on them, that was flaking off and Gumming up the firing pin channel of our issued Berettas. I had to perform a function check on all 120 pistols at my District Station. Twenty of those had no firing pin protrusion at all....they would not go bang if the trigger was pulled. But the best part was when I asked them guy I was working with that month (both our partners were on vacation) to unload for inspection. He pulled the empty magazine out of his gun and cleared the empty chamber. Then pulled the two empty mags out of his pouches on his belt. Forgot to load after his last qualification....6 months prior. He thought it was funny.

LOL.

When I was a rookie I carried a Model 10. Everyday when I got ready for work I would do 10 dryfire draws.

I would empty the gun and...

[psalms144.1]

One better: years ago we had a bad batch of pistol ammo with excessive primer sealant on them, that was flaking off and Gumming up the firing pin channel of our issued Berettas. I had to perform a function check on all 120 pistols at my District Station. Twenty of those had no firing pin protrusion at all....they would not go bang if the trigger was pulled. But the best part was when I asked them guy I was working with that month (both our partners were on vacation) to unload for inspection. He pulled the empty magazine out of his gun and cleared the empty chamber. Then pulled the two empty mags out of his pouches on his belt. Forgot to load after his last qualification....6 months prior. He thought it was funny.

I'm ashamed to admit that I know several agents in my organization who ONLY load their weapons after arriving on site for required semi-annual qualifications, and lock the guns up in between range sessions unless FORCED to be armed for an operation/warrant/etc. But, I'll freely admit that a troop heading out on duty daily for six months with an empty weapon holstered gives me the heeby-jeebies.

[Le Français]

I'm ashamed to admit that I know several agents in my organization who ONLY load their weapons after arriving on site for required semi-annual qualifications, and lock the guns up in between range sessions unless FORCED to be armed for an operation/warrant/etc.

AFOSI, afaik, also has a «discretionary arming» approach. Strange that some MCIOs do this, especially given the fact that they work violent crimes frequently.

[BigDaddy]

I'm ashamed to admit that I know several agents in my organization who ONLY load their weapons after arriving on site for required semi-annual qualifications, and lock the guns up in between range sessions unless FORCED to be armed for an operation/warrant/etc. But, I'll freely admit that a troop heading out on duty daily for six months with an empty weapon holstered gives me the heeby-jeebies.

Wow. I thought I had a good story but yours beats mine. I knew a detective that went to qualify one day. He passed but forgot to reload before he went back out. Next year when he went to re-qualify he pulled the gun out of it's holster, lined up his sights, pulled the trigger and heard a click. No bullets in the gun. He worked for a whole year with an empty gun. Now had the watch commander been doing his job which required gun inspection every Wednesday, that would have been discovered. But because the guy was a dic and we all know how dics aren't gun guys, the wc always blew off Wednesday gun inspections. Not anymore though.

[deputyG23]

We (are supposed to) do monthly equipment/weapons inspections and have found the following issues over the years:
Issued shotguns red with rust from leaking vehicle trunks and not caught early;
One issued G23 that was internally loaded with Coke syrup from a spilled drink and not cleaned for a few weeks;
Glocks being carried with empty chambers;
Glocks "dutch loaded" with alternating FMJ practice ammo and service JHP rounds;
Bent and or deformed Remington shotgun sights;
I could go on...

[gtmtnbiker98]

My shift supervisors are required to inspect each department issued weapon once a month, reports due no later than the 15th of each month - to avoid issues like this.