Car accidents and firearms.

[HoLeChit]

This is mostly directed towards you LEOs and first responders we have floating around here, but I’m open to experiences and discussion too.

My mom was recently in a pretty bad head on collision in OKC about a week ago, and she wasn’t wearing her seat belt. She got pretty torn up, probably won’t walk again, but she’s alive. I think we’re on surgery 5 of god knows how many. It got me thinking: how do car accidents, seat belts, and firearms work? I know you LEOs probably have been in a few minor or major with your sidearm attached to your Batman belt, but what about your average joe? How does wearing a seatbelt and appendix carry fare when in an accident? Or IWB in different positions? Is there a way to reduce risk of injury in an accident from your firearm/holster while carrying concealed? What kind of injuries have you guys seen from it?

Also, let’s let this be a reminder to wear your seatbelts. My mom has always been the “we didn’t wear seatbelts growing up, I don’t need one now” and also of the mindset that she just didn’t want to wear one because Being overweight makes it inconvenient. Well, while cruising through a yellow light, a truck trying to make an unprotected left turn through the yellow didn’t see her, she didn’t see him, and they hit head on. He walked away with a few cuts a bruises, was wearing his seatbelt. My mom wasn’t, and has a broken femur, foot, ankle, pelvis, hip, dislocated hip, dislocated elbow, dislocated shoulder, broken hand, broken wrist, cracked vertebrae, and a ton of stitches in her head. Wear your seatbelts.

 

[Glock 'em down]

I went for years without wearing a sear belt. Yeah, I know, I know...yes, I'm a cop, yes I've worked a dozen or so gut slinger wrecks where the victims didn't have a seat belt on.

About 2 years ago that all changed when one of our friendly neighborhood brown shirts (OHP) wrote me a $20 ticket.

As for your question...three things are gonna happen if you have an MVA while carrying. First, expect to have your weapon seized at the scene. This is for a couple of reasons. First, the responding LEO has no idea if you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Second, because of the nature of the circumstances, tensions run a little high. The last thing we need/want is a guy with a gun shooting that sonovabitch that was driving like a maniac.

Lastly, expect a helluva big bruise wherever your weapon was from the inpact of the crash

Oh, and by the way...OHP stands for "Oh How Pretty." :finger:

Great question!

 

[Okie4570]

I've honestly never been on an MVA where one was carried that did any further damage that we could determine on scene. I can only think of two times where we handed a carried firearm off to LE ever out of dozens and dozens and dozens of MVAs.

 

[jrusling]

This has been a few years ago, but I was turning left with a protected green arrow and another car blew through the red light and hit my older explorer in the side just in back of the front tire. It ended up flipping the explorer end for end. I was carrying a Glock 22 with a tuckable IWB. The gun came out of the holster, but was still under my shirt. After I climbed out through the missing windshield I was standing there trying to get the gun back in the holster without showing it. I suspect that the Mustang officer there told the OKC officer that I was probably carrying, because when the OKC officer approached me I told him I had a CWL and was carrying. He ask where the gun was and I told him at my hip and he just said to keep it there and seem glad it was not in the vehicle. This was on a street that was the boundary between OKC and Mustang. At the time I was doing neighborhood patrol and all of the Mustang officers knew me. That taught me to always check the tension on my holster and reinforced the idea to always wear a seat belt. In today's world, it would not surprise me to have my weapon taken for a little while. This is especially true if you are going to the ER.

 

[Tanis143]

While I disagree with seatbelt laws for those over 18, I will always wear mine (even got my wife into the habit after she called my bluff and we sat in a parked car for 20 minutes. I refuse to drive until everyone is wearing one). I've been in two significant/major crashes. The second was a head on while both parties were doing 25 (in a school zone). Everyone in my car was wearing the seatbelt. The collision was hard enough, even at those speeds, that my car (81 Plymouth Horizon) warped around the other car. The back doors were shoved forward over the front doors, making them not open. The radiator was embedded into the engine, the engine was pushed back 1 foot and was bent, both front 1/4 panels crumbled, hood an accordion, windshield smashed. I hit the brake and clutch so hard I snapped the clutch cable and blew the seals on master cylinder. The only thing left that was any good was the tires (had less than 2k on em too). I walked away with minor abrasions where the seatbelt was.

This is another reason I don't appendix carry. I carry at the 3/3:30 position. On long trips I put my pistol in a sticky holster and shove it between the seat and center console. When I get my own vehicle I will make a mounted holster, wife won't let me in her car lol.

 

[golddigger14s]

For my full-size guns, I have a Blackhawk quick detach mounted on the passenger side of the center hump.

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[RockHopper]

For my full-size guns, I have a Blackhawk quick detach mounted on the passenger side of the center hump.

Buy Quick Disconnect System Kit And More | Blackhawk

Shopping for the Quick Disconnect System Kit? Learn more about the latest Serpa Accessories and more at Blackhawk.

www.blackhawk.com

Great minds think alike! I've had the same mount in 2 vans in a row, but mine is attached directly to the side of the driver's seat. I usually hang a ball cap over the holster, and it disappears in plain sight.

 

[enuf]

I...........

As for your question...three things are gonna happen if you have an MVA while carrying. First, expect to have your weapon seized at the scene. This is for a couple of reasons. First, the responding LEO has no idea if you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Second, because of the nature of the circumstances, tensions run a little high. The last thing we need/want is a guy with a gun shooting that sonovabitch that was driving like a maniac.

Lastly, expect a helluva big bruise wherever your weapon was from the inpact of the crash

Oh, and by the way...OHP stands for "Oh How Pretty." :finger:

Great question!

I get the tensions thing - but to presume that because one was in an accident that automatically declares them "may be under the influence...." I dunno, that seems a little overreaching to me. Where does that line end - if someone is walking down the sidewalk and encounter an uneven surface, due to say a crack, and catch it and trip up a bit, does that put them into the seized weapon category.

 

[magna19]

I went for years without wearing a sear belt. Yeah, I know, I know...yes, I'm a cop, yes I've worked a dozen or so gut slinger wrecks where the victims didn't have a seat belt on.

About 2 years ago that all changed when one of our friendly neighborhood brown shirts (OHP) wrote me a $20 ticket.

As for your question...three things are gonna happen if you have an MVA while carrying. First, expect to have your weapon seized at the scene. This is for a couple of reasons. First, the responding LEO has no idea if you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Second, because of the nature of the circumstances, tensions run a little high. The last thing we need/want is a guy with a gun shooting that sonovabitch that was driving like a maniac.

Lastly, expect a helluva big bruise wherever your weapon was from the inpact of the crash

Oh, and by the way...OHP stands for "Oh How Pretty." :finger:

Great question!

Im curious when and how long have you been a cop now.

 

[magna19]

I get the tensions thing - but to presume that because one was in an accident that automatically declares them "may be under the influence...." I dunno, that seems a little overreaching to me. Where does that line end - if someone is walking down the sidewalk and encounter an uneven surface, due to say a crack, and catch it and trip up a bit, does that put them into the seized weapon category.

I had the same thought on the seizure comment. And on the tension comment also. Seems a cop would be in a more situational mindset before expecting to seize firearms. Thats the law nowadays.