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A Complicated UI Question for Police Firearms: Should a Trigger be Easy or Hard to Squeeze?
The critics are dumb. The heavier trigger just means more likely that a unintended bystander is going to catch a misplaced round. The heavier trigger doesn't prevent you from going wild and emptying your magazine.
This is an interesting combination of UI and a discussion on proper training. As someone who has done a significant amount of pistol competition shooting, a lighter trigger is always going to be the better option for speed and accuracy, both of which are needed in life and death situations. For example, the trigger in my competition pistol is right around a 3 pound pull. However, that brings up a much bigger question I had from the article. A police official was quoted as saying a lighter trigger would lead to unintentional shots being fired, but that suggests the police already have their finger on the trigger before they intend to shoot. This is a massive issue and at direct odds with one of the four basic rules to firearm safety. The accuracy numbers also show that most police departments desperately need to step up their training game. It's one thing to shoot at a paper target in a controlled environment once a year, it's another entirely to shoot under stress without the opportunity to prepare yourself mentally or physically. Force on force training with simulated munitions, or simply a long obstacle course with shooting while moving stages integrated into it would better prepare officers to shoot with a racing heart and a busy mind. Whether it's an issue of funding, or lack of desire, or something else entirely, police need to prioritize training their officers to a higher level of proficiency with the weapons they carry and the situations they might use them in to prevent accidental discharge and unnecessary shootings.
for this application lighter is better.