Engineering Approach to Unintentional Firearm Discharges

Unintentional discharges (UDs) of a firearm had been a common phenomenon among law enforcement, increasing the number of injured police, and sometimes it’s fatal. The objective of the current study is to evaluate the trigger finger shelf device proposed by Sheepdog Knife and gun ergonomically and individual preferences. A total of 16 participants from the local Sheriff department participated in this study. The participants were run in pairs through a series of shooting drills testing a series of 8 weapons, including an AR-15, Remington 870, Glock 17, 1911 varying in distance, and several targets using an EMG and video recording to track their performance. Results showed that the use of the trigger shelf did not negatively impact the accuracy and performance of the participants. Also, the trigger shelf assists significantly in decreasing muscle activity. These findings prove that the existence of the trigger shelf does not affect the user’s performance, aiding users ergonomically, and it is a potential future design to help reduce the unintentional discharges.