These days, with school shootings in the news on a regular basis, the subject of anything gun-related remains widely controversial. But whether you’re anti-gun or pro-gun lobbyists agree that law enforcement should carry weapons. And that’s where Smart Fire Arms Training Devices comes in. Their focus is on gun safety and the prevention of mishaps—mishaps such as negligent discharges.
The negligent discharge of a firearm can destroy lives, careers, and the reputations of officers and agencies. It carries a deep financial burden that is placed on individuals, cities and federal government departments who deal with the criminal and civil repercussions and, it can be crushing. The reasons and circumstances surrounding a negligent discharge of a weapon may vary, but the common step in the tragic chain of events is an unintentional trigger manipulat
ion.
Smart Fire Arms Training Devices has developed a plastic weapon, the “SF3†that replaces the current generation of molded plastic training weapons. It has a proprietary sensor that looks down into the trigger guard and detects when a finger moves into the space without pulling the trigger. If the trainee’s finger remains there for over a second, the weapon begins to beep, signaling that the finger is in the wrong place. The device helps trainees learn to hold the weapon the correct way—with the finger indexed along the side.
The company is the brainchild of Michael Farrell, a veteran airline pilot and sworn volunteer Law Enforcement Officer since 2005. “As I went through several firearms training programs, I noticed trainees were developing very poor habits in handling their firearms. Unfortunately this would happen a way in which the trainers were not able to catch the mistakes. Trainees were learning the wrong way to hold their weapons,†explains Farrell.
Farrell, who has over 20 years of weapons handling experience, explained the “Educational Primacy Effect†—the belief that students tend to retain the first things they learn and these learned behaviors (correct or incorrect) remain with the student. “Unfortunately, these learned bad habits don’t always appear while the trainee is in a controlled setting on the firing range. They might not appear until the trainee is out in the field where they are busy processing multiple pieces of information in a fluid environment. This is where “primacy†kicks in. While the officer processes what’s “new and different†his/her body automatically takes care of the “normal and routine.†Holding their weapon falls into the latter. If the old suppressed habit is to have the finger in the trigger guard then that’s exactly where it will go. Also working against the officer is the automatic function of our body’s nervous system. When we give a command for a hand to squeeze, to grab a ball or answer a radio as examples, our bodies actually have to instruct the opposite hand not to move in sympathy. When we are under stress this instruction doesn’t always get sent.â€
“So going back to our officer with the bad habit. He’s now under stress, his weapon is out and his finger is sitting inside the trigger guard. A radio call comes in and with his non-shooting hand he goes to answer the call. As he squeezes down on the radio his shooting hand follows suit. We now have a negligent discharge. It’s just that simple and that quick. We might have a dead civilian. We have an officer who has to live with the consequences of that event for the rest of their lives. We have the controlling government agency having to deal with litigation for years and ultimately we have the taxpayers on the hook for all the costs involved.â€
Seeing this occur over and over again, Farrell developed the Smart Fire Arms Training Device. Farrell started working on his idea in 2004 and quickly enlisted the help of fellow airline pilot and electrical engineer, Calin Brabandt, to make the dream a reality. “Cal is really the mastermind of this device. It was my idea but it would still be just that, an idea, without Cal working day and night on all the minute details, ensuring it worked perfectly, every time.†It took Farrell and Brabandt about two years to obtain the patents for the device. Smart Firearms Training Devices’ gun is now being beta-tested at several police academies to replace their current plastic training guns.
Deaths from firearms accidents are rising every year. In 2010 alone 606 people were killed in America from accidental discharges. In an article by Billy Birdzell for YourForeignPolicy.com he states that, “90 service members have been killed in Iraq alone by negligent discharges since the beginning of operations there.†Accidental discharges are a problem. “The Military and Police Departments know about the problem and in my dealings with them have found them to be very proactive in addressing the issue. There’s not a Department I’ve talked with that is complacent. The last thing they want is an accidental discharge involving one of their officers. What I want to do is give them the very best tool available to help them achieve zero accidental discharges,†explains Farrell.
What Farrell brings to this process is a PhD level knowledge of how to train pilots. “When we train pilots, we always look to the last accident. Where has the plane has crashed? Why did it crash? And once we have that data, what we try to do is train the incorrect behavior of the pilot so at the very least that last accident doesn’t happen again. Police Departments do the same thing. I just feel the tools they are being given are not giving them the support they deserve.â€
Farrell’s device trains officers to hold their weapon the correct way from the get go. The SF3 design can be molded as an exact replica to any firearm currently in use with modern Law Enforcement and Military units. “This will allow the student to train as they would fight, with their own equipment, in the most realistic environment possible,†says Farrell.
For more information http://www.smartfirearms.us
