Over at thetruthaboutguns they posted this video and a very short article on what allegedly happened. I do not need to think for a split second about what occurred, I know for a fact what occurred and it is something which is not normally shown on the Internet because of two or three reasons. Firstly because the person shooting themselves normally has access over the video and what happens to it, and being very embarrassed they do not post them, this is the primary reason why we do not see these types of things in videos more often. Second is because whoever shoots themselves in their privates is usually hospitalized and whatever videos exist are normally taken by the police for investigatory purposes and they were advised they should not post them or distribute them anywhere. Also the fact that these videos are often used in insurance claims mean you do not want them in the public sphere. Thankfully, however, somehow this video leaked out and thankfully it did because this is a completely preventable occurrence.
First and foremost, the main culprit here is training. The lack of clearing garments from the area of the holster. He pushed the small Glock into the holster with a piece of shirt stuck in there. Lack of recognition of this issue and proper clearing of it led directly to the Negligent Discharge (ND). Training to properly reholster a pistol while carrying appendix is the only way to prevent this before adding in any hardware solutions. This is most definitely derived from a software problem.
Two hardware solutions for this type of issue exist and have been available in the market for sometime. If you carry a Glock AIWB you should have a Striker Control Device. Reholstering appendix with your thumb on the SCD would have instantly alerted the user to feedback of trigger obstruction. This would have been a literal, life altering, proven solution which exists and has existed for a while now. In my experience/opinion, the G-Code Incog holster which the guy was using not designed around proper carrying of a firearm. There are too many issues which exist, retention has always been one of them. I wrote up two reviews of the Incog holster, one from 2014, which was not a holster I had the ability to modify and could not get any real retention from and another later from 2016 after G-Code stole one of my photos and used it without my permission (long story), but was figured out. The second holster I got from there I had to modify in order for it to keep active retention properly. By the way, active retention of a pistol while carrying AIWB is one of the most important things about a holster. The holster did provide proper tactile feedback for the user during reholstering, maybe he was used to the holster having loose retention. Loose retention allows for obstructions to enter the trigger area. I wrote a few Holster Classification articles where I wrote about the issues of the Incog some more and how it fits into the "Hobby Grade Plus" holster sections. I have had numerous contacts with various people in the training community who I have met in classes and otherwise conversed with on this topic and they have all echoed my experience on the G-Code Incog Holsters. There are several holsters on the market currently which have active "click" type-retention and more proven track record than the Incog, especially so after this particular incident became public.
Yes it is just one incident, yes it is just one guy who shot himself in the junk. I can tell you without a moments hesitation that I have numerous people shoot themselves while reholstering, especially appendix on duty, over the years. I would wager about at least one guy a year will do it, and that is just in the area where I work. These guys are usually the thug types who carry a loaded pistol without a holster, just stuff it into their pants without any possible consideration for what will eventually happen next. Ask any ER nurse or doctor how often they see this happen, it happens quite often in the USA.
The real issue here, the one which we should all consider very seriously, is that this guy probably did some research, he probably went online and looked at reviews and whatnot. Maybe he saw all the paid advertising photo-content on social media and then decided that this particular holster was the right one for him due to whatever information he took during research. This means people posted various positive things about a holster which may appear to be true from their point of view but lack any sort of real world data to back it up. Maybe they watched Haley's long video about how he likes the holster and him shooting with it. Maybe this guy bought in the marketing, he bought the words of unknown people on the Internet who, in all likelihood, have less experience or understanding than the guy who shot himself in the video. This is a huge problem in the industry today. Huge. People endorse products which are not vetted in any legitimate way, and the end users, jump on these products because of all the marketing and "cool guy" appeal of any given product.
All of that failed this guy who ended up shooting himself in the junk in this video. It has numerous others who we do not know about because of the reasons I listed about. It will continue to fail people until the end users start to want to see legitimately verifiable, and repeatable, performance from a product, especially when endorsed by a "cool guy" in the industry. This is not an isolated incident and this should not be disregarded as a one off.