Originally Posted by
WillCAD
Nope.
It takes 10 pounds of pressure to fully depress the trigger on that model of handgun in double-action mode (assuming it hasn't been modified). The weapon fully loaded weighs less than 3 pounds. Therefore, gravity alone pulling down on the weapon would not have exerted the necessary 10 pounds of pressure to fully depress the trigger if it 'landed' on the agent's finger.
Also, I cannot imagine the chain of unlikely events that would have caused the agent to catch a falling weapon with only one finger inside the trigger guard in just the correct position to depress the trigger, since it was falling from a shoulder holster and was almost certainly falling butt-first (because that's the direction it withdraws from the holster and the butt is also the heaviest portion of the weapon). If he'd caught it with only one finger, he'd have caught it by the trigger guard, not the trigger, and even if it did discharge, it probably would have discharged upward, not downward.
The more I think about this story, the more fishy it becomes. I'm beginning to think he did something monumentally stupid and concocted the whole "got caught and fell out of the holster" story to cover his embarrassment.
There is more than just the weight of the weapon that needs to be considered. Acceleration plays a factor in how much force is needed to arrest a falling object.
What we don't know about this event is really a big issue. What kind of weapon, was it modified, how far did the weapon fall, and how was it caught.
What we do know is that the weapon reportedly fell and was discharged. I hope investigators ask all of the questions that are needed before taking the CBP employees weapon away.