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The second portion of our survey was about off-duty carry. I reached down and drew my Walther PPK and made one contact shot to the middle of his chest, ending the assault." I fought with him for about four minutes. One officer wrote that he used his backup to end a potentially deadly gun grab attack: "I was fighting with a gang member after a foot pursuit. But some involved harrowing attacks, including situations where officers ran out of ammo for their duty weapons during gunfights. Some of these involved euthanizing injured animals. However, 10 respondents said they have had to open fire with their backup handgun while on duty and not in training. In most of the incidents detailed by respondents, the backup gun was not fired. Another common response was providing a handgun to a fellow officer who left their duty weapon behind at the jail. Here's some of what they told us: gun grabs were a common scenario, as were ground fighting situations where officers found themselves lying on their primary weapons, situations where officers were in cars and needed a firearm in hand and they found their backups to be more accessible, and malfunctions of their primary handguns during critical situations.
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Of the more than 7% of respondents who have had to draw their backup guns on duty, we asked for their stories. More than 92% of the respondents said they have not. We asked the readers if they have ever had to draw their backup guns on duty. Our final questions involving backup guns covered their actual use on duty. Answers for other locations included body armor pouches or holsters, shoulder holsters, and in pockets. Some 41% said they carry their backups in other locations. More than 42% said they carry their backups in ankle holsters and 16% said they carry their backups at the waist.
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How officers carry backup guns was a point of interest for us. More than 91% of respondents said their agencies have a policy requiring them to qualify with their backups. One of the bigger concerns about backup guns in the past was that many agencies did not have specific policies that covered them. The sweet spot on price is $300 to $499, accounting for 70% of backup gun purchases by the respondents. We also asked readers how much they paid for their backup guns. A little more than 94% of respondents said they had to buy their own backup guns. Some agencies are known to issue backup guns to their officers, but this practice is not widespread. Only 27% of respondents said their backup guns can use the same magazines as their service pistols. Another follow-up question was about dual use magazines. Expanding on this topic we asked if the officers' backup handgun was the same caliber as their service pistols and 57% said no.
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32 ACP were not very popular but some officers indicated their backup gun is a. 45 ACP was popular with 5% of respondents and a few said they carry. As in the civilian personal defense market, the 9mm was the most popular cartridge at 32%. We were also curious about the caliber of handgun most commonly carried by officers as a backup. So it didn't surprise us that 6% of the readers said they carry three or more handguns-counting their duty pistols-on duty. Which would seem obvious, but we have heard of officers carrying a backup and a smaller third gun. One was by far the most popular answer at 94%. We asked how many backup handguns they carry. Our next question may have seemed a little odd to some readers. The survey, which was open to active, former, and retired officers, was sent to 33,000 readers of POLICE and 1,881 qualified readers responded for an error level of less than 2%. POLICE Magazine wanted to know more about backup handgun and off-duty handgun carry, so we sent out a survey covering these issues and the issues retired officers face when carrying under the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act. Officers who carry during their off-duty hours often stop crimes before they escalate into tragedies, and they can provide valuable backup to on-duty officers when needed. And officers who carry off duty are not only protecting themselves and their loved ones, they are a force multiplier for agencies and the communities they serve. Most agencies no longer run two-officer patrol cars, so their officers are out on their own and need a second handgun. The reasoning for this is easily understood. Politics aside, however, it appears that many law enforcement agencies nationwide are allowing their officers to carry more than one handgun on duty and carry a personal protection pistol off duty.