It used to be called “weak hand shooting,” but it was decided that had a negative connotation, so the terms “support hand” and “non-dominant hand” came into use. The important thing is that cops are able to protect themselves and the public if their dominant hand is taken out of action. Let’s look at a few reasons why.
Wounded Gun Arm
I debriefed an officer of the NYPD who was engaged in a gunfight with an armed robber in Case One. The felon put a 9mm ball round into this cop’s shoulder, on his gun arm side. The cop fell to the floor when the shooting went down, tried to raise his arm to shoot back and realized he couldn’t. His dominant arm was out of the fight.
