Trigger Finger Discipline:
The practice of keeping your finger “off the trigger” until your sights are on target and you are ready to discharge the firearm.
Trigger finger discipline may be one of the more difficult safety rules to follow. Your fingers and thumb are meant to work together to grasp something. When you grasp a firearm, while your three fingers are grasping the grips, your trigger finger wants to grasp something also. The only place to grasp is inside the trigger guard. So, you have to discipline your trigger finger to stay extended and outside the trigger guard “off the trigger” on the side of the frame. It is important to keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot to avoid an accidental discharge of the firearm. If you mistakenly put your finger on the trigger too soon, especially in a defense situation when you are feeling the effects of adrenaline, it is easy for you to accidentally pull the trigger before you are actually ready to take the shot.
If you practice and learn to keep your finger extended and off the trigger until ready to shoot, you are less likely to put your finger on the trigger while grasping the firearm, when picking it up or drawing from a holster.
Trigger finger discipline is important before and after the shot. You do not want your finger on the trigger while grasping the firearm and establishing the proper grip, while making a magazine change and drawing or holstering a firearm.
The decision to put your finger on the trigger is one of the most important decisions a shooter can make as they transition from handling a firearm to deliberately shooting.
Always be very conscious of your trigger finger. Keep it “off the trigger” until your firearm is on target, sights are lined up and you are ready to shoot.
