THE GOMER PYLE HANDGUN TEST

REVOLVER

SEMI-AUTOMATIC

In the 1960s, many law enforcement agencies started trading in their revolvers for semi-automatic pistols (which are often incorrectly called "automatics" in pulp fiction). This change was motivated primarily because the pistols were faster to load than the revolvers and could carry more rounds than revolvers before reloading was necessary--even though a semi-automatic pistol was often perceived as less accurate, less reliable, and more complex than a high-quality revolver.

However, some police departments favored the semi-automatic pistols specifically because they were more complicated to use. Those in charge in these departments wanted to make it more difficult for an untrained assailant who wrested away a police officer's weapon to be able to deploy it quickly against the officer. Purportedly, one police agency devised what it called a "Gomer Pyle" test where civilians unfamiliar with weapons were asked to seize an officer's handgun (unloaded) and pretend to use it against him. When the test subjects had a revolver, they instinctively were able to "shoot" the cop within an average of 2.1 seconds after the seizure. In the case of an M1911* semi-automatic pistol, however, the average time rose to 16 seconds before the citizen could figure out how to "fire" the sidearm.

The assassination attempt by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme using an M1911 .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol against President Gerald Ford in 1975 illustrates the principle in question. Fromme, not being experienced with the operation of the semi-auto, tried to shoot Ford but was unable to fire the gun because she had failed to rack the slide to cycle a round into the chamber. Had she instead used a double-action revolver (the type of handgun which used to be the mainstay of law enforcement), her pulling of the trigger would have been enough to kill the President.  

Improvements in design, materials, and manufacturing techniques have now made most major brands and models of semi-automatic pistols as accurate and reliable as a revolver while retaining the semi-automatic's advantage of holding more cartridges and being quicker and easier to reload. Semi-autos are currently the standard issue for almost all law enforcement and military agencies.

Oh, and Squeaky Fromme's pistol? It is on display in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.      

Photo from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum

*The M1911 and closely related M1911A1 pistols were the primary sidearms for American armed forces for over seven decades during the 20th Century. Numerous varieties of them are still being made by a host of manufacturers today for the police and civilian markets.