Purpose?
1 - If you are trying to commit suicide by cop - as the assistant DA has already argued - then you try to draw attention to yourself as a threat, forcing the cops to shoot you. You do not do it by exiting the store quietly, nor do you do it by pulling a gun out in its holster.
2 - I carry a J-frame revolver. If I pull it and shoot a guy who has a holstered gun in his hand, do you think the DA will argue it was a justified shooting because the guy was trying to commit suicide?
3 - I’ve never tried firing a gun in a holster. My daughter has a purse designed to fire the gun with it in the purse, but she has to stick her hand into the purse first. And I doubt Scott was carrying a purse. The fanny packs I know about generally have a tab you pull to expose the gun, but Scott’s gun was in his waistband.
It is true you can pull a gun out and have the holster come with it, but that ought to put a crimp in your shooting style! I think there are in waist band holsters with exposed triggers, but I sure wouldn’t carry one.
I don’t think the cops were trying to murder Scott. I think they fell into the “armed AND DANGEROUS” trap, led into it by the Costco employees. And the Costco employees admitted Scott was not acting violently or in a threatening manner...yet their call to the cops would lead one to believe he was.
I holstered two guns in five different holsters today to test this story.
You absolutely cannot pull the trigger and I might see this as surrender if I saw the gun still holstered I would command “Lay it down, NOW!”
Also bags, you wouldn’t be able to see it.
Some holsters have a snap on the loop so you can remove the holster, with the gun therein, with ease. I do that daily. Safer because the trigger is never exposed unless you draw in earnest. Since this guy was told to draw and drop it, he complied as safely as he could - remove holster containing gun.