Former PO Files Lawsuit After N/D In Gun Shop

[drgrant]

When I use a Blue Gun, as soon as I pick it up, I say to the room, "We all agree that this is not a real gun, yes?". Then I handle it as a though it were a real gun.

That's a blue gun though, it doesn't even have any moving parts. You "can't handle it as if it's a real gun" because it's not. Good luck checking the chamber on that without a hacksaw.

-Mike

 

[AHM]

I'm betting that there were THREE people involved in this chain of stupidity. ... And lastly (or firstly), the person who put the gun in the case with a loaded magazine in it, which was may have been someone else.

There is almost always a chain of events that lead up to any mishap. Several people were involved that could have prevented this.

^ This.

What the heck was the gun doing there with ammunition in it in the first place! ...

Hold that thought.

I would be curious as to what the store's SOP is regarding putting guns into the display case. When was the last time someone had their hands on that gun and put it into the case? Is it possible some nut job slipped a round into the magazine prior to this and it went into the display case unchecked?

I highly doubt some "nut job" slipped a round into the magazine.

The perfectly obvious failure mode is either the gun was bought (or consigned)
to the store loaded, and they got distracted before safing it for display
-or even more likely-
some prior customer was allowed to play with the gun unsupervised,
perhaps months ago, and the play included
either loading the store mag or putting in his own loaded mag,
to test the loading ramp/extractor/ejector,
and then neglecting to unload it.

Or some store clerk was playing with it the same way.
Even more likely if the store has an indoor range attached.


But NFW is the solution for the store to re-safe every gun in inventory
before (or after) every business day.

The solution is probably to store them all with chamber flags.

A subtle problem flags solve is that
if the customer's first act of fondling a gun
is to work the action and dump the flag on the shop floor,
that's nature's way of telling you to keep an eye on him;
he's more than your average garden variety idiot.

Pistols are not designed to gently debouch an unfired round
or chamber flag into your daintily outstretched palm.
Clearing a known loaded pistol is messy at least.
Truth be told, it might approach the risk of setting Condition Two.

Some newb who ejects a chamber flag, well;
for starters, he's gonna muzzle someone
when he bends down to pick it up.

A passive-aggressive shopkeeper would use flags
just so they had an excuse to tune-up someone who's
drifting through life in a fog...

Personally, I think I would be scouring the video tape for a few days leading up to this.

When you think about the probable magnitude of "Lefty"'s lawsuit,
that pays for a whole lot of videotape review to try and find the idiot.

The reality in MA is juries can do whatever the hell they want on civil cases. Even if the suit is complicated there is nothing stopping the jury from putting a big fat 0 in some of the boxes on that sheet.

Although some judges will work hard to steer juries.
A former colleague was on a jury in a Mass civil case
where the plaintiff was maimed (well, harmed for life).

The jury wanted to award the plaintiff a lump-sum which if invested in an annuity,
would yield a meaningful annual income to make up for the harm.

The frigging judge would not let the jury have an annuity chart.

The jury was left doing the math by themselves in deliberations,
trying to remember how to compute the time value of money
so they could derive the proper lump sum from first principles.

Imagine if the jury got the number too low because of the frigging judge.
Imagine if the jury got the number too high because of the frigging judge.

"He’s permanently disfigured, he went through a lot of pain and suffering,” said his attorney, Alan Simpson. “He’s gone through several surgeries. He’s got a lot of medical bills that have to be paid. It ended his career and he’s going to have a lot of lost income."​

Ended his career? They could always transfer him to the gun licensing unit. Oh wait, this is KY - the state that angered a KSP friend when they went from F- to F on the brady scale ...

While I bet he lost income compared to what he expected to bank before retirement,
he probably made out better than the average non-civil-service idiot
who blows off his finger with an ND. (Well, that's my ignorant suspicion).

Also, he's lucky he didn't do that in Hopkinton -
that pain and suffering might make him "unsuitable".

... I've seen a lot of unsafe gun-handling in gun shops.

If anyone is short on ammo during this contested election season,
there's gun shop in Terre Haute collecting it in a jar.