Gun safety example

[soloman02]

Alright, this just happened last night to a friend of mine who lives in Dover, though this did not take place in Dover (it did happen in NH). He is not 21 (almost) and there were no alcohol or drugs involved.

He was target shooting with some other guys when one of them is having trouble with his gun. My friend goes over to help. My friend was shooting a Ruger Mark I or II 22lr handgun. He puts the gun into the front of his pants like the do in they movies (breaking rule #1 and 3). After fixing the gun, he proceeds to draw his gun from his pants.

Now, I have seen him and he does have good trigger discipline so I do not think his finger was on the trigger, but I did not see this happen so his finger could have been on the trigger.

As he is drawing the gun from his pants, it fires. Most likely because the trigger got caught on something.

The bullet hit his upper thigh near the family jewels and traveled about a foot down his leg stopping just before his knee. It missed his major arteries. He is home and is hobbling about and will be seeing a surgeon Friday to determine if they are gonna remove the bullet.

So the morale of the story is: Don't be a dumba** and use your pants as a holster, buy a real one, and ALWAYS follow the three fundamental NRA safety rules.

Now I get to heckle him for the rest of his life for being stupid .

 

[Marcus5aurelius]

So the morale of the story is: Don't be a dumba** and use your pants as a holster, buy a real one, and ALWAYS follow the three fundamental NRA safety rules.

Now I get to heckle him for the rest of his life for being stupid .

Good advice, I'm glad he's alright. If it had hit some of those major arteries, it would be a completely different story being told.

 

[soloman02]

I'm glad hes alright as well. I have not had to attend a funeral for someone my near my age and I don't want to attend one anytime soon.

 

[Brin747]

Damned lucky! I have a Mk 1 and wouldn't trust that thing loaded anywhere near my waistband!

 

[EddieCoyle]

I can't think of a worse pistol to do that with.

Your friend is lucky. He should stop doing things he sees in movies.

 

[Woodstock]

New name

Now I get to heckle him for the rest of his life for being stupid .[/QUOTE]

You can start by calling him "Hey Plaxico!" for a year or two.

Seriously tho, glad he's OK.

 

[George D]

Wow, totally avoidable. I'm trying to think of a dumber way to store a loaded pistol with the safety off.


Nope, can't come up with anything.

 

[Hanwei]

He could have stuck the barrel of the gun into his mouth and held on to it with his teeth... like you'd do with a flashlight if you needed to use both hands.........

just saying...

 

[drgrant]

Are you going to start calling him Plaxico?

I hope you don't go shooting with this guy on a regular basis- or if you do, watch him like a hawk.

-Mike

 

[soloman02]

First, he does not have a membership to a range ( I do, but I never go, damn homemade pistol range w/ ventilation...). Second, he never took NRA basic pistol or any other course. He was taught firearms safety by his dad who belongs to the same range I do ( and follows all good safety protocols, and was in the Army). But you know what they tell you at basic pistol about being taught safety by your dad...

I think this is just a case of stuck on stupid that almost got him a Darwin award. Oh, I forgot to mention, I think he has undiagnosed ADD...

 

[Spanz]

If you value your friends life (and your own if you go shooting with him), you might want to sign him up for an NRA pistol class. It is time for him to "stand down" and get some retraining.

 

[MFP4073]

That is quite the learning experience. I bet next time he'll remove the mag, rack the round out and either place the gun down (locked open and pointed in a safe direction of course) or put it in a holster.

Glad he (or anybody else) was not seriously injured from this accident. If that was a 9, 40, 45, ect. he may have had a BIG problem.

 

[soloman02]

If that was a 9, 40, 45, ect. he may have had a BIG problem.

Yea I know. He has thin legs as it is. It's a miracle his femoral was not hit.

 

[Bill Nance]

This is the reason every new person we take shooting gets a 1/2 hour lecture and demo of proper gun safety before they ever touch a loaded firearm.

You're totally right, following the basic rules would have prevented the accident. Thankfully this can be a lesson, instead of a tragedy.

 

[SineMetu82]

I can't think of a worse pistol to do that with.

Any reason for this?
I ask because my friend just got a Mark I from a family member, though they would not go mexican style with it.

I have shot it and I know it has a safety.

Is that particular pistol just overly sensitive or is there actually something wrong with it to be prone to AD's??

 

[soloman02]

I know my dad had one years ago and he is still glad to this day that he got rid of it and replaced it with a buckmark.

 

[drgrant]

Is that particular pistol just overly sensitive or is there actually something wrong with it to be prone to AD's??

No, there's nothing wrong with the gun intrinsically...

It's probably because the trigger is relatively light and doesn't have much travel- So when a round is in the pipe on one of these rugers with the safety off, a few pounds of pressure (which isn't much, in trigger terms) on the trigger by someone doing dumb things with it, will cause the gun to discharge if it's loaded.

A ruger MKII/III was never really meant to be carried with the safety
disengaged, or without a holster, for that matter.

-Mike

 

[bobsher]

Plaxico is going to be a resident of the city that I live in (Rome,NY) for the next two years.

 

[soloman02]

I was talking to my dad and he is just as skittish about the buckmark since the trigger pull is so light. Especially after he has been firing his P99QA. I was talking to my friend and he said he never touched the trigger. It must have gotten caught on his clothing. Obviously, he did not have the safety on.

 

[Brin747]

As was said above, it has a very light trigger with a short travel and no way of decocking. If there's one in the pipe, it's ready to go.

 

[Mike-Mike]

I can't think of a worse pistol to do that with.

That is exactly what I said while reading the OP.

 

[SineMetu82]

No, there's nothing wrong with the gun intrinsically...

It's probably because the trigger is relatively light and doesn't have much travel- So when a round is in the pipe on one of these rugers with the safety off, a few pounds of pressure (which isn't much, in trigger terms) on the trigger by someone doing dumb things with it, will cause the gun to discharge if it's loaded.

A ruger MKII/III was never really meant to be carried with the safety
disengaged, or without a holster, for that matter.

OK good. Thats what I was thinking/hoping to hear.
Yeah I dunno. People do stupid things. There is a reason for the safety... and holsters make great gun holders.

 

[Harleynut]

My sister in laws significant other was on as a range officer in a gun club. I think they were getting ready for the gallery corse. One of the guys has a problem with his gun and his friend goes over to help him. When he did he left his gun on the counter but with the barrel facing in the wrong direction. Everyone has hearing protection on so he taps him on the sholder and points to the gun facing in the wrong direction. This guy immediatly knows he did something stupid and was going to hear about it. He quickly reaches over to spin the gun around and hits the trigger with it still on the bench and the gun goes off. It ended up shooting through his sleeve but caught my friend right in the front of his hip. It was a while before he fully recovered from that. Talking with him in the hospital later we both agreed that it could have been much worse if it had been a center fire shoot that night.