15 Apr 99
Some news from a friend in the South:
âLast week, an inexperienced customer was shooting in a booth (commercial, indoor range), without supervision. His weapon was a K-frame, S&W revolver. His ammunition was full-house, 357mg Federal hollowpoints. He was handling the gun in full, flowing ” Roy Rodgers” fashion, raising it completely overhead, so that it pointed backwards, and then âcastingâ it forward to fire. After firing (none of his rounds even hit the paper, although several hit the overhead baffles), he continued downward, ultimately pointing the muzzle at his feet. With the muzzle so pointed, he then manually cocked the hammer and repeated the entire dubious charade. His finger, of course, was firmly wrapped around the trigger during the entire procedure.
He didnât have to wait long! Sure enough, before even his first reload, he discharged the weapon into his right calf (missing the bone). The round went through and through, ultimately striking the concrete floor and disintegrating. The first hint that something was amiss occurred when he was seen hopping around behind the booths (gun still in hand; finger still wrapped around the trigger), bleeding profusely, and screaming that he had been shot and that this particular range was very âunsafe.â.
The good news is that Goofy only shot himself. No word on the full extent of his injuries.
Second item, from the same area:
âEarlier this week, at a regional police academy (community college ), an “instructor” was demonstrating to a police cadet a weapon disarm technique, during a break. The cadet was wearing a pistol which was supposedly âunloaded.â The instructor abruptly snatched the pistol from the cadetâs holster, and, while holding the weapon upside down, placed his little finger in the trigger, smiled sarcastically, and said “bang!” However, no one heard him say âbang,â because the pistol discharged at the same instant. At the moment of discharge, the muzzle was just inches from the cadetâs face. The bullet miraculously missed the cadet, striking a wall and expending itself harmlessly.
Unfortunately, the cadet had to subsequently endure hours of delicate surgery, so that doctors could remove gunpowder particles from his face and eyes. The cadet may not recover all his vision and may be permanently disfigured as a result of the misadventure.
The Academy is, of course, âinvestigatingâ the incident, and officials have indicated that the âinstructorâ involved may even be censored!â
Lessons:
(1) Public ranges, particularly indoor ranges, are a magnet for idiots! All shooting on such ranges must thus be carefully supervised. Unsupervised shooting on public ranges is a veritable invitation to disaster.
(2) As we saw in the Nebraska incident, when there are firearms accidents in training situations, the circumstances must be examined carefully and appropriate changes made, so that the same accident doesnât keep recurring. Long ago, an Israelite prophet said, âMy people are dying because of a lack of knowledge.â It seems we havenât made much progress!
/John
