HANDGUN ACCIDENT

[sixshot]

A few days before Christmas a friend & long time gun owner took a 22 Derringer out of his safe to clean it.....I think, anyway the gun was suppose to be new & unfired. Somehow it was loaded & the gun went off, shooting him through the front part of the hand & exiting out the top of his hand, he's already had one plastic surgery last wednesday & has another one scheduled for today. Who knows if the hand will ever be the same.
A couple of years ago another friend had his revolver in the vise working on it, maybe adjusting the trigger, anyway, he had to run downtown for something & left the gun in the vise, when he returned he gripped the muzzle with his left hand & pulled the trigger, somehow that one was also loaded & shot the end of his finger off! We all know its an empty gun that does the shooting.
Last night I had a friend over to show him some of my new Christmas toys, one of my son's had gave me a 3 screw 44 for Christmas & another son had given me a model 36 nickle S&W snubbie & I had bought myself a 3 screw 357 so it was Show & TEll time! With all 3 guns, without thinking my friend ended up pointing all 3 guns at his left hand, I mentioned that he might want to check them, he kind of blushed & did so but his actions just reinforced how careful all of need to be when handling firearms, especially handguns, its much easier to get a handgun pointed at some part of your body than it is with a long barreled rifle.
The 2 friends who shot themselves went through a lot of pain & suffering but what they said hurt the most was the embarassment of owning guns all their lives & having an accident with an UNLOADED gun & having to tell everyone how fast it happened. This is a fun but dangerous game we play & it only takes a second for a tragedy to happen, probably everyone on the fourm has known someone who's had a mishap & perhaps paid dearly for it. Its a never ending process & when I'm teaching a class I tell all of them to check that gun every single time they touch it, no matter how many times they've picked it up, there's no short cuts to safe gun handling.

Dick

 

[JHRosier]

Dick,
Where I live, a self inflicted gunshot wound or a negligant discharge could also cause you to loose your license to carry firearms, and your guns could also be confiscated by the police.

Firearms safety needs constant attention by new shooters and oldtimers alike.

Jack

 

[c.r.]

Dick,

Thank you for sharing. I hope everybody reads your post and comes away with something positive.

Every person makes mistakes in life. Most the time we get lucky and nobody gets injured or goes to jail. Sometimes we have to pay a bit heavier fine for our mistakes. Other times we pay the ultimate price.....mistakes can take away lives and freedom.

I count myself blessed that I am still here and have learned from my and other folks' mistakes.

~c.r.

 

[Stoots]

Thanks for the reminder Dick.

It only takes one second of complacency of safety for a lifetime of regret. Glad it wasn't worse than it could have been!

You said it best; there's no shortcuts to the safe handling of firearms.

Best wishes for your friend's recovery.

 

[wwb]

The most egregious violations of gun handling safety I've ever seen occur at :
1) gunshows
2) gun shops

You'd think these guys would know better, but I guess familiarity breeds contempt.

 

[Rex Driver]

Dick, you story reminds me of a call I responded to about 20 years ago. I have this friend who is a retired army Colonel and a now profesional gunsmith whom I have had do work and shared more than a couple of evenings with, having a few and telling some lies. To get back to the story, I had to go to the local army hospital (Kenner Hospital) in reference to a person who had been shot. I got there and was directed to a small area in the emergency room and I saw my freind with his hand in a tub of Betadine. Before he saw me, I saw that it was only a flesh wound and he seemed a bit agitated. I started to laugh and asked him, did you shoot yourself as the Retired Colonel or the bumbling Gunsmith? The nurse on duty looked at me in a rather strange way, before my friend laughed back at me and said, "I shot myself as the ignorant life long shooter who just had to pull the trigger while holding the gun in my left hand". Well, people, to sum up this true story that had a happy ending, no matter how long you have had guns, shot guns, worked on guns or in general been around guns, we are all subject ot stupid things, so, please treat every gun as loaded, clear every gun and then look one last time before every assuming the gun to be safe.

 

[jimbo1096]

It's not familiarity breeds contempt - it breeds lax safeguards, I'm included & have done something with a gun I knew better that to do, whether it be sweeping the barrel across a friend or my own personal body part, or not following all the sfaety guildelines. It shouldn't happen - but it does. I try to learn and reinforce my own awareness each time I read about or do something unsafe.
"There but by the grace if God go I"

 

[Pal Val]

All my guns are loaded, even the ones with no bullets in them. A friend put a bullet through the bill of his cap once while cleaning a .45 pistol. He missed his forehead by about an inch and had powder burns all over his neck and face. All because he failed to check the chamber.

He is a professional, school-trained gunsmith.

 

[rugerguy]

yes, a very GOOD reminder, "safety first"...and do not say it can never happen to YOU....many years ago, when we had our first gun shop we did warrenty repair work for the High Standard company,got guns in from all over the country to 'repair & service', and yes, our main gunsmith ,after "fixing" a HS .22 derringer, was about to 'test fire' it, close the barrels and it went off, shot him through the index finger, neat ,clean hole,right through.......the LOOK in his eyes was enough to write a BOOK..........'we had them go off in the ceiling, I shot a refrigerator ( gun went full auto ,upon "closing")...so YES, S@%T happens.....luckily they are pointed in a "safe direction" ( except for Jims finger being in the line fire...) 8)

 

[ShortBBL]

My brother was cleaning his new 4 5/8" 357 blackhawk back in about 1980. For some stupid reason, he had the cylinder out of the gun, but loaded... and went to put it IN the gun and once in, when lowering the hammer... BOOM.... right through his brand new Stereo.... missed to new Curtis Mathes TV at least!

Well, at least thats his story... he's married to a hotheaded Colombian so.. who knows the rest of the story!?

:shock:

 

[JNewell]

It is not possible to remind ourselves often enough that all guns are (or should be treated as if they are) always loaded.

Who knows if the hand will ever be the same.

I can help you with the question above. It won't ever be the same. I speak as one who has had a number of accidents with my hands over the years. There will be some problems or limitations left behind by his carelessness. I don't mean to sound harsh, it's just the voice of six decades of experience.

 

[Enigma]

I have personally had one negligent (they're never accidental) discharge, nearly had two others, and had people that worked for me have NDs twice. One ND was after an M4 Carbine was "cleared" AND "verified" by two people! Fortunately, nobody was injured in any of these instances.

What all of this has taught me is to never, ever assume that any gun is unloaded. Always clear the gun yourself. ALWAYS. Even if you just saw someone else clear it. And then always treat it as if it's loaded.

I once had my wife's ultra-liberal niece from Berkley ask me if I felt a sense of power when I held a gun. I replied that no, I didn't; what I felt was a sense of responsibility to insure that no one was injured because of my carelessness. She didn't know what to say, because that's not what her commie professors had taught her.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Well,
For what it's worth.
About a year ago a very dear Pard of mine shot himself with a 45 Colt out of a 4 5/8" Vaquero.
It was his defense gun that had the store bought kick arsh best hollow points known to man. I don't remember the name now, CRS.
Long story short went in his belly button and came out the top of his left arsh cheek. Well the bullet never expanded, lucky for him, hit the concrete floor,bounced up and put a nice dent in his pickup. Still all in good shape. He had it made into a necklace.
So maybe the bad arsh hollow points are not as bad as some think. Here again lucky for my Pard they aren't
Jim

 

[Jeff Hoover]

1) Treat all guns as if they are loaded !
2)Keep muzzle pointed in a safe direction !
3)Beware of what's beyond your backstop !
4)Keep your finger OFF the trigger, until the gun is pointed at something you want to destroy !

These are the rules that are pounded in our heads at my Dept. everytime we qualify. Call them what you want, Accidental, Negligent, or Unplanned Discharges only happen to people who handle firearms. It's up to YOU to ensure safe gun handling. If you observe an unsafe practice, mention it ! Be decent, don't act like a gun Nazi ! Alot of the unsafe handling practices are comitted by novices. We need them ! Don't discourage them, by yelling at them, making them feel like an idiot. Explain there error, in a firm, polite way, with a smile.

Accidental/negligent firearm deaths are at an all time low. Lets keep it that way, and not arm the anti-gun crowd with more ammo, at our expense.

 

[56-210]

What all of this has taught me is to never, ever assume that any gun is unloaded. Always clear the gun yourself. ALWAYS. Even if you just saw someone else clear it. And then always treat it as if it's loaded.

I'm recalling teaching my son gun safety here Enigma... Same thing, I don't care if you saw Joe (son-in law) clear it and hand it to me, and I clear it and hand it to you. We're expecting you to do the same when it's handed to you... Every time period.

Mark

 

[welder]

I cannot count the times I have had a gun pointed at me in gun stores. We all should know better, myself included. I have had two ND's and both times I broke fundamental rules. My fault, no excuses. Neither time was anyone hurt, however I bought a new stove and later did some dry wall/light fixture repair. I now behave with any gun as though it had a 1 lb. trigger and was loaded regardless of the chamber status. I have learned my lesson, and that is I am not so good with a gun as to warrant careless handling.

I have applied this thinking to other areas of interest and as a result, have not had near as many trips to the ER for stitches.

 

[Boxhead]

Timely topic. Just an hour or so ago my middle son's bud from college arrived to spend a couple of days with us. They were unloading four long arms from his trunk to bring into the house. I asked my son if they were unloaded and he replied in the affirmative. That said and given that I have never met the kid I had them uncase each on the front porch and demonstrate the claim. All was right and the guns entered the house. I believe it was Christmas Eve that the news told a story of a 2 year old being shot by her father (a former LEO) when he was getting ready to clean a handgun. I trust my boys as I KNOW that what they have been taught. I trust no one else.

 

[contender]

Well, Dicks post is another reminder to a lot of us,, things can happen to the best of us.
It's been a while,, but I too can claim a bad negligant discharge,, and I have a permanent reminder of it. In 1984,, I put a 22 LR round through my upper left leg,, suffered the severing of one nerve bundle,, and damage to the other. I have permanent problems because of it. (I've related the story before on here, I won't go into it again.
To sum it up,, I did the wrong things,, and I paid for it. period.
A good friend came to the hospital & summed things up quite nicely, as he related it to his teenage son; He said "Johnny, Tyrone here handles more guns in a month than a lot of folks do in a lifetime. it goes to show you that you always need to be careful."
Yep,,he was right.
I now use my personal experience to show folks it CAN happen to you.
Dick; If it was anybody I met while out there,, tell them I wish them a full recovery! (And even if it wasn't someone I met.)

Now,, tell us about those guns you got for Christmas!

 

[sixshot]

In the ladies handgun class that I run 2-3 times each summer we lay out a lot of handguns on the table, everything you can imagine, snubbies, long barrels, revolvers, semi autos in every brand on the market. One of the first questions I ask the ladies is, how many of the guns on the table are loaded, mos will say "hopefully none of them......I say, all of them, thats because none of you have actually checked them to see that they are empty, I stress throughout the class to check & recheck every single time one of them picks up a handgun. Pick one up five times, check it five time, no exceptions!
What I've found is, they ladies pay attention better than the men, many of the men already know everything & feel a little bit threatened to have someone tell "them" how to handle a firearm. Very few ladies are involved with handgun accidents. The unfortunate part of all this is, many times the person getting shot isn't the one handling the gun, its someone else's mistake that gets them shot.
Its our obligation to share our sport but along with that comes the responsibility of showing them the correct way to handle a handgun.

Dick

 

[powder smoke]

Dick good topic can not let safety go onto the back burner. Good gun habits start early and stay with you for life.

Thaks for the reminder :? ps