Everyone should be aware of the 4 rules of gun safety, of which I’ll paraphrase here:
1- Treat every weapon as if it were loaded
2- Never point a weapon at something you do not intend to destroy
3- Never place your finger on the trigger until you are ready to engage
4- Know your target and what is behind it
Complimenting those rules are general practices most of us follow, all the time, regardless of what our training level is. I always want to know what the status of a weapon is, as such I’ll press check it before holstering it (CCW) or clear the weapon before cleaning it / viewing it at a gun store / taking it from someone else. YOU (me, all of us) are RESPONSIBLE to KNOW what the status of the weapon is at all times. Never ASSUME. Read that again: NEVER ASSUME!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_uLzg8T7WE
In March, Smith went into Barren Outdoors and asked to see a .380 caliber handgun, which was under the counter. Smith, who was examining the gun, cocked it and apparently did not know the gun was loaded. The gun fired, shooting off part of his index finger, the WBKO report says.
The lawsuit says the Barren Outdoors employee did not do a safety check on the gun before handing it to Smith.
A couple points here:
1- Should the store clerk have made sure the weapon was clear before handing it to the patron? Absolutely!
2- Should the patron who received the firearm VERIFIED that the weapon was clear BEFORE handling it in any way? Absolutely! Drop the magazine, lock the slide to the rear, conduct a three point safety check to make sure there is no round in the chamber.
What’s the lesson learned?
The store could be found at fault but the patron, a former police officer, should have known better. When one gets complacent mistakes happen and in this case it cost him a finger. Never trust anyone but yourself to fully verify the status of a weapon and when in doubt default back to the 4 rules of gun safety!
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Ohhh I’m going to go crazy nut’s on this one. More to come……..
If you only follow number two, no one would ever be injured. You’d still have potential negligent discharges, but they’d go in a safe direction.
Which rules were broken in that video?
I don’t press check, everything is loaded. If I just got done cleaning it, it’s immediately loaded again and either put in a holster or a safe. Excessive administrative handling leads to complacency that they are not loaded and a greater tendency to break rule number one. Load them all and treat them as such.
all weapons are considered loaded until proven otherwise. Sound familiar?
I’m sure I don’t need to say this to our group as it would be preaching to the choir 🙂
And henceforth you shall be known as “Nueve Dedos”.
Sorry but I just cannot stop laughing – that video owned me! I know, I know, what transpired is not funny and plenty of bad things could have happened besides some idiot (who happened to be a police officer) shooting the end of his finger off.
However, there are stupid people living amongst us and all we can really do is laugh and hope they don’t take us with them. He could have easily shot one of the customers to the right, which would have been tragic
Author
That’s what I thought about, what if he didn’t choose to place his HAND in front of the MUZZLE? Could have been worse if that round hit someone in the neck….
That’s so messed up you’re laughing at that. Now I’m laughing at it and that adds another level of messed up.
HAHAHA, now you know why my comment “More to come…….”
Thanks The Maj for breaking the ice. LOLOL
OMG people are so friggen stupid, you should hear some of the comments on other blog sites….
What is really sad is the fact the Shop Owner is getting sued over this.
NRP
Author
I feel like I was pretty even keeled with my analysis 🙂
I agree with your viewpoint on this totally PJ. Did not mean to imply otherwise.
For the record this dumb azz is/was one of Americas Finest (cop). He worked with a gun on his hip his entire “cop” career; He went through “training” on how to handle a firearm, and all the rest of the story.
BUT with all this fabulously training did anyone see the way he was pointing (even and empty firearm) at the clerk/himself/others? Did you-all see him NOT inspect the firearm when it was handed to him? Did you-all see him rack a shell into the chamber? Than continue pointing it at everyone in view of the camera. Also putting his own hand and fingers on the business end. Not check the safety. And to top it off pull the trigger!!!!!
At least the dumb shit did not shoot himself in the head or shoot anyone else in the store.
A firearm is always Always ALWAYS loaded and ready to kill you, even if it’s laying on the cleaning bench in pieces. Well sort of, but you get my point
And to top it ALL OFF he’s suing the store for his own actions, OMG!!!!!! Put me on that Jury, PLEASE!!!!
He’s not even smart enough for a Darwin Awards reject letter.
AGGHHHHHHH
NRP
PS; I have just got to ask, J, how do you know the name-plate is there… LOL
One last thing, there is NEVER an accident with a firearm, someone, or the action of someone, has GOT to pull the trigger. They do NOT go boom by themselves.
Author
It’s all good, I appreciate you input! It all boils down to the C word: complacency.
not to laugh at this guy’s misfortune but this brings to mind a sign one of my old CO’s used to have on his desk. It was a name plate that said “The Stupid Shall be Punished”.
Just dont ask how I know that sign was there 🙂
Ok, I finally quit laughing. Well, I still snicker a little.
Watching the video several times, there are so many errors made by both parties to this event that it could have easily been avoided. I honestly can say, I have never gone into any establishment that sells firearms and been handed a firearm by an employee without the employee checking the firearm to make certain that it is not loaded AND handing me the firearm with the breach open, at which point, I look for myself and make certain that it is not loaded. Come to think of it, if I ever were handed a firearm like this employee handed the firearm to this guy, I probably would tell them to clear the firearm and hand it to me breach open in the future.
The police officer that was examining the firearm may not be the most squared away looking individual that I have ever seen but surely he has had some type of firearms training in the past and that training had to include plenty of safety lessons on the proper handling of firearms. Obviously, he was just complacent, which is what usually gets someone hurt – in this case luckily it was just him.
The only thing I would add to your list PJ is: “Never trust a safety on a firearm”. Since firearms are a mechanical device, they will fail and will usually fail at the worst possible moment.
One last thing; in a form of a question to all out there on this site.
I know a lot, if not all, that read this article own firearms. My question for you-all is have you ever in your life seen or heard of a loaded firearm (even with the safety off) sitting on a table/bench/desk or whatever just going boom on its own? Did the firearm just decide to fire when this idiot wrapped his finger over the barrel? How many times in the history of firearms has a gun actually shot someone without an outside influence?
Let me make it easy, NEVER!
His dumb azz shot himself period, end of discussion.
Sorry but he will get absolutely no sympathy from me.
NRP
Author
here you go…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seH3bsymNJ4
HAHAHA, classic.
Thanks PJ
I have seen a fire arm go off without the trigger being pulled. It was not sitting on a bench or something. It was being handled but I know what happened.
A group of us went shooting. On the way back my buddy had rounds in his sks and the bolt locked back. Not a good idea. He stepped over a log and the bolt slammed home, chambering a round and firing it and loaded another round. Scared the pee pee out of everyone. The one thing he did right, was have it pointed in a safe direction. No one wants to shoot with him anymore. There have been reports of modified triggers on remington 700’s that cause it to fire when you close the bolt. Remington disputes that, and they could be right. Still a good idea to point it in a safe direction at all times, especially when loading.
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