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Follow The 4 Rules Of Gun Safety!!!!!!

3119 Views 28 Replies 21 Participants Last post by  gunthorp, 
gddyup
Situation : January 23, 2006

Medic 3 goes to the scene of a gunshot wound via 911 call and meets PD on scene. 2 Paramedics, a Battalion Chief, and an Engine company enter the residence assisted by PD to find a 20 year old male lying in a pool of blood. His upper-to-rear cranial cavity and 75% of his brain matter are sitting about 7 feet from his head on the floor by his body. There is a .45 caliber handgun clenched in his hand with an entry wound inside his mouth and an exit cavity (minus the rest of his head) showing the trajectory of the round through his head, through the ceiling, floor above, ceiling above the floor above, and out through the roof of the apartment building. No bullet found. A traumatic injury not at all condusive to life. Lifepak 12 EKG shows 30-40 bpm on the monitor. Medic calls med control for confirmation of a "No-Go" for resuscitation based on MOI (mechanism of injury). While on the phone with med-control, patient finally goes into a-sys flatline and dies. Aprrox. 5-7 minutes from gunshot wound to a-sys flatline death for this 20 year old male....

The full story sheds quite more light on the situation. This 20 yr old guy had grown up around firearms and had been involved in firearms for almost all his life. One of the firefighters knew this guy personally since he was about 5 years old. He was starting to make inroads in his life and had started to turn the corner on a nice career as an electrician. He had a lot of things lining up for him and life was going to be a golden egg for him. Unfortunately, he decided to bring his .45 caliber pistol to a party that night. He was the owner of the weapon but was not of legal age to carry said weapon. He had a few drinks and for some stupid reason decided it would be a grand idea to play a joke on his friends at the party. He removed the loaded magazine from his pistol and then put the barrel of the gun into his mouth and pulled the trigger. He thought it would be a great party gag and maybe make himself look "cool" in front of all the chicks that were there including his girlfriend....

Unfortunately he neglected the 4 rules of gun safety and the last thing that went through his mind was the .45 caliber HP that took most of his head off. If he had simply followed the 4 rules he would most likely be alive today. Not to mention the fact that he had no purpose, cause, or LEGAL right to have that gun on him in the first place. Had he followed the rules then the other "issues" would not have even been brought up here. ALWAYS FOLLOW THE 4 RULES OF GUN SAFETY!!! Know your limit when it comes to alcohol! I do not know yet how much this young man had to drink, if he had any at all. BUT you have to be responsible for your actions! If you want to drink a lot then leave your handgun at home or drink at home and keep your handgun safe!

DON'T BE A VICTIM OF AN "ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING"!! At this point, that is what the PD is calling this. Witness statements verify that this was suppose to be a "gag". This young man was brought up around guns, knew the rules, and blew his goddamn head clean off because he got complacent!!! Had he stopped to think 2 seconds about what he was planning to do he might be alive today....

DO NOT FALL INTO COMPLACENCY!!! ALWAYS follow the rules and make sure your loved ones, your friends, and the people you care for know the rules and FOLLOW THEM! I never want to go to a scene and find ANYONE dead because of their own stupidity. That's a complete waste! Some things cannot be protected against sometimes, STUPIDITY IS NOT ONE OF THOSE THINGS!!!!

My rant for today is over. Please be safe out there, carry whenever you can, and be forever vigilant. :aargh4:
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P95Carry
Oh my oh my - the classic (well one of them) complacency situations.

Of course yes - stupid having gun with him under those conditions but that pales into insignificance compared with his crazy stupidity. Rule #2 at very least would have saved him - and anyways - putting a gun in the mouth ''for fun'' is just plain dumb in itself - cleared or not. :frown:

Sad, very sad - but let us all learn from this. Just reinforce our obedience of those rules - which I am sure we all follow well. Complacency however has claimed victims before so - remember this.

On a macabre note - I daresay muzzle blast was at least 50% instrumental in that destruction - if not more - the bullet was all but incidental.
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R
That wasn't complacency, that was stupidity. I hate to be callous, but it's difficult to muster sympathy for someone who put a gun, any gun, into his mouth and pulled the trigger.
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acparmed
Roadrunner said:
That wasn't complacency, that was stupidity. I hate to be callous, but it's difficult to muster sympathy for someone who put a gun, any gun, into his mouth and pulled the trigger.
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+1
Well said
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maclean3
Agreed Roadrunner, not double checking the chamber before you start cleaning your weapon is complacent. Playing with a weapon like that is stupid and dangerous. A kid I knew back in 6th grade pulled a similar stunt - same results.
Jack
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artz
Thats mighty powerful stuff. Its a shame it happened.
Any type of play is a no-no, even when the weapon is apart for cleaning. It shows a lack of responsability in gun handling and ownership.
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R
There is no such thing as an "accidental shooting" or "accidental discharge", only a negligent shooting and a negligent discharge.

People need to realize that guns are not toys.

It is definitely a shame that this had to happen to him over a stupid mistake.
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Tangle
Ready2Fire,

I've heard many times that there is no such thing as an accident with guns, but that's not true. That'd be the same as saying there's no such thing as a car accident.

From the dictionary:
Accidental –
1. Chance
happening by chance and not planned
2. incidental
Not specifically intended and arising as a side effect

Negligent
1. habitually careless

While some "accidents" are due to negligence, some are just accidents. To call every unintentional discharge that ever happens negligent is judging without knowing the facts.

It the case stated above, I honestly don't know what to call it, but to me it goes far beyond accidental or negligent.
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rocky
Roadrunner said:
That wasn't complacency, that was stupidity. I hate to be callous, but it's difficult to muster sympathy for someone who put a gun, any gun, into his mouth and pulled the trigger.
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Yep, gotta agree. Complacency scares me more personally. i don't think I will be intentionally putting a gun to my head. I always double check the chamber when cleaning and triple check when dry firing.
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Tangle
rocky said:
Yep, gotta agree. Complacency scares me more personally. i don't think I will be intentionally putting a gun to my head. I always double check the chamber when cleaning and triple check when dry firing.
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Me too! That is about the triple checking. I've even got into the habit of removing the mag, locking open the slide, looking in the mag well and chamber and then racking the slide three times and doing it all again.

I guess that's excessive, but it's safe.

I can't understand why anyone would point a gun at anyone, including themselves or any part of themselves and especially pull the trigger. It seems like it's just pure thoughtlessness and ignorance. But did I understand he had been drinking?
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QKShooter
Always check the chamber before you put the muzzle of your pistol in your mouth and pull the trigger. :blink:

You know...I truly want to feel sorry for this kid but, he really did a huge disservice to every single person that legally carries a defensive firearm.
He placed another heavy pox on and a black mark on all of us safe & conscientious shooters.
Now...every single person at that party has probably turned into a radical anti~gunner.
Blood spatter & brain material on your "party clothes" will have a way of doing that.
He could have just as easily killed another innocent human being...had he initially decided to make his "drunken gag scenario" a little bit different.
I want to feel sorry for this kid but, I just cannot.
I'm not happy that he's dead...but, (for the above reasons) I can't shed a tear either.
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rstickle
Roadrunner said:
That wasn't complacency, that was stupidity. I hate to be callous, but it's difficult to muster sympathy for someone who put a gun, any gun, into his mouth and pulled the trigger.
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Unfortunatly I also have to agree. It's sad to see someones life cut short, but this gets back to the Darwin Awards.
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Tangle
It is truly a tragedy and a disservice to gun owners everywhere, and it was thoughtless, needless, etc. But, I have to admit, I have done numerous things (non-gun things) in my life, especially younger years, that if things had gone ever so slightly different, I could have died.

The instrument in this particular case was a gun and alcohol, in my cousin's fatal accident many, many years ago, a hot car and alcohol. Was he "showing off" trying to impress peers - yes, and he paid for it with his life.

It's a shame that something like this has to happen. There's a mother somewhere that will never see her son again. And as offended as we are by his actions, there's a lot more to this than somebody making guns and gun owners look bad.

Without question he did a very stupid, reckless thing; he paid the ultimate price for it.
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R
I cannot understand the thought process that leads up to "hey, I'll pretend to blow my head off. It'll be hysterical."

There is a safety lesson here about triple-checking one's gun and always assuming it is loaded, like there was in that story of the guy who shot his hand while cleaning his weapon. But the bottom line is that this guy was playing with a gun. It's plain recklessness and a failure to understand the basic nature of the machine. Now he and his family and the partygoers and people who loved him are paying for it.
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B
What part of pretending to commit suicide if front of your friends is funny? Why did his friends not try to stop him even if they thought it was a gag? All I can figure is that he must of had a few pistols with a magazine disconnect and others that did not. A magazine disconnect keeps the hammer from engaging if there is no magazine in the well (my smith has it but not my Taurus). Also removing the mag and racking the slide should be integral in the clearing procedure (I naturally do this every time if I'm clearing a pistol). Brings back the old saying an "unloaded gun" is the most dangerous.
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H
This is really nothing new it's happened so many times over the years. Seems people just keep doing the same stupid thing. And end up dead.

I might add I know the Ant-Gun bunch will make a lot out of this needless death.
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P95Carry
I know the Ant-Gun bunch will make a lot out of this needless death.
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True enough HG but - as ever the rhetoric will be aimed at ''the gun'' - probably totally ignoring a young man's total stupidity.

So much better if they would change their approach to ''ban stupid people and criminals'' - we might make progress then :wink:
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MattInFla
Sounds like a lousy call. Been on more that a few myself, as an EMT, EMT-P, and EMS Battalion Chief.

Unfortunately, it goes to prove two things:

1. Stupidity is a fatal disease.
2. Alcohol potentiates stupidity.

Nobody appreciates these two laws like EMS providers.

Be safe out there.

Matt
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Tom357
Tangle said:
...I've even got into the habit of removing the mag, locking open the slide, looking in the mag well and chamber and then racking the slide three times and doing it all again.

I guess that's excessive, but it's safe.
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One of the scary things about complacency and lack of discipline is that, no matter how elaborate the safety measures may be, if you become complacent in the process, a safety violation can still occur.

Using Tangle's example:
remove the mag - check,
lock open the slide (and remove the chambered round) - check,
visually inspect the mag well - check.

But, if you have done those steps deliberately and carefully, what does racking the slide three times and repeating those steps accomplish/prevent?

Or, if you go through Tangle's entire routine, while distracted or shortcut with assumptions, are you any safer?

It seems to me that carry must always be a conscious act, and never a behavior with which we become too comfortable.
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P95Carry
But, if you have done those steps deliberately and carefully, what does racking the slide three times and repeating those steps accomplish/prevent?
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Confirmation Tom as I see it - no more no less. meaning, if despite assiduous attention first time, you had by some happenstance got it wrong, then at least you can be well certain. The old, ''check, check and double check'' - not maybe too different from more than one scan at an intersection stop sign - before pulling out.
It seems to me that carry must always be a conscious act
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Amen to that my friend :smile:
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