28 Mar 01

Injury ADs:

We conducted a training course at an outdoor range near Los Angles last weekend. The manager of the range described two injury ADs that had occurred at his range in the early part of this month within two days of each other.

Both cases involved accidental, self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the foot. In one case, an SKS rifle in 7.62X39 caliber was involved. In the other, it was a Remington 870 Shotgun loaded with slugs. In both cases (one involving a serviceman, the other involving a local police officer) the shooter was leaning over his longarm and attempting to load it.

In both cases, the shooter had the muzzle of his weapon resting on his foot, a common practice, particularly among skeet and trap shooters. Like so many other unsafe gun-handling procedures, this is widespread and tolerated on many ranges.

In both cases, the longarm discharged unexpectedly, and the shooter's foot was badly injured.

Lesson: The best "safety procedure" is good tactical procedure. Professional gunmen rarely have accidents, because we own guns for serious purposes and we are serious any time we are handling guns. We make no differentiation between "safe" guns and "dangerous" guns. For us, guns are not owned or born for recreation or play.

Muzzle consciousness an inexorable component of safe gun handling. Naive and overly casual gun owners point guns in unsafe directions all too often, because they are and not serious about what they're doing. Pointing the gun at one's own foot is just one example.

/John

29 Mar 01

This from an LEO friend in the Northeast:

"A Beretta pistol (model/caliber unknown) was stolen from the recent SHOT=20 Show. It had been on display at the Beretta booth, and, like all display=20 guns at SHOT Shows, it had been 'deactivated.' Such deactivation is usually= =20 accomplished by installing a shortened firing pin or by removing the firing=20 pin all together.

In any event, it showed up a week later in the Northeast and was used by an=20 armed robbery suspect. The suspect shoved it into the face of a store clerk= =20 and demanded money. The clerk complied. The suspect then said, =E2=80=98I'= m going=20 to shoot you, just for fun,' or words to that effect, whereupon he attempted= =20 to fire at the clerk. Only several deafening =E2=80=98clicks' were heard!

Without further invitation, the clerk took advantage of the unscheduled=20 pause, retrieved his own pistol, and fired into the now astonished suspect=20 several times. The clerk's pistol worked just fine! The suspect was fatall= y=20 wounded as a result and died at the scene."

Lesson: Check your lifesaving equipment before you carry it! Don't naively=20 assume that your carry pistol is going to work, just because it looks=20 "normal." Check it regularly. Shoot it often.

/John

29 Mar 01

A friend with the LAPD just related this incident:

"Yesterday (28 Mar 01), one of our officers suffered a shooting injury as a result of an unusual 'accident' at our outdoor range in North Hollywood.

He was in the range parking lot and was changing out the service ammunition in his magazines prior to reporting to the line. As he manually stripped service rounds out of one of his magazines (Beretta M92F), at least one round slipped between his fingers and fell to the pavement below. Noticing that he had dropped the round, the officer stooped over to pick it up. Just as his hand touched it, it went off. I was standing a short distance away, and it sounded like a gunshot to me!

So far, the cartridge case has not been recovered, but the bullet has. It was not deformed and could probably be reloaded. The officer suffered minor cuts on his hand, but a large chunk of something (probably the bullet itself) struck him in the forehead. It bounced off without penetrating anything more than the skin, but it caused a nasty cut that required several stitches to close.

There was quite a bit of blood at the scene, but, as it turns out, the officer's injures were not serious. He may end up with a noticeable scar on his forehead.

There was a delay, probably a second or two, between when the round hit the ground and when it went off. I've been a patrol officer for twenty years, and this is the first time I've seen anything like that!"

Lesson: It will probably be another twenty years or longer before you see it again. As with being struck by lightening, some 'accidents' occur so seldom that they are not usually even mentioned in safety lectures. However, for this and many other reasons, we must all wear glasses any time we on a range, even if no scheduled firing is currently taking place.

Small arms ammunition is extremely stable, and, although rounds can go off when dropped, such an occurrence is exceptionally rare. However, it does happen now and then, as we can see.

/John