[jsalcedo]

After reading the thread about the 16 year old who commited suicide at school it reminded me all too well of my youth.

I used to stay part of the summer at my best friends house while his mother and her cop boyfriend were on fishing trips.

My friend was ultra intelligent and fun but a little high strung.
At 15 years old we both loved guns, shooting, reloading, military memorabilia etc..

One morning I woke up and walked into the bathroom and saw my friend holding a cocked and unlocked 1911 to his head.

Finger pressing the trigger, his thumb was holding the hammmer from falling.

I asked him "what if your thumb slips?"

He said if his thumb slipped it wouldn't make a bit of difference
because he would never know it.

He said he wanted to know what it felt like to be that close to death.

I asked him to take the gun away from his head and let the hammer down gently.

My friend said "what do you care? The gun isn't to your head.."

I told him that if he indeed blew his head off my life would be screwed for a good long time with taking to cops, reporters. psychologists, having my guns taken away etc...

He thought about it for a second and said: "that makes sense"

He still had the gun to his head when he lowered the hammer.

I unloaded the .45 and there was a deep dent in the primer of the chambered round.

Has anyone else dealt with anything similar?
Is there a talk down guide for amateurs?

[Fly Navy]

Yikes! That's pretty whacked man. Was he actually suicidal or just stupid?

By the way, how would him committing suicide have your guns taken away?

Fly Navy

[jsalcedo]

Just stupid I guess.

He once unloaded a BB gun by putting his finger over the barrel
and pulling the trigger......

He was a high IQ with no sense


Since I was 15 at the time, my friends suicide would cause my anti gun mother to make my life a living hell with her quack shrinks
HCI propaganda and holier than thou, I told you guns were evil attitude.

I had to hide my guns till I was 18 and wash the gunpowder off my hands before I came home.

[Fly Navy]

Ahh, the big brains but no common sense. I've learned, being a graduate from an engineering school, where it's big brains for the most part, that common sense is NOT COMMON. Sadly, this almost applies more to the liberal arts weenies that were at the other school in my NROTC unit.

Ahh, the mom taking the firearms routine. I was trying to rack my brain of some wierd law that would preclude you from owning firearms if he offed himself. I was stumped. Now I know why :)

Fly Navy

[Sharpie1]

One day my father and I were discussing firearms while I was visiting my great aunt's house. During our conversation, said aunt left the room, then came back with a 12 ga single shot shotgun - and was inadvertently pointing it at everyone in the room.

She was hastily reprimanded by everyone in the room.

I didn't like that. I guess she was just trying to show everyone that she, too - was "gun savvy".

LOL - also, the other day (Sunday), I was over there again - as the family was having our "Sunday Dinner" over at her house. It usually takes awhile for the food to be served even after everyone arrives, so I had my course lesson plans with me going over them, making notes etc. (I'm an NRA instructor)...she came over and saw the "first steps - pistol" page, and said: "You mean you have to teach people how to shoot a pistol? I can shoot a pistol! All you have to do is pull the trigger." As she was saying this, she gestured as if she were holding the gun at just above waist level.

I then asked her how she thought she was going to hit her target if she held it there - and she said that (sic) ...."that's the right way - because that's how they do it on tv..."

I offered to give her a free Home Firearms Safety course -- and thought to myself that if she made some progress there I might teach her the First Steps Pistol course. She is about 75 years old, so she's pretty set in her ways -- but I think she is VERY dangerous with firearms.

TD

[Hardtarget]

I only have one event that sort of fits into this...
A friend invited me to go "snake hunting" along with four guys he worked with. We poked around the hillsides, rockpiles, and brushey areas for a while (half heartedly)...until they got bored.
All were open carrying either .38 or 357 mag. because thats what we had. Anyway, one of the guys pointed at me and says "hey, lets quick draw...see whos fastest." I thought he was jokeing...till he repeated it and "squared up" at me .He looked like a B-movie gunfighter. Then he assures me his gun is unloaded. Thats when I KNEW some one is fixing to get killed. He was five feet from me so I said ,quietly, "my gun is loaded. If you point yours at me...I will shoot you." He got a funny look on his face, then my one friend said..."better stop...Mark don't play" It was over as fast as it started. I WAS SCAERD! I never saw him unload his gun...and I never saw him reload, either! I also NEVER went anywhere with that bunch...not even lunch! :what:
Mark.

[Glamdring]

Hardtarget: Your story reminds me of something.

Some time ago I had couple of roommates. One was a best friend of mine, the other was someone he worked with.

First month we lived there they were showing the place to a "friend" of theirs from work. I was sleeping, worked 3rd shift, and this friend they were showing the place to thought it would be cool to bust into my room and attack/scare me. That it would be a good laugh.

They had to explain to him that it wouldn't be very funny, my buddy knows I have had people try to break into places I've lived before.

They explained to him that he wouldn't be doing much laughing with bullet holes in him. He didn't think anyone could wake up fast enough. They really had to talk him out of it.:banghead:

When my buddy told me about it I said I was glad they convinced the idiot (my buddy would have restrained the moron if needed, but arrgh such stupidity). I reminded him about the 50 lbs dumbbells I used to block the door and slow people coming thru the door.

That person was never invited over again while I was there.

[larry_minn]

Does stopping someone from "giving" away a gun to a dealer count? Less then half what it was worth.
I was in plays in high school and community ones after. Folks backstage always pointed the "real" guns at each other while offstage. They soon learned the error of pointing it at me.
When I supplied a handgun it stayed on my person UNTIL needed for the play.
I am sure I was only student playing a rowdy teen who had two guns on him on stage. :O

[Combat-wombat]

This idiot friend of mine pointed my loaded BB gun at my head, with the finger on the trigger. I jumped up and to the side to get out of the way of the barrel. I kicked him in the chest, hard, and grabbed the BB gun out of his hands, while he fell down.
He replied with a stupid
"What the f*** was that for? I'm gonna kick your..."
I shoved him down when he was trying to get up
"Dammit!", I said, "If you do that again I will kick your a** down the f****** street! Do you understand me, b****?"
A yelling at/lecture on firearm safety followed, and he ain't coming here again. What a complete moron. I hate people like that.

[MMcCall]

My sister had a boyfriend in high school that was the high strung, "genius IQ and no common sense" type.

Turns out he was an undiagnosed schizophrenic, he got a hold of some drugs and flipped out in college, tried to knife one of his professors to death. Last I heard he was doing a nickel in some puzzle factory in LA.

It's this type of people that make me think that not all people should have guns.

[GregoryTech]

It's this type of people that make me think that not all people should have guns

Sounds like he shouldn't have had a knife.

Seriously, though, of course "not all" people should have guns. The problem is attempts designed to keep "the bad" people from getting them really only keep the honest law abiding from having them. And it's not really guns, but any instrament capable of lethal force, that we should be worried about with these "bad" people, no?

[TarpleyG]

Walked out of my room one day to see my two best friends sitting on the couch, snickering, and pointing a loaded Glock at the fireplace that was stacked full of phone books.

My room was directly BEHIND the fireplace full of phone books and one of my friends is a LEO. You'd think he knows better.

Needless to say, he and the other joker have no constipation issues now because I ripped them each a new *********.

I'm sure that had I not walked out they would have done it.

Idiots!!!

GT

[El Tejon]

Once in undergrad, had to do a take away from a student from another nation who had no firearms experience. I blame myself as I did not instruct him properly. No one and nothing damaged, just embarrassed.

Last time was at my range here. Numbnuts was waving pistol around while upset about how he was shooting. I had to take it from him. I did not strike him, but he lost his balance in the process and got muddy with river clay.

Better to be muddy than to have an addition hole. I calmed him down and he left remorseful for his irresponsible behavior.

If it happens again, I just hope I am close enough to them.

When I see irresponsible behavior which does not threat me, I say "pardon me, but you are violating Rule # ___." If they do not know the Four Rules, they get a lecture and then urged to seek training.

[Dorrin79]

in the bad old days of my misspent youth, I had to disarm the host of a party I attended.

To make a long story short, it was a typical high-school drink-fest. I went because there was a girl there I was interested in (normally that wasn't my idea of a good time).

about 2 AM a pack of local troublemakers showed up and started trouble. The host kicked them out, but they came back and starting throwing rocks/bottles/etc at his (parents') house.

I was pretty much sober, and the host was wasted, but I still almost wet myself when he came out of the bedroom with what I guess was his father's Garand, trying to put a clip into it and yelling about how he was going to get them...

:what:

I surprised myself by calmly taking the rifle from him before he could get it loaded, and then spent the next few minutes calming him down. I then went outside and told the troublemakers to leave or I would call the cops (a bluff, since everyone there would have gotten an MIP, but it worked)

Never drank to excess since, except for once in college.

It was also the only time I've ever held a Garand :(

[MAURICE]

Lat summer, me and several friends (all somewhat experienced shooters) and another friends girlfriend, headed out to our little shooting spot way back in the sticks. My friends dad had about 4 of the tube fed .22 a la Marlin Model 60, plus a 12 ga,20 ga, plus I brought a gun or two along. Anyway, the girl grabs one of the .22's, sticks it in my face, and pulls the trigger :eek: :cuss: . HA HA HA. You should see the look on your face.

I grabbded the gun, cycled the action pointed it at a tree,and fired a round into it. Needless to say she got a good talking to, if you will, and didn't do anymroe shooting after that. :fire:

[jsalcedo]

Jeez Maurice that is one twisted B****. :banghead: :cuss: :fire:

I'm glad this story didn't end with a bullet in your head.

[brownie0486]

As a range officer, too many times.
On the street, a few times

On the line, new cop 21 years old with his first semi-auto [ glock 22 ]. Supposed to have been given 40 hours on the transitional mod22 before hitting the line for qualls.

He's to my immediate right on the line, RH hold for both of us.
At the buzzer he draws from duty rig, puts a round into the ground about 6 feet in front of us.

I catch the dirt flying from the ND and look to my right where I am staring into the muzzel of a loaded mod22 at 8-10 inches away, finger still on the trigger and hot.

He was nervous and turned to see if the range officer had noticed his first round in the dirt. When he turned to the left, he had it in my face.

I had seen the dirt fly and as he turned and printed me, I stepped/leaned back out of the way, reholstering mine at the time. Grabbed his gun which was now moving back downrange. He saw me move and realized what he was doing.

I grabbed the gun by the slide, facing the muzzle downrange. He struggled to keep control not knowing what I was doing. The line stopped shooting about the time I kidney/ribs punched him and he released the weapon.

The RO finally saw the commotion and approached as the kid was yelling at me about taking his gun. I made the glock safe by unloading the mag and chamber and threw it downrange.

Kid wanted a piece of me at that point and all hell broke loose about my actions. None had seen him put it to my head during start of the string of fire. I grabbed his throat and back of the head, sqeezed real tight till he turned grey/blue and gave up any attempts to resist further. By then, two cops grabbed me away from him.

After the explanations I told him in front of 20 or so LE's if he ever drew his gun out of his holster near me again I'd assume he was trying to kill me and return fire.

He was admonished by everyone and sent home by the RO for the day after someone retrieved his gun from the 15 yd line. I finished qualls and left with everyone else. He took so much grief from the boys he actually quit the dept. within one month of the incident.

The adrenaline rush stayed with me till that evening. I'm known to take them away from people if they are being unsafe around me. I usually ask them to see their firearm and when I get it in my hands it is mine, they don't get it back on the range. They have called the PD down a few times saying I'm stealing their weapon but the cops know me and my rep and take it from me [ which has been made safe already] telling the individual he should practice safety range procedures or not shoot.

As one of the RO's for the club, they are booted off the line with the understanding if I am at the line in the future when they want to shoot they are not to remove guns from cases and handle them or risk physical harm ifthey do.

I have survived too many years in "indian territory" to be killed carelessly by an idiot. The premise being once an idiot, always an idiot. They get no second chances with me ot those around me. It's a hardline attitude I take and if they don't like it we can always settle things in a martial way if they like.

If someone is being an idiot I would suggest that others not just stand around or leave but take similiar actions to protect themselves/

I used to tell these idiots painting everyone on the line to knock it off but it causes anger in them to hear they're an idiot so I cam to the conclusion a decade or so ago to simply ask them to see it and then not give it back. You paint me with a gun as an idiot, I own it for awhile, thats the price they pay to paint me.

Brownie

[PCRCCW]

At a local indoor range...a while back, I was admiring a guys Les Baer he was shooting a couple of lanes down from me.
I "A$$ U ME'd" he knew what he was doing as for the 1500$ gun....etc. Ya...I know :scrutiny:

I catch him with his finger on the trigger pointing it at me...while fidling with the guns controlls................NOT GOOD! :fire:

He was asked not to do that again...by me. I got a snide comment back from him "What are you scared or something?" Well duh!

He did it again......not even watching where his muzzle was pointing.....I went over and told him as a CCW permit holder...I will take, the next time he does it, as a threat to my life and take appropriate action....I was pissed and serious.
He was quite startled by the comment and was very big eyed....as I was walking away back to my lane...I heard MR. SPINE :rolleyes: say another smart ??? comment and walked right over to the owner of the range.....explained the situation. He was very, very promptly asked to leave and was TOLD "If this happens again in the future...you will not shoot here again"

Shoot well

[oldfart]

Many years ago, when I was a teenager, I was living on the Oregon coast. One late summer weekend, my family decided to drive down to northern California where we camped in a state park. As mom was getting_dinner together, I made friends with a boy and girl about my age from the next campsite.

After dinner, I and my new friends took off to look around. They were from Oakland and somewhat unused to trees and brush so I enjoyed showing them around. The boy, the younger of the two, got tired of learning about nature, so he went back to his campsite and brought his gun out to show it to me.

It was an odd-looking thing for that time, with a pistol grip, a modified lever action and a short barrel. He was quite proud of it, saying he had built it in a shop class at school. (That should give you some idea of how long ago this occurred.)

It was an interesting piece, but so was his sister and I was a typical teenage boy. In an attempt to impress me, at one point he aimed it at her head while holding his finger on the trigger. I pushed it away from her head and suggested he not do that. He then assured me that it was unloaded and, to prove his point, he aimed it at a tree and pulled the trigger.

Somewhere in Prarie Creek Redwoods State Park, there is a giant redwood with a .22 caliber bullet lodged in it. The gun was loaded and my action saved the life of a very pretty young woman. The thanks she exhibited to me for much of the rest of the night was the high point of that summer.

[bogie]

When I see irresponsible behavior which does not threat me, I say "pardon me, but you are violating Rule # ___." If they do not know the Four Rules, they get a lecture and then urged to seek training.

Er... For what it's worth, I don't "know" the four rules. I know safe gun handling and all that, but if you asked me to spew forth "rule #1" or "rule #3" or whatever from memory, you'd get one puzzled look.

And I'm sure that I'm not alone in that.

"Rules" aren't important. The use of common sense is.

And I've been told, more than a few times by folks I've shot with that I'm one of the safest people they've ever been shooting with - I tend to lecture folks on things like "keep the thing pointed downrange," and "backstop control," even when informally plinking.

Been shooting since I was a little kid... And taught more than a few folks about responsible firearms use. As far as I'm concerned, when conducting a range session with unfamiliar folks, "Rule #1" is that Bogie doesn't leave the range with more orifices than he started with.

[glockten]

This doesn't really fall into the "stupid" category, but I did prevent an accident.

Some years ago, I was shooting handguns with a friend. He had just taken up reloading and was shooting his .38 Spl. loads from a King Cobra. As he was firing, I noticed that one round didn't sound quite right. Looking over, I could see a 158gr SWC protruding from his muzzle. I immediately told him not to fire. He was able to extract that bullet with pliers and resume firing, but with factory loads.

We both learned valuable lessons that day. He learned to double-check his powder charges, and I learned not to shoot a novice's reloads.:)

[Skunkabilly]

As far as people not my students, minor stuff, like not wrapping your thumb around the end of the gun when shooting, etc.

Women listen and are easier, but many guys require seeing their own blood before they change their ways. :uhoh:

[El Tejon]

bogie, yes, but The Four Rules codify "common sense." How many times have you heard people proclaim that "I don't need no ejumakashun, I got common sense" by people who have none of the above?

The Four Rules should be printed on cards and dropped from airplanes. If these rules are internalized, firearms safety would not be a public concern.

"No additional holes" is the guiding premise of the Four Rules!:D

[shooten]

Thankfully, only once. A couple of years after high school a friend asked me if I wanted to shoot .22 rifles out in the country. My then girlfriend, now wife, came along. We found a safe place to shoot and went through about 5 boxes of ammo. Great time.

Towards the end of the day, my friend and I are standing next to each other shooting at a target when a Golden eagle starts to fly away on a hill down range and away. My idiot friend starts to track the eagle with his rifle and was about to pull the trigger when I grabbed the stock close to where it met the barrel and pulled it so that it was pointing down range as his round went off. He was very upset with me but I held my ground and told him what a dope he was for trying to shoot a protected animal for one, and two aiming a rifle over the backstop should he miss his target. That was the end of the day for me and I never went shooting with him again. I did, however, learn that my wife was pretty good with a .22. :D
Scott

[Mike Irwin]

Yeah, I've kept a couple people from buying AMT products...

[J Miller]

:what: :uhoh: :scrutiny: I was going to the range today. After reading this, I'm not so sure :confused: anymore.

I guess I have been lucky, I have read about more idiotic incidents than I have seen. And yet I wonder if I must be wearing blinders. Concentrating on my space in the world and really not watching what others are doing.
Either that or I have been shooting in areas where stupid people avoid. Yeah, that's it. NOT!

I don't have a story to put here. Since I'm not memory challenged yet, I really guess I'm lucky..

[Kobun]

Had a idiot during a match that when he was finished, all of a sudden thinks he has forgotten some targets, and then starts backing up and around me!! :eek:
All the while pointing his MP-5 downrange... NOT lifting or lowering the barrel... :banghead:
Yes, I stopped him.
Had a loong talk too, but that was after I had a few minutes to let my heart calm down...

If you ever takes someone new to the range, make sure they know the safety rules, and how to handle that particular gun before they get any ammo!

[pax]

Yes, I have.

I've helped RO in classes for beginning shooters. Seems like every class or so, I've ended up stopping someone from doing something stupid. Putting the thumb directly behind the slide on a semi-auto is probably the second most common error; putting the finger on the trigger when it's not supposed to be is definitely the most common.

It's not a biggie -- that's why they're in class, to learn not to do stuff like that.

If you haven't stopped someone from doing stupid newbie stuff, it simply means you haven't taken enough newbies to the range.

pax

All things are difficult before they are easy. -- Thomas Fuller

[wingnutx]

He once unloaded a BB gun by putting his finger over the barrel

I did that once when I was about 13. I ended up with a BB in my thumb. I was rolling it around under my skin, trying to get it back out the hole, when I suddenly woke up on the floor. I think I passed out 3 times total.

I had to have my thumb cut open to have the BB removed. What can I say, I was a dumbass.

[oldfart]

My 14-year old daughter has been bugging me to learn to shoot. I took her to the range last week and spent some time showing her how to hold and aim a pistol. Each time she tried it, she's extend the forefinger of her left hand so it would lay along the frame, under the cylinder. I kept telling her not to do that, but she is 14 years old, so she did it anyhow.

Well, that old Smith N-frame is starting to blow a bit of flame out the sides. It took all of one shot before she understood why her idea wasn't so good. Fortunately, it wasn't a serious burn. She listens to me now.

[Black_Talon]

I tried to stop something stupid from happening but was too late. It wasn't quite as bad as most of the prior posts however.

I was shooting next to a guy who was shooting an AR-15 and seemed fairly proficient. I was watching him and noticed that he was looking at the chamber with a puzzled look. He told me that the brass hadn't ejected from the chamber. He pulled the bolt open and an empty case ejected. I told him he'd better check the barrel because he may have had a squib. He opened up the receiver and sure enough, the barrel had a bullet stuck in it just past the chamber, in the lead. He said he was going to use his cleaning rod to try and knock it out of the bbl.

I was half-assed paying attention at this time and noticed he was assembling the 5-piece GI cleaning rod that was stored in the buttstock (the one with no handle) The next thing I saw was him with the cleaning rod down the muzzle end of the bbl and the reciever resting on his foot, his open hand raised above the cleaning rod, ready to try and hammer the stuck bullet out of the bbl. As his hand started downwards I realized that there was no handle on that cleaning rod and he was about to get hurt. I started to yell out "STOP!" but was too late. He struck the cleaning rod very hard with the open palm of his hand and impaled the rod completely through his hand. He screamed and pulled his hand off the cleaning rod. By now I had run over there to try and help and expected to see his hand bleeding profusely. Actually there was hardly any blood at all, only a nice 22cal hole through-andthrough his palm.

I watched his stuff while he drove himself to the hospital..........

[Combat-wombat]

Oldfart-that happened to my dad once. he was used to shooting light .38 special loads in out S&W M19, but once we put some pretty hot .357s in. I had always suggested that he keep his thumb away from the gap, even with the .38s, but he's older so he knows better, right? Big mistake. His thumb was black when we got home. Most parents teach their kids about guns, but I teach my parents about guns. They would have never shot guns if it wasn't for my interests.

[ArMa]

Once I was pheasant hunting with 4 guys, 2 of which werent the best of friends, (lets call them Phil and Eric) competition always set them off. We split up and told each other where we'd be in case of a bird. I ended up a little ahead of Phil and Eric, Eric yelled "brid!" and shot 1 bird and shot the other 2 shots at another, during this time Phil was under the bird Eric was shooting at. Phil yelled "hey ****** watch where your shooting!", and shot 3 rounds about 15 feet above Erics head. They both hit the ground and reloaded. I ran out and tried to calm things down and then they both popped up and were about 10-15 feet away from each other pointing their shotguns at eachother from the hip like a stand off, they started circling around and Eric said, "What you got?!", "4's with and 28 and extra full" Phil replied Eric said "I got 7's with a 26 modified", they realised who had the upper hand and I eventually calmed them down with the help of the other guy. It was a tense moment, I wasnt sure what to do it was like a movie. :eek:

I dont hunt with either of them anymore.