Gun safety question

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monotonous_iterancy

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Yesterday I was watching Doomsday Preppers re-run. It's not something I watch ever really and in fact, I think this was the first episode I remember seeing a lot of. Really I feel that the producers seem to pick the most paranoid people and put them on display.

What got my attention though, was a segment where this guy accidentally shot his thumb off somehow. How this happened confuses me.

All we knew at first was that it was something with his hand, and it was mentioned that his gun "misfired". So I thought that maybe the gun somehow blew up in his hand. Then I thought that maybe the web of his hand covered the slide on the pistol he was shooting.

Then we learn that somehow, his thumb got in front of the barrel.

The show mentioned that he was formerly in the special forces, and was also an air force paratrooper. So he should know how to properly handle firearms.

How could any part of you get in front of the barrel when holding a gun normally?
 
So he should know how to properly handle firearms.
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You think?

Some of the most unsafe gun handling I have ever seen in my life was done by people in the military.

Thats even how I got shot in the leg with a .22 target pistol by an experianced Army enlisted man who should know how to handle firearms safely.

But obviously didn't.

rc
 
If I had to guess, military personnel get complacent and a little lax in some of their safety routines. I will admit some time I don't follow safety totally, but pointing the barrel in a safe direction is the first rule of safety and if followed would prevent most firearms accidents. So did he lose the thumb?
 
monotonous_iterancy
Gun safety question
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Dunno, my boys (14 & 10) handle guns safer than a lot of grown men. Just because someone's been in such-and-such doesn't mean squat if their mind isn't on it. I'm guessing that being distracted by the interviewer and the camera crew had something to do with it.
 
So did he lose the thumb?
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No. They reattached most of it, although he had to undergo multiple surgeries.

The reason I assumed military members would know better is that I thought they made sure to stamp out unsafe gun handling practices, to the point that safe gun handling would be muscle memory.
 
monotonous_iterancy said:
No. They reattached most of it, although he had to undergo multiple surgeries.

The reason I assumed military members would know better is that I thought they made sure to stamp out unsafe gun handling practices, to the point that safe gun handling would be muscle memory.
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As I understand it, the military philosophy on gun safety is to make their equipment as idiot-proof as possible.
 
HDCamel:
As I understand it, the military philosophy on gun safety is to make their equipment as idiot-proof as possible.
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Frequently my company calls upon me to make a design that is fool or idiot proof and frequently I respond it is impossible. Fools and idiots are ingenious people.

The only thing necessary to erase countless hours of safety training and practice is a single lapse in memory or distraction when handling a firearm. In a single split second all the safety training is as useless as teats on a bull.

Ron
 
Thats even how I got shot in the leg with a .22 target pistol by an experianced Army enlisted man who should know how to handle firearms safely.

But obviously didn't.
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I've noticed this, too...and I think that the problem isn't so much in not knowing how as it is in doing it so much that complacency starts to become the issue. A man that I used to know who was a lifelong motorcyclist spoke of his years riding without a single serious accident.

He said:

"When you reach the point that you're not just a little afraid of that bike, it's time to get rid of it."

I'd say that the same applies to guns.

I hear people refer to their pistol as "My new toy" or "My little friend." I beg to differ, and my standard response has become:

"It's not a toy and it sure as hell ain't your friend. It becomes a rattlesnake the instant that you pick it up, and you should regard it as hostile whenever your hand is on it."

Is gun. Gun not safe.

Words to live by, IMHO.
 
This is absolutely correct. The military engenders an attitude of complacency. They MENTION the four rules, but their method of trying to keep people safe is to never give anyone any ammunition until the moment they think they need it. When you are on the range, you don't handle any ammunition until you walk to the firing line. The problem is, when you go to a war zone, you are so used to thinking that your gun is empty, you really don't have safe handling habits. This is when people start losing toes. (And thumbs apparently.)

I have absolutely no inclination to watch the show, but if it was a revolver, is it possible that he had his hand over the cylinder gap when the gun was fired?
 
I was surpised to read in the news that Petraus was shot while at the range by a soldier accidently and had to have emergency surgery.
 
Yeah complacency is definitely one of life's nasties. The moment you stop respecting something deadly, it kills you.

EDIT: I speak from experience here - I've actually lost a family member dead to a firearms accident; he was a gun owner for 30+ years.
 
Well my thought was, if your hand is on the grip, it's not anywhere near the muzzle. The clip didn't show him shooting revolvers, though it did show him shooting an auto. Although with all the editing, maybe he had some guns they didn't show.

Now that I think about it, it sort of reinforces the idea that everyone who is into shooting, or guns, is unsafe, or that shooting is inherently unsafe. It's not - so long as you're safe about it, and avoid getting complacent.
 
Blue Line said:
I was surpised to read in the news that Petraus was shot while at the range by a soldier accidently and had to have emergency surgery.
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Not the first officer to be "accidentally" shot by one of his troops....maybe related to another biographer....
 
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