Negligent / Accidental Discharges @ Shows?

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THIS is why I posted this thread. You can't ever be too careful, especially when you're a "veteran gun expert". One of the stories my friend related was where a vendor worked out a trade involving a guest's carry gun. The carry gun went onto the table without being checked. Later in the day, a guest picked it up without checking the chamber and "boom". No injuries, but no less than THREE individuals failed to check the weapon!
 
Yes, I was in the warehouse of the idiot that had the ND at the Crossroads of the West gunshow in Costa Mesa, CA. Don't recall most of the details, but it involved a welded-up AR (to make it CA-legal) and a demo w/ a live round. Fortunately, the rifle was pointed downward. Unfortunately, splatter hit someone (vendor?) in the leg, and the po-po's were called in. Said vendor is no longer welcome at the event.

I recall hearing the gunshot and crouching down to table height, thinking if there was a second shot, I'd be getting intimate w/ the concrete PDQ. No one else went down, they just kinda paused, then went about their business like nothing happened. It's like when we have quakes here in CA. No one goes for doorways or cover, they just stand around looking at each other.

After the ND, I kept wondering how many bodies a .223 bullet would have gone through had the muzzle been level....:eek:
 
gunshots at the gunshow

Unfortunately, a teen aged boy was shot and killed at a gun show in the Atlanta area a few years ago. The dad and the dealer were fooling arond with a handgun and the boy paid the price.
 
This is why our guns have the firing pins removed at gun shows. You cannot trust the public to not produce a moron who will sneak in a live round "just to see".

It is a PAIN to figure out how to get guns to function somewhat normally with FPs removed. But it is worth it.
 
I have never witnessed a ND at a gun show. Firearms have zip ties on them, but dealers with remove them upon request if you are interested in checking out the firearm.

I always check every firearm I handle. You can never be too safe. I don't wan't to give any "antis" any ammo.
 
not a gun (but at a gun show) one and only time i took my mom to a gun show.

she pickup a hanld held stun gun and just as she was about to touch it to my arm she pressed the trigger on it...

luck for me it zaped and i did not get zaped.. scared her a bit. she had to sit a bit just thinking what she almost did to me.


so even non guns can be a problem, so lets all keep a good thought and watch each others back sides.


:uhoh:

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stun guns are a joke. I can stand there and take it for a full five minutes if I had to. It just hurts. Doesn't drop you like a sack of potatoes.
 
Most stood and gawked like typical street morons. I guess everyone was waiting for return fire before deciding to actually invest any energy into reacting.

Just out of curiosity, what do you expect people to do? Should they have jumped around like Yosemite Sam hollerin and a whoopin? Maybe, everyone should have loaded up and returned fire, toss a few grenades and have 'Nam' flashbacks?

When the gun went off at the Tanner show here, the place became deathly quiet. The people nearest checked to make sure no one was hurt and the security officers came running. The rest if us did stand there. I guess we are typical street morons. I guess we probably should have leapt into a Chuck Norris patented stance and prepared to ninja kick the living crap out of.....what?

You see, there was nothing we could do, the bullet was already in the floor, there was no herd of Hottentots running around that we had to defend against, so standing there waiting for the outcome was the right decision.
 
There was a discharge from a rifle at a vendor next to him. He was called in as a witness at the trial, he had previously handled the rifle and it was not loaded. Interestingly enough, the guy who fired the rifle happened to be a known rabid anti-gunner.

What the hell happened to this anti??
Considering he did put the round in the chamber it shouldnt be too hard to figure it out. Print the casing its doubtful the idiot wiped it down / was wearing gloves. If someone willfully tries to cause an AD they should be charged with Reckless Endangerment, Criminal Mischeif, Distruction of Property (round had to hit something), Endangering the Welfare of a child (im sure a few under 16 year old where around I always see a few kids trailing their parents at shows) and the whole host of whatever they can tack on.
 
What the hell happened to this anti??
Considering he did put the round in the chamber it shouldnt be too hard to figure it out. Print the casing its doubtful the idiot wiped it down / was wearing gloves. If someone willfully tries to cause an AD they should be charged with Reckless Endangerment, Criminal Mischeif, Distruction of Property (round had to hit something), Endangering the Welfare of a child (im sure a few under 16 year old where around I always see a few kids trailing their parents at shows) and the whole host of whatever they can tack on.

Yeah, it did sound like a rather hokey story. You would think an event like that would be rather well documented in the gun community, other that and friend of a friend kind of story.
 
I used to exhibit at gun shows. I always felt as safe at a gun show as anywhere else. Much safer than some places I've been. NDs at shows were always something you heard about, but never witnessed, kind of like Sasquatch and space aliens.

If you ever find yourself afraid for your life, running into a gun show would be a good choice if available.

If you're worried about safety, don't drive to a gun show though-- you're vastly more likely to be injured or killed during the drive to and from the gun show than while you're there. I suspect this would be true even if 3/4 of the people at the gun show were drunk and all the people on the roads that day were sober.

On that note; I go to my kid's school football games (you know where this is going, right?) and at each and every game there is an ambulance, complete with paramedic crew, on location all during the game.

Ever seen an ambulance and crew on standby at a gun show? How about at a shooting match, where people are, you know, actually loading and firing guns?

Me neither.

Do NDs happen? Yes. Very, very rarely. Usually, they result in no injuries or serious property damage. Do people get killed falling down in their own homes? Yes, and it is a more common occurrence.


Carry on.
 
I was in a show last year where there was a bag of .22 LR dropped on the floor and one went off in the bag. Obviously no where near as dangerous as an ND, but it certainly got everyone's attention.
 
I've been going to gun shows regularly for nigh on 30 years and have NEVER seen it happen.

That said, I have seen quite a few ND's at the range... two really bad ones.

One was a .45acp out of a 1911 point blank into a concrete table top.

The other was a 30-06 sideways across the bay of an indoor range after the all-clear and removal of hearing protection. Hit the concrete wall a foot in front of my face. Suffice it to say that it was a bad experience.

Never at a gun show though.
 
I was about 20 feet from a cop at the Sacramento show a few years that let a .40 cal go...put a divot in the concrete about an inch from his toes. Stupid guy tried to play it off like nothing happened either.

Ed
 
Yes, I was in the warehouse of the idiot that had the ND at the Crossroads of the West gunshow in Costa Mesa, CA.

Me, too! :uhoh: Obviously, chambering a live round for the purpose of a demonstration at a gunshow is an idiotic thing to do.

I remember thinking "Hmmm. . . that sounds like a .223 round. I wonder what's going on?" I was ready to hit the deck but there was no further shooting so I double-checked myself to make sure I hadn't been hit. When I found out what had happened, I was pretty upset at the carelessness of the guilty vendor. I mean, I could have died! By being shot at a gunshow! And I knew that if I had, somehow the gun haters would have tried to use me as a matyr for gun control. :cuss: So to make me feel better, I did the only thing I could think of: I thanked God for letting me live another day, and I went and bought myself another gun. :D
 
In twenty years of attending shows I've only had it happen once.

About ten years or so ago there was a ND at a Savannah, GA gun show. IIRC it was a dealer-- details are hazy but I seem to remember that we heard it was a dealer who was trying out a new holster (probably on his own carry piece). There were no injuries and the PA announcer came on and said that the offending dealer was banned from ever attending another show.

You could have heard a pin drop right after the ND. Everybody stopped, froze and waited to see what would happen next.
 
Thankfully, no. Of course, I took more thana 10 year break from attending them.

The last show I went to was the big Syracuse, NY show. The only bad thing that happened was one dealer made a snide remark when he picked up a gun, checked the action, and handed it to me and I proceeded to check it again. After his remark, I handed it right back and told him I was no longer interested. Annoyingly enough, this happened to me at my local Gander Mountain too.
 
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