Negligent Discharge

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Rocketmedic

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This morning, one of my friends (recently ETSed) sent us some pictures. This weekend, he was drinking and hanging out with family. Apparently, they passed around a 9mm, and his cousin accidentally shot him in the foot. He is OK with minimal injury, but this is a very vivid demonstration of why alcohol and firearms cannot be combined.
 
Idiots who don't follow the 4 rules get shot all the time with and without alcohol - drinking just makes it worse.
 
I like beer and I like firearms. I keep them separated, because I like my feet intact.
 
I like beer and I like firearms. I keep them separated, because I like my feet intact.

I keep them separated because I like my brain intact. My foot, well I can live with some damage there.

Thank you for the story, it will make me even more obsessive about checking the chamber on any firearm I touch. I'm glad the situation didn't end in a real tragedy.
 
To me it seems more like a vivid reason why not to pass around a loaded firearm to the family for a show and tell. I don't care how drunk I am, I would never pass a loaded firearm around for everyone to fondle. Unload and check chamber to make sure that it is empty, then do the show and tell. That would be my method anyway.

Shawn
 
"Passing around a gun" is just a bad idea, period.

My neighbor is a real enthusiast, builds ARs as a side business, and we talk guns a lot. If either of us gets something new, we usually let the other take a look.

Gun pointed in safe direction. Visibly unloaded. Visibly chamber cleared. Invite the other to check the chamber. Then it's safe for inspection. Even so, it stays pointed in a safe direction, adhering to safety rules. Just seems so common sense.
 
+1 on the unloaded show and tell, would seem like a no brainer. Once I got my CPL and decided to start carring all the time, it was time to give up the alcohol completely (and I like my beer) Now it's NA beer or nothing !!!
 
As much as I am for keeping the beer and guns separated, and for following the 4 rules

PLEASE NOTE:
his cousin accidentally shot him in the foot

I rather think it bad form for our members to wish ill on the injured man, if he had shot himself in the foot, I would have shrugged and said 'learning moment'

Hopefully his cousin will reconsider shooting family members, drunk or not.
 
Another easily avoidable ND.....

Since I got my first gun at age 8, clearing a gun before handling it has been as second nature to me as putting on a seatbelt when in a car. However, it is stories like this that keep me from letting myself get to comfortable around a gun whether I know it is safely unloaded or not.
 
That's life, chances are he will drink and shoot again. It's like drinking and driving. No matter what you tell some guys, they still insist they can drive.
 
Never hand a firearm to anyone unless the action is open, indicating the firearm is unloaded. Never accept a firearm from anyone unless you open the action to visibly check that the firearm is unloaded.
 
I don't agree with the action open biz on a semi auto handgun. I'll check it before I hand it off. I'll check it after I receive it. But I think a semi auto with the action open is one step closer to a loaded gun. If the other guy doesn't believe it's empty, then good. He needs to check for himself, anyway. And it needs to be treated as if it's loaded, either way. Saying you must hand over a gun with the action open is like saying you need to put the safety on.

The "I'm the only person professional enough to handle this Glock 40," video comes to mind. He demonstrates the unloaded gun with the slide open. Drops slide release. Shoots foot. I know the first thing someone will do when they receive a locked open gun is to drop the slide. I want to be the one closing the slide - slow enough to see and feel it's empty. I prefer to not give someone the chance to pick it up and drop the slide release, anyway. Aside from stressing the gun, dropping the slide with a release is just not a good last action to verify a gun is empty. It puts a question mark back into the equation because it happens so fast and it's the same action used to load a gun.

So for me, my guns are never safe. But the safest they get is when they're emptied, slide closed, and chamber checked, then treated like they're loaded. The other guy can repeat it all over again, for himself, however he prefers.
 
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Yeah....I can tell you this, I enjoy a good beer. However, as soon as my drinking compadres start passing around a firearm, it is time to call it a night.
 
I don't agree with the action open biz on a semi auto handgun.

It's a matter of courtesy as well as gun safety. You either demonstrate that the gun is unloaded, or you state plainly that it is loaded before handing it to someone. If you hand me a gun with the action closed, I'm going to visually check the status unless you plainly tell me that it is loaded.

I told the story in another thread about sitting in my office in a military building when somebody handed me an "unloaded" pistol without a magazine and asked me to check out the sweet trigger pull. I opened the action and a live round dropped out of the chamber. If I hadn't opened the action I'd have a shot a hole through a picture of Bill Clinton hanging on the wall, and I might also have shot the guy in the next office. Both of these things would have been discourteous, so I consider opening the action a good practice to observe.
 
I have a rule that any gun I hand off is sans magazine and has the slide locked back. Glad your friend's okay.
 
The owner of that gun obviously did not follow multiple rules all at once, so pardon me being frank, but that was deserved. Regardless, I am glad that everyone is okay and let this be a lesson and be thankful nobody died that night. That is, indeed, negligence and you all need to be more careful and more versed in the ways of gun safety.
 
Two things are infinite. The universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe - Albert Einstein

I would say they are fortunate to only have a bullet to the foot. Maybe they'll both think next time they're drinking and keep the guns put away.
 
Sobriety has given me some amazing gifts, and one of them is knowing that I will never be responsible for an AD due to inebriation. It also helps when you get pulled over.
 
if someone pulls out a gun and hands it to another without obviously clearing it .. like twice

... i´m leaving.
 
If I hand anybody a firearm I'll check it then open it so show the person that it's clear.
If that person doesn't check it when I hand it to them, I'll tell them to check it.
Redundancy is practiced 3 times.

It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human race proved to be nothing more than the story of an ape playing with a box of matches on a petrol dump. - David Ormsby Gore
 
I've been around guns all my life. Grew up around guns, and hunting. It was the norm to be out bird hunting, walk around for a while, meet back at the truck or camp, have a couple beers, a sandwich, and head back out. None of us ever had a ND. Muzzles were always in a safe direction, and all guns were unloaded in camp, and while in the truck. Nobody ever got drunk, there was never a problem. So to say the problem was because they were drinking, might be true in their case. The real problem for sure though is stupidity. Nothing wrong with having a couple beers while you're out hunting. Getting drunk while being stupid is the real issue.
 
Idiots who don't follow the 4 rules get shot all the time with and without alcohol - drinking just makes it worse.

I must've missed the part where the guy who got shot wasn't following the 4 rules. Sounded to me like he got shot by a guy who wasn't following the 4 rules.

This is why gun safety should be taught in all public schools. So should CPR and first aid. It's about public safety, dang it.
 
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