Girl shoots self in leg at range

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That is very sad. :(

The lesson seems to me that protective gear extends way beyond eyes and ears.
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Very true. I always wear a ball cap as the bill protects me from having shells go behind my eye protection. It happens as stated here with .223. Even with a full collared crew neck shirt or sweatshirt on, I've still had brass go straight down the back of my shirt. Put the gun down, then do the spent shell dance.
 
Composure, and the will to maintain it, is a fundamental part of Firearms safety.

She could just as easily have shot someone standing to the side.

Not so good..!
 
I think we've all had brass burns...my most amusing was when a 9mm brass found it's way into my shirt, and the immedate in-suck of my gut as a reaction actually led to it getting wedged inside my navel.....that stinkin hurt.

Nope, I didn't drop my gun either...I did throw it on safety and place it on the bench before showing the world my belly though. I also learned to button my shirts up as high as possible when shooting or to just wear a t-sihrt.
 
I was shooting a .22 Ruger one day in the summer with flip-flops on my feet. A piece of hot brass fell right under the top strap and was trapped against my foot. I did the Irish jig while keeping the muzzle pointed down range and had a .22 tattoo on my foot for a couple of months.
 
, I've still had brass go straight down the back of my shirt. Put the gun down, then do the spent shell dance.
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its kinda funny to watch when that happens. you can tell if they are a regular shooter because they just get this look in their eye, slowly put the gun down staying totally calm like nothing has happened, then start hopping around like a rabid dog while they are trying to jar it loose.
 
We all have had hot brass in the collar or on the eye protection, but I recall one new shooter, female, who was wearing a tank top and got an ejected case in the cleavage. She danced around a bit while keep the pistol pointed down range until she set the safety and put the pistol on the bench, then cleared the case. She obviously paid heed to her safety instruction.
 
Shooting a Remington 241 (bottom eject .22 rifle) while sitting cross-legged with shorts. Yep you can imagine, nice .22 imprint on the back of one thigh for a few months.
 
Any chance you have a link to a local news story on this, if it made the news?

Not doubting it happened at all, just wondering if it was covered in the news.
 
What am I missing here? What lesson is there to be learned? I'm not trying to be a wise guy here, but I don't see it.
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The lesson to be learned is that there is value in finding someone who is actually a trained instructor to teach a new shooter.

Before I take a new shooter to the range they get a safety brief. It includes things like wearing a cap to keep brass from falling between the safety glasses and the eyes. Things like wearing a shirt that buttons all the way up to keep brass from falling inside. Instructions on what to do in the event that brass ends up hitting/burning something better left unhit/unburnt. Things like insuring that hearing protection and eye protection fits properly. Proper shooting hygiene etc.

I tell them what's going to happen during the shooting session. I tell them common safety mistakes that new shooters make and what I'm going to do to prevent those mistakes from becoming dangerous if they make them. Also what they should do so I don't have to take action.

Then, especially for the first few shots, I stand very close to the strong hand side of the shooter so I can easily and rapidly gain control of the firearm if the shooter gets distracted or excited. I also load only one round in the gun for the first few shots until the initial excitement/rush wears off and the shooter can settle down a little.

Do you HAVE to have a trained instructor? Nope, I learned without one. But I learned many lessons the hard way because I didn't have an experienced instructor to help me. Fortunately I never had to learn a lesson that involved shooting myself or anyone else accidentally.
 
Yeah I have had 5.56 brass get caught inside the tongue of my shoe... shorts were a bad idea to say the least. Took forever to get it out, as I had to remove my shoe, and it left a nice little burn scar on my ankle. And I've also taken plenty of .40 S&W brass inside the front and back of my shirt... I no longer tuck my shirt in!
 
Yeah, the IBA brass catcher really suck, esp when you are in the prone qualifying and catch some from the guy in the next hole, missed a popup digging that one out, still qualified. lesson learned, expect the brass and know what it is and how to react. It is something you can train, and doesn't have to be a 'reaction' especially with such a poor outcome.
 
How does one train for a "reaction"? A reaction is just that... a sudden action which has no plan or forethought.
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There are some reactions you need to train.

If you truly believe that you can't train for a reaction and so you never even try then you'd better hope you never drop a sharp knife or a loaded gun. The normal reaction is to try to catch the dropped object--which turns out to be an amazingly bad idea.

If no one tells you the possibilities and you don't realize what could happen and how you should react, the odds are you won't react properly when it does happen. You may not react properly even with good training, but at least you have a chance of doing so.
It is something you can train, and doesn't have to be a 'reaction' especially with such a poor outcome.
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I agree.
 
What am I missing here? What lesson is there to be learned?
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Protective eyewear and a hat with a bill or brim of some sort, and clothing that includes a t-shirt with a snug collar are essential range wear. If your pistol ejects ammo in a direction that facilitates this kind of contact, adjust the ejector mechanism until it is casting spent shells in a safer direction. Some ranges have walled shooting stations and brass might still bounce off and back at you. Make adjustments to compensate for it.

It is very sad that this shooter wound up injuring herself, but it should be quite obvious that she could just as easily have shot anyone to her left or even behind her, possibly. Another lesson is that all semi-auto shooters should have a trained protocol for dealing with a thrown-back casing: e.g., finger off trigger, gun down, clear casing.

I'd like to say that we revolver guys don't have this problem, but I've had to sit out a few rounds because the guy next to me was spitting his brass at me. It was getting too possible for one of his hot casings to hit me, and if one had, I would need the exact same protocol - finger off trigger, gun down, etc.
 
I took my daughter and her husband to the range the other day. It was the first time she's gone shooting for several years, and the first time shooting a 1911.

I was very pleased when not once, but twice, hot brass bounced off the sidewall of the lane and down her shirt, and she kept the pistol pointed down range, engaged the safety, and then danced the dance :D

The only down side of the evening, we looked at some new guns for her, and she decided that a Glock 19 is the gun she likes the best.:rolleyes: :neener:
 
I keep a high necked sweat shirt in my car for just this reason. When I'm working with a female shooter in a class, or a one-on-one lesson, if they are wearing a low cut top I'll have them put the sweatshirt on over it. (I try to inform them on what to wear ahead of time, but the message doesn't always get through or some things are more ad hoc).

When I help out at Women On Target events I bring several as there are always some women wearing tops that are low cut eough to be a safety hazard.
 
I never tuck in my shirt while shooting, so it's easy to do a little dance and it winds up on the floor quickly.
 
When I'm working with a female shooter in a class, or a one-on-one lesson, if they are wearing a low cut top I'll have them put the sweatshirt on over it.
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I do the same thing when a female family member or my girlfriend end up going with me on an impromptu shooting trip.

How does one train for a "reaction"?
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I try to make them aware of necessary reactions and what they cannot do. I shoot outdoors on my own property, in a damp corner of a field near an old irrigation pond. This brings several more unexpected surprises. I've twice (probably more, but twice is all that stands out) almost stepped on a snake during certain seasons when walking to and from the truck. What scared me more than anything else was watching a copperhead meander perpendicularly in front of me, at about 8 yards. I was setting up for my shot and I remember holding my breath until it got out of sight. That one creeped me out for awhile. Fire ants in the shoes or heaven forbid, inside your shirt or pants while laying prone on a blanket will get your attention. It seems nothing short of covering yourself in deadly pesticides will keep fire ants or mosquitoes off of you here in the wet parts of NC.
 
Sounds like she wasn't too experianced, Finger off the trigger! This could serve as a good lesson. Hope she is alright, any idea about how she shot herself?
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She got burned, murphy intervened.

Murphy has his own trigger finger.

One time when i was qualifying with my M-16A1 (i'm a lefty) i had 2 straight spent casings wedge themselves in the chin strap of my helmet. Since i was qualifying i couldn't really stop and knock them out, so i had to grin and bear it and keep shooting. Shot a 38/40.

The lesson in this story is clear: Don't panic.
 
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