Guns and oxygen tanks

Status
Not open for further replies.
D

DFWB

Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2012
Messages
32
Location
Charlotte, NC
Ok, so I have a very strange situation that I would like your thoughts on.

My mother is pretty sick (paraplegic, heart failure, colon cancer). She is on oxygen full time, but doesn't need very much (they are talking about putting her on a device that only gives her oxygen when she breathes in). Before all of this happened, she lived alone I'm a one bedroom apartment. After she got out of the hospital my father and I looked for a three bedroom, but couldn't find any available in our price range, so we rented the apartment above hers. One of us is there pretty much 24/7 and we use 2-way radios for when we are upstairs.

Recently her apartment was broken into while we were at her doctor's appointment. She gas expressed interest in purchasing a gun for self defense because she no longer feels safe. So I guess my question is this: would it even be safe for her to fire a gun she's on oxygen?

Also, if it is deemed safe, what recommendations would you have as to the type of gun. I'm leaning towards a .380. She is a very small woman 5'6 95 lds and I'm afraid even a 9 mm would kick too much for her (no gun experience).

I'm honestly at a loss here so any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Firearms should not be any more a problem with 02 than stoves, water heaters or other sources of ignition as long as good safety practices are followed. As far as the best handgun, only your mother can decide that. You don't want someone else deciding what firearms you should and should not have so don't do the same to your mom. Take her to the gun store, let her shoot a few different types at the range and let her decide
 
I am on O2, & shoot guns all the time, Oxygen does not burn, or explode. You have to have 3 things to make BURN & that is Fuel, Oxygen, & heat, without one of those three you have nothing, just because you are on Oxygen ain`t going to hurt nothing.............
 
Oxygen

I think the oxygen is a non-issue. I visualize your mother having one of those arrangements with a tube under the nose, not a full blown oxygen tent as used to be common in hospitals but is now not so often seen. The hazard is if there is a concentration of pure oxygen around a flammable substance and you add an ignition source. With the tube under the nose arrangement the oxygen concentration falls off very rapidly over a very small distance from the nose.

The choice of firearm is more debatable. I'd not ignore the possibility of a small revolver in 38 Special. Simpler in operation and no spring loaded slide to deal with. Some weak people have problems drawing a slide back.
 
unspellable said:
The choice of firearm is more debatable. I'd not ignore the possibility of a small revolver in 38 Special. Simpler in operation and no spring loaded slide to deal with. Some weak people have problems drawing a slide back.
Click to expand...
Not a shotgun with a dragon's breath round?

No, to be fair, you want something with an easily pullable trigger. The Ruger LCR is a good choice, since it's designed to be easily pullable, even by weaker women.
 
Not looking to decide for her, or for anyone else to do so. I am simply looking for suggestions that I can have her look at as a starting point.

I am worried about her being able to work the slide. I'm also worried about the trigger pull on a DA revolver. I think we'll have to wait until I can get her to a range to see how she handles those two issues.
 
I am on O2, & shoot guns all the time, Oxygen does not burn, or explode. You have to have 3 things to make BURN & that is Fuel, Oxygen, & heat, without one of those three you have nothing, just because you are on Oxygen ain`t going to hurt nothing.............
Click to expand...

Actually that's fuel, oxygen, and a source of ignition.

If firing a gun is difficult for her, what about pepper spray.
 
She has pepper spray. I don't know whether or not firing a gun will be hard, that's something I'll have to learn at the range. So I guess I'm looking for suggestions for 38 specials and .380 autos to have her look at.
 
O2 is an oxidizer, it doesn't "burn", it allows a fuel to burn.

A few things to consider:

1. The concentration of O2 in the room air is going to be just slightly higher then the room air without the O2 which will not really increase the flamability of anything in the room.

2. With a mask or nasal cannula a handgun held in the hand will be far away from the muzzle flash.

3. This is something that will only be used in dire circumstances (hopefully never).

Now if she is going to light a cigarrette the butane fuel in the lighter and the fuel of the cigarette while using the 02...flash fire.

It should be okay for her to fire a handgun, though just to be on the safe side, a .380 or 9mm or other low muzzle flash caliber would be safer than a short barreled .50bmg pistol that you were looking at for her.
 
No .50 bmg? But I wanted her to be able to kill that awkward elephant in the room and break both of her arms off at the same time!
 
If she is on O2 pepper spray is a bad idea, if she has breathing problems a room filled with pepper spray could be fatal.

Plus in my experience pepper spray is not very effective on a determined individual. It's better not to enrage a burglar...
 
My daughter had problems racking the slide on an auto, so we looked at revolvers. She didn't like the trigger pull, so she decided on a Colt Government Model .380. Just like its big brother, it uses notches in the barrel to lock into the slide, and a lighter spring than most autos, so she can work the action pretty easily. Just a recommendation.
 
Tazer I'm in favor of in a LEO setting where things are more stable (nut with knife doesn't want to drop it and you don't want to shoot him).

You only have one shot with a Tazer) and you have to get a good shot to be effective (good contact with both darts and them spread out).

It takes a good 1-2 seconds to reload.

An enraged suspect is worse situation then what you started with.

A gun seems the safest, more effective route to go.

Also, not to be morbid, but I would talk to her and make sure that protection is why she wants the gun. Severe health problems can cause anyone to get depressed and think about suicide. I trust that this isn't where she's coming from, but running the two nonlethal options by her first might help you make sure that she isn't thinking along this lines.

If all is well there, what meds is she on? Is she clear headed enough to decern that it is a burglar and not you or your dad?

These are just some other angles to look at the issue from, your mother is lucky to have you and your dad looking out for her.
 
You don't have a problem, but you do have some things you need to be aware of. Let's start with Mom first. Oxygen and petroleum lubricants don't mix. Eventually your Mom will start to complain about a dry or sore nose. DO NOT use Vaseline or any other petroleum based lotion or ointment in her nose to help with this problem. There is a product called Ayr that is specially designed to sooth the nasal passages of oxygen users. It is available over the counter in most pharmacies, and it is very reasonably priced for the length of use you will get out of it.

You should not have any problem with gun lubes unless you squirt them up her nose. The concentration needs to be high for there to be a reaction between oxygen and petroleum products. Depending on flow rate this may or may not occur in Mom's nose, but why take chances. It certainly won't occur in a home or car setting with a demand regulator.

With a demand regulator you should never have a high enough concentration for there to be any increased risk of fire or explosion. As has been pointed out earlier oxygen does not burn but it supports combustion like a son of a gun.

The demand regulator tells me your Mom is not at a high flow rate when she is on a tank, but does she have an oxygen concentrator in the home? If she does, do not put it in an enclosed area with heavily oiled items. An open room is plenty safe, especially since she is using less than 6 LPM with the nasal cannula.

All in all, the oxygen is not a problem with firearms or tasers. The risk is increased for petroleum products, but not enough to have a cow over. Just don't put petroleum near the oxygen outlet in her nose. Severe burns could result.
 
Pure BS, i have had wasp spray splash back and get into my eyes. it was slightly uncomfortable but not nearly enough to stop me from doing anything. i would say shampoo hurt my eyes more than wasp spray.
 
She gas expressed interest in purchasing a gun for self defense because she no longer feels safe. So I guess my question is this: would it even be safe for her to fire a gun she's on oxygen?
Click to expand...

Yes. Her hazard would come from leakage of the oxygen that would lower the ignition temperature due to a much higher oxygen concentration. The oxygen isn't fuel, but high oxygen levels would make anything that could burn as fuel ignite at lower temperatures than normal. Shooting a firearm makes a very poor source of ignition (regardless of what movies, TV and games depict). Her oxygen would have to be leaking a great deal for this problem to occur.

It would be a better initial investment to improve the perimeter security by reinforcing entry points and locks. The point is to keep people out so she doesn't have to defend herself.
 
Pepper spray is OK, but I read where wasp spray is better because most of those cans can shoot 20 feet. No need to let some idiot get any closer, and grab the pepper can.
Click to expand...
Wasp spray is just solvent, for practical purposes...the insecticide itself is not healthy but probably not incapacitating to humans at any achievable dose, and unlike pepper spray there isn't much residual/off-stream effect I'd think. It could drive off someone who wasn't really interested in attacking, but I doubt it would be effective against a committed attacker, who could press the attack with his eyes closed even if one got a lucky hit.
 
I read where wasp spray is better
Click to expand...

Don't believe everything you read. There are a number of problems with this self defense meme about effectiveness (not as effective as OC spray at stopping an attack), range (stream is slow enough to dodge at distance), legality (intentionally not getting a spray tested as safe on humans for something tested as not safe).
 
I normally nudge people away from .380s when I can, but there are exceptions. My mother had an injury several years ago in her left wrist that never healed properly. As a result, she can't rack a slide on most autos with ANY technique. Nor can she handle the DA pull on most revolvers. I learned that the Walther PK380 is built on the P-22 frame and has very light springs, and it is VERY easy to rack. I will probably be getting her one soon.
 
recoil operated vs blow back operated

Most self loaders of 380 or lesser calibers are blow back operated. A few such as the Colt Mustang or 380 Government sibling, the Keltec, and maybe others are recoil operated. In center fire calibers the blow backs will generally have stiffer slide springs.
 
mljdeckard

Check out the Sig P 238, too. My daughter thinks the slide is very easy and recoil is almost nonexistent. It is a very pleasant .380 to shoot.
 
I think that USED to be true, as far as .380s are concerned. Most the current and recently introduced crop of SMALL .380s are not pure blowback, but have a locked-breech system of some sort.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

F
  • Locked
My Daughter.....
2 3
Replies
58
Views
3K
Ala Dan
A
D
  • Locked
Anti-gun ex-wife... progress made in tiny steps
Replies
18
Views
1K
jakemccoy
J
W
  • Locked
Unwilling to pull the trigger.
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Replies
234
Views
9K
Justin
Justin
X
  • Locked
My Daughter's First Gun
Replies
18
Views
994
XD Fan
X
K
  • Locked
Help for a Friend
2
Replies
29
Views
1K
Larry Ashcraft
Larry Ashcraft
Back
Top