How do people shoot themselves in the head when cleaning their gun?

[GuyWithQuestions]

When I received my handgun from gunbroker.com and used a local gun shop as the transfer, the person at the gun shop said that there was a cop in the state who should have known better who shot himself in the head while cleaning his Glock. On THR not long ago, it was posted about an athlete who shot himself while cleaning his firearm. Do people really look down the barrel of their firearms while they're cleaning, or how does this all work? My carry piece is a Springfield XD-9, and you have to pull the trigger to field strip it. Even if there was no rule saying don't point your gun at anything you don't want to destroy, I think that it would feel much more natural to point it away from you while field stripping, as far as ergonomics go. I'm just trying to figure out if a lot of people out there actually point their guns at themselves while cleaning them, or what's going on here?

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

A great number of gun cleaning accidents are suicides.

 

[Geronimo45]

Suicide. When there's not clear evidence (note, recent phone calls, etc) that the guy's wanting to kill himself, they generally just say 'it was an accident.' See Heath Ledger, possibly the NFL guy, possibly the cop in question. The authorities don't get a thing out of calling it 'suicide' - just makes the surviving family all the more miserable ("we could've helped him" versus "accidents can happen to anyone") - so they may just let it slide.

 

[BigO01]

Yes I think most are suicide especialy if they have money problems or just come from a typical middle class family and have considerable life insurance on them .

If they left a note the family wont get the money so they do the deed hoping for the best .

 

[ilbob]

+1 - many are really suicides, but no coroner wants to make that judgment unless forced to.

Its especially bad with catholics since they suicides can't be buried in catholic cemeteries.

 

[alan]

I guess it's possible given a person or persons sufficiently stupid.

It becomes especially interesting or curious re the following. Having FIELD STRIPPED the piece prior to the start of cleaning, with most pistols, one is sitting or standing with the barrel in one hand, and a cleaning rod in the other, while the slide and frame lie on a covenient table or work bench.

Of course, it might be that I simply lack imagination.

 

[The_Antibubba]

Do people really look down the barrel of their firearms while they're cleaning, or how does this all work?

Well, I do, but the gun is at that point incapable of firing. At the very least I have to ensure there are no obstructions, like bits of patch, down there.

 

[doc2rn]

You have to pull the trigger on the Glock to disassemble it. That being the case, some are accidents most are suicides.

 

[pete f]

Its a polite lie.

Sheeple will think "oh my what a sad thing"

The kids will think "Daddy did not leave me on purpose"

and the wife does not have to face the fact that her hubby was a crook or slime ball or mentally ill enough that facing her any more was more than he could handle,



ITS A LIE< meant to cover up something unpleasant without hiding the facts to those in the know.

 

[Ergosphere]

Won't insurance companies pay for accidents but not suicides?

 

[takhtakaal]

Offhand, I'd say that it's the function check at the end that gets them every time.

I'm being sarcastic, but yes, it's usually a polite lie.

 

[Regolith]

Won't insurance companies pay for accidents but not suicides?

Yup.

 

[Feanaro]

The cops are being polite or the person is very, very stupid.

 

[Bazooka Joe71]

I definately agree with all of the posts pointing to suicide...You have to be really, really, really stupid to point a firearm at yourself and pull the trigger, even if you "know" it is unloaded...

The barrel is not pointed at my eye/myself (or anything that can't be replaced) until it is unable to be fired, PERIOD.

 

[gunsmith]

its an accident

its not suicide.















ok it is suicide but officially its an accident

 

[smullen]

I never clean any of my firearms or work on them without removing the mag and racking the slide 3-4 times whilst peering into the empty chamber...

 

[glennfish]

How? I recommend through the corpus callosum.

 

[bikerdoc]

suicide is intentional, inattention to detail = a/d
point it in a safe direction
clear the weapon/ rack the slide 3 times, lock the slide back, check it from the chamber, and dont look down the barrel until it is out of the weapon
sounds simple but there is no pill for stupid

 

[robert garner]

I have seen an officer attempting to clear a cap and ball, yep you guessed it, strait down the bore! He musta missed class that mornin,lucky for him it was
not loaded; but WoW!
robert

 

[Wedge]

I don't doubt that many are suicides.

My aunt went into "liver failure" and died. It wasn't really publicized that she also drank a liter of vodka in about an hour that night...the other nieces and nephews and my mom and her siblings all knew what really happened. My grandparents were blissfully/intentionally ignorant.

When I am cleaning any gun that requires you to pull the trigger to disassemble, I remove the mag, rack the gun a few times, check visually, check with my finger, rack it again, say "clear" out loud and then point it at my fireplace before pulling the trigger. I look down the barrel when the bolt/slide is removed or the barrel has been removed from the action.

 

[The Annoyed Man]

Won't insurance companies pay for accidents but not suicides?

According to my insurance guy, all life insurance companies will payout a death benefit on suicides, but there is always a clause in the policy stating that payout in the case of suicide is delayed for a year (or longer) following the death. This is a) in recognition that most suicides are caused by mental illness and are often beyond the rational control of the person killing themselves; and b) to prevent people who are already in financial collapse from killing themselves to get an immediate death benefit whereby their survivors can bail out the financial mess. This has apparently been the industry standard for a long time now.

I deliberately asked him because we were discussing my current unemployment due to the fact that my boss, the sole owner of the business, committed suicide followed by his widow's closure of the business. Since my boss and his wife are both friends of mine, I asked my insurance agent if my friend's life insurance would deny his wife the death benefit since he hung himself. His answer was as I've described above. My friend was bipolar and had been playing with his medication dosage - without his doctor's knowledge - and he went over the deep end. His decision to kill himself was not the product of a rational mind. He was sick. Unfortunately, his decision left two children without a father, a wife without a husband, and several employees without a job, one of whom was his brother as well.

 

[32winspl]

If there is a table covered in newspaper, Hoppes, and assorted cleaning gear near the body, I might be inclined to think "accident"... otherwise, suicide or rank stupidity.

 

[Colt46]

Another vote for probable suicide

It goes against all safe gun handling rules to have the muzzle pointed anywhere near something that can be injured or killed when your finger is anywhere near the trigger.
The family doesn't live with the stigma of suicide, the insurance company pays the claim and the victim gets into heaven. Everybody wins.

 

[pete f]

But someone who is not thinking correctly might also decide to put all that stuff out to ease the minds of those he;s leaving behind


I knew a guy who popped himself, he had up until the morning he left, kept up the facade that life was grand and he was on top of the world, He had booked a vacation with the wife and kids, made other plans to visit others, then went to a motel room he had booked well over a month in advance, and using a .38 S&W he had gotten from a grandfather, took himself out. It was called a suspicious homicide because the shot came from nearly behind, but he had left a note with a lawyer which stated he had visited a hooker, got HIV, was terrified he gave it to his wife, and took the cowards way out.

I bring this up because it shows the planning that he went to to make it a deniable act in his kids minds.

 

[American_Pit_Bull]

How do people shoot themselves in the head when cleaning their gun?

Stupidity.