I fired a gun inside a bank

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doc540

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Another "don't do this, kids" thread, I guess.

Year's ago my dad was interested in buying one of my AMT .380 Backup's. In his office at the bank, I removed the magazine, checked the pipe and handed it to him to examine.

I explained him it had to be cocked for the safety to operate (or something to that effect).

He examined it a while as we talked, but he was still confused about the safety opertion, so I repeated what I'd told him earlier as he handed it back to me to demonstrate.

DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!!!

I racked it back, peered into the pipe, racked it closed, showed him how the safety operated, then carefully aimed down between my feet to the office carpet and clicked the proverbial "empty gun".

Anyone remember just how loud those little suckers were???:what:

He'd reinserted the magazine, so checking the pipe was doing only half the job. When I let the slide fall I reloaded it.

Everyone in the crowded lobby just froze, all looking toward his office door.

I was embarrassed and mad at myself for the serious mistake I'd just made. I walked to the office door and let everyone know all was ok.:eek:

Dad wasn't mad and never said a word about it since early in his banking career he'd torched off a 12ga pump inside the bank vault.

(I have no idea were the bullet fragments went. It just made a hole through the carpet and pad down to the slab.)

I was a lucky, lucky dumbazz that day.:banghead:
 
Anyone remember just how loud those little suckers were???
Click to expand...

Not those in particular, but I know how loud a gun you don't expect to go off is indoors! Actually, I've been impressed lately with a couple "realistic" videogames that simulate the auditory effect with disturbing accuracy. You never hear a bang, just a REALLY creepy silence and a ringing that fades in a couple seconds.

Glad everyone was okay and I can only assume you never did anything like THAT again! ;)
 
WoooooWWww! Try that today and you'll be in surrounded so fast.... sheesh. Talk about luck. Again, this is why I never like to play with other peoples weapons unless i'm at the range or just taking a look. Oh well, live and learn, well hopfully you guys don't do this out in public.
good luck
-bix
 
jerkface11 said:
"Dad tell me about the time you shot the shotgun in the vault"
"HUH WHAT?"
Click to expand...
muttleyib9.jpg
 
I do remember, back in the dark ages, a certain bank would give a Weatherby rifle for a new acct. deposit of XXXX number of dollars, but I didn't think they handed 'em out right there? :D
 
It wasn't too long ago (before all the bank megamergers) that nearly all bank officers had handguns in their desk drawers.

I worked in a bank in the '90's who, when the state passed the CHL law, made a special class available to any employee who wanted to get their license.

Only about six of us took advantage of it.

Of course, the employee handbook said all firearms were prohibited on the company premises, but how hard would that have been to enforce if the owners and chairman of the board had made an "abbreviated" license class available at no charge to its employees and the class itself was held on the company premises?;)

And, yes, banks have offered a new Weatherby to customers who opened certain types of accounts. And I know for a fact some of the presentations were made in the lobby during business hours and with photos and fanfare.
 
Interesting story. Today they would have probably demanded prosecution.

Best not to play with firearms where you cannot discharge them.
Even the most careful person in the world doing everything right can get a slam fire when you rechamber a round to put it away loaded. I have seen it a couple times. Once the extractor struck the rear of the bullet discharging it as someone racked it and the round deviated from a perfect feed.

Another story someone posted demonstrated an officer who had a defective firearm that broke and would discharge every time the slide was checked and allowed to chamber a new round. The investigators dealing with it believed it was negligence and just had to cycle it themselves, having yet another discharge in thier attempt to prove it was his fault.

Then there is times when the firing pin gets stuck out and discharges the round as soon as it comes into contact with one, like when you let the slide chamber a new round. I have seen a few SKS go full auto emptying thier entire supply of ammunition as soon as someone went to chamber a round because the firing pin stuck and they never once touched the trigger.

Those are all just possibilities with no user error. Obviously there is user error in even more accidents.
Best not to play with a firearm where you cannot discharge it in a safe direction without harming anyone or facing legal consequences. Just loading an automatic in a safe cautious way has a small risk of discharge.
 
I object to the use of the word "play", but your point is well taken.

btw: "nother story someone posted demonstrated an officer who had a defective firearm that broke and would discharge every time the slide was checked and allowed to chamber a new round."

That's exactly what happened to my dad in the vault.

As a young, 20-something kid newly hired by the bank, they tasked him with unloading an old 12ga pump inside the vault. When he racked the slide, the hammer followed it to the primer.

And it happened during business hours with a lobby full of customers.:what:
 
To bad you didn't have the AMT 380 Back Up that I had, it was a jamb o matic and probably wouldn't of fired. I hope and your dad have taken a gun saftey class since then, lol!!
NCH
 
One of the cool things about the main rules of gun safety is that you only have to follow one of them in order to be safe. You forgot only one of them but following the others is what made everything turn out like it did.
If the banks floor was made of cement (probably was) then the bullet disintegrated. I have experimented with bullet reactions to hitting things and the safest hard surface to shoot at point blank range is cement as it turns any bullet you shoot at it to dust.
I love your family tradition for cracking guns off in banks. I have had worse thoughts though. I once considered going in to a bank in a black outfit and ski mask and then just doing honest banking as usual. I concluded that I could only get away with something like that if I were filming for some prank video.
 
Yes, carefully aiming before what I thought was dry firing was a saving grace.

The floor under the carpet and pad was indeed cement or concrete.
 
yet another firearm safety rule saves a moment of stupidity... We all have had those moments of something stupid... Mine was shooting from a bench with a lever gun... of course your cant rack the lever from the bench so what do I do... Swing the rifle across the firing line... before I actually rack it I realize im an no longer pointing down range and getting the biggest "your a moron" stare from others on the range....


Stay safe.

-Tsi
 

And, yes, banks have offered a new Weatherby to customers who opened certain types of accounts. And I know for a fact some of the presentations were made in the lobby during business hours and with photos and fanfare.

As I understood it they would take pics but the gun HAD to go to FFL location for 4473/checks. As I recall I was (loaned) that fat guys anti gun lie fest. "Bowl full of Colimbines" or something.
Any way this scuzzy guy talked them into letting him walk out with the rifle and used it to IMPLY anyone from anywhere would get a gun if they deposited money.
 
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