News flash!!! Glock's are not entirely made of plastic!!!

[effengee]

It was on snopes but somehow it seems like something isn't quite right.
I've had a few MRI's and have been present during some for my kids...
First of all, they always ask about any METAL objects being on your person.
Yeah, even a Glock has some metal parts
Second, they don't let you just lean up against the machine while it runs.
Third, I was assured by an MRI tech that my belt buckle wasn't big enough to be affected by the magnet while I was in the imager and I'd be willing to bet that there's more steel content in it than in any Glock!
Fourth, how exactly did she manage to get her Glock in it's Police-issued off-duty concealed carry holster stuck to the magnet with her hand in the way?
Somehow I get the feeling somebody without a full set of barking dogs decided to see if her plastic pistol would stick to the magnet.
Read on and enjoy the giggles

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Oct. 01/2009 -- Officer Hurt When MRI Pulls Gun
Police Say An Off-Duty Officer Was At Beaches Open MRI With Her Mom
An off-duty Jacksonville Sheriff's Office deputy was hurt Wednesday when her hand was trapped between her police-issued Glock handgun and the powerful magnet inside an MRI machine.

Police said Joy Smith was in the MRI room with her mother when she apparently forgot about her gun, which was pulled by the magnetic force of the machine, trapping her hand between the gun and the MRI.

Smith was able to free herself, but the gun remained stuck for hours while the machine was powered down, which takes 24 hours. Jacksonville Beach police said Smith's hand was injured and she had difficulty bending her thumb, but it was not known if she sought medical treatment.

"It's a huge magnet. The whole thing just has a plastic case around it," said Beth Ratliff, who operates the MRI machines at Shands.

More than 30 patients a day go through Shands' machines, and there are strict rules for patients and visitors to follow.

Ratliff doesn't work at the Beaches office were the gun got stuck, but she helped explain how it happened.

"The magnet is pulling the gun, so the mass of the gun and the velocity of the magnet gets together and makes it a lot stronger," Ratliff said.

She also explained how the MRI works.

"We use regular waves," she said. "It hits the magnet, the magnet turns and it causes the molecules in your body to turn around, and we get a picture."

Beaches MRI had to close for the rest of the day and a MRI technician had to be flown in to fix the machine. Channel 4's Adam Landau was told that between repairs and lost revenue, the incident cost the center $150,000.

Beaches MRI reopened on Thursday.

 

[paintballdude902]

if true hahahahahahahaha stupidity on both the officer and MRI companies part



i had a belt buckle on during mine i felt it lift up a bit but thats it and a it probably had as much steel in it as a glock if not more

 

[bigalexe]

I hope this is a lesson to people about MRI's and all radiological stuff at hospitals. Take OFF your metal objects.

Personally I always check my clothing before I leave the house and know I'm getting an X-Ray done, the techs are always appreciative when I walk in and don't have to take 10 minutes changing because I wore pants with 8 chains on them like some people.

 

[RS14]

stupidity on both the officer and MRI companies part

Seems like a good metal detector and some wands would be a wise investment, yes.

 

[czhen]

Let me put my 2 cents.
MRI tech should ask always for metallic device of any type.
Glock has many of metallic parts (e.g.: barrel, extractor etc.) plenty enough to get attracted by the magnetic force, it might vary according the MR power.
We don't now if the gun owner told or not about possessing a gun.
Mostly all health care institutions have signs as big as doors before entering to the room.
MRI machine use magnetism in order to change the spin angle of hydrogen (working as magnetic dipole) which is abundant in form of water in our body.
That sounds more like negligent carry than anything else.

CzHen
R.T. (R.)
MDCC (attending at MRI program)

 

[Erik M]

150K bones to fix the thing? thats insane.

 

[RS14]

150K bones to fix the thing? thats insane.

$150,000 in repairs and lost revenue. This website claims they can generate $10,000 in revenue per hour (unverified). Probably a very large chunk of that was the lost revenue for the hours of downtime.

 

[General Geoff]

The majority mass of a Glock pistol is metal. The entire frame and barrel are steel. She is very fortunate that the pistol did not discharge during the incident.

 

[paintballdude902]

geoff you mean slide? the frame is definitely polymer

 

[TehK1w1]

I thought the frame was steel with polymer moulded over it?

I actually seem to recall reading something a while back about a 1911 in condition 1 getting stuck to an MRI and firing. Something about the force of the magnetic field somehow disengaging the safety?

EDIT: there we go.
http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/full/178/5/1092

 

[c919]

Coming from a certified RT,

Someone should be in big trouble over this one. Metal and MRI's are a huge no-no! I am not am certified in MRI, but have worked very closely with them. This should never have happened, period.

With conventional X-Ray, Fluoro, and CT, it would not be a big deal, it would just be a ruined image and a redo, but with MRI stuff of that nature can be deadly.

 

[CapnMac]

Czhen could probably best pseak to how the lines of magnetic force are aligned around the toriod, but, at a guess, even end-on, the striker is not likely get pulled back far enough (and the tigger interlock is supposed to prevent the striker from moving anyway).

Now, part of the time it takes to get this equipment started up and shut down is in the computers used to run them. Water-cooled CPU are not uncommon with this sort of gear. None of the simple Shut-down Vista drags you through.

 

[General Geoff]

geoff you mean slide? the frame is definitely polymer

Haha, it must have been really late when I posted that. Yeah I meant slide.

 

[LaEscopeta]

I actually seem to recall reading something a while back about a 1911 in condition 1 getting stuck to an MRI and firing. Something about the force of the magnetic field somehow disengaging the safety?

EDIT: there we go.
http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/full/178/5/1092

Yes, I love that article. Who would have thunk the American Journal of Roentgenology would know so much about a 1911? (Or would find out so much after the incident?

 

[Legionnaire]

Good thing she wasn't carrying a S&W 29 or a Ruger GP100!!

 

[effengee]

just so you know

I'm not bashing Glock's here. Or members of the Florida law enforcement community for that matter

I have to leave my firearm locked in my car when I go to the hospital because there's a huge "no firearms" sign in the lobby of it.
I know that it doesn't apply to LEO's and perhaps it isn't that way at this MRI place, but every other hospital I've been to lately has a "no guns" sign and the fact that there's a dozen signs around the MRI area that state "REMOVE ALL METAL OBJECTS and/or let the tech know about items that can not be removed such as surgical implants etc."
I guess it should be a +1 to Glock if their guns are so light and their holsters so comfy that she didn't even feel like she was carrying a loaded smoke wagon on her hip, and a -1 to the Florida Police for not teaching their officers to realize that full-time carry means you are vigilantly aware that you are always carrying a firearm.

Funny story:

When the sign was first hung up at the Bennington hospital it originally depicted a simple line drawing of a Beretta M92 within a slashed red circle.
No words, just the handgun and a big red slash through it.
I immediately asked at the front desk if it meant no handguns were allowed but long arms were OK or if it was a case of just no Beretta M92's because I carry a different brand of handgun.
The receptionist laughed a nervous little laugh and said:
"No, it means no guns of any kind."
To which I replied:
"Oh. I'll be right back." I headed for the door.
A few minutes later I returned from stealthily stowing my Makarov in the glovebox and by the time I got back to the door, two security guards were already waiting for me outside. The following conversation is permanantly burned into my memory verbatim:

SG1 "Sir, may we speak to you a moment?"
ME "Sure guys, what's up?"
SG1 "Sir, do you have a firearm on your person?"
ME "No, sir."
SG2 "Are you sure about that?"
ME "Uhhh yeah."
SG1 "Sir, do you own a firearm?"
ME "Yes. Several actually. How about you?" (They don't get firearms they get pepper spray and a radio)
SG2 "Are you being smart with us?"
ME "Yeah, I'm sorry. Look guys, I locked it in the glovebox, and then I locked all the doors and I made sure nobody saw me do it."
SG1 "Is it still loaded?"
ME "Yeah, but I locked the safety on it too."
SG2 "Just leave it home next time."
ME "OK"

Later that week I was again at the hospital and the sign has the words "No weapons allowed" in letters four inches high on it.
I'm tempted to ask why I'm not allowed in their hospital as my firearms are just tools, I am the weapon, but my wife says we need to be able to go there still...

 

[middy]

Third, I was assured by an MRI tech that my belt buckle wasn't big enough to be affected by the magnet while I was in the imager and I'd be willing to bet that there's more steel content in it than in any Glock!

i had a belt buckle on during mine i felt it lift up a bit but thats it and a it probably had as much steel in it as a glock if not more

You guys are joking, right?

You have more than a pound of steel in your belt buckles?

 

[franconialocal]

There is a new orthopedic clinic being built in the town I patrol. Last week around 11pm I was on patrol and noticed the lights on downstairs (still under construction) so I conducted a building search to see what was going on so late. There were two workers in the new CT room lining everything in copper plate so the entire room acts as a ground (according to them; I'm no expert). There in the the middle of the room was the huge new CT machine still waiting to be powered up and tested. They warned me about the same thing as the OP.

The guys said that on the outside of the room will be a red "kill switch" in case of emergencies and it COSTS $30,000 JUST TO HIT THE SWITCH AND SHUT IT DOWN!!!!!

He said that if we or the fire guys were to enter with all the gear that we have we would instantly be sucked to the machine and stuck to it *lol*. Ok...point taken....use the kill switch before conducting a building search at gunpoint.....!!!:banghead:

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Glock barrel, slide, firing mechanism parts, plus the metal rail molded in the plastic frame for the slide add up to a sizable amount of metal.

"Journalist" Jack Anderson and Handgun Control Inc. started this whole "plastic hijacker special" myth about the Glock being invisible to metal detectors. Sue 'em.

 

[Zach S]

"Journalist" Jack Anderson and Handgun Control Inc. started this whole "plastic hijacker special" myth about the Glock being invisible to metal detectors.

And the .gov acted quickly to ban firearms that could pass through metal detectors and X ray machines undetected...

And it worked. The Glock 7 still doesn't exist, outside of Die Hard 2...

 

[svtruth]

Not gun related

IIRC, a young boy was killed a few years ago when he was struck in the head by an oxygen tank pulled to the MRI.

 

[JohnBT]

There's a reason the MRI folks ask you about bb's embedded in your skin and if you've ever done metal grinding and have slivers in your skin, etc. It'll suck 'em right out of you.

I wonder why it didn't pull the fillings out of my teeth.

John

 

[scarredpelt]

There's a reason the MRI folks ask you about bb's embedded in your skin and if you've ever done metal grinding and have slivers in your skin, etc. It'll suck 'em right out of you.

I wonder why it didn't pull the fillings out of my teeth.

John

Amalgam is made of non-ferrous material.

 

[Brian Williams]

Tooth fillings are amalgam, Mercury and Silver. Both of these are non magnetic.

 

[jerkface11]

Third, I was assured by an MRI tech that my belt buckle wasn't big enough to be affected by the magnet while I was in the imager and I'd be willing to bet that there's more steel content in it than in any Glock!

Then you must have a belt buckle bigger than your head.