Saw (heard) an ND at the Austin gun show today

[elric]

I just got back from the Austin show. Went in around 9:30, and probably around 9:45 heard a "BANG".

It wasn't as loud as I'd have expected ... I thought it might have been a .22 or light .38. Turns out to have been a .45. I wasn't that far away, probably 50 or so feet (about 8-10 tables down the aisle) ... I would have thought a 45 would be louder, but I guess that big open space helped minimize the noise.

Everyone reacted well, I guess. As soon as it went off, the place got real quiet ... everyone stopped talking, got real alert and looked around to see what was up. I looked to see what I could duck/hide behind in case there were going to be more. I also looked for the nearest exit, unfortunately, it happened right in front of the nearest exit.

It was one of the sellers right near the entrance of the show, and the police that were checking/zip tying the guns at the entrance got over there pretty quick and took charge. They made him pack up all his stuff and kicked him out within a pretty short amount of time.

Don't know if he got any kind of citation for discharging a firearm in city limits or terminal stupidity or if they just kicked him out. The dealers I was standing near right after it happened had some creative ideas what they should have done him, but I won't repeat them here .

Anyway, the story I pieced together from what people and dealers that were near him said (don't know if its 100% accurate, but probably close after piecing together several stories) that he was a retired deputy sheriff and was unpacking a .45 to set on display, racked the slide to clear it and pulled the trigger to drop the hammer. Unfortuntely, it wasn't empty.

Fortunately he had been pointing it at the floor toward the wall (his table was alongside an outside wall) and the bullet splattered on the concrete and the fragments just went into the wall. If he had been at an interior table, those fragments could have easily bounced up into someone. Scary!

Well, that was my excitement for the day. Definitely gave me a nice Oh S#@#! moment and adrenaline rush for a little bit when I heard it go off. Probably should have hit the floor immediately, but was too startled to do that. At least I thought about were the exits were in case it was someone who was trying to shoot and intended on keeping shooting.

 

[Texfire]

Any chance we can get through this thread without someone saying, "I'm the only one in this room professional enough...."

Nah. Probably not.

Sorry to hear that about the ND. Glad to hear that no one got hurt. I'll have to watch the news tonight to see if they report it and what spin they take.

Tex

 

[Autolycus]

At least nobody was hurt. Thank god for that.

 

[qlajlu]

...he was a retired deputy sheriff and was unpacking a .45 to set on display, racked the slide to clear it and pulled the trigger to drop the hammer. Unfortuntely, it wasn't empty.

Oops...

Now what were those four pesky rules again?

Me thinks he forgot to drop the magazine first. My, my, my...and a deputy too...dear, dear, dear...

He may be in very hot water and he will have a hard time living that one down.

 

[whm1974]

he was a retired deputy sheriff

Is it just me or does it seem a lot of LEO or exLEO are having AD/ND lately?

Me thinks he forgot to drop the magazine first.

This is more common then you might think. It is also common for people to think that removing a magazine unloads the gun.

-Bill

 

[mec]

Randy Weaver was at an austin show a couple of years ago when the same thing happened. I remarked that isn't it fortunate and unusual that these things seldom cause injuries in such a crowded venue. Weaver had been traveling across country making a bunch of gunshows to sell his books. He said that he had been at one or two where the discharges had resulted in casualties.

 

[LiquidTension]

It is also common for people to think that removing a magazine unloads the gun.

In the case of an open-bolt weapon, it does Unfortunately, the people that hold this belief usually don't know what the term means Thankfully nobody was injured.

 

[iiibdsiil]

I'm the only one in this room professional enough...

 

[Flyboy]

Is it just me or does it seem a lot of LEO or exLEO are having AD/ND lately?

I don't know if it's happening more frequently, or if it's just more newsworthy as of late. Probably the latter.

 

[ORAG]

^&it Happens

All the military types will recall all the ammo canisters filled with sand outside the Military pay centers in the bad old days. About once a month someone would clear their weapon outside and fire a round into the sand. Even the best trained people have an occasional "brain Fart".
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. - Steven Wright

 

[qlajlu]

...or if it's just more newsworthy as of late. Probably the latter.

Of course it is more newsworthy. Get it into the paper, it becomes documented. Most newspapers lean left. Now there is documentation that "GUNS CANNOT BE TRUSTED...THEY KILL." They don't care that the ex-deputy made a fundamental mistake. It was the gun's fault! These types of events are fodder for the Brady Bunch. The mistakes made that led to the NDs or ADs may also make it into the paper, but there is not a Brady Operative alive that will look at them, let alone take note of them.

 

[HankB]

elric - I was there too, having walked no more than 5 or 6 tables past the doofus in the light green shortsleeve shirt who had the ND. (And I had my mother with me! My first reaction was to locate her and move her to safety if necessary, but her reaction was "Do I need to duck, or was it just some idiot?" Is she a sweet little old lady, or what? )

Like you said, things got real quiet except for some guy nearby who said "G** D***" as two distinct words . . .

The gun show guy from the front desk was there in no more than 10 seconds, and he grabbed the gun out of Doofus Greenshirt's hand - the guy was just standing there like the dullard he is. He was followed closely by the cop who was checking guns up front. A couple more of Austin's Finest appeared within 30 seconds, but I think they were just customers, not actual security.

The guy was bundled up and gone, his tables ($60 each) empty within 10 minutes or so. Within a half hour, another vendor had snagged them.

There was a small chip in the concrete floor, and the bullet had supposedly bounced up (maybe to the ceiling?) and come back down where it came to rest without hitting anyone.

IIRC when the show was at the old location, there was an ND in which someone was shot in the leg, which prompted the show to begin posting the PC30.06 sign - that case also involved an LEO of some type, making it a non-story as far as the local media was concerned. (I'll chime in too with the obligatory "I'm the only one in this room professional enough . . .")

I'm very glad nobody was hurt, and I hope Doofus Greenshirt is banned from the show for life.

Otherwise, the show was unimpressive. I *just* missed what looked like a nice S&W M28, the guy ahead of me spotted it and grabbed it. I chuckled at a .458 Model 70 with the factory's typical overlong barrel and an asking price of almost $1800, I passed on 140 round South African 7.62 NATO battlepacks at $40 each and 1000 round cases of .223 Winchester ball at $250 OTD, and similar "bargains."

Saw my first FS2000 - about the same size as the PS90 next to it, but accepting standard M16 mags and in .223. Price tag was $2150, so I figured it was something I could live without.

A Winchester M1 in a new stock was going for $970. I passed it up.

I was a bit intrigued at a crude but apparently functional home-built gizmo which put six modified SKS rifle actions (30 round mags, no stock) into a rotating hand-cranked framework which spud them around a common axis like the barrels on a Gatling gun. The guy said each turn of the crank fired one round from each of the SKS actions.

And the non-922(r) compliant FAL I remembered seeing a couple of years ago made it's appearance again.

Lots of the "parts guys" appear to be selling parts that look nice for far too little money . . . I think these are the Chinese knock-offs I hear so much about. Pot metal, poor (or no) heat treating . . . I'll pay a little more and get quality stuff, thank you very much.

So I left empty handed . . . but no flesh wound either so I'm not complaining.

 

[Car Knocker]

Any chance we can get through this thread without someone saying...?

Nah, happened on the second post.

 

[grimjaw]

Is it just me or does it seem a lot of LEO or exLEO are having AD/ND lately?

Don't know about that. Probably most of the non-LEO AD/ND aren't reported in the news, so we don't hear about them as often. I'm sure they are just as frequent, unfortunately.

jmm

 

[ilbob]

I did some work in an explosives plant once upon a time. They made air bag igniters there.

One day I heard a loud pop. One of the ignitors had spontaneously detonated while being transfered from a soldering machine back to a storage tray. Fortunately they used tongs for this. The guy who was holding the tongs was startled, to say the least, but did not even drop the tongs.

 

[Travis McGee]

I would not want to list the stupidist things I've done here.

Let's just say....this ND would not make my top 3.

Not even close.

 

[eagle45]

I was at a Dayton gun show at Hara Arena a couple of years ago when a similar situation happened.

A guy walks up to the table to have his weapon checked. It was a .22 of some type, don't know if it was a pistol or revolver. When he was asked if he has any loaded weapons or mags, and he says 'No, see . . ." and proceeds to point the weapon at the ceiling and pulls the trigger, followed by an annoying bang sound and a small hole in the roof.

I was in a side room, but could see the main entrance where he came in, about 75 feet away. I remember a number of people (including me) looked for cover right away.

If memory serves me correctly, the announcer reassured everyone that no one was hurt, and informed us the gentleman with the .22 was getting a free trip downtown.

 

[wdlsguy]

I heard one at an Astrohall show in Houston years ago. I believe that one went into the ceiling.

Over the years I've had to ask a few doofuses to open their actions and stop sweeping the crowd with their muzzles while they were waiting in line to buy their ticket to the show.

 

[longhorngunman]

Wow! I was there today and never knew anything about it. It was about 10:30 when I got there so it had already happened. I'm trying to see if I can figure out which "doofus" ya'll are talking about . Man two ND's in two years, I hope they don't shut Saxet down. Yeah, the first one a year or so ago was at the old location, I heard the guy shot was very lucky, barely missed a main artery. I still don't understand how the nimrod had a loaded gun in there in the first place. Oh yeah, I saw the $40 battlepacks of SA too! Time to order from Aim before they raise prices Monday. I was hopeing to check out the new Taurus 1911 but none were to be found. AJC had a nice Colt XSE that I nearly snatched up but that was about it.

 

[MechAg94]

The funny thing to me is that for most auto pistols, it is pretty easy to see not only the loaded magazine but the round being chambered when you open and close the action. At least it is easy if you are paying attention.

 

[Texfire]

So any reason for me to go tomorrow? I was thinking about getting a flash hider, some surplus mags and ammo for my new Su-16, is it all overpriced? I might as well save myself a trip otherwise.

Tex

 

[the pistolero]

The funny thing to me is that for most auto pistols, it is pretty easy to see not only the loaded magazine but the round being chambered when you open and close the action.

That's what I was thinking, too, and I've gotten into the habit with my autopistols to peer down into the breech (after no magazine is in the pistol) as the action is open to double-check that no round is in the chamber. As they say, you can never be too careful...

 

[MAURICE]

I was at the Tulsa show once when there was an ND.
Out of nowhere a POW! Followed by silence. Followed by every pair of eyes in the house staring at the guy who did it. If I had not been busy checking for holes in my body and shaking out my pants leg, it might have been a little funny.

 

[MudPuppy]

So, that's TWO in Austin in about a year?

I heard one of the vendors say the guilty party isn't allowed back AT ALL, "Can't even pay his five bucks and wander through the vendors".

I went looking for AK receivers, hoping to find another option to Globals. Found some overpriced Ewbanks...pass. Man, I surely do miss Waterhouse and his $5 xfers! My firearms purchases have tapered off significantly.

 

[Meta]

A friend was at a gun show and saw a guy take one in the chest from some idiot that `thought' his gun was empty. Unfortunately the guy didn't make it.