Story about an unsafe gun auction

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jasper275

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In Arkansas I attended a country auction in 2004 that had a few guns inside the house , but mostly estate items on tables outside in the yard. My significant other warned me of a premoniton of danger for me that day, so I said I'd drive carefully, thinking the drive was where the danger would lie.

I'm walking outside by a table before the auction when I hear a loud blast, stood stock still, and watched a lady clawing at her lower leg. I look at the house, and a shotgun exit hole is freshly created in a metal storm door. An auction goer dry fired a shotgun inside, blasting outside and hitting a woman standing 3 feet from me. Her leg stung, but no blood drawn. The noise inside the house must have been deafening. I was pissed at these low-rent auctioneers. Later, as the auctioneer held up the shotgun (20 gauge I think, make unknown because I wasn't all into guns much then) to begin its auction he cracked a joke about the incident! I took some photos but can't find them.
 
Wow,

That person is lucky nothing more serious happened.

I can immediately think of AT LEAST FOUR RULES that were broken.

Rule:
Treat Every Gun as if it were LOADED!

Rule:
NEVER point ANY GUN at ANYTHING you do not wish to shoot -- always know where the muzzle is pointing.

Rule:
When picking up a gun, always CHECK TO MAKE SURE IT IS NOT LOADED!

Rule:
Always be sure of your BACKSTOP!

Was the metal storm door auctioned as well?
 
Yah, I said "dry fire" in the understanding that the auctiongoer thought he was dry firing the shotgun. But yes, "dry fire" does technically mean firing a gun without a round in the chamber.
 
I fail to see how that third rule applies. It is redundant when you have that first one.
 
Just suppose,

for a moment that the first person picked up the shotgun, but did not check it, and he didn't pull the trigger, yet he DID MAKE SURE HE TREATED IT AS A LOADED GUN. A second interested party is there to which he hands the (LOADED) gun.

The second party does not check to be sure the gun is loaded and does the same thing - shooting the loaded gun.

Or, the gun is placed somehow so it eventually falls over thus firing a round in whatever direction.

Or, the first or second person put the gun back in the rack, only to have someone later (possibly the auctioneer) handle the gun that they do not know is loaded and they end up shooting it --- God knows where!

Had the FIRST person checked to be sure it wasn't loaded, then the above-mentioned firings would not occur.
 
I fail to see how that third rule applies. It is redundant when you have that first one.
Click to expand...

Redundancy is a good thing,Redundancy is a good thing, Redundancy is a good thing...especially when is comes to firearm safety.;)
 
Yah, I said "dry fire" in the understanding that the auctiongoer thought he was dry firing the shotgun. But yes, "dry fire" does technically mean firing a gun without a round in the chamber.
Click to expand...

Its all good. I was just kidding around, giving you a hard time. :D
 
My auction close call

I was at an outdoor auction in southern Idaho and among the items was a Mossberg shotgun and an old Colt revolver, a single action as I recall. I was digging through boxes and came to the table with the guns and saw some kids handling the revolver and wondered why allowing kids (probably 10-12 years-old) to touch the guns was allowed. The kid set the pistol back down and a man approached the table, picked the gun up, sprung the cylinder open, and removed LIVE shells from the gun, and handed them to a worker with the laconic line, "Here, ya might want to hold on to 'em." I looked around to make sure that I was conscious and actually saw what I saw. I didn't bother telling anyone as I doubt anyone would believe me. Hell, I'm still not sure I do myself!
 
This is the EXACT reason

why we should be training young kids in school what to do if they come across a firearm.

Everyone should, at minimum, be able to recognize what type of gun it is and how to check to make sure the gun is not loaded. They should also know the basic rules of gun safety.

As it is now, if a kid comes across a gun, they don't know what to do, for all they know - just pull the trigger!:eek:

I mean it's so obvious. How many movies and TV shows are there guns with triggers being pulled? Now, how many of those shows or movies can you think of that actually show how to safely and carefully UNLOAD a gun? I would bet, VERY FEW, if ANY!
 
A friend of mine was at a gun show in Arkansas when he heard a loud bang followed by a stinging sensation on the back of his head. He felt the back of his head, looked at his hand and saw blood. He decided to find the source of the gunshot. It was easy to find because the police were there too. He found out the shot was from a .410 and he caught a ricochet. He then explained that he had been shot and was bleeding. An ambulance was called and took him to the hospital to be checked out. X-rays showed nothing was lodged in his head, they put a band-aid over the wound and he went back to the gun show. His wife heard the news that someone had been shot at the show and taken to the hospital. She didn’t believe it was him until he showed her the bandage.
 
"I was at an outdoor auction in southern Idaho and among the items was a Mossberg shotgun and an old Colt revolver, a single action as I recall. I was digging through boxes and came to the table with the guns and saw some kids handling the revolver and wondered why allowing kids (probably 10-12 years-old) to touch the guns was allowed. The kid set the pistol back down and a man approached the table, picked the gun up, sprung the cylinder open, and removed LIVE shells from the gun, and handed them to a worker with the laconic line, "Here, ya might want to hold on to 'em." I looked around to make sure that I was conscious and actually saw what I saw. I didn't bother telling anyone as I doubt anyone would believe me. Hell, I'm still not sure I do myself!"

The same thing happened to me at a local gun show last year. I picked up a single shot break action rifle in a large caliber laying on a seller's table, opened it to chamber check it first-they're supposed to be tied but this one wasn't. A live round ejected and landed on the table next to the seller. The seller pocketed it and shrugged, muttered something...

I walked away with my friend, and then minutes later reality hit me so I found the show director and we told him about it, subtly pointing him out. The guy wasn't there about an hour later.

What idiots. The show was really crowded, this could have been a disaster. Kids were walking by and handling these guns, someone could have discharged it while it was lying on the table, right into the crowd.
 
A boy was shot dead at an Atlanta gun show in July 2002 by a holster seller who had a hot revolver to demo his wares. Someone tried on the holster and pulled the trigger.
 
I was at a gun show way out in the sticks in either 98 or 99 and it was a pretty small elks or moose lodge, anyways someone was buying a sks and he wanted to make sure it would fire so they opened the back door and popped off 4 rounds, nobody looked surprised, or scared, except for me.

I was at the Sedalia gun show in 2000 and somebody fired a pistol they thought was unloaded and it went into a gun stock about half way across the arena. That was the last time they had an accidental discharge with those promoters I believe.

Why would you pick up a gun and just pull the trigger?

Ok my boss did have a "accidental discharge" last year one day during hunting season, he worked the lever to get the shells out of his 30-30 and when no more came out he pulled the trigger and BOOM! I could have sworn the camper bulged out with the muzzle blast, and it made a nice hole in the door.:cuss:
 
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