Worst Handgun Mishaps and Near Accidents

[Zaydok Allen]

So about a year ago something happened that I thought I would share. I learned to shoot handguns from my friends (about six years ago). They taught me the correct stance, and ways to handle a handgun in a safe fashion. I have never had any formal classroom training, but I was taught well since the three guys who taught me how to shoot are all long time hunters and target shooters. Safety was the first lesson taught, and fortunately (for me and people around me) I am a person who has no problem speaking up and admitting when I don’t know something. I’d rather speak up, feel foolish for a minute, and know the correct way to do something and correct answer. That being said, I am not a firearms instructor. I think a lot of people get into shooting buy going to a range with a friend. The kind of funny thing is that the very first gun someone ever handed me to shoot, was a .44 magnum. I know, a bad idea. But it is what it is.

Anyway, my father expressed an interest in learning to shoot handguns, and I was happy to teach him, and give him an introductory lesson. I live near National Forest lands, so I am able to simply go to the woods to shoot. So off we go to the woods. I brought a variety of guns and ammo for him to try. I asked him out right what he wanted to try first, and he indicated he wanted to try my .357 SP101. I said ok, and proceeded to show him (on an empty gun) the proper way to hold a loaded revolver and had a discussion about safety, minding your muzzle direction, and how to handle magnum calibers. I loaded the gun, showed him how, and then let him load the gun. All was well, and we loaded 4 .38 specials, and one .357. I made sure to tell him when the “big one” was coming and he had a great time. I thought “Success! He likes this!”

He shot the .357 for a bit, and then I asked him if he wanted to try another gun, and he said he did. He said he’d like to try an automatic and indicated he’d like to try my Buckmark. So once again I showed him the proper way to handle the gun, dispelled his movie and tv ideas about automatics, and explained the slightly more complicated use of an auto loader. I showed him how to insert the magazine, and chamber a round. He took the gun, and started shooting. This was going great. So I decided to watch the target to see how he was doing. Another shot, and a ping on the reset target. Then I looked back at him……… and I saw that he had his support hand on the barrel of the gun to steady the weapon. See, he is 63, and his hands shake a bit, so he was trying to make a better shot……………… I have never yelled “STOP” louder in my life. He heard me just as he pulled the trigger, and turned and looked at me like I was crazy. I immediately told him to put the safety on. He did so, I unloaded and cleared the weapon, and I proceeded to explain how lucky he was that he didn’t get hurt, and that if he had done that with my 460 magnum, he would be missing most of his fingers, and we would be racing to the hospital. I also immediately apologized, because this was my fault.

I told him how to hold and shoot a gun, but not WHY a handgun must be held a certain way. :banghead: I missed a crucial step, and assumed that he understood the why part of things, since it is pure logic to me. I also neglected the fact that my dad won’t speak up if he doesn’t understand something. The lesson I learned was to never assume someone understands you even if they indicate they do. Never, ever take your eyes off of a new shooter. And make sure you always explain the why. The why is the most important part.

After that we continued shooting all of my guns and had a fantastic time. I have sparked an interest in him that I’m glad we now share, but I frequently look back on this event and shutter. The fact that it was my own fault, and the thought of what could have happened scares the hell out of me.

I share this story in the hope that it will serve as a reminder to others, and a lesson to all that age doesn’t matter. A new shooter is a new shooter whether they are 12, or 60, and whether they are a total stranger, or your father. When you take it upon yourself to “take someone shooting” for the first time…….. YOU are responsible for their safety.

I now invite others to share their most frightening mishap, or near mishap with us all. This thread has likely been done before, but one can not have too many reminders when it comes to firearms safety. So please, share the worst of the worst with us.

Also, please refrain from calling anyone stupid who doesn’t really deserve it. Ignorance is a lack of knowledge. Stupidity is having the knowledge, and choosing to ignore it. Wisdom is simply the ability to learn, retain, and recall that knowledge.

 

[788Ham]

Many years ago, my grandpa and his second wife, has taken the 4 kids to a section where my grandpa was working, cutting and hauling logs. After lunch, gramps took the oldest boy and they were going grouse hunting with his .22 revolver. They hadn't gone far, when Mary, gramps wife, hollered the car was rolling away! Mary ran after and caught the car, getting in on the passenger side, gramps caught up too, trying to grab the emergency brake..... with the .22 still in his right hand. Mary was laid across the front seat, grabbing for the brake handle, when the .22 went off and hit her in the back of the head. Later that evening, Mary passed on. One can never be careful enough!

 

[ATBackPackin]

Wow Ham, that is absolutely horrible. I know that happened a while ago, but I hope your family recovered.

I haven't taught a lot of people to shoot, but there is one thing in particular I have noticed. Even though you have told them over and over the four golden rules I have noticed that when a beginner makes a good shot they sometimes become so excited that they completely forget about muzzle awareness.

I was teaching my nephew who was 11 at the time at an indoor range with my Ruger Single Six. Let me back up a second, first I printed off and laminated for him the four golden rules and told him that we could go to the range as soon as he could recite to me from memory the rules on demand. So we get to the range and he is doing really well safety wise when after about twenty minutes he hits the X ring. He was so excited that he begun to spin around as fast as he could, but fortunately I was standing directly behind him and before he could get the gun parallel to the firing line I grabbed his hand and gun together pointing them back down range. If I hadn't, I have no doubts I would have had the barrel of the gun pointed directly at my gut and it didn't hurt that it was a single action revolver either. He immediately put the gun down and said, "I'm so so sorry Uncle Shawn, can we please stay? I promise I won't do it again." Which of course we did and have been many times since. Sometimes he even points out when others at the range are doing things that go against the safety rules. Kids can be hilarious.

Moral of the story? The moral is that even though we tell them all of the safety rules, that in the beginning you have to watch them vigilantly because students make mistakes.

Shawn

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Ham, that is a terrible story, and I'm sorry for your families loss. I can't even imagine how your Grandpa must have felt after that. Thanks for sharing. You know there are a zillion threads on this forum that all debate up and back about the plusses and minuses of different calibers for self defense. Most people would agree that a .22 is underpowered for this task. But your story is an excellent reminder that a .22 is still a lethal cartridge, and must be taken seriously. Thanks for making that point.

ATBackPackin, thank you also for making the point about excitement. This is probably most notable with younger shooters, though can apply to anyone. I agree with you 100%, vigilance is key!

 

[CJ]

Wasn't me, but was a good story anyway. This was a local's...grandfather or great-grandfather?

He'd decided he wanted to ride into town and urged his mother to come along. She resisted since it was a Sunday and didn't believe the Lord wanted them doing such things on Sundays, but he persisted, and she eventually relented. Now in town was the fairgrounds where they held shooting competitions on weekends. Of course, as they're riding in the carriage to town, a stray shot from the fairgrounds hits her in the head, blinding her. She proceeded to live for many years, but I imagine there was some relief when she finally passed on judging from the bitterness she retained from the incident.

 

[brnmuenchow]

Well, I personally have never had a gun accident. My father and my uncle have had them or been around people that had them. My uncle had a friend chamber an incorrect round in a high power rifle and basically blew his face off. My father had 2 accidents the first one was a friend of his was showing him how a semi- auto worked and how safe one is. The friend took the clip out, said it was now safe and boom! shot the bed--No injuries. The second one was my father showing my mother how to clean a shot gun. Assuming the firearm was unloaded he managed to blow out the window at the cabin.--No injuries. I do have to admit not everyone is alway's aware of what they are doing, my father still suffers from in my opinion "BAD" safety gun habits. I have gotten on him about it every chance I get. I learned proper gun safety from an Army air cav. Lt. Col. & an army special forces Sgt. Major but that does not mean that an accident won't happen. Becoming complacement, lazy, or just simple distractions can lead to horrible mistakes that can happen to "anyone". Remember the first three letters in ASSume is, well you know.

 

[Jonah71]

In the 80's I had an old .45 revolver that I kept in a drawer in the downstairs bedroom. I always kept an empty chamber in front of the hammer. Or so I thought. To this day, I don't know how it got moved or rotated but I'm still positive I didn't do it. But that's not the issue. I failed to check it when I removed it from the drawer. I ended up dropping it. The end of the hammer actually stuck in the wood of the staircase with the butt pointed behind me and the barrel pointed at an angle toward the ceiling. The round penetrated the sheet rock and the floor of the upstairs bathroom and lodged in the wall about 3 ft. above the stool. It didn't miss me by much, and with a slightly different angle, I may not have been here to type this. Fortunately no one was using the bathroom at the time. I have not picked up a revolver since without checking it.

 

[svtruth]

With new shooters I try to stand behind them and watch them like a hawk. They tend to point the gun where they are looking, so if they want to say something to you they tend to sweep you.

 

[erik_brewer]

Working at a Boy Scout rifle/shotgun range when I was 18, really opened my eyes to the mistakes that people can make. Before anyone was allowed to shoot on the range, they had to go through a lot of safety preparation. As I found part-way through that summer, not nearly enough...

I was working the skeet thrower which was back and to the right of the shooter, around 4-5 o'clock, while one of the other instructors was teaching a kid how to aim the shotgun and where the "bird" would fly.

Instructor tells him that I will say "ready", shooter is to answer, and then I'll launch it. He then steps back from the shooter to his left, about 1 pace away.

When I said, "Ready?" the kid turned his whole body toward me (including the muzzle of the 12 gauge ) and said, "What?".

Happily the instructor was paying attention to the kid, because I froze. He calmly helped the kid point the gun downrange and kicked his a** out.

I refused to work the skeet shooter for the rest of the summer.

 

[788Ham]

ATBackPackin & 460Kodiak,

Thanks for your kind words, and yes, gramps did alright, after many years. One thing about this, gramps was one heck of a shot with his ol' .250 Savage, he out shot a guy many years ago in a holiday turkey shoot. Seems this other guy had a .270 w/scope, was winning all of the hams and turkeys. Gramps went and bought a box of shells, 50 cents back then, won the next 5 turkey's, he shot open sights @ 100 yds. LOL

 

[kingpin008]

About fifteen years ago when I was just getting interested in shooting, my dad took me to the gunshop/range that we shot at to rent some guns and do some shooting. Somehow, I convinced the rental counter clerk to let us try out a single-action revolver in what I think was .45LC.

My dad & I took it to our lane, and I loaded it up while my dad supervised. Once loaded, I cocked the hammer, turned my head to ask him if he was watching and BOOM!

In my excitement, I had broken on of the four cardinal rules and allowed my finger to rest on the trigger. I was rewarded with a nice gash in my forehead from the pistol recoiling into my face. I'm super, super lucky that it was pointed downrange, as even a few degrees to one side or the other could have resulted in some dangerous ricochets or worse.

 

[Whiskey11]

Interesting story Erik, I also worked at a Scout Camp, but my camp's ranges where set up much differently than yours. We used automatic throwers while I was there as an instructor, and while I was there as a kid taking the classes, we had two massive uprights next to us to shoot out of. No way to get a gun pointed far enough left to flag any friendlies without pulling the gun way out or leaning way too far forward. Our rifle range was a tightly monitored range.

Both classes spend all 5 days emphasizing safety first, the first two days are nothing but it and the last three are spent going over the NRA rules again and then shooting.

Our Rifle range:


Yup, that is me instructing...

And the shotgun range



Funny picture, acting that way because it's a 10 Gauge goose gun. Of all 15 shots we had shot that day, I was the only one to hit any clay pigeons... two infact ever seen what 10 gauge does to a clay bird? Cloud of Dust is an understatement.

Proof:


At anyrate, enough Off Topic, back to the topic. I've had some close calls before working at the range. I've had kids pull rifles off the firing line and set them next to the shooting block to adjust it that where pointed at the folks next to them. I don't think those kids ever made that mistake again as it usually ended up with one of us tackling the gun and the other pulling the kid out of the chair. RSO was a retired Major General of the USAF, great man to work with, but he liked to run a tight ship, and we have NEVER and will NEVER have accidents on that range. The only injuries we've had have been bruised shoulders and tired trigger fingers and snapped arms (archery ) and one incident with a thrower that put the shotgun RSO in the hospital for a few days.

For handgun incidents, I've been flagged more than a few times at the local range by inexperienced shooters. Had an older gentlemen teaching his nephew how to shoot with a .22LR revolver but he had no idea where to start... handed the kid the gun and the kid pointed it at the gentlemen next to him (who was between myself and these guys) and said "bang bang." Needless to say they where asked to leave the range.

I also recently took a course, required by the city of Omaha to open carry "concealable firearms" within the city limits even though there is legal open carry everywhere else in the state, Omaha is the only city with an ordinance restricting it. In the process of this course, they where passing around "modified" handguns given to them by the local PD which supposedly where not capable of firing live rounds, but the teachers of the course did not emphasize the safety rules until AFTER we handled firearms, and then only glazed over them . I got a lot of interesting looks when I took repeated dives to the floor as folks flagged me with fingers on the trigger...

Good thing I didn't have to pay for that class, I would have demanded my money back.

 

[Lucky Derby]

In the 80's I had an old .45 revolver that I kept in a drawer in the downstairs bedroom. I always kept an empty chamber in front of the hammer. Or so I thought. To this day, I don't know how it got moved or rotated but I'm still positive I didn't do it. But that's not the issue. I failed to check it when I removed it from the drawer. I ended up dropping it. The end of the hammer actually stuck in the wood of the staircase with the butt pointed behind me and the barrel pointed at an angle toward the ceiling. The round penetrated the sheet rock and the floor of the upstairs bathroom and lodged in the wall about 3 ft. above the stool. It didn't miss me by much, and with a slightly different angle, I may not have been here to type this. Fortunately no one was using the bathroom at the time. I have not picked up a revolver since without checking it.

Many police officers have gone on duty with empty guns because their wives unloaded the gun and the officer didn't check it before going on shift again. Sometimes this ends tragically.

 

[Lucky Derby]

Ham, sorry for your family's loss.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

When I was young and stupid I darn near shot myself in the leg. I had a Ruger MKIII in my pants pocket with a round in the pipe. I was with a group of guys about my age (all of us around 18) and we were all standing in the kitchen. I went to pull the pistol out of my pocket and it discharged. I broke a cardinal rule.
Anyway, I feel a burning along my thigh and thinking the worst, I drop my pants to reveal a thin red line down the front of my leg where the bullet burned me. Scared me and my friends to death. Now, over 12 years later, they still give me a hard time about it.
It opened my eyes though.

 

[BCRider]

Ham, another thankyou for sharing such a sad story with us. It helps make sure that we NEVER take firearms lightly.

I was hoping that I would only be reading the posts here and not contributing. Oh sure, I've bent or broken some of the handling rules here and there but as everyone knows it takes three or four mistakes to add up to a shooting accident. And all my small mistakes were while casing or uncasing guns that I had previously proven safe. So the odd time I've bent a rule there were at least one or more properley followed rules helping me along.

Anyway onto my story which I was hopeing never to have to post.

Recently I was helping out as an RO at a local indoor shooting range on a Lady's Night. On such occasions we often get groups in that are there to shoot for their very first time ever and then move on to one of the local pubs following the range session. Because they are dressed for the pub they often show up with necklines suitable for scooping brass out of mid air. We get pretty good at reading what is going on with such girls and watching the brass and "stabilizing" the gun in a safe manner when the inevitable occurs.

However this one lady caught me totally off guard. When the brass went down her front she immediately spun around WITH the gun in her hand and finger still on the trigger while reaching for the front of her sweater or blouse. The gun barrel swept past my mid section as I was reacting and I caught her hand and the gun between my two flattened palms as it had passed me on it's way to sweeping her friends that were even further around. My mistake occured at this point. Instead of stabilizing the gun with it pointed in as safe a direction as the circumstances allowed, at the floor between our feet in this case, while we got her finger out of the trigger guard I moved our combined hands and the gun back to the downrange direction, sweeping my lower legs or feet this time. This all took place in literally about one second or perhaps a second and a half at most. I realized what I'd done as the gun was stabilizing in the original direction and thanked my lucky stars.

The moral of this story is that if you or someone makes a mistake and points a gun somewhere it should not be pointed don't panic and make one mistake into TWO mistakes. I beat the odds on this occasion but I don't plan on gambling again and hope I have the presence of mind if such a thing ever happens again to deal with it better.

As I found myself shaken but not bleeding and she was horrified once she realized what she had done we talked for a couple of seconds. But really there wasn't any point in dwelling on it other than a learning experience so we carried on. The funny thing was that on the next time up she got two in a row down her front and the gun did nothing more the quiver a little as her trigger finger properly left the guard and her left hand waved the brass out the bottom as the gun was held rigidly on target... She said that was enough because the gun was spitting the brass right at her cleavage. So I suggested that she shoot off the rest of the mag "gangsta style". She actually shot BETTER with those last four or five shots!

The bottom line is that if you have anyone there with a loose fitting neckline, and it's not always just the womenfolk, tell them that hot brass could go there and what NOT to do when it happens. And if you have some warning that friends or family are going to join you at the range it's not a bad idea to suggest a tight neckline.

 

[ObsidianOne]

The only thing I have experienced is my mother, who is somewhat unfamiliar with guns, but very eager to learn. She has a tendency to always let her booger hooker find the bang switch. Slowly trying to break her of this habit.

 

[Shadow 7D]

So I was a delivery driver, and the one dude, well, lets just say, I cursed the red lights and school buses if he was on my route. He had more machines that most machine shops, he was a retired tool and die maker, and restored older stuff as a hobby, And did his own gunsmithing.

So I pull up one day, and had a little time, so I was asking him about the gunsmithing. I got around to asking why his window was shot (older part of town, but not really a bad area) He said what, so I showed him the hole, he looks at it, at the curtain, the screen, turns around and pulls out a Single Action and opens the loading gate and spins it, pulls out the fired case. I left as he was tearing his teenage grand daughter up one side and down the other.

Point I took away, was always secure you guns and know who is in your home.

 

[KodiakBeer]

15 years ago I was sitting in my office in a military clinic after hours, trying to clear a huge volume of paperwork. A friend walks in, he's just gotten off a plane and wants to show me his new gun. I had been raving about my CZ85 and let him shoot it, and he'd loved the gun as much as I did. Well, on his trip he'd found a CZ clone (Tanfoglio perhaps...). Anyway, he thinks the trigger on his clone is even better than on my original, so he pulls it out of his luggage and insists I dry fire it.
This guy is a gunners mate, a seasoned pro who could strip down and rebuild any gun from a 1911 to a 5 inch naval gun. He hands me the gun and insists I dry-fire it. So... I point the gun at a picture of Bill Clinton on the wall, and start pulling the trigger. I hesitate... I open the slide and a 9mm cartridge drops on my desk.

I still shudder to think of what would have happened to my career if I'd shot a handgun in a clinic late at night, and managed to plug the Commander in Chief in the face at the same time. I'd probably have retired a few years later as an E4.

 

[tarosean]

When I was young and stupid I darn near shot myself in the leg. I had a Ruger MKIII in my pants pocket with a round in the pipe. I was with a group of guys about my age (all of us around 18) and we were all standing in the kitchen. I went to pull the pistol out of my pocket and it discharged. I broke a cardinal rule.
Anyway, I feel a burning along my thigh and thinking the worst, I drop my pants to reveal a thin red line down the front of my leg where the bullet burned me. Scared me and my friends to death. Now, over 12 years later, they still give me a hard time about it.

I think I was about 17 at the time... Never the less, change "darn near" to DID and "kitchen" to parking lot, "Ruger MKIII" to Jennings 25 and that is my unfortunate story.

 

[foolsgold80z]

I have told only one close friend about this but here goes. This occurred within the last two weeks.
Let me preface this by saying that I religiously practice the four rules and have also taught my 4 children as well.
I have been carrying one of my Tanfoglio TZ 9mm pistols lately.
I have a habit of never loading or unloading my guns with anyone else in the house and that was fortunately the case this day also. As I was alone in the house, I unloaded the gun to do some dry fire drills in my basement.
I finished and retired to my office to relax.
I pop a loaded magazine into the pistol, chamber a round, and release the decocker safety to holster the weapon. IT GOES OFF!!!
No finger in the trigger well, just a flat out malfunction.
Fortunately, I had the muzzle pointed down and away at a 45 deg angle as I released the decocker
and the only damage is a hole in a bottom drawer face of an old oak wall unit.
NEVER trust a machine to not fail!!!
I immediately dropped the mag, cleared the limp wrist jam and put the gun in my safe.
Range duty only for that one from here on out.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I still shudder to think of what would have happened to my career if I'd shot a handgun in a clinic late at night, and managed to plug the Commander in Chief in the face at the same time. I'd probably have retired a few years later as an E4.

LOL. I'm certainly not making light of your story, because it is very serious. But the image of someone accidentaly doing what you described is hilarious. "Note to self, don't shoot at pictures of the president." :banghead: LOL The imagery is just funny.

I'm glad it turned out ok though. Great reminder to check, check, and recheck that a gun is unloaded.

 

[Cop Bob]

all it takes is a second.....

As my father drilled into my head over and over... up until the week he passed... "A Mans got to pay attention all the time"... He was and Is right...

I have been witness to several AD's (accidental discharges) had a couple of my own... Working the streets in a major city, and working side jobs for years in one of the busiest Trauma Centers in the country have seen the aftermath of some tragic ones..

One AD of mine came about when a pistol fell out of a holster and landed on the hammer... S&W hammer blocks are NOT 100% effective..

Another that I witnessed was at the range, One officer (from another agency) wanted to check out another officers recent trigger job. The pistol was unloaded and handed over to the requesting party, and just as he started to pull the trigger through, one of the senior range officer standing there reached over and grabbed the revolver by the cylinder with the web of his hand forced between the retracted hammer and frame to catch the hammer fall. He then yelled, "Count the Rounds" (that had been layed on the table between them)... There were 5... next up... a live one, and it was pointed at someones gut when the hammer was coming back. Made a believer out of me..

The same officer involved in the above incident (we often let smaller agencies use our range for qualifications)had squatted with a loaded 1911 to pick up brass (dumbass) (we make them clear and holster before doing ANYTHING) While pushing himself back up, placed the muzzle into his upper thigh... and evidently inadvertently pulled the trigger... that retired him... This was a supposed to be WWII combat vet, unbelievable...

I damn near had my head taken off while walking through a field and we were about to cross a fence, I mentioned to check safeties, and next thing I know my ears are ringing, this brain trust just reached back and touched the trigger. His rifle was pointing right over the left side of my head at a distance of about 18". I could have killed him...

We ran two Feds off our range once because of safety issues.

It seems as though they had made an arrest that involved what they believed to by a weapon modified to shoot full auto.

They popped in to use the range, we said sure, help yourself. A few minutes later we look out the window of the range office and both these guys have ahold of the weapon, one steadying it, and the other trying to pull the bolt back with the magazine in place. Now we had just watched them load that mag... and the gun was pointed right at the window where we were standing... Needless to say we made a hasty exit, and had a somewhat animated chat with them about range safety..

Their reply was "hey,don't you know who we are"... to which we replied something to the effect of "we don't care who your daddy is" and "our house our rules, if you can't follow them leave" They did, after they told us we couldn't talk to them that way..about 1/2 hour later we got a call from an Assistant Chief who basically asked. What da F? When we explained, he chuckled and told us he would take care of it... Seems as though they had their feeling hurt.

I guess they weren't taught in Fed School that you don't actually have to shoot a machine gun to see if it will function as one...

I had a Llama .380 AD once after just tossing it on a firm mattress, it bounced off hit the floor and went off... I really liked that mirror... oh well.. same gun disintegrated on me a few weeks later at the range. Slide came completely off and hit me right between the eyes... Thank goodness for safety glasses... Er ahh.. yeah, I'm not a fan of Llama's...

Was at a public range and watched a guy trying to shoot barricade ( I THINK that is what he was trying to do), and he was actually in front of a concrete pillar, shot the pillar and got a face full of bullet shards and broken concrete. Jimmy Buffet was right.. "there ain't no cure for dumbass disease"..

I had a buddy that ALWAYS wanted more, bigger, hotter faster.. so he shows up at the range to play with some duplex and triplex loads he had just come up with.... I was in the bathroom when I heard it cut loose. .. cut and bent the backstrap on a brand new Model 29 above the forcing cone and peeled it all the way back... cost us a light fixture too.. no injury other that what he described as MAJOR hurt, stinging and numbness in his gun hand... Oh Really?

I have seen some really tragic ones too... but..... Lets leave them alone.

 

[Cop Bob]

The one about a picture reminded me of another one

When I was about 18 or 19, a buddy of mine and I were taking a run up to his relatives ranch south of Dallas.

His dad was letting him take a 22 pump, a really sweet Winchester.. However before he would let us load up and go, he had to give us the "Safety Lecture"...

Now mind you, this is one of the kindest, gentle Men I have ever known, his health was not the best, and I know that it had many years since he had held or fired a gun. But he had his fatherly obligations..

Anyway, as he started his presentation, stating treat every gun as it is loaded, and check to make sure it is unloaded...then he immediately shot a hole in a painting that was near his chair... It was all we could do to keep from wetting ourselves, first from shock, then from laughter.... it was the look on his face that did it... ... It was THE topic of conversation on the drive..

It was a unique way of driving a point home... unintended as it was... Check them always, pointed in a safe direction.. Lesson learned.

 

[SWAT1911]

I learned the hard way that my decocker on my polish P64 instead of decocking fires the round..... Luckly I always abide by the firearms safety laws and just shot the ground about 2 feet away.