How Many Gun Safety Rules Can You Violate At Once?

Here’s a negligent discharge story from WESH in Casselberry, Florida. Please note that the term “instructor” in this story denotes “someone attempting to show something to someone else,” not, “qualified and competent teacher.”

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Neither of these geniuses were employees of the range.

How many of the “Four Rules” do you think they violated?

Police said one man was teaching another man about a 9mm handgun, when a round jammed. Police said the instructor was clearing the jam when his finger touched the trigger, causing the gun to fire.  The instructor was hit in the finger, and his student was hit in the upper right thigh, authorities said.

Casselberry police said the two men were not seriously injured.  They said both men are in their 30s.

The fact that sticks out the most to me is that the person attempting to clear the jam did not keep the muzzle in a safe direction. If he had, then the negligent discharge that resulted from him pulling the trigger would have just been another hole in the backstop, or maybe a round ricocheting off the wall or floor downrange into the backstop. Since he shot himself in the finger and his buddy in the leg, it seems likely that he turned away from the firing line and had the gun pointed down in an attempt to deal with the malfunction.

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I’d be very interested to know how long the less-than-dynamic duo were working to clear the malfunction before they triggered (pun intended) their negligent discharge. The various line bosses, range safety officers and line safety officers I know tend to move quickly to the site of a suspected malfunction just in case the dunderhead attempting to clear the jam becomes unsafe, but I’m also aware of the fact that they are human beings, and can’t be everywhere at once.

 

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