Navy Recruiter Suffers Negligent Handgun Discharge In Georgia

After the Muslim terrorist attack in Chattanooga a week ago today, several state governors immediately authorized National Guard personnel to carry concealed weapons. There are bills that are being introduced to allow the wider full-time military to carry concealed as well.

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The Department of Defense is horrified by the idea of not knowing who is armed in military facilities, in no small part due to the very uneven firearms training across the military, proven in incidents just like this:

A Navy recruiter is recovering in the hospital after accidentally shooting himself with his personal weapon that he brought to work Friday morning.

Gainsville Police said he accidentally shot himself in the upper thigh. No one else was injured.

The incident happened at a military recruiting office on Dawsonville Highway.

Police said they are looking into whether the recruiter brought the gun for protection in light of the events that occurred in Chattanooga.  As of Friday afternoon, the recruiter who shot himself did not make any statements to investigators.

The policy at the recruiting center is indicated on signs posted on the window of the facility. It clearly states that no guns are allowed. Not even for recruiters.

The man couldn’t have his gun on his hip because of the policy, but other store owners tell CBS46 that they heard the recruiter may have been hiding the gun in his front pocket. They say it went off as he was sitting down.

It seems likely that the recruiter did not have his handgun properly holstered in a pocket holster, and that the trigger snagged on something in his pocket as he went to sit down and fired.

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Sadly, this recruiter’s injury was a self-inflicted wound for the Navy as much as it was for the recruiter. We’ve had five mass shootings on military bases since 2009, and the response has been a Chip Diller-esque “Remain calm, all is well!”

All is not well. 34 people have died and another 54 have been shot, and the decision of this Marine, like the decision of Navy Lt. Cmdr. Timothy White and one of the Marines who died in Chattanooga is to take a chance, and violate regulations because the military refuses to concede that our troops are targets.

I stated in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times that trained officers and senior NCOs should be carrying issued weapons while on duty. That would go a long way towards being a deterrent, while also giving our servicemen and women some piece of  mind, and reducing the threats of negligent discharges from worried troops attempting to conceal weapons they don’t know how to carry safely.

The Department of Defense has made a hash of it regarding their base and facility security policies, and if they don’t get their act together soon, they’re going to see more negligent discharges from troops who feel more alone at home than they do overseas.

 

Update: One of the citizens attempting to help guard a recruiting office in Lancaster, Ohio, was just charged after his own negligent discharge.

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An armed volunteer guarding an Army recruiting station in the River Valley Mall area has been charged with a misdemeanor after he accidentally fired his AR-15 rifle this afternoon.

One shot was fired, and no one was injured, Lt. Shane Wilson said.

Someone from the recruiting station at 1530 River Valley Blvd. flagged down an officer at 12:01 p.m. to report the incident, Wilson said.

Christopher A. Reed, 28, of Lancaster, was charged with discharging a firearm in the city limits, and was issued a summons to appear in Fairfield County Municipal Court on Tuesday, according to the police incident report.

Reed was playing “show and tell” and was trying to clear his a rifle so that he could to hand to someone who wanted to look at it.

You know, like any good guard would do…

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