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When learning how to shoot in self-defense, folks are told to aim for center mass. Not only is it the largest part of the body, thus the least hard to hit, it’s also the part that contains all the vital organs. As such, it’s much more likely to stop the target with a good hit to the center mass.

However, a man recently hit probably the most difficult target possible. Too bad for him that it was his own “difficult target.”

Peter Jacobsson’s alleged .22-caliber gun dropped out of his pocket, hit the ground and fired on a busy street on Wednesday, detectives believe.

And the bullet hit the 32-year-old’s manhood in Lincoln, Nebraska.

He has had treatment in hospital to gruesome injuries to his genitals, local media reports.

The man remains in a non life-threatening condition in hospital but has been charged with various offences.

Luke Bonkiewicz, an officer with Lincoln Police Department, said the botched shooting happened on Wednesday at around 8.45pm near Bryan West Campus, a medical centre in the Irvingdale area of the town.

Police believe that Jacobsson was walking around when his weapon fell out of his pocket and discharged.

This, of course, suggests quite a few things for folks to learn from.

One is that this was not a particularly high-quality firearm. While the Sig P320 reportedly had an issue with firing if dropped if it hit the ground at a particular angle, the P320 isn’t exactly a pocket pistol nor is it a .22. Most quality firearms aren’t going to go off when dropped. Crappy guns? Oh, they’re a whole other kettle of fish.

This, of course, assumes nothing caught on the trigger during the fall. If that happened, then someone’s trigger was too light, though I’ll grant that may be my personal preferences talking.

Another is that clearly, he wasn’t carrying in a holster. Holsters tend to prevent guns from dropping. They also shield the trigger from being accidentally pulled, at least to some degree.

In addition to having a taken a bullet in a part of the body no one wants to be shot in, Jacobsson is also facing criminal charges. He’s been charged on suspicion of discharging a firearm in the city as well as possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person. That’s right, Jacobsson was someone who wasn’t allowed to own or carry a firearm.

So in addition to serving as a life lesson on how not to carry a firearm, Mr. Jacobsson is a lesson on how useless gun control is. Not only was he armed, but he was carrying a gun without a concealed carry permit. It’s almost like gun control doesn’t stop people like him.

The upside here is that at least Jacobsson may well have taken himself out of the gene pool. If he didn’t, it’s only because it was a .22 and not something more like a .45 or even larger.