Sometimes you to have laugh at the ridiculousness of life. There’s enough serious and stressful things out there to keep up with, but, occasionally, you come across something so bizarre that you can’t help but chuckle.
This story is one of those situations.
Apparently, this happened to a man in Texas. Paul Best writes,
A dog accidentally fired a gun into its owner’s leg recently, the Plano, Texas, police department said this week.
The owner was picking up his dog when its paw got lodged in the trigger of the gun in his waistband, sending a bullet through his thigh.
The man was not badly hurt. The bullet didn’t hit any major arteries, and he was able to drive himself to the hospital.
Now, someone will read this, and their immediate thought will be that it’s not funny that someone got shot. I won’t disagree with them, and if this guy had been seriously hurt, I wouldn’t have found it funny either. Gun shots are serious things.
Still, if you can lighten up a little, you may be able to appreciate the absurdity of the situation.
And while this is a humorous (at least, to me) story, it is also a good reminder of gun safety beyond the four basic rules of handling a gun (see here if you need a review of them).
First, it’s worth considering that the gentleman who got shot was carrying with a round in the chamber. Maybe you consider that a good idea. Maybe you don’t. All I’m going to suggest is that you realize the trade-off. If you carry with one in the chamber, yes, you can get off your first shot more quickly for self-protection because you don’t have to chamber a round first, but you also run the risk of the firearm accidentally discharging as happened in this case.
Second, the safety was not engaged on this guy’s firearm or the firearm did not have a safety. Additionally, he had a trigger with a light pull weight (how else could the dog’s paw have caused the discharge of a round when he picked up the dog?). Re-read the last paragraph. There are arguments for and against safeties and light vs heavy trigger pull weights. Make your decision, but understand the trade-offs.
So, I am glad that this guy wasn’t seriously injured, and, yes, I got a chuckle out of the story. Regardless of whether you laughed or not, use this story as a reminder to make your decisions for your carry weapon while understanding both the pros and cons of your choices.
Many years ago when I was in college I knew a Law officer who told me of a similar shooting. Some friends of his had gone hunting and were returning home at the days end. They were all in a station wagon. The guns were all placed in the back of the wagon. The rear seat was folded down to make room. The hunting dogs were loaded in the back also with the guns. The three of them got into the front seat. Father, son, and young adult daughter in the middle.On the way back one of the dogs stepped on a shotgun. His toe nail caught the trigger and the gun fired. The blast went through the seat caught the daughter in the back killing her. How many common sense gun rules were violated?
1.0 The guns should have been triple checked to make sure they were empty.
2.0 The guns should have been placed in the car with the muzzles pointing to the back not the front.
3.0 Every one of the guns before loading should have been pointed at the ground or sky and had the trigger pulled to double ensure it did not contain a live round.
4.0 if the guns had safety’s they should have been double checked to verify they were on.
5.0 Guns loaded or not should never be placed where dogs or children cannot access them.
THE FINAL ABSOLUTE RULE! NEVER COVER A LIVING CREATURE WITH A GUN MUZZLE UNLESS YOU INTEND TO SHOOT IT.
DAVE
Dave,
RE: 5.0 Did you REALLY mean to say “Guns . . . . NEVER be placed where dogs or children CANNOT access them? Didn’t you mean never place guns where dogs or children CAN access them?
Professor Lion,
You are correct I created a double negative in my note. Guns should never be placed where children or dogs “CAN” access them. This is even when you are “ABSOLUTELY SURE” they are not loaded. The rest of my rules still apply. (Yes they are redundant, when dealing with guns redundancy is a very good idea!)
Thank you for catching my error.
Dave
It is obvious this person didn’t have a good holster for his pistol. A GOOD holster covers the trigger COMPLETELY, so there’s NO DANGER of snagging the trigger on clothes, skin, or anything else. NEVER TUCK AN UNHOLSTERED OR IMPROPERLY HOLSTERED GUN INTO YOUR WAISTBAND! (Unless you don’t care if you end up singing Soprano in the Boys Choir!)
I totally agree with the Editor, I am VERY glad the man wasn’t seriously injured. Just hope he learned from the experience.
That was the first thing I thought of. Must have been a really crappy holster.
It’s ironic, really. People spend thousands of dollars on their pride and joy pistol, then buy a ten dollar holster. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?
I hope Joe Biden has a dog like that and its a better shot !
Terry, not nice – but I sort of agree. I wonder if the so-called “President Elect” (has any state actually certified the election results? Certainly not enough to get him to a real 270 Electoral Votes) will be hiding in the White House basement. I probably would.
Maybe this mans gun was a 45 colt single action that always have the hammer cocked without the safety on but still the trigger should be inside the hoster I just don’t see how this happen
A properly holstered gun has the trigger covered.
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