Deer Season Opener Leaves One Dead

KMOU.com ^ | No. 17, 2009 | Ryan Martin

[sockmonkey]

Breer's friend accidentally shot him while taking his gun off his shoulder.

Not sure what kind of gun he had, but I was taught, if you are carrying a bolt action rifle, have the bolt open. Pros/cons?

[swmobuffalo]

One could argue there were two deaths. A man drowned in his truck trying to cross a flood swollen creek around here. He and two other men were deer hunting on family land.

[mikelets456]

LOL...I love witty sarcasm/humor!

[smokingfrog]

The article says he was shot AFTER deer hunting, so the rifle probably should not have been loaded in the first place. Which brings up the topic of removable magazines. One of the things the gun lobby likes to ban. A removable magazine is the safest way to unload a firearm, but I don't often see people making that argument.

[Billthedrill]

Breer's friend accidentally shot him while taking his gun off his shoulder.

Uh...with his finger on the trigger? With the muzzle pointed at his friend? Why?

[ArrogantBustard]

I have never seen a better set of gunhandling rules. His four rules are concise and complete, and are best understood as a mindset than as a checklist.

[ArrogantBustard]

Is there always a “safety” to (dis)trust?

[Petronski]

Simplest rule in all of firearms safety:

NEVER POINT THE MUZZLE AT ANYTHING YOU’RE NOT WILLING TO KILL

[Petronski]

NEVER take safety for granite!

That advice is rock solid!

[Petronski]

http://www.remington.com/safety/safety_center/safety_modification_program/

That flaw led to an accidental discharge in just such a rifle, in my hands, as I toggled the safety to off prior to unloading...no finger anywhere near the trigger. It was pointed at the ground near my father’s feet.

Thus I repeat the rule: NEVER POINT THE MUZZLE AT ANYTHING YOU’RE NOT WILLING TO KILL.

[Big_Harry]

LOL!

[Larry Lucido]

Granted, people in grass houses shouldn’t throw scones.

[Ramius]

The moment you start thinking you're too smart for it to happen to you...

Exactly. I'm sure even Jeff Cooper would have agreed that the first step toward having an AD is to believe that you're incapable of having one.

[sausageseller]

Is there always a “safety” to (dis)trust?

On most all modern guns yes . Yet the "safety" can be in different configurations.

[VOA]

“The first rule of thumb...ALWAYS handle a firearm as if it were
loaded and ALWAYS point in a safe direction.”

Amen
Amen
AND
Amen

Having nearly blown a .22 cal hole in my brother’s foot (back when
I was young...but was smart enough to know better).

I’m in Mid-Missouri and heard about this sad event.
It reminds me of my sister-in-law who is conservative but fairly
“anti-gun” because a friend of her father accidentally shot/killed
himself with some careless gun-handling during a hunting trip.

[ArrogantBustard]

Hmmm ... depends on what you mean by "safety". If you mean a latch which must, by a deliberate and distinct action, be disengaged by the shooter before firing (as, for example, on the Browning Hi-Power) ... in fact many modern pistols and rifles do not have one. For example, very few revolvers are so equipped, and Glock pistols all lack such devices. In these cases, "never trust the safety" is a moot rule, a nullity.

If by safety, you mean the myriad internal devices or trigger complications which are designed to disable the internal lockwork unless the trigger has been deliberately squeezed ... well yes, most pistols have such devices.

Still ... anyone who is "trusting the safety" is most likely violating one of the previous four rules. I believe that "don't trust the 'safety'" is one of the reasons for Rule 2, rather than a distinct fifth rule.

IMHO. YMMV.

[Eagles6]

Folks make too much of the Cheney thing. You forget that in Texas lawyers are considered varmints, there is no closed season and no bag limit.

[rahbert]

Fortunately the round hit the ground away from the coke girls. They would have been very annoyed otherwize.

I was taken to task and did not sin again.

[TChris]

"Unfortunately, if you do handle guns long enough, sooner or later you're gonna have one go off when you don't intend it to," Dave Shefe, an employee at Columbia's Powder Horn Guns and Sporting, said.

I'm over 40, been around guns all my life, and I've never accidentally discharged a firearm.

I disagree that accidents MUST happen.

[TChris]

No clip in the gun, he probably has checked it.

Of course, you MEANT "No magazine in the rifle...", right? ;-)