Posted on 05/07/2014 8:09:15 PM PDT by smokingfrog
Ever since a 10-year-old boy was shot and killed in Pike County over the weekend when his uncle was showing off weapons he thought were unloaded, There has been attention and scrutiny on the safety of the gun that went off.
Northeast Firearms in Honesdale sells the Glock 27, the weapon used in the shooting death of Hunter Pedersen.
State police said his uncle was showing off the weapon and pulled the trigger not realizing there was a bullet in the chamber.
The question now is: Could the gun be made safer?
Mike Jones took apart a Glock 27 for us at his gun shop. He said the Glock 27 is a popular model, one that comes without a so-called “external safety.”
It was the same gun, equipped with a laser sight, that wound up killing a 5th grader from Wayne County over the weekend.
Hunter Pedersen was killed when his uncle showed off the weapon Saturday and pulled the trigger.
People came out to support the boy’s family during a candlelight vigil near Honesdale Tuesday.
“I don’t want to ever see another family go through something like this. We are all heartbroken,” said Linda Honickel, the boy’s grandmother.
Chad Olm, the boy’s uncle, is charged with homicide. Investigators said he never checked to see if there was a bullet in the chamber.
“All guns are dangerous and sometimes people disrespect them. And that’s where the problems begin,” said Jones.
Jones said the first rule of gun safety is not to point the gun at anything or anyone unless you intend to shoot. Jones doesn’t believe the gun is to blame for Hunter’s death. The Glock, he said, does not go off unless you pull the trigger.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnep.com ...
“deafened from the sound”
That was my first thought in reading your story. I recall the time my dad thought it would be okay to join us in the basement shooting our BB guns. Except he used my older brother’s .22. No ear protection. Afterwards, with his distinctive sheepish grin, said “Well. I guess THAT was a bad idea.”
I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen someone rack the slide and then drop the magazine. You drop the magazine first, THEN you rack the slide two or three times to eject any chambered round, while looking in the chamber to verify it is empty. After that, you still don’t ever point the weapon at someone and you definitely don’t pull the trigger. Regardless of what happened, this guy was a total idiot.
It’s necessary to pull the trigger in order to disassemble a Glock.
Quite a few, if not most major handgun manufacturers produce DAO pistols that are similar.
Yeah. If you don’t put the laser dot on your nephew’s forehead, it’s a lot safer that way.
I have the habit of always locking the slide back when handing a pistol to someone.
I've fired Glocks and do not like or trust them.
But in the other world of shooters, carried round chambered, Mexican style in your jeans waistband, shoved into a low-end Kydex holster, or a sloppy leather or ill fitting generic nylon cloth holster, you’re asking for trouble in my opinion. Triggers will work as advertised when touched by bad equipment just as with a finger.
There is also the Israeli solution - Mexican style with an unloaded chamber. To draw and fire takes two hands, but the trick is you grab the slide with your non-firing hand and shove the gun forward towards the intended target. The slide stays still but racks a round as the gun slides underneath it. then you let go of the slide and it snaps back into battery, ready to fire.
Practice a little, and it can be done extremely rapidly and reliably. In the mean time, the gun stays in Condition Three for carrying, no round in the chamber, completely safe.
Training new shooters, I beat the following into their heads:
TREAT EVERY GUN AS IF IT'S LOADED! The true "safety" on any gun is between the shooter's ears! Funny how the only guns used to accidentally shoot people are unloaded!
Mark
I always thought that was a euphemism for suicide.
You have to clear a Glock before you can disassemble and clean. You have to pull the trigger before removing the upper. Well, at least on a Glock 26, which is the only one I’ve handled (I assume they are all similarly operated).
The loaded chamber indicator on the Glock I’ve handled is actually terrible. It is hard to distinguish flush from protruded. I just pull back the slide and take a look, and then take another look. And then, I don’t point it at a kid! :)
“The only time I’m sure my gun is unloaded is when it is fully disassembled on the table.”
Perhaps a gun is not the weapon for you?
I don’t have anything against Glocks. I think they are safe and well made pistols. I just don’t like the way they fit my hand.
I have never picked up a firearm without correctly checking (magazine and chamber) that it is unloaded - when I was young I'm sure at the very least I would have been banned from touching weapons for a year or more (perhaps forever) if I broke that rule. The same is true for my kids. Even after correctly checking, we treat 'unloaded' guns like they are loaded, which includes never pointing them at an innocent child and pulling the trigger. When I encounter a new design and am unsure how to check, I'll ask the owner/dealer to check that it is unloaded before I touch it, and then I do the same check when I pick it up.
I have never understood why people feel the need to point the gun at children.
If the shooters truly thought the gun was unloaded, why not point at their own head.
The funny factor is still there if unloaded, and Darwin kicks in if the gun is loaded.
No children would be harmed if these rocket scientists would follow this simple rule.
I don’t even point unloaded guns at my dogs!
A gun is never unloaded.
Since it is never unloaded don’t point it at things you don’t want to shoot.
Don’t put your finger in the trigger guard until you’re ready to shoot because, remember, a gun is never unloaded.
When you do shoot be sure you know what what you’re shooting at and what’s behind/beyond it.
A reworded version of the 4 Laws.
Don’t put your finger in the trigger guard until you’re ready to shoot …This was drummed into us my first day on an Army Combat Handgun team. During our last match in Hawaii we were far ahead, all our rounds were in the 10X. Our team captain got excited and “shot a snake”. He had his finger on the trigger between shots, when he raised his 45 to the target his finger pulled the trigger. We lost the match,
I was actually referring to the kind of ECI that just consists of a yellow or orange length of plastic that you can push down the handgun barrel from the muzzle end, through the chamber, and into the breech. Cheap, but the best kind of ECI, IMO.
There’s no way a cartridge is in the chamber if that is showing through the ejection port.
Very true. First lesson I learned about a weapon is that it is ALWAYS loaded until I personally verify it is not loaded.
I remember my firearms instructor saying I could carve that statement into stone.
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