Attorney fires gun in office

Hickory Daily Record ^ | June 19, 2002 | KIM GILLILAND

[Sir Gawain]

I'm willing to take that risk.

[TC Rider]

So are they R's or D's ?

In North Carolina that is less of an issue. We have quite a few 'conservative' democrats in NC. Many were known as 'Dixiecrats' in times gone by.

Your typical NC conservative Dem would vote straight D on county/state offices then pull the lever for Jesse Helms and Reagan in National races. They will often go out of their way to screw up D primaries.

I would be curious if these guys support an armed citizen.

[Teacher317]

Excellent point! yet another example of the separation of the masses from their masters. "One set of laws for thee, and another for me!"

[Myrddin]

My wife has a Colt 1911 style .380. It is pretty sensitive to ammo selection. I've had to tap out the expended case twice in the last two trips to the range. It appears the ammo was too lightly loaded. The extractor pulled the case partially out of the chamber, then the ejector tab slightly misaligned it. The slide then slammed the slightly misaligned case back into the chamber. It isn't factory ammo. The ammo was reloaded ammo purchased at a gunshow. Looks like I'll have to work up a reliable load for her to use with that gun. We had problems with gunshow reloads in her Sig 225 as well. No more of that stuff.

[Cachelot]

You may be right, but his story checks out with the way most .380's work. Most, but not all, are cheap Saturday Night Specials. Most utilize a 'blowback' action which is prone to fire on impact or being dropped.

Nah, most serious 380's are "real" guns and not "saturday night specials". And the fact the the mechanism is mostly blowback has little or nothing to do with accidental discharges - the gun's lockup at firing moment is something else than the firing mechanism :).

380's are mostly pure blowbacks - that is, the slide isn't locked at the moment of firing. Mostly, too, they're DA on the first shot and the rest SA. You're meant to carry them with hammer down and SAFETY ON. On my Astra Constable, that means locked trigger, hammer, and firing pin.

Ballistically, a hot 380 round is not too different from a 38spc, and the guns tend to be a bit more concealable.

[toddst]

No Doubt. One NEVER should chamber a round unless you are in front of a target getting ready to fire, or you hear someone in your home and you know you can't rely on the cops to get to you in time and you want to save the tax payers some money by sending the perp to his eternal rest.

Well, you go right ahead and keep your weapon in a functionally unloaded condition (round not chambered) if that's what you're comfortable doing. What you are ignoring, however, is the very great chance you will be stressed if you wait to chamber a round when actually faced with a threat. That's when you'll likely cause a feeding malfunction and have to clear the gun before being able to chamber a round and be prepared to fire.

Work on your handling skills, learn your weapon and apply the four rules of safe gun use. The Ass't DA in this situation obviously violated all four rules. The gun wasn't at fault, he was IMHO.

[Mark17]

This puke should be charged with reckless endangerment.

It is these irresponsible gun owners that give us responsible gun owners a bad name. What a nerd he is.

[OXENinFLA]

How about this. I have a Ruger P-90 .45cal the only safety it has is a hammer De-cock, if I have a round chambered and the trigger is pulled the gun goes BOOM! That is my only reasoning behind not having a round chambered. That and I it is just one other way to ensure the gun does not fire on accident. Of course if I was ever in a situation where I may need to pull my gun and wouldn't have time to chamber a round, I would have on in the pipe.

[Redcloak]

Reid said the handgun had a mechanical malfunction with the ejector slide.

Sheriff David Huffman said Parker turned the handgun over to authorities and asked that it be destroyed by the State Bureau of Investigation.

“I was on vacation when it happened, but I think that Parker was so shaken by the incident that he just wanted to get it out of his sight altogether,” he said.

When someone asks to have a gun destroyed, the SBI checks the serial number to verify the history of the gun before destroying it.

There's something fishy here. Most people have broken firearms fixed, not destroyed. I wonder what that trace turns up. (And if that info will be made public!)

[Cachelot]

I'm willing to take that risk.

First shot means nothing. First hit means something :).

[TC Rider]

And I am willing to risk walking around with a loaded weapon.

[ironman]

"Why was he playing around with it?"

The article doesn't say he was playing with it. That is a possible assumption among many.

[Sir Gawain]

So am I. Just not a chambered weapon with no external safety.

[Cachelot]

How about this. I have a Ruger P-90 .45cal the only safety it has is a hammer De-cock, if I have a round chambered and the trigger is pulled the gun goes BOOM!

I don't know the P90, but I don't think it would be prone to a discharge if dropped. Most modern guns are protected against that sort of thing. One of my guns functions in the way you describe (a Steyr GB), and while it will go BOOM on a pulled trigger - which will have to be a trigger pull that cocks the hammer, btw - it will not discharge on being dropped. That is because the firing pin is protected from moving UNLESS the trigger is also being pulled.

[Travis McGee]

BAD PISTOL! BAD BAD BAD PISTOL!

Crush the the BAD pistol, that's the solution!

(I wish I had a dollar for every time a BAD pistol with a broken ejector just UP AND SHOT ITSELF OUT A WINDOW! Geez, if it's happened to me once, it's happened a hundred time.)

[harpseal]

Stupid is as stupid does - Forrest Gump.

Rule one firearms do not go off all by themselves. I am willing to bet my house and my boat that I can lay a firearm on a kitchen table with a round in the chamber and it will not go off unless someone touches it. Any takers at even money? It would be nice to pay off my mortgage and get a long range fast trawler.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

[harpseal]

Bad ADA, Bad Bad ADA. No doggie treat for you. Since when does an ejector cause a firearm to discharge? An ejector merely removes a round from the chamber.

The idiot can not even make up a believable lie.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

[Travis McGee]

This moron hasn't even been around guns long enough to know you're supposed to say "I was cleaning my gun, and it went off". Idiot reporters usually swallow that one.

If this idiot had bought a .38 revolver instead of an auto, I'll be this would not have happened. Simple guns for simple minds, I say. Me included.)

[semaj]

To your POST #10: It is not recommended to carry an automatic in full battery as you described. That is with a round chambered, safety in the fire position and the hammer cocked. IMHO this is very unwise as any abrupt jarring or bump can cause the hammer to fall. It would be better to keep the hammer uncocked. If you need the weapon quickly it is a minor thing to cock it.

[Joe Brower]

In over twenty five years of shooting, I've never once had a ND. Shot at some questionable targets in my younger years, and again when young my barrel discipline needed honing (and got it!), but I've never, ever, ever had a bullet leave the barrel without wanting it to. It's a mistake you simply do not make.

Of course, since this guy is one of the anointed, he gets off with a wrist-slap anyway. No such luck for us commoners.