Posted on 10/14/2016 4:17:34 PM PDT by COBOL2Java
TOLEDO, Iowa (AP) — They were, says Denise Kirchner, “the worst three hours of my life” — the agonizing moments after her son accidently shot her and her 14-year-old daughter Madison while cleaning his semi-automatic gun in their Iowa home.
Madison skirted death, but survived. She is living proof, her mother says, of what can happen when otherwise responsible gun owners have a safety lapse.
Dylan, 18, had been trying to remove a bullet from the chamber of the .40-caliber handgun when it fired, Toledo Police Chief Bob Kendall said.
(Excerpt) Read more at wtop.com ...
1. (Mentioned in the article) ensure that no one is downrange (”in the room”, said the article, but that’s a bit excessive). Just make sure the business end will ALWAYS be pointed away from them, and preferable at the floor or an effective backstop.
2. Do not touch the trigger. Period.
3. For a semiautomatic, drop the magazine, then work the slide. If there is a round stuck in the chamber that will not eject, operate the slide release. This will permit the slide to be removed— away from the firing mechanism— and also permit dismounting the barrel (which includes the chamber) from the slide.
4. You will now be able to see a stuck round in the chamber, and there will be nothing capable of causing the weapon to fire. Even so, practice safety rule #1 and do not point the business end at anything you really like, such as a person.
5. In most cases you may now safely extract the round by hand. Worst case you may have to poke it out from the muzzle end, say with a cleaning rod.
As to the second half of your request for information:
I have had TWO unintended discharges. Both occurred because (in one case) I assumed that the person who handed it to me had cleared it, or (in the other case) that the safety was in the correct position. Both occurred when I pulled the trigger. Because of my adherence to the other rules of safe firearms handling, the bullets went into the ground or in the direction of our targets.
Please don’t hesitate to question us FR gun folks further. We are all willing and able to give assistance. Safe gun handling is the responsibility of every individual who wishes to exercise his God-given, Constitutionally-protected rights.
I once had a semi-auto handgun malfunction to the point that there was a live round in the receiver but not in battery, and I was unable to move the slide to extract the round. In other words it was locked half in battery, half out. Fortunately it happened at my local range so I was able to fiddle with it for a few minutes without endangering anyone. I finally called a gunsmith I trust who just happened to be open on a Saturday afternoon, and took it to him for resolution. He took care of it in about five minutes. Full disclosure - the problem was induced by yours truly by installing one of the recoil springs incorrectly, I.e., backwards. After firing a couple of times the incorrectly installed spring slipped past the end of the guide rod and locked the gun up. I was negligent in putting the gun back together even though I’d done it hundreds of times. No harm was done in the end. Problems with guns are always caused by the operator. This kid’s discharge was negligent, not accidental.
I have had two similar to that. Both were in safe directions, but were surprises to say the least (first was on the line of “you dumbass”)
First was a very customized cowboy action lever gun. I assumed (horrid evil word!) this particular rifle had a “half cock” safety system and when I went to half cock it and released, BANG...
Second was a squib/jam on one of my Browning HPs with a cast bullet round. The way it lodged made the slide difficult to actuate (again, in safe direction) and I was sweaty to boot. As I pulled the slide back it slipped free, drove in the round and apparently slam fired it. Had some pretty good hand sting from the slide biting me on that too.
I shold include that the gun had nested recoil springs. I had no idea there was a right and wrong way to install the larger spring. I do now.
Oh, one of my coworkers had a brush with death with a state highway Dept employee. The guy found a semi auto in a paper bag along the road and came over randomly pointing it at people and things. Coworker said be careful, that might be loaded so the guy drops the magazine and proceeds to go through the motion of pointing it at his own head and pulling the trigger.
Our guy snatches it out of his hand in mid arc and jacks the live round out of the chamber. The state guy just about shit himself. THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT STUPID!
“otherwise responsible gun owner”, said the criminal’s mother.
Uh, no. People who shoot their sisters are not responsible anythings, and belong in prison. Give his mama the Marion Barry Genius Award: “There isn’t much violent crime in Washington, D.C....if you don’t count the murders.”
The other situation which still makes me uncomfortable is, what to do if you cock a double action revolver and then decide that you do not wish to fire it.
As far as I know there is no alternative to holding the hammer back, pulling the trigger, and then easing the hammer down. I hate that.
One of my striker-fired pistols require the trigger to be pulled in order to remove the slide. I first move the slide back a little, pull the slide release buttons down and then I have to pull the trigger to release the slide. So far, I’ve never had a jammed cartridge, but would you recommend putting something in front of the primer, just in case? I’m pretty sure the firing pin won’t reach the primer with the slide back, but I don’t know. I’d think this is a time to err on the side of caution.
I did have a slide on a different pistol get stuck on a FTE due to an extractor problem, as I found out later. I was a little nervous because I hadn’t been counting rounds and I didn’t know if there was one in the chamber. In that case, a little hard rapping, with the barrel pointed downrange, jarred the case loose enough to free the slide. It wasn’t loaded, but sometimes you just don’t know.
This kid’s first pistol is a center fire semi-auto. Should be a single action .22.
Bet he was sitting at the kitchen table, maybe yakking and obviously had muzzle pointing at mom and sis.
These journalchimps could actually do some good if they would explain
exactly what happened.
No mention of a father.
BANG!
Now I drop the mag, rack slide back, lock it, and visually eye ball the ramp and chamber for the butt of the round, then look down the empty mag well through the ejection port, then release the slide, aim in safe direction, then pull the trigger, with the mag still out of the firearm, ONLY THEN I am convinced it is unloaded, until it leaves my hand.
You don’t know any of that. You don’t know if his first pistol wasn’t a Buckmark or a Lugar.
You don/t know if he has a dad at home.
You don’t know if he was yakking.
All you really know is that the gun went off and wounded two members of his family.
All you’re doing is projecting yourself into that information.
Right ace. I really DON’T know if it was his first pistol. That was pure guessing.
I said there was NO MENTION of a father. Did you see one? Perhaps the
mom is divorced, widowed, has a husband working out of town.
I said MAYBE he was talking. Having a .40 round do that much damage
to his sister, exit and wound his mom would imply he wasn’t in the basement, the garage or a shop in the backyard.
His sitting at the kitchen table was a reasonable guess. Much more likely
than the dining room.
I suppose you can employ your superpowers and ferret out the details I am
wrong about.
Were you offended by my use of “journalchimps”? That covers three fourths of them. It may be bad to want accurate facts that mght help prevent another terrible incident like this, but that’s just me.
Your views may vary.
(BTW, it is Luger not Lugar)
In your case if i suspected a stuck round, I would first try placing an empty magazine, then pulling back the slide. Unless it’s one of the cheapest of the cheap it will lock to the rear and you can extract the cartridge that way.
If you *must* pull a trigger on a live round, use the same rule as you would if firing at a target— ensure you are pointing it in a safe direction.
BTW a thick paperback book is a safe backstop for point-blank firing up to .30-06. You may be able to guess how I know. I say “up to” because I never tried anything bigger :)
This article says this happened in April.
The Tama-Toledo Times has no article about this in April or May.
http://www.tamatoledonews.com/
I’d say the entire article is BS.
Back in the eighties they attributed SUVs with mystical some times magical or evil powers, same old same old- just a different inanimate object.
Hey Van and all, I found this in their paper saying it happened on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015 the sister was standing sideways to the brother
and that’s why she was hurt so badly. Can’t figure out if they were in the
kitchen or not.
US news reporting is exasperating. Accounts from decades past may not
always have been totally reliable but there was usually a lot more info
in them than now.
Van, BTW thanks for that link in 35. The side story concerning
Grinnell College and the copper alloy surfacs was real interesting
to me since my mother is in hospital right now.
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