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My wife and I were at an indoor range today in FW doing a little cardboard recycling. Another couple were in two adjoining lanes shooting their pistols. The guy's wife's pistol (Colt Mustang 380 I think) didn't go bang (think the takedown lever had backed out) and she asked for help from her hubby. Next thing I heard was a bang! ahhhh!!, ahhhh!!, ahhhh!!, and this guy crawling across the floor with blood going everywhere trying to get out the doors to the range. Range personnel were swift to assist with first aid and the medics arrived withing minutes. Seems he was trying to clear the little pistol and somehow got his hand covering the muzzle, when he got the slide to release, it went bang - through and through. Beyond what we all know about the rules - all it takes is a momentary lapse. I really felt bad for the guy - it was his anniversary and they were just out having a little target fun. Ruined their day...

all it takes is a momentary lapse

Without being critical (the last thing these poor folks need is somebody else piling on to their sad situation), I see this most unfortunate incident as more than a momentary lapse, and a learning opportunity as well. It's a tragic reminder that when a stoppage occurs, all kinds of unusual things can happen and it's definitely time to involve someone who knows how to resolve the issue safely. Most folks who have been on a lot of ranges have seen truly scary conduct and close calls when people who didn't have that knowledge tried to make up a solution on the spot.

The takeaway is: When a loaded gun doesn't do what was expected, someone who is not highly experienced in clearing weapon malfunctions should put the gun down with the muzzle downrange and get help from someone who has that experience. Most ranges have this written into their range rules and advisories, and following this procedure would have led to a much happier anniversary for the unfortunate couple in this case.

The first time I took my wife shooting, her Glock had a fail to feed and she gave me this panicked look yeah i know, glocks.
Anyway, I've taken classes before that included how to clear jams, and what to do in case of misfires, but I still raised my hand for a SO to come by. If there is someone else there to do the dirty work, I'm not going to take any chances with my safety.

And before anyone has any snarky comments, it was the reloaded ammo's fault, not the Glock.

"trying to clear the little pistol and somehow got his hand covering the muzzle,"

Yep, it happens waaaaaaaay too often and lotsa folks are just lucky. The shorter the barrel, the more difficult to keep muzzle pointed in a safe direction ...

man... don't they know anything? You're supposed to bang the gun really hard on the counter to clear the round....

I got plenty of practice clearing rounds when i had a bad magazine that came with my Taurus.

what really freaks me out is failure to fire rounds, especially if they have a good primer hit on them. I freak out a little. Treat them like nitro...

really sucks that the guy did that... wish you had his info so we could send him and his wife a card or something.

Worst thing (or maybe the second worst thing), is that the poor man's wife is probably terrified of the gun now.

flintknapper wrote:Worst thing (or maybe the second worst thing), is that the poor man's wife is probably terrified of the gun now.

She looked like she was in shock, which turned into an 'angry' mad look as the medics worked on him. My wife is the one that is going to be tough to bring back into the fold. I always reinforced the "rules" with her anytime we were handgunning or skeet shooting and she followed them religiously - believing doing so was protection against an accident (most accidents anyway). Now this... and we are going to have to build that relationship all over again.

BTW - nice point!!

Me and My Gal were at the BT several weeks ago . There was a couple next to us shootin' when his wife had a brass casing extract and dive for cover in her blouse! She spun around, digging in her shirt to retrieve the offending intruder while pointing her gun directly at me and My Gal . I hollered something to the effect of "AAAAAAAAh" while My Gal fluttered her hands back and forth as we both dove for cover. Fortunately her Husband snatched her still loaded gun from her before we were shot.
I'm pretty sure an apology was in order , but My Gal and I settled for going out front and having a smoke instead.

I always reinforced the "rules" with her anytime we were handgunning or skeet shooting and she followed them religiously - believing doing so was protection against an accident (most accidents anyway). Now this... and we are going to have to build that relationship all over again.

I think it's useful to analyze incidents like the one cited here to see if unsafe conduct was a contributing factor. Looked at this way, this incident can be properly viewed as further reinforcement of the wisdom of the 4 basic rules of gun safety. It could not have occurred without violations of rules 1,2, and 4 for sure, with a likely violation of rule 3 as well. There's no reason for your wife to change her belief that weapon safety can be counted on when the rules are followed.

If someone messes up on any 1 rule, there is an unsafe situation and an ND can happen. With noncompliance with 2 or more, an ND is very likely. With 3 or more, if an ND doesn't occur I attribute it to divine intervention.

This is another good opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others so we don't have to learn everything from our own. It's a matter of efficiency. There are so many really unwise things to do, and life is so short there just isn't time to try them all.

Excaliber wrote:

This is another good opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others so we don't have to learn everything from our own. It's a matter of efficiency. There are so many really unwise things to do, and life is so short there just isn't time to try them all.

I just posted something that may be controversial in the thread about hangfires, but one of my points dealt with correct handling of a gun each time, every time. The example was slide manipulation: your hand placement, arm action, location of the chamber relative to your face, should all be the same--and without thinking about it--whether you're unloading the gun prior to cleaning or dealing with an emergency stoppage. Assuming you aren't in a situation where you have to manipulate the slide with only one hand, there should be no pinch-grip sling-shot action some of the time, holding the front serrations some of the time, rotating the pistol gansta' style some of the time, putting your hand over the ejection port some of the time, etc.

You should do a press-check exactly the same way every single time, not a sling-shot short pull of the slide some of the time, a pull from the front serrations some of the time, a strong-hand-over press-back some of the time, etc.

Don't hold the pistol below the grip safety some of the time, or hold it with the shooting index finger underneath the trigger guard some of the time, or place the off-hand index finger over the front of the trigger guard some of the time, etc.

This isn't the fun and exciting part of shooting, but gun handling needs to be trained and ingrained into muscle memory just like any other element. I hate to call it "basic" gun handling because it isn't; "foundational" is probably a better term.

Foundational gun handling simply isn't thrilling to practice. Period. You wanna go shoot something. But I think many--even experienced--shooters don't spend enough conscious effort and training time on foundational gun handling. After all, how many of us want to spend 15 minutes each week breaking down the racking of a slide into its step-by-step component parts? But the results are never good if the fundamentals are lacking.

It's the stuff of myth by now, but the legendary Vince Lombardi had a tradition with the Green Bay Packers. Each season's training camp would start off the same way. "Stop and gather round," Lombardi would say, and reach down for the pigskin. "This is a football. These are the yard markers. I'm the coach. You are the players."

In the training camp he had rookies who were top guns at their colleges, and grizzled, veteran linemen twice Lombardi's size. But what he did was bring all of them back to earth and convey that it all started with the basics, with executing the fundamentals correctly. If the foundation isn't solid, you can't build on it.

The big four safety rules in shooting, if followed, will keep you out of major trouble. But it's your foundational gun handling skills that can help keep you out of even minor trouble, can help save your life when needed, and provide a foundation for more advanced technique.

gun handling needs to be trained and ingrained into muscle memory just like any other element.

+1 on Skiprr's post.

Making up your gun handling methods as you go and doing it differently and unpredictably on different occasions is both setting the stage for an ND, and for a major gaffe when the chips are down and you can least afford it.

Folks who are serious about preparing to defend themselves with firearms would be well served by findig out the best way to perform each gun handling task, and then practicing exactly that way to the point of unconscious competence (where you "automatically" do it right without consciously thinking about each step along the way.) This produces safety, smoothness, and consistency. Smoothness and consistency practiced over and over give you speed in competent execution and high reliability. You can't have too much of either. It makes range training valuable by ingraining skills rather than randomizing them, and it really comes through if you have to use it to defend your life.

Great point Skippr.

A very unfortunate incident, and a lesson that I am sure will not be forgotten. I sure hope that he doesn’t suffer any long term issues from his error. I wonder how many people that it will effect in a negative way. From the hospital staff to his family, friends and co-workers, that he has to explain the incident to, it has touched several people and is bound to ignite some emotions about firearms.

Every time I go to the range, especially if it's a new one that I don't go to often, I always look up above me at the holes in the ceiling and that’s enough to remind me to be mentally present, and extra vigilant while I am there.

I have partial paralysis of my right hand and I can still clear a firearm safely,sometimes it's just negligent or careless behaviour.In the last couple weeks we have a new RO at the shooting range and anybody wanting to shoot there is given a walk thru of how firearms are to be handled at all times on the range,I actually feel a little safer now