Officials said the shooting happened when the vendor was unloading his gun.Unfortunately, the bullet hit him in the hand, and not in some area which would effectively prevent him from passing along his genes.
"The shooting was an accident, but totally preventable," investigators said.
The vendor suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene, emergency officials said.
You know, actually I have no problem with him toting a loaded gun into the venue; that's between him and his conscience. And if he'd just left it the hell alone in its holster instead of succumbing to the temptation to fiddle with it, nobody would have been the wiser. For the eleven jillionth time, Cletus, stop touching it!
Look, seriously, if you need to check holster fit or something, go off in a place where there is a good backstop and nobody around to set on fire if you screw up, and clear your heater there, not in the middle of a crowded gun show, okay? The life you save may be mine.
Sadly, Ron White was right. You can't fix stupid.
ReplyDeleteBut, you can beat it about the head and nether regions with a folding chair for a while to get it's attention. It may not do any good, but it's satisfying and entertaining.
This is happening more frequently at the 1500. It is only a matter of time before a bystander is struck and seriously wounded or killed and then no more 1500.
ReplyDeleteIf this indeed was a vendor, I would hope that they are not allowed to have a table at any future 1500s.
Aside from someone getting shot, the worst thing about these gun show NDs is the fodder they hand the anti-loophole crowd. It's only a matter of time before the Bradyites start hyping a list of gun-show shootings.
ReplyDeleteYears back, a dealer fired a .22LR at the big Waseca, Minnesota, show. I was there but didn't witness it. Those who did said the dimwit was using a live round to demonstrate that the rifle chambered and ejected properly.
The ND in question ric'd off the concrete floor narrowing missing an infant in a stroller (no, really) and lodged in a tool box of a gunsmith.
ReplyDeleteThe dealer was kicked out immediately and banned for life.
The weapon was a Glock M27.
Shootin' Buddy
Please tell me he was actually horsewhipped from his table to the exit.
ReplyDeleteGlock eh. Never liked that you have to pull the trigger to field strip them. Was that it or did he just booger hook the bang switch?
ReplyDeleteI have always felt it ironic that we are not allowed to carry loaded anything at a GUN show. We want them to allow concealed carry and yet when groups of us get together we don't allow it.WTF? And then, something like this happens...
ReplyDeleteLook, ND's happen (not to me as of yet). Fine the dumb SOB a grand and move on. People screw up. If he had screwed up with a car, somehow me thinks no one would suggest he not drive again or that we have no more car shows.
Me, I'll probably keep carrying at shows (and I'll keep NOT having negligent discharges).
Anon 8:50,
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with people carrying loaded guns in crowded places. I do it every day.
I do have a problem, and a big problem, with people pulling out loaded guns and screwing around with them in crowded places, because this is the kind of stuff that can happen.
This guy has just proven that he doesn't know the difference and, as a consequence, is no longer invited to join in our reindeer games.
If Cleatus can't unload a pistol with out it going bang, how in the world can he be in the boomstick business?
ReplyDeleteJoseph, They will never make an idiot proof gun, even if they put on mulitple external safeties and a friggen time lock.
Gerry
Jeebus, that is just sad.
ReplyDeleteI had my issued MandP with me at last August's show (when I gave you and Bobbie skips) and walked around with no problems.
Of course after 27 years, the urge to stroke it is minimal.
Gerry, true, but you can do a damn sight better than Glock.
ReplyDelete"Never liked that you have to pull the trigger to field strip them."
ReplyDeleteHe was field stripping his own Glock for a customer.
Shootin' Buddy
Damn...
ReplyDeleteI was there yesterday and left at 4:30. And when I was chatting with the smokers at the entrance we were grousing about the load/unload stuff.
And how increasing the times people will de-holster and fiddle with their guns just begs for trouble.
Damn.
For the record Bradis is the only gun shop I've been to that actually had a safe direction and unloading can by the entrance.
they will never make an idiot proof gun.
ReplyDeleteSo true. When I was in the Navy, a common saying was "They can make it fool-proof, they can make it idiot-proof, but there is no way they can make it sailor-proof!"
No matter how brilliant the safety design is, there is always some congealed blood clot out there that will figure how to work around it.
cap'n chumbucket
+1 on pulling the trigger to field-strip giving me the willies(though I've heard more XD stories than Glock).
ReplyDeleteI always heard, "Make something foolproof and someone will make a better fool."
I think you're all missing the significance of this news story. That link goes to a TV station web site, but not once are the words "clip", "packing heat", or "it just went off!" used. Not once!
ReplyDeleteAntibubba
I propose that anyone ND'ing in this type of situation should have to run a Dopeslap Gauntlet.
ReplyDeleteYou know the fairgrounds' and the fairgrounds' insuror's, lawyers. PR people, and accountants are screaming "SEE?" right now.
ReplyDeleteReading the article and comments, "pointed at the ground" is perhaps better rendered as "pointed at a surface from which almost any bullet can be expected to sharply ricochet in an unpredictable manner with deadly velocity."
ReplyDeleteAnd I like "no charges".
I'll bet that if this happened at some public function or in a big crowded store on 38th Street there would be some charges!
Gerry: everyone will eventually have an ND ... the law of averages will catch up with you.
ReplyDeleteI've had my one ND, and an honest-to-god malf caused AD.
Both were non-injurious because the weapons in question were only handled where it was safe to do so.
( although the AD did cost me a waterbed. A .45 ACP glaser is completely stopped by a waterbed, by the way ).
Guess I picked a good day not to be there.
ReplyDeleteShot himself in foot to, he is banned for life from attending show again
ReplyDelete"a place where there is a good backstop an..."
ReplyDeletePreferably his own head.
How about providing sand filled barrels.? For unloading _presumably_ unloaded weapons.
I spent a summer + a few months working gun shows many years ago. I seem to recall hearing "bang" at about 3 of them and never ceased to be amazed that no one was injured and that it was always dealers doing the damage. I stopped judging people for making stupid decisions after blasting through a few sheets of drywall myself. Gun handling errors and mental lapses happen. We're human. But I think it fair to question the wisdom of handling a gun in a crowded building. Just leave it in the holster. If you don't want it loaded, what is the point of carrying it in loaded just to unload it later?
ReplyDeleteSome mental lapses are so dangerous and risky that we have made them crimes. This, like not paying taxes or boiling a baby in the back seat because "I forgot", is one of them.
ReplyDeleteND at home, I don't care. ND where I am, in a place where the public are and where they expect to be safe, that's different.