handgun discharged at gun show today..10/12/08
 

Been attending gun shows since about 1970.... today, my first discharged firearm.....scary. Immediately looked in that direction hoping I didn't see someone grabbing his/her chest.
Show was in Fond du Lac, WI. I know the man from whose table the gun was taken and fired... .32 cal. He's a veteran of shows EXTREMELY cautious....guns tied, etc. There have been incidents recently, of dealers finding rounds in handguns on the table for sale. It seems to be a trend lately. The antigunners may be stooping to new lows.
Cops and ambulance were called. The "shooter" was wearing sandles..unusually warm in WI today. Piece was fired at the floor next to his foot. Got some spray into his toes/foot.( Could say why the hell he attempted to dry fire the gun ?.....not so dry).
Anyway thought I'd pass this on to the group....be alert...they're out there.

I've personally witnessed three of these discharges over the years at gun shows here in So. Fla.
With so many variables it is bound to happen every once in awhile, although I would say we seem to have more than our share down here.

Found a loaded P-38 on a dealers table at a Nevada show about 8 years ago.....was the dealer shaken. It was his fault, and security almost stopped the show.

Last fall at the Tulsa show on set up day, there was a pistol shot, a 25 acp that someone popped off and put a hole in the ceiling.... Folks at the gun show were not happy...

Greetings all;
This happened to me at the Tulsa show a year or so ago. There was a .410 that, while being removed from a horizonal rack, was accidentaly fired with a live round in the chamber. The shot pellets struck a man on the side of head and another man in the stomach. I was standing near the FGS table talking to Ken when the shot was fired, not 10 feet away. The man immediately fell to floor with blood streaming from his head. Of course, at the moment, no one knew what kind of firearm it was or how severe his injury was. Fortunately, both men were not seriously hurt. The dealer who owned the gun was escorted out and unfortunately for FGS, his table was among the few that were roped off for quite some time.
Mike

Seen this happen at an allantown Pa show years ago . Happen with an old iver johnson 38S&W . bullet hit the table skidded down hit some books. " Thank God "

A few years ago at a Willamette Valley gun show in Eugene, 4 or 5 .410 shotguns were discovered to have live rounds in the chambers. It is supected that anti-gun radicals had wandered through loading them in hopes of an A.D. Some of the gun show security people surmised that they used .410, in the ignorant thinking that it's small, so it wouldn't cause a fatal wound. Ignorance of firearms at it's finest.

All Oregon gun shows now require that all guns be rendered incapable of being loaded or fired, with the use of "Zip Straps/Turkey Straps".

One wonders why the dealer whose guns these were dis not see this happen.
I am not a dealer but have worked tables at many a gun show. Anybody who picks up anything at my table has my full attention.
Granted there are these mega dealers with 500 plus guns out but still no excuse. You need to have personnel enough to monitor all your wares and use tied wraps and other deterrents to prevent the above.
If we don't police ourselves they are sure to do it for us.

Doug, in my case the P-38 was his carry gun, at least to the show, and he just set it out on the table, with about 8 other P-38's, and did not remember or check to see if it was loaded.....his HUA cost him the table and the week-end at the show....

Mike...Re: .410 @ Tulsa...
As we all waited for the cops-et al-to arrive a friend of mine, Bob Reabe from up here in WI., related that story of the .410.........YIKES!! He said that the dealer had seen it in the chamber but thought it was a flash cap(??)..my...my...

I have unfortunately had one or two of those moments. Long time experience with guns is almost as dangerous as no experience at all. Every once in a while we get careless through sheer habit.
As a young man I put a hole through my window and into a neighbor's roof with an 1896 Winchester .22 gallery pump rifle.
I can still remember my shock at the discharge from an "empy" gun.

Good point......with familiarity sometimes comes carelessness.

Doug,
You have to watch out for those .22s. In 1963 while living in a military housing area, I put a .22 through a window shade, window and into the neighbors patio wall while cleaning my Walther PP. I replaced the window blind slat and told the engineers that I poked the window out with a mop handle while I was cleaning under the bed. Probably would have never made it past Spec-4 if they hadn't bought it (or maybe they didn't care...times were different then). There ain't no cure for stupid, but I learned my lesson and have never had even a close call since then.

Put a round from a P 38 through the upstairs floor of the old farmhouse I was raised in.
I was 16. My grandmother was not pleased.

In 35 years of handling firearms, I had one a.d., with a Beretta 92fs, was going to clean it, and pulled the trigger in my bedroom, putting a round through the wall, and into the telephone pole outside. Seems the loaded chamber indicator didn't have the red paint, and I didn't feel the extractor sticking out. I always do a visual on the chamber when cleaning, but that was the one time I didn't! Yes, with familiarity, does come carelessness! Won't happen again!

I was tuning a .45 Colt Commander at our dining table while off work after knee surgery. I had been taking pain medication (should have been a clue).

It was my house gun so I put a loaded mag in before taking it back to the bed side stand. Sat there for awhile drinking coffee, and decided to check the trigger one more time. Blew the leg off of one of the dining chairs, found the bullet on the couch.

I was on probation for a couple of years after my wife got home. Louie, my Border Collie, who I found behind our bed, didn't speak to me for a week.

Lesson learned...

A few years ago at a Dallas gun show a 45acp went off and the bullet hit a tool box behind the table. The dealer was banned for life. Many years ago I and three others were at a local gun shop looking at a deer rifle. I was the last person to be handed the rifle. I noticed the bolt was closed upon opening it a live round went flying out. The gun shop owner was very upset but it was his fault.

after reading this thread..I find I know of at least a dozen AD stories from Friends and Family. I have never had one..yet.

I sold an AK47 to a Friend here in Yuma years ago. He walked out of my house with it, aimed across the street and set one off. Shot the drivers side mirror off of Ellie's car, bullet went directly accross the street into an elderly ladies house, shot her chandilier off the cieling and went into her china cabinet. She was sitting there in the living room and thought a light bulb burst.
We went running over to see if anyone was kilt. Her living room was full of cascading wood dust & debris... She was quite calm about it all and said her late husband had had an AD in her house some years ago...
Cost my buddy about 500 bucks for the mirror and repairs to her house & contents.
He still claims he dosen't know how it happened. I said..regardless, it wouldn't have had you not pulled the trigger.

Jerry Burney

Today you would have had SWAT there and your buddy would have been led away in handcuffs.
Gone are the days when people were that undetstanding.
About a year or so ago I went to my freight forwarder's warehouse here in Miami and while waiting in the outer office heard a muffled bang. A few minutes later I entered the office and my friend the freight forwarder had a shocked look on his face and I could smell cordite in the air. After inquiring if everything was all right he finally admitted he had just had an AD with his Sig P228, which fired into the carpet, bounced back up and into a sheetrock wall, which fortunately, was the interior of an outer wall for the warehouse. The bullet came to rest somewhere between the sheet rock and the outer concrete wall.
He begged me not to mention it to anybody and he fortunately had a simpathetic ear, since nobody had been harmed.
Today they would be evacuating the building.

ADMIN

:rtfm:


NOT AN ACCECTPABLE ANSWER ON THIS FORUM, PLEASE WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE AND WHAT YOU SAY !!!!!


ADMIN....

Well, my spine is chilled!
I do a lot of dry fire practice and worry that sort of familiarity may come back to bite me in the ass.
I guess the only approach is an absurd level of caution.

We have to tie wrap all of our pistols open at the shows here in Arizona; that's the rule. Regardless we had an AD here at a show last year, which just continues to show how careful you have to be. I picked up a 1910 Browning at a show in Wickenberg AZ last week that wasn't tie wrapped and had a round in the chamber with a full clip. The dealer about had heart failure when I ejected the chambered round. Sold the Browing to me cheap though, because I didn't make a too big deal of it and he wanted to get rid of me fast.
Lyn

Lyn, you gotta know when to strike hard and exploit an opportunity. Congratulations.

I have seen this happen 3 diferent time. The first was here in Klamath Falls. A guy walked in and did not have his 22 pistol checked at the door. Was showing it to a dealer and the dealer was holding it up and pulled the triger. It went threw the palm of his other hand and then threw a tshirt of a kid just grazed him and then into the wall.

Hillsboro Ore. The show permoters father(who used to be the show owner) shot a 25ACP into the floor. He did not even get thrown out of the show. Needles to say I will not go to there shows any more.

Reno last year a guy pulled the triger on a 12 gauge. luckily he had it aimed at a light fixture and just blew it away. He was escorted out.

You can never be to carful.

A young boy was killed this week end with a full auto Uzi, seems even though he was under adult supervision, the gun climbed up when being fired and hit him in the head.....just let go of the trigger....just the reason why we were first instructed with 3 to 5 rounds in the Uzi mag at first to work on trigger control........tragic as this boys death is, here come the anti's and they will use it for all it is worth.

Howard, The youngster was fireing the weapon? What city? I will google search the article...

Jerry Burney

Jerry, google

A young boy was killed this week end with a full auto Uzi


a ton of info comes up

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.s...ots_himse.html

In the MSN article I read this morning the headline stated that the shooting took place at a gun show. Only upn reading the article did one learn the truth. Typical careless or willfully dishonest liberal media.

I also heard a reenactor was shot last weekend with a live minie ball at some Civil War reenactment.
Has anybody else heard this? (at the office no time to google)

I hear now that is was a "Micro Uzi"......have not heard anything about a CW reenactor being shot.....

Civil War Reenactor SHot....

Aw, heck, I needed to find out. Turns out it was last month not last weekend but true enough.....

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...t_N.htm?csp=34

National news now...Truely a tradgedy that the young fellow was not given adequate instruction on weapons control. Same thing could happen with cars, ATV's or motorcycles or dozens of things. If you don't know how to operate machinery it could kill you.
I really feel for the young man..15 is a terrible time to lose your life. His Family too...

Jerry Burney

Jerry....is was just 8.

8 is worse yet! I hate to be critical but it seems common sense was on vacation. Granted a MP like this has a freakish rate of climb but surely this so called certified instructor would have known that and taken it into consideration for an 8 year old!
Reminds me of a similar mistake I made with my 10 year old Niece. She wanted to ride a small dirt bike I had. After a half hour of instruction I put her on it for a leisurely put put around the circle drive. No sooner than she twists the throttle.. the force of the accelerating bike pushes her back, she holds on the tighter, causing the throttle to come full on and she rockets into the corner of my house. By the grace of God she is not killed outright and is only slightly injured. I learned a HUGE lesson that day about young children. Thank God the tuition was reasonable.

Jerry Burney

houston tx show--fellow pulled the pin on a teargas grenade..
 

evacuated the building....that is some nasty stuff..

also a hou tx show, fellow shot a round, hit the aluminum pole of a booth, showered the adjacent booths with shrapnel, and one lady seller had a nasty wound on her arm...

I have heard of a couple of cases now where someone has placed an object into the barrel of a firearm, coins in a shotgun for example.

Gun safety education
 

If all this happens, it is a clear sign of a lack of gun safety education. When I take a gun in my hand, the first thing I do is a chamber-check while pointing the gun to the ground. I never trust a gun until I checked it. This is a routine.
I guess one cause of this problem is that there is no draft anymore. That means no strict gun saftey training for the majority of the male population. (Finger off the trigger rule)
But even in the military accidents happens.
Handling a gun is like jumping with a chute. If you think you are very experienced and you get negligent, then accidents happens.
Since I have kids, I am even MORE careful.

BTW, a while ago a guy with an M4 type rifle had some "problems" with his gun, then he turned around with the gun talking to his buddy. Immediately the range officer came and sent him off the range. Really scary situation...

I've seen 3 ADs at gunshows over the years, none recently.

Really gets your attention.

Nowadays they require wire thingies in the action.

At least we can still have shows.

The thing with the kid was beyond tragic.
Could have been avoided with familiarization using a two or three round load.
Plus hands on supervision.

I have attended approximately ten shows over the years where firearms were discharged. At least four of those discharges resulted in wounded individuals.

I personally know of one person that has been responsible for 3 AD's.:eek: