We decided to go squirrel hunting (pronounced huntin' down here just so you know) and our weapons of choice were .22 rifles. Everything was going fine, we killed a squirrel or two and had to reload so we stopped and began the process of reloading.
The rifle my friend was using at the time had a tube under the barrel, into which you placed the bullets one at the time to reload it. He put the stock (which is the part of the gun which is placed on your shoulder while you shoot, for you gun-illiterate people) on the ground and kneeled beside the weapon. He pulled out some bullets and began to reload the gun.
Then it got ugly.
Apparently there was a bullet in the chamber and the safety on the gun was off. Also for some ungodly reason he had his finger placed OVER the barrel to "Steady the gun while he was reloading."
Bad combination.
"Normally I'm not that stupid,"said my friend afterwards, "I don't know why I did that. It just happened."
Needless to say, the gun went off (how it went off is still a mystery) and the bullet ripped through my friend's left index finger, shattering the joint and tearing tendons.
I was beside him reloading my gun when this happened and heard the shot. I turned to see my friend, who was just as calm as ever, looking at his finger as if he had a small cut on it and it was no big deal. I could not see his finger because of the angle and figured that, at worst, the bullet had simply grazed his finger and he indeed had only a small cut. I had no idea of the magnitude of the injury.
"Shoot your finger?" I ask, expecting a calm answer that would be somewhere along the lines of "Yeah, just grazed it. I'll be alright."
Instead, recognition flashes across his face and panic sets in.
"Yeah I did!" He shouts and takes off running.
I sit stunned for a moment, my mind trying to register what has just taken place.
My friend (who has covered about fifty yards in five seconds, which is the fastest I've ever seen him run and probably the fastest he ever will run in his life) stops, turns back, and yells at me, "Come on! I shot my finger!"
My mind, which is still struggling to grasp the event which has just taken place, finally wades through everything long enough to shout out one order:
RUN.
Run where?
HOUSE.
What then?
GET HIS PARENTS.
What then?
.........................
At this point my mind reenters its sluggish movement while trying to simultaneously figure out what happened and what to do.
It didn't matter anyway - by the time I reached the house my friend was already in the car about to take out to the hospital.
The last thing he says to me before they speed away is, "You think I'll be able to use it again?"
"I don't know!" I said the only thing I could think before he was gone.
That was 3 weeks ago and my friend is doing better now, although whether or not he'll ever use his finger again is still up in the air.
I spoke to him a few days after it happened and asked,"So what have we learned?"
"Uh.....always use a gun with a clip," was the reply.
"I was going for, 'Never put your finger over the barrel'," I said.
"That works too."
11 comments:
That's what happens when you give a dumbass a gun and don't teach him anything about gun safety first.
I was raised in Georgia and got my first gun when I was 8 years old. Never in my life have I accidently shot anything or anybody. That's because my pawpaw and my dad taught me how to handle and respect a gun for a couple of years before they actually let me have one.
I hope he is okay and that he gets full use of his finger back. You might suggest some gun safety education to him along with some of those IQ builder, brain builder kind of books.
Hopefully he can read and hopefully he learned his lesson.
You boys be careful now.
Ouch - that's quite the photo!
Keep up the great writing.
Hey, I got here from your mom's old blog. I see you've got her gift of writing as well. Keep it up!
@$$rot makes a valid point, but could certainly have done it in a better manner. I'm sorry for the evil old fart.
I also feel I must correct a statement you made: You said "...the gun went off (how is still a mystery)..."
It's no mystery: Someone (or someTHING) pulled the trigger.
Guns simply do not "go off" -- in fact modern firearms designs are subjected to all sorts of abuse to try to MAKE them go off, and they must pass these tests before the .Gov will allow them to be sold.
As hard as it has to be for you (much less your friend) to admit, HE PULLED THE TRIGGER. With his finger, a loose string on his jacket -- SOMETHING pressed the trigger.
Of course he didn't mean to do it, he wasn't thinking and probably doesn't recall doing it, but he did.
Don't let him blame the gun -- he MUST accept personal responsibility as part of this -- until he does, he cannot be trusted to have learned his lesson.
It's what we REAL men do -- "I f***ed up. I have noone to blame but myself. I will not let it happen again."
Anything less is for pansies and liars, and neither can possibly be a "friend" to a good man.
The late Col. Jeff Cooper created the Four Rules which among many have superseded the old “Ten Commandments of Firearms Safety.” The four rules are:
I. Every gun is always loaded.
(My addition: Rule 1a:
If you just checked it, TWICE, and are 100% POSITIVE it is not loaded, see rule #1.)
II. Never allow the gun to point at something you are not prepared to destroy.
III. Never let the trigger finger enter the trigger guard until you are ready to fire.
IV. Always be sure of your target and what is beyond it.
Your bud violated 3 of the for rules (1,2 and 4) and quite possibly #3 as well. You are both quite lucky -- he that it was his finger, and not his head, and you that it was his finger and not YOUR head.
I would STRONGLY suggest you think twice about ever hunting with this friend again. The saying goes "you can't fix stupid" and only you can decide if you think he's learned his lesson.
One thing is for sure: If I were you, and decided to hunt with this kid again, the first sign of sloppy muzzle-discipline would earn him a pretty good @$$-whipping, and permanent banninationg from my hunting trips.
PERMANENT.
G*d bless you kid -- your Mom's obviously a special Lady, and you're lucky to be her son, you seem to be pretty special as well. Be safe out there -- no Mom should ever have to bury her kid.
Respectfully,
Dedicated Dad
Yeah. I suppose he could have pulled the trigger with his third hand, since the first two weren't within proximity of the trigger as they were involved in other activities (loading/covering the barrel).
Like mom said, both of my friend's hands were being used away from the barrel, but it is believed (although he denies it) that his little brother, who was with us at the time, accidentally bumped the trigger.
I went out of my way to be respectful but firm, the former is simple courtesy, the latter a sincere desire to help.
As I said "Someone (or someTHING) pulled the trigger. ... his finger, a loose string on his jacket -- SOMETHING pressed the trigger. ..."
The four rules are a 100% guarantee against unintentional physical harm done by a firearm. It is simply impossible to accidentally hurt yourself or anyone else if the four rules are followed.
If your friend hadn't broken rule #2, the ND (negligent discharge) would have gone harmlessly into the air or ground even if someone else pulled the trigger.
Your friend can go through life, bitterly blaming fate for his (G*d willing minor) disability, or he can man up, admit he made a mistake, and resolve to never let it happen again.
The latter is not only TRUE, but much better for his mental health and long-term well-being.
I speak from experience: At age 19, drunk as a skunk, I abandoned my car at the bar and started walking home at ~2:30 AM.
A drunk jumped the curb, hit me, and bounced me off a telephone pole. I'm sure your mom can describe how I looked. It wasn't good.
I spent ~5.5 months in the hospital, almost lost my leg, ended my body-building hobby, lost my planned Navy career, and will limp and live with constant pain for the rest of my life.
I was bitter as hell, and rightly so to some degree, for many years. As a result, I went nowhere in my life.
I eventually came to recognize that if I had been home in my bed at 2:30 AM instead of out, drinking on a fake ID, in a place where I shouldn't have been, none of this would or could have happened to me.
Sure -- had Mr. Drunk not driven (or the little brother not "bumped" the trigger) neither I nor your friend could have been hurt.
The fact remains that had I (or your friend's finger) not been where we didn't belong, the whole thing would (and could) never have happened.
Acknowledging my mistakes, and taking personal responsibility for my situation, is step 1.
I have a tube-loading .22 lever rifle, have since I was a sprout. It can be quite easy for a loose string on a jacket sleeve or some similar article to catch and pull the trigger.
As none of us was watching, I'd personally still bet that the boy's attention was drawn by the cocked hammer, and he (without thinking) tapped the trigger, intending to drop it on an empty chamber but instead... well -- you know the rest! I can right now see myself doing the exact same thing, numerous times, but with better luck than your friend...
I'd also submit that the spring in the magazine tube may be weakened in such a way that his last shot didn't chamber properly.
Like this:
(1) Last intentional shot fired
(2) Lever cycled
(3) Last round in magazine not pushed into place, thus an empty chamber
(4) Trigger pulled, hammer falls on empty chamber
(5) Lever cycled automatically, before brain consciously registers "click" on empty chamber.
(6) True last round thus cycled into chamber, shooter thinking chamber is empty, but hammer is in fact now back on a loaded chamber.
This is textbook.
Even so, had the 4 rules been followed, your friend would be having a very different life at this point.
I don't know why, but we humans are built to deny responsibility -- even Adam blamed Eve when he got busted -- "the woman made me do it. You gave me the woman, so it's your fault. If you'd never given me the woman, this wouldn't have happened." I know that's not an exact quote, but read it and tell me you don't see the conversation!
=o )
The rifle should be tested to be sure it isn't malfunctioning. I'm willing to be it's not.
Respectfully,
DD
PS: The only "safe" way to load a tube-fed rifle like this is to remove the tube, and drop the shells through the hole until it is full, then replace the tube.
True my friend had a stupid moment and my friend has already claimed reponsibility of being stupid enough to put his finger over the barrel. Hopefully he wont be so stupid again.
Jeez, DD...chill out.
The boy was just finding humor in a situation that taught his friend a good lesson, and he shared it - it was not an invitation to a lecture. Keep this up and it will discourage his writing. This is the same kind of stuff that contributed strongly to my finding that blogging just wasn't worth the hassle anymore.
There are things called "accidental discharges". It happens to the best and the worst of us. I wont tell ya which category I fall in. ;P
In any case, this was an ACCIDENTAL discharge and it turned out that the friend learned a valuable lesson in a way that will stick. I know a couple of people that have done something similar. And one of them happened to be a NRA firearms instructor! It will just serve as a reminder next time.
It just reminds me of the old redneck watching a kid put a penny in a light socket. " Bet ya don't do that again!"
I bopped over here from your mom's blog and I have to say you inherited her flair for writing. Keep it up kid, you can give your mom a run for her money.
All of you have a great New Year!
"Normally I'm not that stupid,"said my friend afterwards, "I don't know why I did that. It just happened."
Ayup. That's why they call it an "accident."
I like your writing style. I'll be back!
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