The gun just "went off"?

[K191145]

Of course we all know that 99.9% of the time the trigger is pulled when a negligent discharge happens. I am curious about a sad incident many years ago, I commented on a Youtube video about negligent discharges not to try to catch a falling gun/handgun, it's safer to let it hit the ground. The incident was, I believe it was in Smyrna when a LEO was leaving the jail and retrieving his Glock from the locker it fell out of the holster and he grabbed it shooting himself in the artery in the thigh. If I remember right he did live but required many pints of blood and lost his leg because of it. I can't find any story about that on the internet, probably because it happened so long ago. Does anyone remember this? I will still tell anyone who asks me about firearms, DO NOT try to catch a falling gun, and also, don't drop your gun.

[toby1304]

I remember not long ago an officer was playing with his firearm at the Smyrna Town Hall and it "just" went off.

[K191145]

I remember not long ago an officer was playing with his firearm at the Smyrna Town Hall and it "just" went off.

 

I did find that story, I believe it was determined that he dropped it and grabbed at it. HMMM?

[Jonnin]

http://www.dnj.com/story/news/2015/02/27/swat-commander-misfires-gun-carpet-smyrna-town-hall/24144261/

 

A 25-year officer with Smyrna who has been chief for eight years, Arnold said his department has had four or five incidents involving officer guns firing by mistake. Only one of those in 1998 involved an injury to Officer Muhammad Ali (formerly known as Robert Ladell Haynes).

"He almost died," Arnold said.

The chief recalled that Ali is now on disability after being shot in the groin and losing a leg when he went to pick up a prisoner in Nashville and dropped a pistol after reaching for it in a metal box that holds weapons while lawmen are at the prison. 

 

You should be able to take it from there with his name if this is the one you recall.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Jonnin

[K191145]

http://www.dnj.com/story/news/2015/02/27/swat-commander-misfires-gun-carpet-smyrna-town-hall/24144261/

 

A 25-year officer with Smyrna who has been chief for eight years, Arnold said his department has had four or five incidents involving officer guns firing by mistake. Only one of those in 1998 involved an injury to Officer Muhammad Ali (formerly known as Robert Ladell Haynes).

"He almost died," Arnold said.

The chief recalled that Ali is now on disability after being shot in the groin and losing a leg when he went to pick up a prisoner in Nashville and dropped a pistol after reaching for it in a metal box that holds weapons while lawmen are at the prison. 

 

You should be able to take it from there with his name if this is the one you recall.

 

That's the one I remember, and I do remember it was said at the time he tried to catch the gun. That was a long time ago but even back then when I was on another forum on AOL dialup,  :biglol:  , we were talking about not trying to grab at a dropped gun.

 

Thanks for finding that.

[K191145]

http://www.dnj.com/story/news/2015/02/27/swat-commander-misfires-gun-carpet-smyrna-town-hall/24144261/

 

 

 

The lieutenant and other Smyrna police are trained to let their falling guns land on the ground because the weapons are designed not to fire in such cases, the chief said.

Arnold said Barnes did what would be human nature to reach for something that was falling and forgetting the training to let the gun drop to the ground.

[Jonnin]

Ur welcome.  If its on the internet, I can find it :)  One of my many unmarketable skills.

[A.J. Holst]

At what price point to you think a guy would let it go vs. try to save it?

Brand new $3000 'who cares what brand' custom or semi-custom pistol getting ready to hit gravel or unfinished concrete...I don't own anything quite that nice so I'll never be in that position of temptation.

[Jonnin]

You let it fall anyway.   Its not going to hurt it.  Cosmetic maybe but that can be buffed out and touched up.  Most of the $$$$ guns are large frame and wouldn't be easy to drop anyway.   You drop the high recoil light weight cheap stuff. 

[Defender]

This is one of the reasons I went away from Glocks, and eventually away from 1911 for EDC.   I know better than to try to catch a dropped handgun, but butterfinger me, I did occasionally drop my Glock 30, and I couldnt break the instinctual habit of trying to catch it.  Never had a ND, but I figure it was only a matter of time, so I moved on.  1911s kinda similar, and I carry cocked and locked, but I thought with the safety, id be better off.  Being a big guy, I found, and still find that that the safety tends to disengage during the day as I move around.  Many times Id take the 1911 out of the holster at night and discover the safety off.  Scary.  I kept my 1911, but no longer EDC that gun.  Ive always liked high capacity, so I eventually went with the FN FNP-45 USG. With this baby, I can carry a round in the pipe, decocked with safety on.  Now, I STILL find the safety disengaged on occasion at night when i deholster, but I feel better with the first sdhoy double action, needing a stronger trigger pull.  I still work hard about not dropping the gun, and not grabbing for it when I do.

[jgradyc]

That's one of several reasons why I don't carry a Glock.

1. Instinctive reaction (trying to catch something that's falling. It happens too fast to think.)
2. Sympathetic reflex (the tendency to bend all fingers when gripping a handgun, or when it slips, or when attempting to adjust the grip)
3. The possibility of something wedging into the trigger guard when holstering (belt, holster, shirt, etc)

I'm the type of guy who won't carry a new smartphone until I can get a protective case for it. I won't ride a bicycle to my neighbor's house without wearing a helmet. It's part of my philosophy of life. 

 

I'm okay with people who disagree. Carry whatever you like. Glocks are great to shoot. I own one.

[K191145]

You let it fall anyway.   Its not going to hurt it.  Cosmetic maybe but that can be buffed out and touched up.  Most of the $$$$ guns are large frame and wouldn't be easy to drop anyway.   You drop the high recoil light weight cheap stuff. 

 

No gun is worth shooting yourself in the artery, or anywhere else as far as that goes. I would say to get the instinct of grabbing at a falling gun out of your mind, you would have to get the instinct of grabbing at anything that was dropped and falling. 

[peejman]

I agree, never, ever try to catch a dropped gun. 

 

I have heard of one instance where a pistol went off by itself.  It was a 1911 with a "trigger job".  It was sitting on a bookcase cocked and thought to be locked, and no one was in the room.  The owner heard the boom and when he went to investigate he found the pistol in the floor with the safety off and a hole in the bookcase and adjacent wall.  He took it to a gunsmith and was shown the buggered trigger.  Basically angles were wrong which allowed something in the mechanism to creep.  I'm not familiar enough with 1911 triggers to explain exactly what.  Apparently at some point he bumped the safety and disengaged it before sitting it on the bookcase.  They replaced nearly everything in it and it was fine after that.