Another Gun Cleaning Incident

[CainA]

This happens way too often.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090305/ap_ ... 3f0WdvzwcF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-Cain

[flintknapper]

Mich. boy, 12, killed by gun being cleaned by dad

NO! A thousand times........NO!

Here is what happened: Mich. boy, 12 killed by careless father cleaning a gun!

Guns are inanimate objects that kill no one. Too, the gun didn't just "go off" as reported in the story.

A little responsible reporting and accountability would sure be refreshing. I don't really care if the public would find it "insensitive" to point these things out while the family is grieving, the truth needs to be told or don't report it!

[HKUSP45C]

It's my personal opinion that in cases like these there's a lot more to the story than anyone's being told. No one has been able to ever explain to my satisfaction how a person goes about cleaning a gun that is loaded. The only scenario I can conjure is one where the father is just scrubbing the rust off of the outside of the gun, with it fully assembled, and then broke three (or four) of the four rules of safety all at the same time.

My conclusion is that the father is either far too stupid to be alone unsupervised or something malicious happened and his defense was "I was just cleaning it and it went off..." which, I understand, is a pretty common story to tell the authorities when you did something dumb with a gun and no witnesses exist to speak otherwise.


Either way the tragic thing is that his kid is dead through (seemingly) no fault of his own and the father is still above ground and either as dumb or evil as he was yesterday.

[CainA]

It's my personal opinion that in cases like these there's a lot more to the story than anyone's being told. No one has been able to ever explain to my satisfaction how a person goes about cleaning a gun that is loaded. The only scenario I can conjure is one where the father is just scrubbing the rust off of the outside of the gun, with it fully assembled, and then broke three (or four) of the four rules of safety all at the same time.

My conclusion is that the father is either far too stupid to be alone unsupervised or something malicious happened and his defense was "I was just cleaning it and it went off..." which, I understand, is a pretty common story to tell the authorities when you did something dumb with a gun and no witnesses exist to speak otherwise.


Either way the tragic thing is that his kid is dead through (seemingly) no fault of his own and the father is still above ground and either as dumb or evil as he was yesterday.

100%

-Cain

[stevie_d_64]

Mich. boy, 12, killed by gun being cleaned by dad

NO! A thousand times........NO!

Here is what happened: Mich. boy, 12 killed by careless father cleaning a gun!

Guns are inanimate objects that kill no one. Too, the gun didn't just "go off" as reported in the story.

A little responsible reporting and accountability would sure be refreshing. I don't really care if the public would find it "insensitive" to point these things out while the family is grieving, the truth needs to be told or don't report it!

Interesting how they didn't report what kind of evil gun it was...They usually get giddy when they can report that kind of detail...

[LarryH]

It was a RUSTY evil gun.

[bdickens]

Cleaning the gun? I don't think so. Playing with it at best, if not worse. There's more to the story. Dig a little deeper and you'll find a history of "accidents" happening in this household.

[bryang]

Mich. boy, 12, killed by gun being cleaned by dad

NO! A thousand times........NO!

Here is what happened: Mich. boy, 12 killed by careless father cleaning a gun!

Guns are inanimate objects that kill no one. Too, the gun didn't just "go off" as reported in the story.

A little responsible reporting and accountability would sure be refreshing. I don't really care if the public would find it "insensitive" to point these things out while the family is grieving, the truth needs to be told or don't report it!

Cleaning a rusty gun and it just so happens to go off and hits the boy in the head....BALONEY! There is more to the story, that's for sure.

-geo

[CainA]

I'm just going to tack this one on to this thread since it was "cleaning" related too.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/ ... 6.html?npc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Harris County deputy accidentally shoots herself in the leg

02:16 PM CST on Thursday, March 5, 2009

HOUSTON—A Harris County deputy accidentally shot herself in the leg at a gun range Thursday.

It happened in the parking lot of a range off Atascocita in northeast Harris County.

The deputy was reportedly cleaning her gun in her car when it went off.

She was taken by Life Flight to Memorial Hermann.

She’s expected to survive.


-Cain

[MojoTexas]

I don't know about y'all, but back when I was a teenager and my father was teaching me how to clean firearms, the first step was to ALWAYS double-check to make sure the gun is unloaded, while holding it pointed at something you don't mind shooting (like the floor).

I agree...it's more than likely the father was "playing" with the gun rather than cleaning it. If you unload and double-check that it's unloaded, and then field-strip a firearm, how is it going to "go off" when it's lying in pieces on your bench covered in Hoppes #9? The only way it goes off is that you were pointing it at something while it was loaded, and to me that's playing with it, not cleaning it.

MojoTexas

[Totally Frustrated]

I'm just going to tack this one on to this thread since it was "cleaning" related too.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/ ... 6.html?npc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Harris County deputy accidentally shoots herself in the leg

02:16 PM CST on Thursday, March 5, 2009

HOUSTON—A Harris County deputy accidentally shot herself in the leg at a gun range Thursday.

It happened in the parking lot of a range off Atascocita in northeast Harris County.

The deputy was reportedly cleaning her gun in her car when it went off.

She was taken by Life Flight to Memorial Hermann.

She’s expected to survive.


-Cain

This story sounds really fishy!
How many of you all clean your weapons in your vehicles???
there's nothing like the smell of nitro solvent and Gun Scrubber in a confined space.
Then again, maybe she was doing that and killed off a couple million brain cells in the process.

[CainA]

...ALWAYS double-check.....The only way it goes off is that you were pointing it at something while.....

yep...and...

Triple, quadruple and still don't point it at anything you don't want the bullet to hit...

and

You usually have to pull the trigger...for it to go bang, but there are probably weird instances where you don't have to pull the trigger.

-Cain

[BigRon]

Negligent discharges kill. The father should face the same charges that anyone would face for negligent homicide. Why is the outcome a surprise when you break all the rules? If he didn't pull the trigger, the gun wouldn't fire.

[DEADEYE1964]

I'm just going to tack this one on to this thread since it was "cleaning" related too.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/ ... 6.html?npc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Harris County deputy accidentally shoots herself in the leg

02:16 PM CST on Thursday, March 5, 2009

HOUSTON—A Harris County deputy accidentally shot herself in the leg at a gun range Thursday.

It happened in the parking lot of a range off Atascocita in northeast Harris County.

The deputy was reportedly cleaning her gun in her car when it went off.

She was taken by Life Flight to Memorial Hermann.

She’s expected to survive.


-Cain

This story sounds really fishy!
How many of you all clean your weapons in your vehicles???
there's nothing like the smell of nitro solvent and Gun Scrubber in a confined space.
Then again, maybe she was doing that and killed off a couple million brain cells in the process.

I guess she used the story about cleaning her gun in her car because she did not want to look stupid, it did not work. I prefer a bench and open air when I clean my guns.

[KD5NRH]

No one has been able to ever explain to my satisfaction how a person goes about cleaning a gun that is loaded.

Define "cleaning." I tend to wipe down blued guns with a lightly oiled rag or gun cloth when they're handled. If it's a gun that's kept loaded, it will be wiped down and carried in the cloth to its storage place while loaded, but I do take extra precautions. (Wipe down the trigger/triggerguard area before chambering, keep clear of that area after chambering, muzzle pointed in a safe direction, safeties engaged if applicable, etc.)

I suppose it's theoretically possible that I could get the cloth hung in the triggerguard and discharge the gun doing that, but unless there's somebody laying on the floor that I'm having to step over, the worst that would happen would be hitting my own leg or foot.