Handguns - more accidental discharges
Readers of this blog know that there is a particular brand of handgun that I believe is more prone to accidents than the others. Well, here's something for those who disagree -- two accidental discharges with handguns that aren't Glocks. So here they are in the hopes that the more we can learn about accidents the better we may be able to avoid them.
First - In Mendocino County, California, in the early morning hours of July 3, 2008, the Sheriff's office responded to a call about an accidental discharge resulting in two people injured, but thankfully, no one died. Here's the Sheriff's Office press release for Report Number O08-1878. The local media had fun with it in Woman tries to kill mice, shoots self and later, Criminal charges sought for 'mouse shooter'.
According to the report it was a .44 caliber, single action, six shot revolver. How did it happen? Here's segment from the press release:
When she went to draw the revolver from the holster, the revolver slipped out and fell to the floor. Upon impact with the floor, the revolver fired one shot, which passed through her right knee cap, then continued upward and traveled across the front of the 42 year old males pants, where it struck a set of keys that were hanging from his belt loop. The bullet then glanced off the keys and tore a hole in the males pants, and continued to travel between the pants and a pair of shorts he was wearing. The bullet came to rest when it entered the coin pocket of the males pants, where it was recovered for evidence.
That's what any guy would call a "close call." Is that a bullet in your pocket or are you just happy to see the EMT? Both.
There may have been alcohol involved, and that's a big NO NO when handling guns, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt and assume the gun was dropped and it discharged when it struck the floor. What was the make and model? I don't know, and my email and phone call to Lt. Smallcomb of the Mendocino Sheriff's Office remain unanswered.
Modern handguns have safety features that are supposed to prevent a discharge resulting from a drop. However, one old one single action .44 caliber revolver doesn't. It's the Ruger Blackhawk, and Ruger has bent over backward in its efforts to educate people and get that corrected. Here's the Ruger Safety Announcement, and here's their free offer (PDF) to retrofit an old handgun with the safety feature.
It's hard to imagine that there are owners of these old guns who haven't gotten the free safety feature or who don't keep the barrel chamber empty until they are ready to shoot. Some owners of the old guns think they are more valuable as antiques without the new safety feature. However, Ruger will give the owner the parts that were removed in the retrofit, so it shouldn't make any difference to the value.
Well, if there's one thing I've learned from the comments left at some of my accidental discharge posts it's this: Handguns don't cause accidental discharges. Careless people handling guns cause accidental discharges.
Second - Western New York State in 2001. An off-duty police officer went to an imaging center to have an MR imaging examination. He misunderstood directions and carried his handgun into the MR room. He took his Colt model 1991 A-1 compact .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol out of the holster and tried to place it on a cabinet three feet away from the magnet bore when the magnet pulled it from his hand and into the bore where it discharged on impact. Here's an excerpt from the Report (via Say Uncle):
At the time the weapon discharged, it was reportedly in a cocked and locked position; that is, the hammer was cocked and the thumb safety was engaged to prevent the hammer from striking the firing pin. A live round was in the chamber. (Many people who choose this weapon for personal protection will carry it in this manner because it allows them to quickly fire the weapon if needed.)
When the firearm was removed from the magnet, the gun was still in a cocked and locked position. An empty cartridge was found in the chamber. The presence of an empty cartridge in the chamber is highly unusual. If the thumb safety were not engaged and the weapon fired normally by depressing the trigger, the normal backward recoil of the slide should have automatically ejected the empty cartridge, and a new live round should have automatically been chambered. As discussed earlier, the thumb safety performs two functions: it prevents the sear from releasing the hammer, thereby preventing the hammer from striking the firing pin; it also locks the slide in place, preventing retrograde motion of the slide and automatic ejection of the empty cartridge. Thus, the presence of an empty cartridge in the chamber confirms that the thumb safety was engaged at the time the gun was fired. Given that the thumb safety was engaged when the gun discharged, it is also likely that the normal trigger and hammer mechanism of firing the gun was bypassed because the thumb safety would have also prevented release of the hammer.
The gun likely discharged as a result of the effect of the magnetic field on the firing pin block. The firing pin block was probably drawn into its uppermost position by force of the magnetic field. The firing pin block has to overcome only light pressure from a relatively small spring to release the firing pin. The pistol was likely drawn into the magnetic field so that the muzzle struck the magnet's bore first. With the firing pin allowed to move freely in its channel, the force of the impact on the muzzle end was sufficient to cause the firing pin to overcome its spring pressure and move forward to strike the primer of the chambered round.
So what have learned today? Don't handle firearms when inebriated; if you have a Ruger Blackhawk get the free safety conversion; and finally, don't take your guns to the MR room.
