Treated My First Gunshot Victim

murphda2

Super Moderator and KD Blade Show Boss
I know this isn't really knife related but wanted to share the story due to the fact that many of us frequent not just knife shows, but also our many local gun/knife shows.

After leaving the training lanes today I journeyed up to Laurel, Ms. from Camp Shelby for a local gun/knife show that is taking place this weekend. I decided to take a few of the knives in my collection which I wouldn't mind trading for new pieces. I had only been at the show for a few minutes when I came across a table where the gentleman had several older knives and one in particular, an old tanto in shira saya, which caught my attention. A conversation about knives and swords followed as we discussed some of our favorite bladesmiths.

After about twenty minutes of standing around shooting the bull about knives, a loud audible "POP" echoed across the arena from approximately 20 feet behind me. I don't know about you guys, but when I hear an unexpected gunshot my first response is one of alert and extreme anger. As I spun around, I noticed a man stumbling and holding onto a wall. I immediately handed my knife case off to the gentleman I was speaking to at the table and rushed over to the hobbling man to find an obvious hole through the toe area of his boot. It took a little convincing, but I finally got him to take a seat and removed his boot and sock to find a clean wound straight between his second and third toes which left one toe well powder burned and a nice little bullet gash through the side of the next toe. Another gentleman came over to assist a moment after I arrived who turned out to be another soldier, a medic. Once we received a first aid kit, we bandaged the wound and waited for the paramedics to arrive.

Luckily for the wounded man, he had only sustained a very minimal flesh wound. After questioning by the LE personnel on site, it was found that the wounded man had just purchased the .22 mag rifle from a dealer at the show. The rifle in question still had the zip tie lock which the dealer had installed prior to arriving at the show. The victim who had purchased the rifle had not removed it and checked the chamber of the weapon during the purchase process (MISTAKE #1). The safety of the weapon was not engaged (MISTAKE #2). While waiting on his wife and daughter, he and his son were standing by when he rest the muzzle of the weapon on the toe of his boot (MISTAKE #3). I'm still unaware of how the trigger of the weapon was engaged, but reasonable thought leads me to believe that he must have had his finger in the trigger well of the weapon believing that the weapon was unloaded having relied on another person's word (THIS COULD HAVE BEEN A FATAL MISTAKE).

Please be aware of those around you when visiting gun shows and please ensure that you ALWAYS double check the safety mechanism, magazine and chamber of any firearm when handling it and always be aware of the direction of the muzzle of the weapon. You can never be too cautious when handling firearms!

Murph
 
Rock on Murph - sounds like you and your medic friend had it under control.

.22 is a mean round.

There was a post here recently about gun shows and accidental firearms discharges. Still happening apparently.

BC
 
Oh Good Lord... Thank God it was only a grazed toe...I too get seriously mad when random shots go off and I'm not expecting it.

Jason
 
Geeez. What an idiot. He is very lucky. I also get seriously mad when a random shot goes off.
 
you'd think there would be some sort of due diligence or substantive measures taken to keep this kind of thing from happening in the first place.

I mean, there are kids there right?

Anyway, good on you for helping the guy out. It's not his fault, unless he loaded the gun.
 
Hey Murph good on ya for helping out. Whats that saying ( stupid is as stupid does ) I had a guy come up to my table picked up a hunting knife and sliced the pad off his thumb off, and I mean clean off. Well there was blood everywhere, I grabbed the blade of him and said> What are you doing? His reply was that he wanted to see if it was sharp. Yep are you satisfied! was my reply. I told him to move on as he was spilling claret all over my table. Some people, you just got to ask WHAT THE #### WERE YOU THINKING!:eek:
Cheers Keith
 
I thought you said when things went wrong everybody unjustly blamed you. Hehehee..... I am glad it wasn't worse and that you were there to help out. Great job!
 
The sad reality is that often times it is those of us who know better (ie. military and law enforcement personnel) who make the worst mistakes when handling firearms. I spend alot of time while training soldiers reminding them of the basic safety fundamentals when dealing with weapons (ie. maintain muzzle control of your weapon at all times) only to find the more senior personnel within the groups making the safety errors. This is one of the main reasons we use the motto of, "Every soldier is a safety", meaning that any soldier may address and correct another soldier (regardless of rank) if he/she is conducting an unsafe act (remember to be tactfull).

Though many of us may find it absolutely absurd that an individual could shoot himself in the foot (literally), it is entirely too common of an incident. As knifemakers, collectors, or maybe just knife nutts, how many times have you accidently cut yourself while doing something that afterwards you told yourself, "Damn, I knew better than to do that" or "Man, I can't believe I slipped"? Hey, it has happened to me. I was visiting the shop of Jim Crowell in February and my thumb slipped while opening an AO pocket knife. I had forgotten that I had switched my standard Stryker I normally carry for the AO model I had just bought. As opposed to shadowing Jim in the shop all day, I spent the next four hours at the ER. I felt like an idiot!

All members of KD have a hobby or profession (knives) that we are passionate about which comes with an inherent danger. My main focus of my original post was not to make fun of or point fingers at the victim of this incident or to laugh at his misfortune. My intent was to address a safety issue which I am finding to be entirely too common and to remind everyone that it is each of our responsibilty to do our part to insure not only our safety but also the safety of those around us.

Pancho, for the record, I get blamed for everything rather I'm present or not. It's the curse of the name. Fortunately, either Luck of the Irish or the fact that God loves the dumb and the ugly (I'm still not sure which he considers me, but I'm thankfull regardless) directed that bullet into the victim's foot as opposed to into my back.

Murph
 
Back when I was doing iron work, my boss came running around the corner of our shop with a rifle ( 10-22 ). He was going to scare the other employees at the shop by firing one off into the woods. Well, he was an idiot and fired the round off into his foot, right in the middle. I had to drive him to the hospital and answer a load of questions from the local authorities. He got a nasty infection and the foot was almost removed because of it.

What a dumb ass.



Mike
 
I forgot to mention, the victim was a sheriff's deputy.

Murph

Lord almighty - they'll sell a gun to ANYBODY nowadays won't they?! :D

I honestly can't understand how anybody could make all those mistakes - especially when he carries a firearm as part of his job. Comfort level too high maybe? Hopefully the seller learned a valuable lesson too - don't include "free" ammunition with a purchase. ;) On a side note though - hey at least the barrel was pointed to the ground, or in it's general direction, and not slung half stocked over his shoulder (yeah you've all seen it before) - that has the potential to be far worse. Hopefully his SON learned a valuable lesson too.
 
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