More Gun Fails

Fri Mar 29, 2013 at 11:33 AM PDT
GunFAIL XI

by David WaldmanFollow


This week's GunFAIL compilation is illustrated by video of one of the incidents listed below. It's cell phone video captured by a witness to a road rage incident in which the man seen approaching the pick-up truck and punching the driver allegedly followed the vehicle he claimed cut him off and "tried to run him off the road" for 25 miles over 40 minutes, to the driver's home, according to various reports.

[Note - I published this video several days ago and won't re-post it here.]

This crystallizes so many of the issues surrounding gun ownership, including some of those posited in this post in The Guardian's science blog. It's just surmise, but I'm betting this incident doesn't go down exactly the same way without ready access to the back-up of the gun. Though it certainly could be the case that this guy will just always think he can fight like a teenager. But let me also point out that if the kids had really been thugs, they had every opportunity to punch the Mrs. in the face and just snatch that gun away for themselves. Stupid play, all around, from Responsible Gun Family.

Also among our compilation, the story of the Utah gun safety instructor who had his AR-15 stolen. Of course, everyone knows that you can adequately secure an assault rifle by putting a blanket over it, in the back seat of your car. Because lockers are tyranny!

One other note worth mentioning is the discovery of a new category of GunFAIL: "forgetting" all about your gun until the metal detector or x-ray machine at the airport or courthouse reminds you that you were carrying that thing which you had said the day before could only be taken from your cold, dead hands. Seems about four of us each day, or about 1,500 per year, are FAIL-ing in this manner. I might have to put these in a separate report, as it's possible they'll pretty quickly consume this one, if enough such incidents make the news.

Aside from those notes, this week's compilation is pretty routine. Four people who shared their Liberty Projectiles with neighbors or those on the other side of walls, six FAILs involving cops or security guards, four FAILs surrounding fistfights and/or arguments gone bad, four people who forgot entirely that they had guns at all, one "intruder" who turned out to be a family member, four who were cleaning loaded weapons, four concealed carriers who shot themselves, and two who lied to the cops and claimed someone else shot them. Nine of these incidents involved minors.

Below the fold, this week's dishonor roll.

    LEALMAN, FL, 2/12/13: Not sure how I missed this one. A Bay Area church congregation is rallying together in prayer for their pastor's daughter. The young woman was accidentally shot. According to officials with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, church member Moises Zambrana was showing a 9mm handgun to two young men in a closet near the recreational area. Detectives say one of the men, who is Kelley's boyfriend, was interested in getting a gun. While Zambrana was showing him the safety features, authorities say the gun went off. The bullet went through the wall, and hit Kelley in the head. According to authorities, Zambrana did take out the magazine clip, but a bullet was still in the chamber. She died on Feb. 18.
    CHICO, CA, 3/01/13: The father-in-law and Cox came head-to-head in their vehicles and got out, he said. The father-in-law, who had a gun, states he inadvertently fired one round at the ground. Everyone became startled and they decided to calm down and talk things out. That sounds like a good idea! Except that the "talking" apparently involved hitting the father-in-law over the head with a pipe.
    BROOKLYN, NY, 3/09/13: Off-duty NYPD officer, thrown out of a bar for fighting, gets a gun out of his car and tries to return to the bar. He then points the gun at the others involved in the fight, fires into the air, then attempts to hide the gun with his girlfriend, also a cop, and flees the scene, leaving both the girlfriend and the gun behind.
    WAXAHACHIE, TX, 3/14/13: While "playing with" a gun belonging to one Andrew Riley Kindred, 21, at a party, 22-year-old Aaron Michael Garcia was shot and killed.
    EAGAN, MN, 3/17/13: Police responded to a weapons call on the 3300 block of Yankee Doodle Lane. The caller told police he accidentally fired his handgun inside the apartment while he was cleaning the weapon. Police arrived and asked the man to step into the hallway with his hands up. Upon investigation, police learned the bullet from the gun went through three walls and a headboard into an adjoining apartment. And all on Yankee Doodle Lane!
    MT. VERNON, NY, 3/18/13: A probationary police officer is under investigation after he lost an off-duty handgun left in the Police Department locker room, Mount Vernon interim police Commissioner Richard Burke said Wednesday. Police Officer John Damaiano lost his 9mm handgun in the locker room around March 18, Burke said. It’s not known if Damaiano left the gun in a locker or on a bench. The weapon has not been found.
    DENTON, TX, 3/20/13: Awesome hardass dude fights another awesome hardass dude. Awesome hardass dude number one pulls a gun. A tussle ensues. Awesome hardass dude number one's gun goes off, shooting his girlfriend in the face and killing her. Awesome. Hardass.
    ATLANTA, GA, 3/20/13: Man arrested trying to bring a gun into the Fulton County Courthouse says he forgot he had it. Yvan Maxy was arrested after a search of his bag revealed a small, black Bersa .380 handgun with a 7-round magazine. Most people who are questioned for bringing weapons to the Fulton courthouse state that they forgot the weapon was on their person, [Fulton Co. Sherriff's Office spokeswoman Tracy] Flanagan said. Fulton County deputies seized seven handguns at the downtown courthouse in 2012. Not quite three months into 2013, they’ve already matched that total. In the past eight days, three guns have been found.
    SALT LAKE CITY, UT, 3/20/13: Speaking of which ... "TSA finds 13th, 14th guns at Salt Lake City airport security checkpoint"
    HIGHLANDS RANCH, CO, 3/21/13: Yet another bathroom #GunFAIL! This time, a guy sends his bullet through the wall of the bathroom and into the occupied dining room of the local Pei Wei restaurant, narrowly missing a family otherwise (presumably) enjoying their dinner.
    AUBURN, ME, 3/21/13: Another one who puts a bullet through a neighbor's wall. Here's the thing: You want to make choices for yourself and your family about guns? Fine. But realize that when you screw up, you're forcing your choices on others, too. In this case, the couple across the street. Yes, her 9mm handgun was that powerful. Through her own walls, across the street, and through the neighbor's walls, too. And hey, if you want to go target shooting, that's fine too. But how about doing the cleaning and loading at the range, where people have made the choice to go hang around with guns? Just a suggestion. I realize that Teh Freedoms require that I leave that up to you, even though your screw ups cram your choices down everyone else's throats, to borrow a phrase.
    WASHINGTON, IN, 3/21/13: An employee of Daviess Community Hospital said a male patient was in its ER with a gunshot wound to his hand. The wound was minor and was an accidental shooting.
    MINNEAPOLIS, MN, 3/21/13: On March 21, Minneapolis police officers reportedly saw a man carrying a rifle case from a north Minneapolis house to his car. According to a complaint filed yesterday in Hennepin County District Court, that man was Mike Green—also known as Damon Anton Young, 37. And as police investigators note in the complaint, Green is a person legally prohibited from possessing firearms. Police also apparently had a tip Green was violating the law because they allege Green had posted pictures of guns on "social media websites."
    GARY, IN, 3/21/13: We need armed security guards in our schools! Ones that will remember to stay armed! School security guard realizes mid-day that he doesn't know where his gun is. School gets locked down, but the gun is found. At home, where he left it!
    ORLANDO, FL, 3/22/13: Orlando police said a 16-year-old boy will not face charges after his 12-year-old brother was accidentally shot Friday. “The 16-year-old figured that the place was being broken into, and he fired a shot and it killed his brother,” said Mike Moreschi, of the Orlando Police Department.
    GASTONIA, NC, 3/22/13:  A Gaston County Sheriff’s Office deputy was accidentally shot Friday afternoon during a basic law enforcement training at a Gastonia shooting range. The deputy, who is also enrolled at Gaston College, was cleaning his weapon when another student’s gun discharged and struck him in the hip, authorities said. The student was having trouble with his handgun and had sought an instructor’s help when the shot was accidentally fired.
    LONG BEACH, CA, 3/22/13: Buncha hard guys decide to kick each others' asses, for whatever reason. But they're not tough enough, apparently, so things escalate to gunfire. To prove how awesome they are at fighting and being Patriots and stuff, they shoot a nearby 10-year-old boy.
    NEW ORLEANS, LA, 3/22/13: While sitting on his front porch, Robinson said he had been playing with the loaded pistol, which he found in the neighborhood. The boy, the son of Robinson's friends, pulled the pistol, which caused the gun to go off and strike the child in his right hand, police said.
    GOOCHLAND, VA, 3/22/13: Army reservist dies in a Russian Roulette game. "And lets be honest," said Goochland sheriff James Agnew. "Alcohol and guns are not good play toys."
    LOWELL, MA, 3/22/13: Police believe a woman who suffered a gunshot wound to the leg Friday night was shot by accident.
    ALCOA, TN, 3/22/13: You can take my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands! Or, when I forget I have a gun at all. Officers found a 38-caliber revolver inside the carry-on bag of Toni L. Brannen of Louisville at a security checkpoint. Officials said Brannen had a handgun permit, which had been canceled.  Brannen told officials she forgot the gun in her purse. Last year, TSA officials confiscated 16 firearms at McGhee Tyson.  Officials said this is the fourth gun discovery so far this year.
    COLUMBUS, OH, 3/23/13: One person is in custody after an accidental shooting sent one person to the hospital. It happened in the 200 block of N. 5th Street in a parking lot outside of a bar. According to officers on scene, the victim was shot once in the abdomen and was transported to Grant Medical Center in stable condition.
    MAHOMET, IL, 3/23/13: Dude out target shooting tries to clear a jammed .45, drops it and shoots himself in the leg.
    MONROE, MI, 3/23/13: Man accidentally fires gun. Another man accidentally had his head in the way.
    OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, 3/23/13: Authorities expect a woman to be okay after accidentally shooting herself in the hand. Oklahoma woman to be okay! Get it? Hi-yo!
    SWANTON, OH, 3/23/13: Swanton police are investigating an apparent accidental shooting in which a local man was wounded in the leg Saturday evening. According to Swanton police, Mr. Flickinger and his roommate were trying to take apart a semi-automatic handgun at their home in the 100 block of South Main Street when the gun discharged, striking Mr. Flickinger in the leg.
    GRAYS HARBOR CO., WA, 3/23/13: A 39-year-old Tacoma man was sent to the hospital last night after accidentally shooting himself in the foot with his .22 caliber pistol. The Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a gunshot wound at Grays Harbor Community Hospital Saturday evening. The man told deputies he had been out with family target shooting in a pit off a logging road in the Wynooche Valley, and as he walked toward his target to check his shot, he left his finger on the trigger, tripped, and shot himself in the toe.
    CALUMET CITY, IL, 3/24/13: Tyshaun McClurge, of South Holland, was found shot to death Saturday night, according to police. Police are still talking to witnesses and trying to piece together what happened but it looks like it looks like it may have been an accident. The medical examiner's report agrees.
    DES MOINES, IA, 3/24/13: Police responded to the Auto Zone store at 1123 Army Post just before 1 PM. When police arrived, they found a man sitting behind the wheel of his truck with a gunshot wound. He told officers he had a weapons permits and his gun accidentally went off when he got into his vehicle.
    FAIRMONT, NC, 3/24/13: Christopher Stanlane, Sr., 34, was wiping his gun down at his home on Gaddy Road in Fairmont, Sunday afternoon, according to Captain Anthony Thompson. His 10-year-old son, Christopher Stanlane, Jr., was watching television in front of him when the gun went off, Thompson says, and a bullet hit the boy in the back of the head. Thompson added that the father dropped his gun and rushed his eight-year-old daughter to another room.
    SEATTLE, WA, 3/24/13: A drunk, armed elderly man barricaded himself inside his North Seattle home early Sunday, and was arrested after talking with hostage negotiators. Police were called for shots being fired, and when they were containing the area they heard two shots from the home, detective Renee Witt said. “Hostage negotiators eventually made telephone contact with the subject who voluntarily left the home,” Witt said in a statement. “He was taken into custody without incident. The handgun was found inside the home and two fresh bullet holes were found in the basement apartment. A handgun and six rifles were taken into custody for safe-keeping.”
    YORK, PA, 3/24/13: Guy tells the cops an unknown person shot him in the thigh. But cops think he just shot himself. He was "uncooperative," though. "That's for you to figure out -- I ain't telling you anything," Hughes allegedly told officers. Sounds belligerent. But of course, that's what AR-15-toting Second Amendment protesters routinely tell cops who question them. Of course, it's freedom when they do it.
    NEWPORT, NC, 3/24/13: But for this being captured on video, I'll bet you the man now facing multiple assault and gun charges would be calling this a "defensive gun use." It's a road rage incident in which the story is basically this: tough guy starts fight, tough guy loses fight, tough guy pulls gun once he gets ass kicked, having jumped in over his head. Question is, does he jump in so quickly without that gun there?
    MARRERO, LA, 3/24/13: A man who told authorities that he was shot Sunday morning while standing in front of his Marrero home actually shot himself with a stolen pistol. Tracey Hogan, 27, was arrested after Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office detectives determined his story didn't add up, according to arrest reports.
    HUMBLE, TX, 3/24/13: On March 24, deputies responded to Memorial Hermann Northeast Hospital in reference to an accidental injury. The complainant accidentally shot himself in the left hand.
    ABERDEEN, NC, 3/25/13: Gun owner heroically defends himself against his own leg.
    NEW HAVEN, CT, 3/25/13: A 20-year-old man accidentally shot and killed himself, police said. Officers responded just before 3:30 PM. Monday to a third-floor apartment on Ferry Street to investigate a person shot. Melvin Hayes suffered a single self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head, police spokesman Officer David Hartman said in a statement. Hayes was pronounced dead at the scene.
    SANDY, UT, 3/25/13: A 38-year-old woman was doing work on a computer while on her bed. The woman’s 15-year-old niece was cleaning the bedroom. The niece opened a drawer while cleaning and found a loaded handgun. When the girl pulled the weapon out of the drawer it went off by accident, and the woman was hit in the thigh.
    FAIRBANKS, AK, 3/25/13: Teil Diaz, 19, was accidentally shot while visiting an apartment on Fairbanks Street, according to trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen.
    ORLANDO, FL, 3/25/13: Here's our 20th #GunFAIL while cleaning a loaded firearm this month, and the 75th for the year. John Massallo Acevedo, 23, was standing in the kitchen of his apartment about 8 PM when he attempted to remove the slide to his 9 mm Glock pistol and it fired. The bullet struck his wife, Jean Santiago Zambrana, in the right arm and entered her abdomen. He said they had just returned from the gym when he decided to clean the weapon. Because health is important to him, obviously.
    ORLANDO, FL, 3/25/13: A 9-year-old boy looking for an Xbox game system found an Orlando Police officer's gun instead and accidentally discharged a round into the wall of an apartment late Monday, police said. Officers allowed O'Day, who was not charged with any crimes, to keep the firearm after they determined it was an accident and the boy did not have permission to be in the bedroom. Gun safety, FTW!
    MIAMI TOWNSHIP, OH, 3/25/13: A man who was securing his firearm on Monday afternoon, to lock it away in the glove box so he could take a walk through Crains Run Park, shot himself in the leg and ended up in a hospital instead. The man, who was not identified by name or age, was in the process of securing his weapon and failed to properly clear the rounds out of it, Miami Twp. police Sgt. Jason Kramer said. The man has a concealed carry permit, the sergeant said.
    URBANA, IL, 3/25/13: A Champaign man who allegedly threatened his girlfriend with a gun and later fired it in the air was arrested Monday. The two were arguing when Williams allegedly pulled a small handgun out of his pocket, then put it back in and left the woman's house. Once outside, she heard a gunshot.
    FORT MOHAVE, AZ, 3/25/13: Mohave County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the Valley View Medical Center early Monday evening in reference to a male subject who had a gunshot wound. At about 7:15 PM, deputies contacted medical staff and reportedly learned that a male subject’s hand had been grazed by a bullet when he was out shooting at a rock quarry in the desert. Deputies contacted Benjamin Haney, 68, of Fort Mohave, after he was treated and released. Haney reportedly said that he was in the process of letting down the hammer of his single-action revolver when it went off on him.
    DEMOREST, GA, 3/26/13: Another Polishing Patriot Freedoms himself in the thigh, cleaning a loaded weapon, costing us another helicopter flight to the hospital.
    ARLINGTON, VA, 3/26/13: You can take my gun when ... Wait, I already used this "I forgot I was getting on an airplane with a loaded gun" joke. Donald Gramling, 50, of Stafford, was cited Monday with carrying a weapon on airport property after TSA found a .40-caliber handgun loaded with five rounds and one bullet chambered inside his carry-on luggage. Gramling had a Virginia concealed weapons permit and said he forgot that the firearm was inside the bag.
    KENT, WA, 3/26/13: A 7-year-old student at a Kent elementary school has been expelled after bringing an unloaded gun to school Tuesday. Kent School District spokesperson Chris Loftis said the Soos Creek Elementary student found the gun at home, thought it was “shiny and cool” and decided to take it to school to show his friends.
    DALLAS, TX, 3/27/13: A police trainee with Dallas Area Rapid Transit was wounded around 6:15 AM Wednesday morning after his service weapon accidentally discharged. The bullet struck the trainee in the leg.
    MORAINE, OH, 3/27/13: This one wins the Responsible Gun Owner's Wishful Thinking Headline Award. "Man saves self from shooting." Anyone got any idea how he "saved" himself here? On a routine shopping trip, the subject said it was uncomfortable wearing the weapon—for which he had legitimate papers—in his holster while driving, so he put it in the center console of his vehicle. When he reached for the weapon, it went off. Bystanders helped him and he was transported to Kettering Hospital, where he was treated. So ... anyone?
    HARRISBURG, PA, 3/27/13: Concealed carry ninja robbed on the street, but shoots himself in the groin going for his own gun. Such. Major. FAIL.
    TAMPA, FL, 3/27/13: A woman cleaning out her rental car to return it found a loaded handgun under the driver's seat.
    AFFTON, MO, 3/27/13: Just before midnight, Affton and southwest precinct officers responded to a shooting on Philo Avenue and found that a 21-year-old man had shot himself in the hand. He told police that he had been trying to put ammunition from a .40 caliber handgun into a .45 caliber handgun when it went off in his hand. He was there with another 21-year-old male acquaintance, Vaughn says. Officers asked them about the the location of the weapon and didn't get a straightforward answer. But they searched and eventually located the gun. This second suspect, who police say was the gun owner, had lied to police about the gun and other aspects of the incident. Responsible! Law-abiding!
    CANTON, OH, 3/27/13:  A 17-year-old boy playing with a gun shot himself in the hand accidentally, Canton police reports said. The reports also did not say how he obtained the handgun or to whom it belongs.
    COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, UT, 3/27/13: How does an outspoken gun rights advocate and gun safety teacher secure his assault rifle? Police say Aposhian, who lives on the 1600 block of 7200 South, was cleaning out his garage on Wednesday night and parked his car in the driveway. He left his assault rifle covered on the backseat in the locked car, but someone broke into the car on Wednesday night and stole the weapon.
    QUEENS, NY, 3/28/13: The pride of Gilroy, boxer Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, 30,  was packing more than a powerful punch Thursday morning when he was arrested for attempting to board an airplane with a handgun—possibly unlicensed—at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, according to multiple media reports.
    CASA GRANDE, AZ, 3/28/13: An 11-year-old girl living in a rural area of Pinal County died after an accidental shooting involving another child at her home Tuesday night. Investigators said initial interviews led them to believe that one of the other children was handling the firearm when it accidentally discharged.
    GERMANTOWN, TN, 3/28/13: Sometime around 10 PM last night, 16-year-old Himyar Hassan was shot to death at a home in the 8000 block of Tulip Rose. He was hit in the upper chest area and pronounced dead at the scene. Shelby County Sheriff's Deputies had to work through a language barrier to discern what happened, but it's believed that the teenager accidentally shot himself. "It looks as if there were some kids in the house, and they were playing with a loaded gun," Sheriff's Department spokesman Chip Washington said. "It looks like the victim may have accidentally shot himself. He had the gun in his hand and it accidentally discharged."

Originally posted to David Waldman on Fri Mar 29, 2013 at 11:33 AM PDT.