Gun Fail

Sat Apr 27, 2013 at 11:53 AM PDT
GunFAIL XV

by David Waldman

This week's compilation includes: three police-involved accidents, two of which occurred during gun training classes; three "home invasion shootings"( i.e., when one Patriot elects to share a Liberty Projectile with a neighbor, via a Freedom Wall, Window, Floor or Ceiling); five accidents while cleaning loaded guns; three hunting accidents; one concealed carry ninja who shot himself taking his gun out of his pocket, and one who was shot by a child reaching into his pocket. And speaking of the kids, there were nine victims of GunFAIL this week, aged 10 months, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11 and 14. You may have noticed that that's not nine ages. It was a particularly rough week for the 10-year-olds, of which we lost two, and saw one wounded.

Stories of particular note this week include that of the second Carolinian to leave a gun behind in a New York hotel this month; a tee-ball rage shooting; the opening of turkey hunting season (resulting in the shooting of two turkey hunters and an undetermined number of turkeys), and; a potential Idiot Hall of Fame entry involving the Florida man (of course) who tried to convert his BB gun to .40-caliber using nothing but household tape and American Exceptionalism. Why have a firing chamber? Why have a barrel? Let's cut out the middle man! Sure, it sounds stupid and you'll end up wounding yourself, but let's face it, put a suit on that guy and let his stupid idea cost jobs instead of bandages, and he'd be in line for a fat bonus.

Now, without further ado, the week's dishonor roll, below the fold.

1.     WACO, TX, 3/18/13: Police responding to a domestic disturbance call found a man struggling to restrain his grandson, who was agitated and holding an AR-15. The cops shot grandpa. But that would totally never happen in a crowded theater.
2.     GROSSE POINTE PARK, MI, 4/06/13: Grosse Pointe Park police arrested a 20-year-old Detroit man April 6 after he accidentally shot a 9mm handgun into the floor of a home in the 1000 block of Beaconsfield. The man was trying to make the gun safe when it discharged.
3.     OTTAWA, KS, 4/13/13: No one was injured when a “negligent” rifle shot rang out Saturday night inside a residence in the 1600 block of South Cedar Street in Ottawa. Dylan Spencer, 22, Ottawa, was arrested by Ottawa police about 7 PM on suspicion of unlawfully discharging an AR-15 rifle in his apartment, according to a police report. The bullet exited his apartment, passed through both walls of an occupied apartment and lodged into a utility pole. But of course, Dylan didn't think the gun was loaded. So it's cool.
4.     KLAMATH FALLS, OR, 4/13/13: An investigation into the shooting death of Lee Roy Myers, 47, has been ruled accidental. The Klamath County Major Crimes Team was called to investigate a shooting on Saturday, April 13. An autopsy concluded the cause of death was an accidental, self-inflicted handgun wound.
5.     SOUTHAMPTON, NY, 4/13/13: The report states that the detective visited the home and interviewed the man, who legally owned the Ruger 10/22 rifle. The man said he was cleaning the rifle when it accidentally discharged into his big toe. When the rifle was pointed in a downward angle, inertia caused the firing pin to strike the primer, which caused the rifle to fire, according to the incident report. The detective advised the man on safety techniques while cleaning his rifle. (Step one: unload it.)
6.     CONROE, TX, 4/14/13: Conroe police officers arrested a 33-year-old man after his 3-year-old son fired a 9mm handgun in their apartment April 14 at the Carriage Woods Apartments, located at 1515 Wilson Road. The bullet lodged in the ceiling of the apartment, and the child suffered a minor injury on his face from the gun’s recoil.
7.     ALEXANDRIA, VA, 4/15/13: Alexandria police report that a man staying in a hotel room in the city’s West End accidentally discharged a firearm. The incident occurred at 11:55 PM April 15 in the 5000 block of Seminary Road. The only hotel in the area is the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center Hotel. The firearm was legal, according to police reports. No injuries were reported.
8.     NEW YORK, NY, 4/15/13: A North Carolina man visiting the Sept. 11 memorial and discovering that firearms were not permitted, hastily stashed his gun (legally owned, though not permitted for New York) in the cushions of a seat in the lobby of a World Trade Center-area hotel. And left it there. The timing wasn't great, either. Apparently, it happened just minutes before the Boston Marathon bombing, so when it was found shortly thereafter, it set off a full-blown security panic. Returning later and finding the gun missing, he did not report it to police. Seems he thought "whoever found it, they would contact him and want a reward,” a relative told police. How they'd find him remains a mystery, but we'll count that as one vote in favor of a national registry of firearms owners. One other note: this is the second Carolinian to leave a gun behind in a New York hotel this month.
9.     NASHVILLE, TN, 4/15/13: Christ Presbyterian Academy student Coleman Spann was arrested and charged with possessing firearms on school property Monday. According to a police affidavit, a witness received a report of Spann having alcohol in a cooler in his vehicle. Spann consented to a search of his vehicle, during which an unloaded shotgun, an unloaded AR-15 rifle and several boxes of shotgun ammunition were discovered, according to the affidavit. Spann, 18, was arrested around 4:25 PM on Monday and charged with carrying a weapon on school property with the intent to go armed. He was released after posting a $3,000 bond.
10.     BOGART, GA, 4/16/13:A 36-year-old Oconee County man was treated at St. Mary's Hospital last Tuesday evening, April 16, after apparently accidentally shooting himself in the leg. The man told the deputy who had responded to the hospital around 7:30 PM that as he was removing a .22 revolver from the front pocket of his pants to place on a shelf in the living room of his home, the weapon discharged once.  The man was struck in the left leg below the calf muscle, according to the deputy's report.  The path of the bullet was visible, just under the skin, the deputy wrote, and the bullet lodged in the shin bone.
11.     NORMAN, OK, 4/16/13: A man attempting to "make his gun safe" inside his vehicle instead "made it shoot him through the thigh."
12.     MONROE, LA, 4/17/13: Investigators with Monroe police said a Wednesday afternoon shooting near the campus of the University of Louisiana at Monroe was accidental. “When our patrol officers arrived, they found a 16-year-old victim on the scene who had been shot in the (right) leg,” Brown said. He said the victim was taken to an area hospital where she was listed in stable condition. Brown said officers also arrested a 16-year-old male who was believed to be responsible.
13.     VALLEJO, CA, 4/17/13: Tee-Ball rage! The North Vallejo Little League season has been canceled indefinitely after shots were fired at a game this week. The sounds of baseball were silenced after a parent fired shots into the vehicle of a parent from the opposing team on Wednesday.
14.     WATKINSVILLE, GA, 4/19/13: Oconee County's (pop. 33,366) second negligent shooting in three days. A 25-year-old Watkinsville man shot himself in the hand when he tried to disassemble a pistol with a live round, deputies said. Both incidents were investigated by Oconee deputies, who determined no foul play was involved in either case, Sheriff Scott Berry said Monday. Both men simply were careless in their handling of loaded weapons, said Berry, who called the shootings “negligent discharges.” The Watkinsville man told deputies he had cleaned his Glock pistol, reassembled it, loaded a magazine, and chambered a live round, when his friend asked to look at the barrel. The man “placed his left hand over the end of the barrel of the hand gun, squeezed the trigger which is required for disassembly, and the live round went off,” according to a deputy’s report, striking the man in the left hand.
15.     POMPANO BEACH, FL, 4/19/13: A man who police said accidentally shot and killed his friend in Pompano Beach, faced a judge Thursday. Twenty-year-old Adiel Jaramillo was charged with one count of manslaughter. Investigators said he was drunk and waving his gun around at the victim's apartment, located along Southwest Fourth Avenue and Second place last Friday. Police said that's when he accidentally fired the weapon, killing 19-year-old Michael Cornelio.
16.     MYAKKA CITY, FL, 4/20/13: Floyd K. Oney II was invited by Jason C. Durrance to go hunting at his property at 37550 Clay Gully Road. Oney had a single action .45 revolver in a belt holster, slung over his shoulder. Shortly before 7 PM, the men had trouble starting the Kawasaki Mule they were intending to use, and when they raised the seat and leaned over the vehicle, the revolver fell from Oney's holster and discharged when it hit the ground, deputies said. The round entered and exited through the left side of Oney's abdomen.
17.     GREENVILLE, SC, 4/20,13: A 2-year-old boy reached into his father's pocket and fired a handgun, hitting himself in the chest.
18.     DONALD, OR, 4/20/13: The Marion County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a four-year-old boy who died of a gunshot wound. Authorities were dispatched at 5:30 PM to the 10000 block of Main Street N.E. in Donald, said Don Thomson, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office. The Marion County district attorney, medical examiner and a chaplain are at the scene, Thomson said. Furthers details have not been released.
19.     CORPUS CHRISTI, TX, 4/20/13: An awesome dude showing off his gun to friends after a night at a strip club accidentally shot himself in the head.
20.     WHITESBORO, TX, 4/20/13: An accidental shooting near a Whitesboro area gun class sends a fisherman to the hospital. Grayson County deputies say a Sadler man in his 20's was hit in the thigh with a nine-millimeter round. He was fishing about 100 yards away from a gun class at the Whitesboro Rodeo Grounds around 2 PM on Saturday, Sheriff's Office Lt. Rickey Wheeler said. Deputies say the CHL class teacher is not state-certified and there was no berm or backstop to absorb the bullets. The bullet went through the man's body, missing his heart by a few inches. Instructor Ramsey tells News 12 he received certification from a 2-day NRA program back in March and has been teaching classes in Bridgeport and Whitesboro, but Lt. Wheeler says CHL instructors in Texas have to be certified by the state.
21.     ASHBURN, VA, 4/20/13: A 33-year-old Leesburg man suffered non life-threatening injuries April 20 after his firearm accidentally discharged while he was trying to store it. The incident occurred about noon in the 43600 block of Greenway Corporate Drive in Ashburn.
22.     GARDNERVILLE, NV, 4/20/13: During a domestic disturbance, a woman's brother drew his gun to protect himself and his sister from her husband. In the ensuing fight, though, he ended up gut-shooting his sister. Guns make us safer ... until they don't! Still, I'm sure it's the thought that counts.
23.     LIVERMORE, KY, 4/20/13: The McLean County Sheriff's Department says a Owensboro man who was killed in Livermore Saturday morning died of what investigators believe was a self-inflicted accidental shooting. Micah Lee Griffith, 21, of Owensboro died of a gunshot wound to the head. A sheriff's department press release says deputies were called to a Livermore home at 4:50 AM Saturday. Witnesses told deputies Griffith was playing with a handgun when he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger, the press release says.
24.     WILMINGTON, NC, 4/21/13: Look with your eyes, not with your thighs! Two friends were "looking at" a gun, when one of them forcefully thrust his upper leg into the path of a Liberty Projectile that was exercising its Constitutional right to fly at the speed of Freedom.
25.     LAKE HILL, NY, 4/21/13: A man who accidentally shot himself in the left hand Sunday afternoon was airlifted to Albany Medical Center for treatment of the injury, according to Woodstock town police. Police Sgt. Greg Vandebogart said the man, whom he declined to identify, shot himself with a shotgun around 1 PM Sunday. He said the man was in stable condition. “It absolutely was an accident,” Vandebogart said. He would not describe how the shooting occurred. [Cough!]Cleaning![Cough!]
26.     ANNISTON, AL, 4/21/13: Look with your eyes, not with your ... calf. Hmm. Anniston police Sgt. Chris Sparks said the 21-year-old man was in a car on the 3000 block of Gurnee Avenue Sunday at 1:30 PM looking at a handgun. While the man was sitting in the car, the gun accidentally went off and shot him in the calf, Sparks said.
27.     MIAMI, FL, 4/21/13: A woman on her way to the shooting range was accidentally shot in the face.
28.     BROWN CO., TX, 4/21/13: Another Patriot has shared a Liberty Projectile with a neighbor, and is greeted as a liberator! According to the report, the reporting party stated that he had just installed a new scope on his rifle and was looking out the window from his bedroom when he accidentally fired the weapon toward a neighbor’s residence. The owner/victim of the damaged residence advised his home was hit by the projectile but declined to press charges and made an agreement with the calling party regarding the repair of the residence, the report states.
29.     CARTERSVILLE, GA, 4/21/13: On Sunday at 9 PM, a Bartow County Sheriff’s Office deputy was dispatched to Cartersville Medical Center to investigate an accidental discharge of a firearm. On arrival, the officer learned that the victim was a nurse at the medical center. The victim said he was cleaning his .38 caliber Derringer before going outside to shoot the gun. The victim said he failed to secure the bottom of the pistol causing the barrel to flip up when the pistol was fired. The bullet struck the victim in the middle finger of his left hand and exited through the palm. No charges were filed.
30.     SPARKMAN, AR, 4/21/13: Responsible Gun OwnerTM shoots a hunting buddy in the leg trying to pull a .40 caliber handgun out from between two seats in the truck. Sure, he'd been drinking, but it's not actually against the law to be drunk and play with your guns in Arkansas, which is why it would have been awesome for Arkansans to help out up in Boston last week with their AR-15s. Anyhoo, the buddy who got shot in the leg died, which I'm sure didn't happen because people were too drunk to remember to put a tourniquet on him. Plus, the prosecutor, "says he's convinced the death was accidental." Good enough for Arkansas.
31.     KANSAS CITY, MO, 4/21/13: Davis, Montee and several others were at a town home in the 11500 block of Food Lane when Montee was accidentally shot by a younger boy. They dragged his body to the basement so the mother at the home would not see it. They put a comforter over Montee’s body while they cleaned up the blood. Update: Prosecutors say Montee's 12-year-old brother did the shooting.
32.     JEWETT, OH, 4/22/13: I don't know if it's fair to say that turkeys won the opening day of Ohio's turkey season. But hunters didn't.
33.     POTEAU, OK, 4/22/13: Poteau Police Department are on the scene of what is believed to be an accidental shooting. One male victim has been transported by helicopter to a Tulsa Hospital with a single gunshot wound to the chest.
34.     WILMINGTON, DE, 4/22/13: An 11-year-old Wilmington, Del. boy accidentally shot his 7-year-old brother Monday night, according to a preliminary investigation by Wilmington Police. The 7-year-old boy is recovering after being shot in the hand around 10 PM along the 200 block of Delamore Place. According to police the 11-year-old found a gun inside the home and unknowingly fired it, striking his brother in the hand.
35.     SOMERSET, KY, 4/22/13: Police said an 11-year-old southern Kentucky boy has been charged after he told his teacher he accidentally brought a loaded gun to school. The Commonwealth Journal reported that police decided to charge the child even though they think he had no intent to harm anyone. Police said the boy told a teacher at Southern Elementary School in Somerset that he had the gun in his pants pocket soon after he arrived at school on Monday morning. Police said the boy and his father said they had been sport shooting on Sunday, and the boy apparently left the gun in his pants and wore them to school the next day.
36.     MIDDLETON, ID, 4/22/13: I'm sure the parents here figured the kids didn't even know there was a gun in the car. Therefore, safe. Right? Canyon County sheriff’s deputies are investigating an apparent accidental shooting that injured a 10-month-old child in rural Canyon County Monday afternoon. The child was shot in the cheek, apparently by a 3-year-old child who found a loaded handgun in a vehicle where both children had been placed, investigators said. Investigators say two children were temporarily left unattended in a vehicle at the family residence, and the 3-year-old found the gun and unintentionally fired it. The infant’s mother heard the shot, rushed to the car and called 9-1-1 for help.
37.     VICKSBURG, MS, 4/22/13: A 10-year-old boy remained in critical condition this morning in what officials are saying today they believe was an accidental shooting, and the pistol believed to have fired the bullet has been recovered from a bayou near his home. Jerald Tucker Jr., 10, suffered a single gunshot wound to the head at about 9:40 PM Monday at 2934 Park St., Vicksburg police Capt. Bobby Stewart said. Update: He didn't make it.
38.     COOS CO., OR, 4/22/13: April 22, 9:20 PM, man accidentally shot himself in the foot, 94700 block of Gunnell Lane.
39.     MISSION, TX, 4/22/13: Authorities have ruled an incident where a Mission woman got shot in the stomach as “accidental.” The woman told police that she was shot as she walked home for a convenience store. Mission told Action 4 News that officers did not find a blood trail on the street where she said the shooting happened. Officers searched the woman's home where they reported finding the bullet that went through the woman’s abdomen. The woman confessed to police this morning that she lied to police because she was afraid her children would be taken from the home. This is not the first time police visited the home which is located at the 100 block of Templo Dorado Drive on the city's southwest side of Mission. Police responded two separate times in the past year for home invasions, the second time the woman was found tied up. The woman told police she bought a gun and got a concealed hand gun to protect herself. But now that she accidentally shot herself, police said the woman doesn’t plan to carry a gun anymore.
40.     SALINA, KS, 4/22/13: According to Lt. Scott Siemsen, a 38-year-old man was treated at Salina Regional Health Center for a gunshot wound to his leg. Police say the man was carrying an armload of guns when he dropped a Colt .45 revolver on the ground. The handgun discharged and the bullet traveled through the man's lower right leg, then through a screen window of a home and was found lying on the floor.
41.     MICHIGAN CITY, IN, 4/22/13: Another Patriot has generously shared a Liberty Projectile with a neighbor, in an act I'm now inclined to begin labeling as "home invasion shooting." Now, it was the original intent of the Responsible Gun OwnerTM to Freedom a muskrat to death for the crime of swimming in his pond. But he missed (because of Obama), and the honor of hosting his Liberty Projectile was instead bestowed upon his neighbor's kitchen wall.
42.     MECHANICSVILLE, VA, 4/23/13: Hanover police say two people were injured when a gun accidentally went off inside a car. The gun fired just before midnight Tuesday on Old Church Road in Mechanicsville. Hanover Police confirm one person was shot in the hand and another in the arm.
43.     MEHLVILLE, MO, 4/24/13: According to the victim's sister-in-law, the father had a gun out he recently added a new piece to. The victim’s 18-year-old son picked up the weapon to clean it when it allegedly went off, hitting his mother in the leg. The sister-in-law of the victim said they are a big gun family.
44.     WAYNE CO., MI, 4/24/13: The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an employee who accidentally fired an errant gunshot during a training session Wednesday. “There was an incident where a gun discharged during a training session environment,” said sheriff’s spokeswoman Paula Bridges. She wouldn’t identify the employee, but said the shot didn’t strike anyone or cause any property damage.
45.     CONSHOHOCKEN, PA, 4/25/13: Authorities are investigating what appears to be an accidental shooting at the Montgomery County Public Safety Training campus in Conshohocken. According to authorities, an officer with the Norristown Police Department was training at the facility when he accidentally shot himself in the leg.
46.     GAINESVILLE, FL, 4/25/13: So, let's say you're a convicted felon who's prohibited by law from having a gun, but you've also got a compelling need to shoot a squirrel. What do you do? Well, you could get a BB gun, right? And so this fellow did. But what if you also have some compelling need to shoot that squirrel with .40-caliber ammunition? What do you do then? Well, how about taping a .40-cal. cartridge to the gun, and striking the primer with the BB pellet? Won't that work? Sure it will! If you don't mind having the cartridge explode, fragment, and hit you with the shrapnel, that is! Oh, and we probably should have mentioned that it's also illegal for you to have the ammunition. That might've helped short circuit this whole idiotic episode. But then again, criminals don't follow laws (except for the one about the gun, which he did, but forget about that), so screw it.
47.     MARENGO, OH, 4/25/13: Sheriff’s deputies say a 10-year-old central Ohio boy died when he was accidentally shot while he and other children were playing with a shotgun. The Morrow County Sheriff’s Office said Dalton Wayne Taylor was shot in the chest in his family’s garage at about 6 PM Thursday near Marengo, about 40 miles north of Columbus. The sheriff’s office said it is unclear who fired the gun and how, but Dalton apparently did not shoot himself. The gun was left in the garage with other hunting gear. Deputies didn’t know if it was unloaded prior to the children finding it or if the juveniles loaded it. The boy’s father was home at the time but was in the backyard, the sheriff’s office said.
48.     STEUBENVILLE, OH, 4/25/13: Yes, that Steubenville. Another guy who initially told the cops he was attacked and shot ends up admitting he was playing with a gun and shot his own damn self.
49.     COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, 4/25/13: Everybody sing! "Three people drinking in an apartment! Three people drinking! If one of those people should happen to decide to clean a loaded gun, three people drinking in an apartment, minus one!" Actually, the guy lived. So that's good.
50.     BOONE, NC, 4/26/13: A 10-year-old was seriously injured after he was apparently the victim of an accidental shooting late Friday afternoon.
51.     STONY POINT, NY, 4/26/13: A man was en route to the hospital with what officials said was a gunshot wound to the arm after accidentally shooting himself.

Originally posted to David Waldman on Sat Apr 27, 2013 at 11:53 AM PDT.