Instructor Shoots Student In Gun Safety Class

[swathdiver]

 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/instructor-shoots-student-ohio-gun-safety-class-19941229

 

Police say an instructor at a central Ohio gun safety class has accidentally shot a student.

 

The Columbus Dispatch (http://bit.ly/19ZLcIt) reports 73-year-old Terry J. Dunlap Sr. was demonstrating a handgun at a training facility on Saturday when he fired a bullet that ricocheted off a desk and into the right arm of 26-year-old Michael Piemonte.

 

The student says the .38-caliber bullet hit him between his elbow and armpit. He says many of the students in the class were nurses who helped stabilize him before he was transported to a Columbus hospital.

 

Piemonte tells the newspaper it appears Dunlap didn't know the gun was loaded. Dunlap hasn't responded to requests for comment.

 

A police report lists the shooting as accidental.

 

This happened because of the foolish teaching of keeping guns unloaded.  No loaded gun ever accidently went off.  The ones that accidently shoot people, the police reports always record the phrase, "I thought it was unloaded".

 

All firearms and antique firearms should always be loaded and treated as loaded, when this was the norm long ago there were far fewer "accidents".  People are much more careful when handling a "loaded" firearm.

[John81]

One of the first thing safety trainers learn, and one of the first things they are to teach, is that every weapon is to be considered loaded. That's a cardinal rule. Any time a weapon is picked up one is to check to see if it's loaded, including checking the chamber.

[swathdiver]

  Except for sticking one's eye down the barrel or in front of the revolver to check the chambers!   

[MountainChristian]

Thank you for not being from North Carolina.

[Salyan]

I think the safety instructor needs safety lessons.

[swathdiver]

Yes indeed.  If accurately reported, the round being a .38 Special tell us that the firearm was a revolver.  For the last 100 years the cylinders on almost all double action style .38s swing out to the side so one can check to see if it's loaded. 

[Miss Daisy]

Yes indeed.  If accurately reported, the round being a .38 Special tell us that the firearm was a revolver.  For the last 100 years the cylinders on almost all double action style .38s swing out to the side so one can check to see if it's loaded. 

 

The main missing ingredient! Common sense...so rare sometimes.

[HappyChristian]

No true gun instructor would assume the gun was unloaded.  My grandfather always taught us to assume the gun was loaded, no matter what.  AND you NEVER point a gun at someone unless you plan on shooting them....

[DaveW]

No true gun instructor would assume the gun was unloaded. My grandfather always taught us to assume the gun was loaded, no matter what. AND you NEVER point a gun at someone unless you plan on shooting them....

That is very similar to what I have been taught. ;)