Bullet in leg starts about 1:30 into video.
Bullet in leg starts about 1:30 into video.
I'm not disturbed, more like mildly amused. I take it that he was using a home gunsmithed XD?
So his general conclusion is: "I did nothing wrong. The gun went off. I don't yet know how it did this, but I plan to figure it out. Regardless, it was not my fault."
Now, it very well could be that he is correct. Until he can actually determine this, however, it seems irresponsible to claim. He apparently has not had possession of the gun in question since the incident. He has theories as to which internal part(s) might be to blame, but until he has someone inspect the firearm, these seem to be nothing more than hypotheses (which, incidentally, piss in Occam's face).
It's telling, in my opinion, when someone says, "I don't know what caused Y, but it definitely wasn't X." This usually really means, "I hope it wasn't X." And it's shocking how many subsequent investigations show, "Yea, it was definitely X."
Also, I find the repeated references to the fact that he was under RO supervision to be less than compelling. No one has ever mistakenly discharged a firearm while under the direct supervision of an RO?
He doesn't go into enough detail about whether it was or was not.Originally Posted by Al T.
The RSO wasn't looking at him re-holstering the gun (he was looking straight ahead, his head is not turned looking down at the holster).
So he didn't actually see him re-holster without his finger on the trigger.
What a toolbag.
"...I know that what I did was not unsafe in any way, shape, or form."
When one is standing in front of a camera explaining a self-inflicted gunshot wound and having stated that he doesn't know how it happened earlier, seems a bit presumptive to say that he had no role to play in it.
I understand the psychological drive to think that. I understand the psychological drive to "pride myself" on being "safe" with the handling of firearms. Trouble is that pride has nothing to do with it. There's no such thing as "safe" and "unsafe" people. There's just people. Sometimes they pay more attention, sometimes they pay less.
At a recent range outing Todd got some pictures of me doing a draw...and in those pictures my finger was on the trigger too early. The gun was pointed downrange and at the berm, sure...but it was still on there earlier than it should have been because I was focused on trying to beat the clock. In the moment I had no idea this was happening, and I can only assume I made the same mistake several times (maybe even every time) when I drew the gun during this outing without being consciously aware of it.
...but the camera doesn't lie. Some people might even say it's not a big deal because they wouldn't have a problem with their finger on the trigger where mine was...but that's not the point. I didn't intend for my finger to be on the trigger at that exact moment, and that's a big kitten deal. You prevent it from becoming a bigger deal by sweating it when it shows up instead of excusing it.
Most likely explanation for the event this fellow is talking about is that his finger was on the trigger when he tried to reholster. It's happened a bunch of times at matches, including to some master and grand-master ranked shooters. It's happened in training classes. It's happened on police ranges and in police locker rooms. It's happened to enough people in enough circumstances for us to come to the conclusion that it's something people do. Not "unsafe" people, people. If you're human and you're handling a gun, it can happen to you.
It could happen to me on my next range outing. I will try my best to make sure that it doesn't by carefully selecting my equipment and trying to be thoughtful about what I'm doing when I try to put the pistol away. I've caught myself reholstering too quickly before, and it was the big driver to stop using striker-fired pistols with no manual safety. There's no prize for putting it back in the holster quickly.
Now it's also possible that the trigger hung on his shirt or on a bit of the holster...and that goes back to how we reholster and the equipment we're using. It's not always completely preventable but we can drastically reduce the possibility of problem with intelligent choices about our equipment...assuming we acknowledge the necessity of doing so in the first place.
I find the idea of some sort of mechanical failure severe enough to fire a shot at the exact moment when he's at one of the peak danger zones for an unintentional discharge to be very unlikely. If it was really the gun I would have expected it to launch when he was trying to load and make ready, not when he was putting it back into the holster.
Everybody got a gris-gris, man.
To paraphrase Super Dave: That kitten don't work.
Last edited by TCinVA; 06-20-2013 at 01:52 PM.
3/15/2016
TCinVA, excellent perspective.
That grip safety did him a lot of good...
Think for yourself. Question authority.
That's always been my big beef with the XD's grip safety. It's annoying enough to lock the slide when you're trying to clear a malfunction, and yet at the same time does no good in the primary danger zones of handling a weapon.
3/15/2016
You oughta have the boss swing for a Super Dave class. It would make for one hell of an article series.
Think for yourself. Question authority.
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