It seems a former West Point cadet was showing off a pistol
he had and accidently blew his brains out.
I can’t tell you how tragic that is, especially because as a
former cadet at the U.S. Military Academy I would have thought that his
firearms instructors would have taught him the first rule of firearms:
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS ASSUME IT IS LOADED!!!!!
Yes. If it is a magazine-fed weapon, like automatic pistols
like my good old favorite the M-1911, you don’t assume that just because the
magazine is out that there is no bullet in the chamber. WRONG ANSWER!
Look, I spent years around military pistols, primarily the
M-1911A1 .45 caliber Army Colt Pistol. I have spent lord knows how many hours
trying to teach people the safe handling of said weapons. One of the first
things I always taught was to ensure when you picked up the weapon that not
only was the magazine out but that the firing chamber was empty.
I used to say, “That is why God gave you a little finger, so
you can it stick up through the ejection port into the breech to make sure
there isn’t a cartridge hiding back up in there.”
I can still almost recite the standard lecture I would give
each person.
“You pick up the M-1911 with your left hand (assuming you
are right handed), keeping your fingers outside the trigger guard, and you drop
the magazine by pushing this button with your finger and catch it in your right
hand. Place the magazine down. Then with your right hand you pull the slide
back until it locks. Then put your pinkie in the chamber – just to make sure
there is not bullet hiding there. Now, the weapon is safe to handle.”
Next, I would explain that the .45 automatic had three
safeties and a safety feature that they should be aware of.
First, it has the thumb safety that physically keeps the
hammer from falling when it is in place.
Second, it has a grip safety that must be depressed by the
web between your thumb and your fingers when you grip the handle. Don’t grip it
tightly, then you won’t depress the safety.
Third, the .45 has a safety known as half-cock, which
theoretically keeps the hammer from falling and if it does, it doesn’t hit the
firing pin with enough force to hit the primer on the back of the cartridge.
This is a throw-back to the old horse cavalry days when a trooper needed one hand
on the reins and had to shoot his pistol with the other. This way he could have
a charged round in the chamber (so he didn’t have to pull the slide back, which
is a two-handed operation) and just had to cock the hammer and start firing.
This is great if you are a cavalry trooper on a horse, but you aren’t, so don’t
trust it.
Fourth, there is a safety feature on the .45 that supposedly
will keep it from firing if the slide and the barrel are not fully forward. If
they are not, then an “interlock” is supposed to keep the hammer from falling.
This is why you never jam the barrel into somebody and expect to be able to
pull the trigger. The force against the body shoves the barrel and slide back
enough to engage the interlock.
At this point I usually would demonstrate using my hand. I
would press the pistol against my palm, hard enough to shift the barrel back,
and try to pull the trigger. Now, 99 percent of the time, the hammer wouldn’t
fall.
Sometimes it would.
In that case I would thank myself for making sure the pistol
was empty and explain why I said this feature was not a “safety” but a “safety
feature” because it didn’t always work.
Unfortunately, I now know of several cases that individuals
handling a pistol like the M-1911 either forgot or disregarded those
instructions. Interestingly, it usually happens to officers (there must be a
link there somewhere) in my experience. They are the ones who put the pistol to
their temple and say “Watch, it won’t fall,” and then proceed to blow part of their
skull and a good part of their brains all over the side of the nearest wall.
The reason I use my palm? Because my brain ain't there. If I
blow a hole in my palm, I will survive. It may hurt like hell, but it won’t
kill me.
People who put firearms to their heads should expect bad things to happen
and my opinion of them is that they are idiots. They also are the subject of
subsequent firearms safety classes as illustrations of what NOT to do.
I am sad the young man is dead. It truly is tragic. However,
it has given me another teaching moment as I call them, and an opportunity to
explain to anyone that reads my rambling random thoughts my main thought about
firearms.
ALWAYS ASSUME THE DAMN THING IS LOADED and then make
personally sure that it isn’t. Don’t accept someone else’s word. Check it
yourself. Your damn life may depend on it.
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