Why do people shoot themselves in the foot?
It’s not a riddle. I really want to know.
Dale
Dale Wisely
Chiff & Fipple HQ
[ This Message was edited by: DaleWisely on 2002-09-15 10:02 ]
Dale: Among other things, I teach Middle School. One characteristic of this truly lovable age group is the habit of not thinking through the results of one’s speech and actions. Some, I suspect, never grow out of this pattern…In your day job, I am sure you see a lot of this…It is always ‘all about themselves…’
Best to all.
Byll
Because they haven’t had proper firearms training.
K
Okay, a real question deserves a serious answer.
I assume you discount the “accidental” minor self-inflicted wounds that occur in wartime and are an attempt to find a way out of an intolerable situation.
In my own experience (and no, I haven’t ever shot myself in the foot or anywhere else), there are basically three reasons:
1: Human carelessness or ignorance - carrying a weapon with an unnecessarily loaded chamber or with the safety off or both. Recently, in this area a corrections officer, working a desk job far removed from any actual prison or prisoner, literally shot himself in the foot when he bumped into something and a loaded gun in his holster went off. In this regard, most police officers carry their weapons in what a civilian would consider an extremely dangerous manner, with a round in the chamber, hammer down, and the safety off. Their rationale is that the double-action pistol won’t go off unless the trigger is pulled, and in a crisis they don’t want to be fumbling for the manual safety. People who are not in law enforcement, however, have no need for such a risky practice and would be far less at risk if they simply carry/transport the weapon with an empty chamber unless actually on the range or in the field and ready to fire.
2: Human stupidity. Playing with or showing off with a weapon, loaded or otherwise. I grew up with guns and enjoy them - but I was taught to never take one for granted - always to treat it as if it were loaded. Sadly, way too many people, many of whom SHOULD know better, leave their brains behind when they see or handle a weapon. Also in this category is an acquaintance who once shot himself in the lower leg while ‘fast-draw’ practicing with a loaded single-action Colt revolver. DUH! I knew another guy who also did it, but at least he was using blanks and merely burned himself.
3: A very small percentage of cases are most likely due to mechanical failure of the weapon. Careless maintenance or a worn part can make the weapon unsafe and liable to accidental discharge, as can tinkering with the weapon to allow full-automatic fire or a ‘hair’ trigger. Included in this group is faulty manufacture. Some years back, the early 9mm semi-autos of a large police department had a problem with occasionally ripping off multiple rounds or even a full magazine with a single trigger pull. They were quietly replaced without anyone ever acknowledging a problem.
A large number of accidental foot (and lower leg) wounds are caused by re-holstering a pistol forcibly while the finger is in the trigger guard. (I treated one of these when I was in the service.)
It’s not always inexperience. However, it always involves distractions and/or carelessness. I’ve seen a few older police-model holsters that leave the trigger exposed just to deal with this.
Well, I’ve never fired anything but a musket, but it would be pretty hard to shoot yourself by accident with a rifle or shotgun in any other body part. Even with a hand gun, with your arm and hand in any natural position, the foot, knee or thigh (if sitting) seem like the most likely accidental targets.
Good thing, too. Like my father used to say about my childhood injuries, “that’s too far from your heart to kill you.”
I doubt that your question was actually about guns, in any ‘real’ sense, was it Dale? As usual, it appears that you are being subtle. I’d prefer you to come out with ‘all guns blazing’.
Steve
edited for a tiny typo. L.
[ This Message was edited by: StevePower on 2002-09-14 21:23 ]
Thank you, Steve. I was beginning to think I was really off the mark with my response to Dale. Maybe not…
Best.
Byll
Repeat after me, class.
“People are dumb.”
Good!
-Dunno 'bout the feet, but hearsay tales abound of people putting Glocks (with the in- trigger safety
feature) into front waistband holsters
while still sticking the finger through the trigger guard, as described above in msheldon’s post. - Avoidable by learning early on to place or keep a finger within the trigger guard only when intending to fire. The target in this case
isn’t the foot, but another valued anatomical feature.
-Poststructural indeed!
[ This Message was edited by: brianormond on 2002-09-14 23:13 ]
[ This Message was edited by: brianormond on 2002-09-14 23:14 ]
Because Andy allows him just one bullet. Barney ought to just be glad he doesn’t have a shoulder holster.
Reasonable Person
W a l d e n
When a whistler plays, he stirs up the air and makes it hit any passing eardrums. But if he is good, he knows how to keep it from hurting.
[ This Message was edited by: Walden on 2002-09-14 23:16 ]
While attending college at the University of Missouri in Columbia, our star basketball player disappeared for a week or so during the season. When he returned he told the police of a robber who broke into his dorm room, stole some of his belongings, and shot him in the rear end. Turns out the ball player was playing with his handgun when it “accidently” went off. I always wondered why the barrel of the gun was in the vicinity of his rear end…
This seems to me like a diversionary thread, to take the heat off another thread which was becoming unpleasant.
On 2002-09-14 21:08, jim_mc wrote:
Well, I’ve never fired anything but a musket, but it would be pretty hard to shoot yourself by accident with a rifle or shotgun in any other body part.
Hehe, never underestimate the ingenuity of the average idiot. My aunt used to be the charge nurse of an emergency room in central Michigan (prime hunting area). They actually had some poor fellow come in who had shot himself in the foot with an arrow.
He was in a tree stand, and the deer walked directly under him, the rest I leave to your imagination.
I used to work in hospital emergency rooms for far longer than sanity allowed…
The arrow story reminded me of a man sitting on his front porch one Saturday morning when he was hit in the forehead with a target arrow. I can still picture the man flat on his back on the ER table. The doctor stands on the table with a foot on each side of the man’s head. Then he bends down, grabs the arrow with both hands and pulls it out of the forehead. We put a small bandage on the wound and sent the man on his way.
While serving as a Navy Hospital Corpsman it was standard procedure to accompany the Marines to the shooting range because they were constantly shooting each other!
On 2002-09-14 23:23, Ridseard wrote:
This seems to me like a diversionary thread, to take the heat off another thread which was becoming unpleasant.
You may be right. Reckon which unpleasant thread it’s a diversion from?
On 2002-09-14 23:35, John Allison wrote:
I used to work in hospital emergency rooms
I took care of a guy that ran over a Phillips head screwdriver with a lawnmower and shot it clear through his foot, boot and all!
But I wouldn’t say it qualified as shooting one’s self in the foot, as he didn’t realize it was in the grass.
K
A friend is a paramedic. He was telling me of the call they got from the home of one of the village’s less intellectual family (the total IQ of all four may not make triple digits). On arrival, they found the son, who really is referred to by townsfolk as the ‘Village Idiot’ standing there buck nekkid with a board attached to his backside. Seems he’d backed hard into a board with a protruding 16 penny nail. Jeff wasn’t sure how and really wasn’t too anxious to know.
The reason is simple… guns shoot people in the foot, not people!
I think that Leonard Skinnard was on to something when he said “and if you like drinking whiskey.. you might just shoot yerself”
The Bowhunter incident is a bit odd, since thems usualy the smart ones. I have heard stories about farmers who actually spray paint the word “COW” on their cows so they dont get shot. Wouldnt you know it.. some hunter with a cow tag comes along…