Rule Two

Clyde, North Carolina - A Waynesville man accidentally fired gun rounds through his hand, his leg and a nearby trailer in Clyde on Tuesday night, according to a Canton Police report. A resident in Clyde told Canton and Clyde police officers he was awakened by a gunshot that pierced his bedroom wall between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., the report stated.
Investigators found a truck parked 30 yards north of the man’s trailer with a spent .45 shell inside and drops of blood leading from the vehicle to another trailer, according to the report.

Officers went to the home of the man who was the registered owner of the truck in Waynesville and discovered he had gunshot wounds to his hand and leg, according to the report. After medical crews took him to the hospital, the man told officers that he accidentally pulled the gun’s trigger and shot himself in the hand while trying to grab the weapon from his truck’s passenger seat, the report stated. He jumped out of the truck and attempted to put the gun in his back right pocket, causing the gun to fire again into his right leg. He then dropped the gun near a creek and went to a friend’s house nearby and he was later taken back to his home in Waynesville, according to the report.

Rule Two. Not much else needs to be said really.

Now I'm sure there are some who will speculate this man was intoxicated. There are others who might speculate he never received proper training. There are even those who would speculate he did not own a holster......I think that might be a bit more likely. One thing that is as certain as Saturn is inhospitable is this idiot grabbed a pistol from the passenger seat of his truck with the muzzle pointing at himself.

Hell, this story invites speculation, so I may as well speculate too..... $10 says the pistol in question was a cocked and locked 1911 that became a cocked and unlocked 1911 while bouncing around on Billy Bob's truck seat while he was roaring down the pot holed dirt road to his trailer. A bonus $5 say Billy Bob had a sticker of Calvin taking a piss on the back glass. Next, Billy Bob got out of the truck, remembered his pistol, and reached across the driver's seat to pull it towards him muzzle first. The cocked and unlocked 1911 trigger caught on the seat belt, or other assorted crap in Billy Bob's truck, causing it to be pulled back, and the pistol fired the first shot. Billy Bob was fortunate he did not buy those 44" mud tires last month, or he might not have fired the second.

The second shot can not be excused simply because Billy Bob's head was still spinning from the first. Billy Bob did not lock the thumb safety. Instead he either tried to place the pistol in his pocket with his finger on the trigger, or a corner of his wallet caught and pressed the trigger as he was shoving the pistol in the pocket. If Billy Bob had trained with his 1911 enough, the relocking of the thumb safety would have been instinctual. If he had any safety rules ingrained in his brain at all, Billy Bob would have walked around his pick-up truck and removed the weapon by the grip, not the muzzle. The first shot never would have occured.

I commend the writer of this story for not claiming the pistol "accidentally went off". Some folks say there are two types of gun owners......Those that have had negligent discharges, and those who will have negligent discharges. I'm not going to argue that. The idea is one that keeps those who subscribe to it safe, and that's OK by me. I will go farther though........There are also those gun owners who will never have, or who will never again have a negligent discharge. The accomplishment of that goal is not difficult. Remove negligence from the equation.

Update:

I guess that'll teach me eh? Check the comments.....

I still might make a bit back on that Calvin sticker....