Blaming the gun for negligence
UpNorth sends us a link from our buddy, Bob Owens who reports that Kentucky Representative Leslie Combs, who was headed to a meeting with a fellow representative and when she tried to clear the Ruger LCP .380 handgun that she carries, she had a negligent discharge. So, the gun was cleared after that.
When asked by reporters Wednesday to see where the gun was discharged, Combs declined and said she was putting the gun away because, “I don’t want to use it anymore.”
“I thought it was totally clear,” Combs said. “I am a gun owner. It happens.”
Yeah, I know it’s tough clearing the little automatic. Dropping the magazine out and jacking the slide to check the breech, all while keeping your finger off the trigger is tough. Oh, yeah, it’s probably the gun’s fault anyway. According to the story, Combs plans on getting a revolver instead;
“I urge everyone to be extremely cautious with their firearm. I know from personal experience how easy it is to discharge a firearm accidentally.”
[…]
Combs is sticking by her Second Amendment rights, and was already planning to replace her gun.
“It’s an automatic,” Combs said. “I need to stick with revolvers.”
Yeah, there are no accidental discharges, only negligent discharges. I’ve never had a discharge that I didn’t intend. It’s not the gun’s fault, it’s the head behind the trigger.
Category: Guns
Indeed. The most important part of any weapon is the nut behind the buttplate. 🙂
What a dumbass.
She should be fined and be on her face pushing for such gross negligence.
What happened to that ‘finger off the trigger’ thing?
“….It’s an automatic….”
Uhm, no….it’s a semi-automatic. Lots of experience, this one…
It is an automatic …
Quick thinking …
And it automatically discharged a round automatically …
So I am switching to a semi-automatic revolver …
They are much safer …
That settles it …
Dipshits who do not take the time to train with and become knowledgeable of the weapons they carry make repsonsible gun owners look like asses.
Drop Magazine, Rack the slide back twice(because just never know, you may have slipped the first time and not gone back far enough.)or lock it open, observe the chamber… how freaking difficult is that?
Just to eliminate doubt … is anyone familiar with the LCP? Is there a simple way to get it to fire withOUT sticking your finger inside that trigger-guard-thingy and pulling? Is this like Jamie Lee Curtis dropping the Mac in True Lies?
FWIW, a buddy was a Parole Officer. He kept two MACs in his top desk drawer. Said that sometimes his clients got excited and the Macs really helped to calm them down.
The LCP .380 is tiny and many people use it as a “pocket gun”, however, I can see where someone could get their booger hook inside the trigger guard when attempting to pull the weapon out of a pocket, but not when clearing it.
For the record; I don’t like “pocket pistols” in that they are tiny and usually double action only with a long trigger pull with no positive feedback on your finger as to when the take up on the trigger has been reached. Plus, that long trigger pull does you no favors in accuracy. I like the fact that my new carry pistol (Para USA Expert Commander) has a very positive feel on trigger take up, which is not very long, and let’s you know that you have reached the point where the loud noise and fire is going to happen. I sent Jonn the results of my first time out with it and am very happy with it. Of course, it’s a .45, so it’s all good. 🙂
YMMV
If it isn’t the size of my laser tag gun, it ain’t a gun.
See that big wrinkle in her forehead in the video? Scared herself silly.
Oh, and for the record, I have a pistol grip attachment for cans of spray paint. 🙂
I’ve had some negligent discharges during my 42 years of firearms ownership. Each one was the cause of operator headspace and timing. They occurred because I phucked up. There was no weapons’ malfunction, it was an operator malfunction.
Really a simple concept.
Ex, better be careful. Someone from the government may read that and check to see if you have been assault painting.
As for negligent discharges, I had a Cadidiot accidentally pop a blank off in the hall of our armory before a funeral detail. That wasn’t so bad, but our Readiness NCO was on the phone with our newly appointed DHS disaster liason…
Good times. We didn’t let Spot have any blanks (or ammo of any kind) from them on until we prepped at the site.
And, here’s the bad part… HE WAS AN INFANTRY SSG WHO WENT ROTC!!!!!!
How long before she finds herself on the receiving end of harsh criticism and personal attacks from her fellow democrats for being both a democrat AND a gun owner, now that it’s public information?
The only time that my weapon has fired when I didn’t want it to was when I had a cook-off during a defense live fire.
meh, shit happens. To those who have had an ND, you are not alone. To those who have not had an ND…wait for it.
Ok, she fucked up. She also aknowledges it and has decided that a semi is not for her (why women think a tiny gun is sooo much better than big decisive gun, I’ll never know). She will carry a revolver, because she knows NOW that the semi is above her level of concentration and training. Perfectly acceptable to me.
Thank God, she didn’t pee her panties and cry to the press about the icky gun that tried to kill her, and then embark on a rampage against all guns.
I have one of those. It does have a long trigger pull so she would need to have been in a special state of stupid to pull that off. It’s got a bit of free play before the trigger pull engages, but as far as accuracy goes, I can get a nice 1.5″ grouping at about 25 feet and considering this is backup “oh shit” kind of gun, I’m happy with that.
I’d be afraid I’d break the damn thing with a gun like that. I have a hard enough using compacts due to hand size.
I’m pretty damn careful with my handling though. Used to drive a friend nuts because we’d clean pistols and damn near any time I picked it up I checked it. Family in-joke for reasons why, but still.
An LCP is no more prone to an accidental discharge than any other semi-aoutomatic…. it’s essentially a clone of the KelTec P3AT and is small, but at close ranges it’s easily capable of minute-of-asshole accuracy.
OT, its size is its primary virtue, and a damn good reason for buying one. Yes, a .45 is nice to have – but for many reasons such as mandated office wear, carry needs, etc. the smaller gun may be the best for that situation. I have never had anyone seriously dispute that a .380 in the hand beats the hell out of the .357 back home.
All that being said – yeah, she screwed the pooch. Honestly, if she failed to check the chamber on an LCP, she’ll probably screw up on a small revolver too – mindset means more than type of gun.
According to Owens, Annie Oakley said that she was unloading the gun according to safety procedures. Ever the skeptic, I did some checking and damned if I didn’t find this:
“Once the magazine is removed (SEE ILLUSTRATION 6) in accordance with the MAGAZINE REMOVAL PROCEDURES (Steps 3 through 7), pull trigger. This will ensure that if a live round is in the chamber, it will no longer be. The gun is now unloaded and safe.”
DISCLAIMER FOR NITWITS: No such manual provision exists. A gun manufacturer would never produce a manual that instructs a user to pull a gun’s trigger for any purpose other than intentionally firing the gun. See your gun’s manual for rendering a gun safe.
With a revolver, it will now take six trigger pulls to clear the gun instead of one…
@18: I’m not saying that no one should have an LCP, I’m saying that it’s not for me. I don’t like compact pistols for a couple of reasons, not to exclude the 2 fingers hanging off the end of the grip. Yeah, I know you can get mag extensions so that you can squeeze your fingers on there, but that kinda defeats the purpose of having the compact model. Concealment is, also, based on personal preference in that you can conceal a full size pistol if you want to. .357s come in small packages these days, too (EAA Windicator .357 2″ snubby), so if a person wanted to carry a .357, it’s easier than you would think. I used to carry my XDm .40, which is a full size pistol and no one ever knew it was there. My cousin carries a Sig P238 and that’s his prerogative to do so. As Instinct says, the .380 makes a fine back-up gun, so if a person wants to carry one, good on them. I just prefer not to.
A gun is only as smart as the human holding it. Stupid humans get the predictable stupid & sometimes fatal result. Darwin rules.
She’s a blonde, what did you really expect?
And I hope for her sake she’s not wearing hoop earrings under that bad ‘do. Hate to think her ankles would get caught in them.
There are a lot of reasons why people select small, large, and in between guns. Have heard a lot of folks say that as they age, their choices seem fewer due to arthritis, reduced hand strength, and such. And weight, if the gun is actually carried.
For many people it is not so much what they would like to carry but what they are able to carry.
None of which excuses discharging a weapon inside an occupied building. No excuse for that. Seems like most (all?) of us were weapons trained around clearing barrels for that exact reason.
I’ve heard “professionals” do shit like that and blame the firearm. I guess I’m lucky…been working with firearms since 1974 and I’ve never had one go off by itself.