I was just cleaning it, it went off in my hand
Boy, I tell you. You don’t comment on the local officer who shot himself while cleaning his assault rifle and you get emails and comments and everything else. I didn’t think it worth commenting on initially, even though the initial reports were that the officer had been shot, which implies some sort of nefariousness was involved. But it wasn’t:
The victim is Capt. Tony Arden. He was apparently cleaning his .223 caliber rifle in his office around 3:45 p.m. when other officers in the justice center heard a gunshot and found Arden laying on the floor.
I assume it was an AR15 type rifle based on that sentence and the fact our state troopers recently bought some too. As to how it happened:
Officers at the scene of the shooting said the magazine was out of the rifle while Arden was cleaning it. They say a bullet may have gotten lodged in the chamber and been overlooked.
This is why you assume all guns are loaded and you keep your finger off of the trigger. To say a bullet may have gotten lodged in the chamber is not accurate. The bolt was pulled back and a bullet was put in the chamber, as evidenced by the fact it went bang! A bullet was in the chamber.
Additionally, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, assuming it was an AR15, the guy probably wasn’t cleaning it. At least, he wasn’t cleaning it correctly. When you clean an AR, the first step (after unloading it) is removing the upper portion of the rifle from the lower portion. When these portions are separated, the gun is incapable of firing. It’s possible that he was trying to run a patch down the barrel while the gun was not taken apart (which is not the proper way to clean an AR15). At least, that’s my guess.
The TBI is investigating this incident. I wonder why.
Update: Reader Chris writes:
Am I the only person to observe that, in the last 3 weeks in our local area, that:
1. a security guard at a local credit union left a pistol on the toilet;
2. a school security guard lost a pistol on the school premises; and
3. a police captain accidentally shot himself while cleaning his rifle?People who carry a gun for a living need to engage in firearms training or practice regularly.
They don’t necessarily need to be gun enthusiasts, but they need to be competent with firearms.
Ayup.
And Les has, err, more.
April 8th, 2005 at 9:56 am
Am I the only person to observe that, in the last 3 weeks in our local area, that:
1. a security guard at a local credit union left a pistol on the toilet;
2. a school security guard lost a pistol on the school premises; and
3. a police captain accidentally shot himself while cleaning his rifle?
People who carry a gun for a living need to engage in firearms training or practice regularly.
They don’t necessarily need to be gun enthusiasts, but they need to be competent with firearms.
April 8th, 2005 at 11:00 am
Again with this quote…it never gets old:
“‘Police officers have the best training; people who get concealed-carry permits don’t have that training,’ said Brian Malte, outreach director for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence”
April 8th, 2005 at 2:08 pm
Milk Chan says it best, “You Dumbass!”.
April 8th, 2005 at 2:10 pm
… The Tinfoil Hat Brigade would say they were paid to do those stupid things in order to create a requirement for further crackdowns and regulations. …
This thought popped into my head because I actually had this conversation:
Me: “Did you hear that a bunch of union thugs barged into Republican Campaign offices around the country in a timed, coordinated event causing disruption, chaos, and damage?”
TF: “Well, the Repubs probably hired those guys to do that.”