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Man Shoots Own Hand While Cleaning His Gun

Josey1Josey1 Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
edited April 2002 in General Discussion
Man Shoots Own Hand While Cleaning His Gun

April 14, 2002


LOWER MILFORD TOWNSHIP

A Lower Milford Township man shot himself in the hand Saturday night while cleaning his handgun, according to Lower Milford Township police.

Police Chief Jeffrey Tapler said Mark Zweifel, 37, of 2878 Church View Road was cleaning a Colt loaded with a .45-caliber round when the gun fired and the round shot through his hand and into the wall.

Zweifel had taken the clip out and believed the gun was not loaded, Tapler said.

''This is a reminder that you have to have zero tolerance when working with guns. You have to make sure it's unloaded. Even when you think you've checked, check again,'' Tapler said.

Zweifel was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital, Salisbury Township, where he was treated and released, according to a nursing supervisor.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-5shothandapr14.story


"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Comments

  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427
    edited November -1
    Short observation of the "victim"? NUMBNUTS!

    "We become what we habitually do. If we act rightly, we become upright men. If we habitually act wrongly, or weakly, we become weak and corrupt" - *ARISTOTLE*

    **Like Grandad used to say--"It'll feel better when it quits hurtin"
  • thesupermonkeythesupermonkey Member Posts: 3,905 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Saxon,
    It's about time you offered to buy his gun.

    There is absolutely NO reason for that to have happened.
    Anytime you touch a gun you do the 'Two Step'. Even if you leave the room for moment after it's been cleared, or someone else clears it for you, do it every time you touch it.

    1. Drop the Mag
    2. Rack the slide to make sure the chamber is empty.

    Do it every time, and you'll never have an accidental discharge as a result of user error.


    Don't worry about the bullet with your name on it, worry about the fragmentation grenade addressed 'To Occupant'.
  • Shootist3006Shootist3006 Member Posts: 4,171
    edited November -1
    Saxon: TWICE ???

    Send his name into the Darwin award people. Somebody that dumb should not be allowed to breed!!

    Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem.Semper Fidelis
  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've never figured out how a guy shoots himself cleaning a gun, because when I clean a gun I break it down first. I don't just drop the clip and stick a brush down the muzzle. I would think the only way you could shoot yourself is before or after cleaning a gun, when the thing is fully assembled, at least with a semi-auto.

    You forgot to say, drop the clip, rack the slide every time, and then ACT LIKE IT'S STILL LOADED ANYWAY and ALWAYS POINT THE MUZZLE IN A SAFE DIRECTION. Treat an empty barrel as loaded and you'll have just one more layer of safety. About the only time I point a barrel at anything it might destroy is when the barrel is entirely separate from the gun and I'm looking down the barrel to see that it's clean after using the brush, fluid and wipes. Or when I've checked a gun thoroughly and am looking at the quality of the bore at a gun show, with a light at the other end.

    Other than that, for me, an empty gun is still loaded. Even one I just checked. The muzzle never gets pointed at anything I don't want hurt. Just a habit that may train my fine motor skills not to let me down some day.

    The 2nd Amendment is about security, not hunting. Long live the gun shows, and reasonable access to FFLs. Join the NRA -- I'm a Life Member.
  • v35v35 Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    He's not going to say he was playing with it.


    The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.
  • woodsrunnerwoodsrunner Member Posts: 5,378 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    About 20 years ago I had one of the early Crossman co2 pistols. The one that you screwed a bottle on the end of the gun and opened a valve to charge it with co2. One day while shooting I pulled the trigger and it went pffft. I pulled the little screw put the bottle on and opened the valve. Well the valve inside the gun was still open because I failed to cock the gun before charging. To make a long story short, the pellet was still inside the barrel. When the valve on the bottle was opened I got a pellet right through the web of my hand between the thumb and index finger. It was a great lesson in safe gun handling. It doesn't get shot anymore but it resides on the top of my safe to remind me every time I take a gun out.

    Woods

    How big a boy are ya?
  • leeblackmanleeblackman Member Posts: 5,303 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I don't believe that story, I was cleaning my gun, and it just went off. I've heard a few of these, and come to the conclusion that they were messing with it, had an accidental discharge, and just said they were cleaning it to keep from sounded like such an idiot. Who cleans a loaded gun, huh?

    Visit me http://www.geocities.com/gunsmithlee
  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427
    edited November -1
    I refer to my previous post on this subject i.e. NUMBNUTS!!!!!!!!

    Lt

    "We become what we habitually do. If we act rightly, we become upright men. If we habitually act wrongly, or weakly, we become weak and corrupt" - *ARISTOTLE*

    **Like Grandad used to say--"It'll feel better when it quits hurtin"
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