Tragic: Man fatally shoots self during gun safety demonstration

A police captain explains how the 23-year-old man died: "He was showing them how if the safety was on how you could pull the trigger and it wouldn't fire," Johnson said. "He had held it up to his head and pulled the trigger and it went 'click' but it didn't go off." He continued the demonstration despite his friends' protests and the gun fired on the second try. (Fayetteville Observer)

Comments

[Me (the original)]

DARWIN AWARD !!!!!!

[lester]

i like how they're waiting for an autopsy--guess the cause of death isn't that obvious.

[Tank]

Gun Safety Rule #1: Real rounds or blanks, loaded or unloaded, safety or no safety ... NEVER point a gun at something you do not want a hole in!

Seems a pretty safe bet that this was a gun stupidity demonstration, not a gun safety demonstration.

[Chrysos]

lester...the autopsy could show that the shot was fired from 3 feet away...which would definitely change the story.

Overall though, if it does turn out that the guy did shoot himself while playing with a loaded pistol, I don't really see how it's tragic at all.

[twerp]

Definitely a Darwin Award!!

1st Two Rules of Gun Safety (that this guy obviously never learned and failed to teach):

1. ALWAYS assume the gun is loaded.
2. NEVER assume the safety works.

[Sheila]

Gun-safety demonstrations are done by qualified instructors. This poor doofus didn't know that yogi do not point a gun at something you don't intend to shoot, especially your own head. Sad.

[Sheila]

You, not yogi. Dont point a gun at a yogi, either.

[twerp]

I take back what I said about him failing to teach because his demonstration is a fine example of Rule #2 and the group he was teaching should learn that lesson after witnessing this.

[twerp]

Actually, Tank is right about Rule #1....the rules I inserted should be classified as Rules 2 & 3.

[Lambiepie]

unfortunately, this is the fix for stupid

[CT Tattoo Shop]

Wow. He was kind of asking for it, wasn't he? Hopefully people who think guns are toys will see this story and exercise caution.

[RockyMtnMac]

Carlin said there should be a national IQ card, instead of licenses.
And there is yet, more proof.

[Krash]

Whups!
Darwin beat ya to 'im, Farmer Bob.

[Phranqlin]

Thinning the herd.

[KDP]

Shake hands with the Devil, you get burned.

[dryheat]

Even though a .22 is a very small caliber, considering the limited amount of grey matter it had to penetrate, it was probably a through and through.

[Bobba Fett]

This is sad, but as many said, you NEVER point a gun at something you don't want a hole in or that you want to kill.

[stopeatingmysesamecake]

Yes, Bobba. Its kind of odd that you can take "Tragic" and replace it with "Stupid", yet they both still work.

[stevenvictx]

23 years old.

That was one problem.
Still young enough to think he's bulletproof.

[mE.!]

"He had held it up to his head and pulled the trigger and it went 'click' but it didn't go off."

So he got a warning and failed to heed it. Some people just can't be taught.

[chris (no longer n cali)]

Intelligence is typically based upon the ability to learn from past mistakes. However this gentlemen obviously did not learn from the first go around. As the lady says Darwin award...

[Many]

stuck on stupid

[Sigh]

Hasn't everyone known someone this stupid? You know, the kind of person who dreams of starring on jackass.

[JimmyVA]

Better this total idiot kills himself than pointing a loaded weapon at others and thinking it won't go off. His Family must be so proud. Dummy.

[Harry Eagar]

Your Second Amendment at work.

It was just luck he was only pointing at his own head. Could have been yours, Mr. Gun Nut.

[Dick C. Normas]

When testing the safety of a firearm always point it at your friends head not your own!