Shooting demo uses real bullets, injures 16 (in France)

cnn ^ | 6/29/08 | do the dhue

[do the dhue]

A military shooting demonstration in southeast France on Sunday left 16 people wounded, including children, when real bullets were used instead of blank ones, officials said.

[do the dhue]

My prays are offered. It says four of the wounded are in serious condition. And it looks like an accident. If It is a accident, I pray for the person who shot. That would be a terrible thing to live with.

[null and void]

Rule 1: All guns are loaded.

[GovernmentShrinker]

This article is about 16 innocent people having been shot, including a 3 year old child who is in serious condition. Do you really think this an appropriate thread for tasteless jokes?

[do the dhue]

Very good.

[skinkinthegrass]

rem: ...folks; the French, Are nominally Pro-American now.

[Admin Moderator]

What you said. Nothing funny here.

[blam]

French Marines Shoot Children In Bungled Hostage Display

[LukeL]

Most guns need to be modified to accept blanks, as a blank doesn’t have enough power to cycle a new round and eject itself. Also, when the gun is modified it usually cannot be used to fire live rounds, the fact that he hit 16 people before realizing what was going on to me shows a possible criminal act.

[do the dhue]

Your story says 17 people wounded.

[do the dhue]

That is a great observation.

[dayglored]

Prayers up for the wounded.

The article says, "The soldier who fired the shots has been detained".

THE (singular) soldier????

Unless he was using a full-auto, and not watching his target, how the hell did he squeeze off 16 shots without realizing that he was hitting real people with real bullets???

Thank God there's not 16 dead, instead of wounded.

But something is terribly amiss here.

[do the dhue]

Yes, and I can not speak for y'all, but I have a high opinion of Sarkozy.

[dayglored]

> ...when the gun is modified it usually cannot be used to fire live rounds, the fact that he hit 16 people before realizing what was going on to me shows a possible criminal act.

I'm very afraid you may be right.

[do the dhue]

They say it looks like an accident, but with this many wounded...

[null and void]

the fact that he hit 16 people before realizing what was going on to me shows a possible criminal act.

Interesting that the shooter doesn't have a name. If I were of suspicious mind, I'd speculate that he's a yute who growed up and joined the French Marines.

But I'm not, so I won't.

[dayglored]

> Rule 1: All guns are loaded.

YEP!

And with live ammo, too. Never count on a blank, except for the one you just fired.

The story about how in a firing squad, all but one rifle have live ammo, but one has blanks, so that each shooter can tell themselves (if they care to) that they didn't necessarily kill the person being executed, comes to mind...

[dayglored]

> If I were of suspicious mind, I'd speculate that he's a yute who growed up and joined the French Marines.

Possible terrorism? Wouldn't surprise me, sad to say...

[SoldierDad]

Why in the world would they have been firing in the direction of onlookers? Even if they had been actual blanks, you never never never point a weapon towards a person unless you are intending to hit them.

[LukeL]

One more thing, blanks can be lethal as well. If there is debris in the barrel it can be fired out and kill a person (Brandon Lee) the blank it self may have wadding in it which could kill too. Anyone with a lick of common sense knows you never point a gun at anything that you don't intend to shoot.

Exercises may be done in the military to simulate combat situations, but in this case it is soldiers against soldiers who both have much training and know what they are doing.