Man Accidentally Kills Self With Gun During Demonstration On Gun Safety

A 36-year-old man from Independence Township apparently shot and killed himself by accident while trying to demonstrate gun safety to his girlfriend after he had been drinking, authorities said.

Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at about 9 p.m. Sunday to a home on the 4400 block of Pinedale, near Sashabaw and Maybee roads, where the man’s girlfriend was performing CPR.

The girlfriend told authorities that the man had been drinking all day and was explaining to her that his three handguns are safe when they aren’t loaded, according to Oakland County Undersheriff Michael McCabe. He demonstrated by placing the guns against his head and pulling the trigger.

When he pulled the trigger on the third handgun, it discharged. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Three children, ages 7, 10, and 12, were home at the time but didn’t witness the shooting, McCabe said. They weren’t hurt. Authorities said they weren’t the man’s biological children.

Alcohol appears to have been a factor in the shooting, according to the sheriff’s office. The man’s name wasn’t immediately released.

The incident comes on the heels of another accidental shooting that made headlines. On Dec. 30, UAW Vice President General Holiefield was cleaning loaded guns in his Harrison Township home when he shot his wife, who survived the injury.

Uri’el-2012 said: "My Daisy Red Ryder was always loaded. "

My Daisy wasn't a Red Ryder, but it was "unloaded" one day when I decided to target my brother. Fortunately it hit him square in the middle of the Boy Scout web belt he was wearing. I was very surprised by the red welt it left.

I sure can't see how Cooper's rules are inadequate. I'll continue to use them. The "negative" aspect of the rules I find quite appropriate. Each rule suggests what can go wrong if you violate the rule.

I took a class at Frontsight several years ago. They made us sign an agreement as to how dry fire practice was to be carried out. This was because, with the thousands of students they had trained over the years, there had been several incidents in the nearby hotels.

The problem with dry fire practice is that you end up violating several of Cooper's rules. You have to assume the gun is unloaded. You have to aim at a target you don't really want to destroy. You have to touch the trigger even though you have no intention to fire.

The written agreement is to always use a dedicated target, put the target in a safe direction, and don't have the target available except when intentionally conducting a dry fire exercise. I'm not surprised by the NDs they suffered.

I think they needed a dedicated dry fire range that people could use before and after the training sessions and have people sign that they would only use that range for dry fire.

Thanks for the information.

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