Posted on 01/02/2007 9:19:33 AM PST by hoosierboy
MISHAWAKA — The cause of death of a man who mistakenly shot himself has been ruled accidental.
Gene W. Sult, 47, was drinking with friends about 9:15 p.m. Saturday in a home in the 100 block of Wayne Street when he began showing off his gun.
Sult handed the gun to a friend and when it was handed back to him, he said, “Don’t be afraid, it’s got a double safety,” according to police reports.
Sult then pointed the gun toward himself and began pulling the trigger. On about the fourth pull, the gun went off, striking him, the report said.
Sult was dead, sitting in a kitchen chair, when police arrived. His thumb was still on the trigger, the report said.
Oh man. NEVER use your thumb to pull the trigger, it means the gun is pointed the wrong direction...
Prayers for this misguided individual, and prayers for his family.
ROTFLMAO!
Alcohol + firearm = headline.
A school friend of mine's brother did something like this with a 44 Magnum at a party many years ago. He'd been out target shooting a few hours before the party, and brought the gun with him. Possibly trying to show off to some girls, he put what he thought was an unloaded gun to his head and pulled the trigger. I'm guessing the party goers required years of therapy. Tragic, but stupidity will kill you.
I've never "owned" a firearm until very recently, and I've not yet taken a gun safety course. When much younger, I had taken the Hunter Safety Course to get my hunting license, but that was a very long time ago. My service in the USAF as a Security Police Officer provided excellent training on gun safety. But all of that was nothing in comparison to how my grandfather taught me about gun safety when I was a young boy. Those lessons have always stayed with me, and I will never take for granted anything when dealing with a firearm. Gun safety lasts a lifetime. Gun stupidity is short-lived (literally).
Alas....Gene Sult has three kids according to his obituary. Let us hope they didn't inherit Papa's " waaaay dumb gene"
Guns don't "go off".
On the FOURTH pull?
He pushed his luck too far...
1) "All guns are always loaded." (implication: you MUST assume at ALL times that they WILL produce a very loud bang if you pull the trigger).
2) "NEVER point a firearm at ANYTHING that you do not expect and intend to kill or destroy."
3) "Keep your finger off the trigger until the target [that which you wish to kill or destroy] is in the sights."
I think there is a lot to that. In all the gun safety courses I took (Boy Scouts, US Army) the one that stuck with me was my Grandfather's when I was a young boy. It was because I felt so honored and privileged that he and my father were taking the time to teach me properly and introduce me to firearms that I didn't want to screw it up. It impressed upon me that gun safety was a mature thing that men practiced. It was a right of passage and I wanted to show them that they could trust me.
Oops.
"right of passage" should be "rite of passage"
...bad habit of mine.
New laws must be enacted to outlaw thumb-fired weapons.
Amen to that. You've nailed it squarly on the head. There was nothing I wouldn't have done to show my grandfather I deserved the time he generously gave to me.
Most accidents occur with guns that are unloaded or that have their safety's on.
I always treat my firearms as if they are loaded.
Putting safetys on just encourages sloppiness and delays firing.
I think the idiot got "double action" confused with "double safety."
And I don't recall many revolvers have safeties on them anyway.
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I assume it was a revolver because he pulled the trigger 4 times.
"On about the fourth pull, the gun went off..."
It seems to me that the gun had been off, but then it went ON!
Warning: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to believe you are smarter than you are.
"...on about the fourth pull it went off...."
Sounds like he was confusing double safety with double action and tossing in a bit of Russian Roulette just to make it interesting.....
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