Posted on 08/15/2007 6:19:19 PM PDT by walkerk
The San Francisco rookie police officer who accidentally shot himself to death fired his weapon while displaying for a female friend how officers are taught to avoid having their guns used against them, law enforcement authorities said Tuesday.
The incident happened at 1:40 a.m. Saturday during a gathering of as many as 15 people at the San Mateo apartment of the 23-year-old officer, James Gustafson Jr.
According to those familiar with the incident, Gustafson was showing his Police Department-issued semiautomatic pistol after removing the clip that stores the rounds. He explained that there are ways an officer can disable a weapon in close proximity to keep it from being fired.
It apparently was part of a demonstration of the department's "weapons retention" procedures. However, there was still a bullet in the chamber.
Gustafson pointed the weapon at his neck and pulled the trigger, shooting himself, according to authorities.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
“claiming that his career has been crippled and he’s become a laughingstock due to the embarrassing clip’s distribution.”
Sorry, Coppy Pooh. You are a laughing stock because you stupidly shot your own sorry self in front of a class.
Had you not been such an arrogant ass as to have claimed you were the only one “professional enough” to carry a weapon, the world would likely have forgotton about the incident.
By the way - the Constitution guarantees to all Americans the right to keep and bear arms. Since you seem to be likely to be unemployed for some time, consider reading the Constitution.
Read it after reading the declaration of Independence. Finish with reading the Amendments to the Constitution. The final exam is the following essay question:
“What Constitutional errors were said by me in front of that class?”
I can't imagine that being part of a state mandated training..
Police firearms instructors will be talking about this incident for decades to come.
XeniaST is simply reciting the three main rules of gun safety as per the NRA.
He is an NRA Training Counselor (as am I), so he is doing what he is supposed to do.
We could argue all night about what is a safe direction, but so-called “common sense” comes into play when making that decision.
The second two rules are there to protect you in case you screw up the first one.
The old saw “there’s no such thing as an unloaded gun” is more accurately restated “treat every gun as if it were loaded”. There is such thing as an unloaded gun, but you still need to follow the safety rules when handling it.
if the barral is not attached to anything else, and I look down the chamber one more time, just to be sure, then I will look down the barral to see how clean it is, otherwise, like other posters above, my hand simply will not bend towards any part of my body while there is a firearm in it.
Good God I feel sorry for his family. I am willing to bet alcohol was involved. This is such utter stupidity especially from a police officer. I am ashamed for the SFPD for turning out such Darwin candidates. This is from a agency that denied me employment because I wasn’t sufficiently ethnically or culturally diverse. I at least knew enough not to point my weapon at my head/neck. What a loss
Isnt that the truth.
About 30 years ago, i removed the magazine, cycled the slide, pointed (lucky for me) at the discharge barral, and pulled the trigger.
BANG!!!
Now I look at the chamber, and stick my pinky into it if the light is less than very bright.
On pain of death of a loved one, do not trust the extractor to pick up the chambered round.
I hear there's an opening.
Lol +1
You beat me to it!
off
He shouldn't be permitted or able to posses a firearm!
thanks.
Unfortunately, that seems to be the number one cause of accidents of semi-auto pistols. Newcomers to the pistol later assume that once the loaded magazine is extracted, the pistol is unloaded, forgetting they chambered a round when they loaded it.
There is another reason why should always assume a firearm is always loaded—broken firearms. Even when they are unloaded, they can be dangerous. I had a friend who owned a gunshop, he sold new firearms, used, and could even fabricate and build them. One day a customer brought in a 12 gauge shotgun and said “every time I chamber a round, it goes off when I close the slide”. After looking it over and inspecting the firing pin and block, he said “thats impossible”. Setting the shotgun on it’s buttstock on the counter, he put in a shell and closed the chamber, and it went off leaving a nice 12 gauge slug hole up through his ceiling and roof, whats worse, his son was sitting on the counter with his head about 12 inches away from the barrel. He closed the shop and didn’t return for about 2 months it shook him up so bad. His son was fine, but shook up. He was a unit armorer and explosives expert in Korea during the war. Thats why you always handle a firearm as loaded, even when it’s not—yet.
True but then it could have just been gender challenged? Are just a plan old bull dyke.
Barney, Barney, Barney. At least he only killed himself.
Thank You, I hate it when people call them clips.
But did they field dress the deer? ;-)
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