Spud Guns: Legal And Dangerous - When it fired a frog, it blinded a 17-year-old Boy

CBS News ^ | 08/20/03 | Staff Writer

[bedolido]

(CBS) Just when 17-year-old Daniel Berry's life had found new light, he must find his way in the dark.

"It's not right, I'm not used to being blind," he says. "It's a whole new world for me and not one that I would've chosen."

Berry was shot in the face, looking down the barrel of a home-built contraption called a spud gun. When it fired a frog, it blinded him.

"If it would've been anything else it would've killed me," he says.

Spud guns fire potatos like light artillery. Some versions launch tennis balls.

A garage in Appleton, Wisconsin may be the center of the spud gun universe; that's where Joel Suprise has a booming business making spud guns of all sizes.

The guns are dangerous, can cause property damage and can cause severe bodily injury, he says.

"It's an item that's designed for fun and recreation but they need to be used safely," says Suprise.

The guns are made of plastic plumbing pipe and fueled by deodorant or hairspray fumes. A barbecue igniter is used for a trigger, and a potato, or anything that fits, goes down the barrel. It's a $60 weapon.

In the eyes of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, spud guns are not illegal. But across the country, some towns want them outlawed and police are confiscating spud guns regularly.

One gun was used in a North Carolina drive-by shooting. Another blinded an eye of a Pennsylvania house painter.

"They need to be used under adult supervision, the same with any type of gun," says Surprise.

On the Internet, they're a phenomenon, with nearly 9,000 spud gun hits. Web sites show people how to build or buy them cheap.

"I'm not the bad guy," says Suprise. "I'm just trying to live the American dream."

Berry had an American dream too.

"I wanted to finish up my college and go to the air force and be a pilot," he says.

Now, he struggles with a new life of talking calculators and the language of Braille.

But he wants his blindness to be his warning of what can happen when people play with any kind of gun.

© MMIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[bedolido]

Jerry Dunston, a former hardware store owner, gets a hand from Jim McKee, left, as he prepares to fire his "spud gun" near his home in Baden, Pa., Friday, June 9, 1995. (Photo: AP)

[bedolido]

"I'm not the bad guy," says Suprise. "I'm just trying to live the American dream."

The American Dream --- fire a frog out of a spud gun.

[thackney]

ping

[groanup]

bump

[TheBigB]

"I wanted to finish up my college and go to the air force and be a pilot," he says.

If he wasn't smart enough to know not to look down the barrel of a gun, how the Hell did he expect to fly a plane?

[Bringbackthedraft]

Stupid is what stupid does!

[thackney]

bedolido, sorry for pinging you own your own post.

Eaker -> mis-routed ping

[Calvin Coolidge]

All together now ...

"It's all in fun, until someone loses an eye!"

[Mr. Bird]

"You'll shoot your eye out, kid"

We must ban the Potatokov-17 and all other weapons of mass digestion.

[bedolido]

When it fired a frog, it blinded him.

The way the phrase this it sounds like the spud gun had a mind of it's own and intended upon killing the boy.

[ClearCase_guy]

Odd, the article never seems to say exactly who fired the gun. A self-inflicted injury? A stupid-friend-inflicted injury? Or is the manufacturer guilty for manufacturing legal items?

[Hank Rearden]

Berry was shot in the face, looking down the barrel of a home-built contraption called a spud gun. When it fired a frog, it blinded him.

Dumbass.

How's the frog doing?

[Astronaut]

We must immediately enact a federal law requiring registration of all spud guns. No, better yet, lets ban "assault spud guns." For the children.

[bedolido]

"You'll shoot your eye out, kid"

[TheRightGuy]

When it fired a frog, it blinded him.

Someone really ought alert PETA about this genius.

[ChefKeith]

Just one more case of OPERATOR ERROR.

Stupid enough to look down the barrel but wants to fly a multi-million dollar fighter...NOT WITH MY TAX $$$

[Khurkris]

"When it fired a frog, it blinded him."

I don't think I will ever see this sentence again.

[Mr. Bird]

No word on whether the frog was hollow-point or not. How many frogs fit in a standard mag?

[Great_Dame]

I remember a couple of months ago when this story first ran. People who have no sense will eventually find a way to damage themselves. If it wasn't the spud gun, he probably would have gone hood surfing or some other bone-headed stunt. We will probably get another chance to nominate this guy for a Darwin Award.

When it fired a frog, it blinded...

So spud guns fire by themselves but only after an unsuspecting frog lodges itself neatly in the barrel?

[ChewedGum]

So what do they want...legislation banning or requiring registration of the things? Oopps...I stabbed myself in the face with a meat fork. Time to register those! If I had to register everything in my house that could possibly kill me...imagine the size of government just to accomplish that!

Gum