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.

[LurkedLongEnough]

ping

[Great_Dame]

Baden is just a few miles from me. Looks like that guy has a nice spud shooter!

[Paleo Conservative]

"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?

I can imagine him looking into the exhaust nozzel of a jet just as it is ignited.

[discostu]

And then we need to institute rules, scoring, and a national championship.

[chadwimc]

WOW! Of all the things I've fired from my 'tater cannon, I never thought to put a frog in it. Hey! Wait a minute! They're not talking about a small Frenchman are they???

[Atlas Sneezed]

Splat!

[Teacher317]

IIRC, it seemed like it came down to one of his "friends" deciding that it would be reall cool to fire the thing while his buddy had his face in front of it. This, of course, is downplayed, so that the "tragedy of evil guns" story can be paraded further. Never mind the cruelty of using a live animal, the juvenile stupidity of igniting explosives in front of someone's face, or the reality that these rather easy-to-make toys (yes, toys) can be fashioned together by anyone willing (meaning regulation of them is virtually pointless). It's an opportunity to remind us cattle that even little harmless guns are eeevil andmust be banned... for the sweet, swet little children of course. You know... the ones who would put live animals in an exploding chamber, who would ignite combustible materials on the face of a child, and let us never forget that the "innocent kiddies" killed my gunsare more likely to be gang members and drug dealers than happy GameBoy addicts with B- averages.

[Redcloak]

Now we know what the VPC will be going after next.

[LiberalSlayer99]

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 $$$

Not to worry. Darwinism took care of that issue. Unfortunately, because he didn't die, he isn't eligble for the Darwin Awards. He's only an honorable mention.

[Eaker]

How's the frog doing?

He went to pieces.

[Question_Assumptions]

Perhaps the frog, knowing that its time was up, decided to take one of the little bastards who was going to kill him out with him. I think the frog fired the gun.

[Teacher317]

If I had to register everything in my house that could possibly kill me...imagine the size of government just to accomplish that!

They are... and they are salivating at the possibilities.

What's a few hundred million murders, anyway? The 20th Century wasn't all THAT bloody, was it?

[Bacon Man]

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

Nonsense. The frog was the direct cause of his blindness so the frog is obviously to blame. I call for all pet stores to be licenses under the AFT and have to carry a special federal amphibian license, mandatory background checks and a 30 day waiting period for the purchase of frogs and other amphibians. After all, if you can take someone's sight with a frog, what's to stop people from using toads or salamanders.

While we're at it, we should place restrictions on witchcraft preventing someone from being turned into a newt and then launched out of a spud gun. :-P

[Texas Federalist]

Actually, this happened a while ago close to Dallas. The kid tried to fire the gun and it wouldn't go off, so (naturally) he looked down the barrel of the gun and pulled the trigger a few times.

When potato guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have potato guns.

[Bacon Man]

Hold mah frog ping!

[Charles Martel]

Now we know what the VPC will be going after next.

Yep, I can see it now: VPC vs. PVC

[ArrogantBustard]

The amphibian in question must have been related to this one:

[mtbopfuyn]

Stop the presses. What, CBS can't find anything interesting to write about today? This is an old story. In fact last April it was mentioned in the responses of http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/897643/posts

Do we really want someone this dumb operating a B-52? "Fred, you throw that switch and I'll stand out here to see what happens."

[steve-b]

If he wasn't smart enough to know not to look down the barrel of a gun

[lawdude]

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

I bet George Carlin could have a ball with this one.

The gun wanted to kill the kid but decided to go 'easy' on him so it fired a friggin frog instead. The frog merely blinded him as, of course, frog loads are intended!