Attorney fires gun in office

Hickory Daily Record ^ | June 19, 2002 | KIM GILLILAND

[Henrietta]

NEWTON — District Attorney David Flaherty Jr. says he won’t take any action against Assistant District Attorney Jason Parker for accidentally firing his pistol in his office at the Catawba County Justice Center on Friday morning beyond making him pay for a broken window.

Parker, a candidate for district court judge, and Sean McGinnis, another assistant district attorney, were at the county firing range Friday morning brushing up on shooting skills, according to Flaherty. When they returned to Parker’s office around 8 a.m., Parker’s .380 semi-automatic accidentally discharged, according to Maj. Coy Reid of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office.

The bullet put a hole in a window overlooking the smoking area in front of the Justice Center. No one was injured.

“I am disappointed in him (Parker),” Flaherty said. “He is a friend and a good district attorney. I know he reported it immediately to those who were supposed to be made aware of the incident.”

Flaherty said he put a note in Parker’s personnel file, but no charges would be filed.

“The only thing I would consider charging Parker with is reckless endangerment, but the bullet traveled out the window, not into the building iteslf,” said Flaherty. “I will make him pay for the plate glass window, however.”

Flaherty, district attorney for the 25th Prosecutorial District, said he got a phone call from Parker around 8:15 a.m. on Friday saying that he accidentally fired a pistol in the office that was once used by Flaherty.

Reid said the handgun had a mechanical malfunction with the ejector slide.

Sheriff David Huffman said Parker turned the handgun over to authorities and asked that it be destroyed by the State Bureau of Investigation.

“I was on vacation when it happened, but I think that Parker was so shaken by the incident that he just wanted to get it out of his sight altogether,” he said.

When someone asks to have a gun destroyed, the SBI checks the serial number to verify the history of the gun before destroying it.

Huffman said his department will also run a check on the weapon today.

Huffman said he assumed the pistol had been registered to Parker, but he was not sure.

“North Carolina law does not require a handgun to be registered with the state,” said Huffman. “When you purchase a handgun, you must first fill out a permit to purchase, which asks for all the pertinent information, such as where you live, why you need the gun, etc. This is essentially the same information that registering a handgun would provide.”

When asked about the legality of carrying a handgun into the courthouse, Flaherty said he saw no problem with it.

“We are law enforcement officers, and there is no problem with my assistants or me carrying guns,” said Flaherty. “I carry one myself occasionally, although it is not concealed.”

John Bason, public information officer for the state Attorney General’s Office, disagrees with Flaherty’s assessment of the law.

“Bottom line is, district attorneys or their assistants are not law enforcement officers.

Therefore, they must abide by the same statutes that apply to anyone else who is not a sworn officer of the law,” said Bason.

Huffman agreed.

“I did not know that DA’s were considered law enforcement officers. To be in law enforcement, you have to go to law enforcement school, even though I could swear you in right now.”

Huffman said he has had several attorneys in the past request permission to bring a firearm into the courthouse for protection, but that the sheriff’s office would assign an extra deputy instead.

Retired Superior Court Judge Oliver Noble said it was unwise and improper for Parker to bring a gun into the courthouse.

“I have never seen him with a gun,” said Noble. “I don’t know if that’s against the law or not, and I have never seen anyone prosecuted for this. However, I have never heard of a law allowing a gun in a state office. If I were to guess, I would say there isn’t.”

As far as any charges that could have been filed, Huffman said that you have to look at each situation differently.

“We treated this as if it was an accident,” said Huffman. “We don’t condone bringing handguns into the courthouse by district attorneys. However, nobody was hurt, and the gun malfunctioned. You have to have some breathing room regarding the law. However, it is possible that I would go back and look at the situation further.”

• Reach Kim Gilliland at 322-4510, Ext. 249, or rgilliland@hickoryrecord.com.

[Bandolier]

See, that's the problem with Saturday night specials. They lack the necessary safety features to prevent spontaneous shooting. Nobody even needs to touch the trigger, and it just goes off. Another magical thing they do, is even if you have it in a holster, and are not playing with it, it can spontaneously blow out a plate glass window in stead of the butt cheek the holster keeps it pointed at.

;-)

[Travis McGee]

I will plead the 5th.

(But I didn't get caught.)

[Travis McGee]

That's why revolvers are better for amateurs and newbies.

"See the bullets. See the cylinder. See the trigger. Don't pull the trigger, no shootee. Pull the trigger, shootee."

[RightWhale]

That's BS.

I think so, too. By the time I have found which pocket it's in and got it untangled from the car keys and eyeglass toolkit, another second won't matter.

[harpseal]

Hey I like a .38 revolver as something to slip into my jacket pocket in the winter. We are talking about the original point and click interface here. For my more serious carry piece I am now carrying an EAA Witness .45acp ported electroless nickle finish ten shots and an all arround exellent pocket pistol that hits dead on at 25 yards and as SA/DA (no decocking lever but a 1911 style safety. Cocked and locked is fine as is hammer down on a loaded chamber with smooth easy safety removal for a DA first shot. I went with this because of it superb trigger pull out of the box and it is inexpensive and very very high quality.

Yes I still like my .357 revolvers and other toys but that Witness is so easy to just slip into a pants pocket it is ideal. It is so good I put my Kimber back in the safe.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

[TC Rider]

If this idiot had bought a .38 revolver instead of an auto, I'll be this would not have happened. Simple guns for simple minds, I say. Me included.)

I had the same thought.

I picked up a Taurus ultralight 85 38sp with the concealed hammer at the last gun show.

I was getting increasingly uncomfortable toting my Glock 23 in the NC heat and humidity. For the summer, the 38sp with +p ammo, rides very easily in my Dockers pocket. I keep it in a Wild Bill horsehide pocket holster. Nothing else goes in that pocket, eliminating the problems with keys, etc.

When things cool off enough to start wearing the Glock again, I'll probably keep the 38 in my pocket as a NY reload. At 13.7 ounces, it's hardly noticeable.

I have no problem going between the Glock and the Taurus, since they operate the same way. Pull it, point it, pull the trigger.

[Travis McGee]

It's not a question of "another second", it's a question of being able to get your pistol out and on target while some dirtbag is choking you, or you are fending off a knife or bat with your weak arm.

IOW, if you cannot defend yourself one handed, you may not be able to defend yourself at all.

Further, if you leave a pistol loose in a pocket to get entangled with keys etc, you should seriously rethink your procedures.

[Shooter 2.5]

"Since when does an ejector cause a firearm to discharge?"

The extractor removes the case from the chamber and the ejector removes it from the gun. The only thing I can think that he did was pull the slide back to empty the chamber and when the ejector failed, it sent the live round back into the chamber. That's the only way he could have had a faulty ejector cause the loaded chamber. In IDPA, I have seen too many shooters go throught the mechanical motions to clear, without physically looking in the chamber.

[wardaddy]

“When you purchase a handgun, you must first fill out a permit to purchase, which asks for all the pertinent information, such as where you live, why you need the gun, etc. This is essentially the same information that registering a handgun would provide.”

I thought Brady Bill clearance was not supposed to be used as a database for information on either the gun or the purchaser. Stupid me!!

Did not Ashcroft however imperfect he is, specifically ask the courts to enforce the letter of Brady Bill legislation which says this is only for purchase approval and not to create a database?

[Travis McGee]

Just watch out for that techy Glock trigger when holstering etc. A snag on a button as it goes down can lead to a new walking stride for life, or singing in a new octave.

[Travis McGee]

Anybody who doesn't think that de-facto gun registration exists is a dreamer. But yes, I think Ashcroft was pushing for the destruction of the Brady file info as called for by the law.

[Travis McGee]

I have seen too many shooters go throught the mechanical motions to clear, without physically looking in the chamber.

Amen brother!

[lavaroise]

A good fighter is always discrete. There is no way disclosing yourself chambering the round is going to put you at an advantage. It is one lost move and one more thing people can complain about you, unless it is too late.

[TigerTale]

The proper way to carry a modern revolver with a transfer bar is with all cylinders occupied (contrary to NRA instruction, which advocates having an empty chamber under the hammer -- which is necessary on old-style revolvers with the firing pin integral to the hammer).

I don't think your information regarding NRA instruction is entirely accurate. Monday night I attended a handgun proficiency course at the local shooting range. The instructor was NRA certified, and I asked him this very question. He gave me the same answer you just gave above. Perhaps he was only speaking for himself, but he didn't say that the NRA position was any different.

[TigerTale]

Now, you die, and we all move up in rank!

What's that from?

[Joe Brower]

According to the letter of the Brady law, the NICS records are to be "immediately" destroyed once the check is complete. Of course, in the Krintong administration with his lackeys like Butch Reno at the controls, "immediate" was looking to be stretched to six months "for audit purposes". Truly, the gall of these statists is incredible.

Ashcroft, when he became AG, set department policy to ensure that this data was retained for no more than 24 hours, which of course set the gungrabbers into a frenzy. God forbid the law should be obeyed when it doesn't further their Nazi agenda. Then when 9-11 occurred, you had the usual suspects, Schumer and Kennedy, demanding that these files be held longer for additional checks, etc., etc. The alarm bells that this set off were from the unspoken admission by this demand that these records were indeed being held for far longer than the legal period. Gee, I'm so surprised.

Ashcroft said no to this, and again the socialists and their leftmedia lackeys had a shitfit, to which Ashcroft said that if the law was changed to legally permit this, then he would do it. Lo and behold, Chuck and Ted had a bill pushed to the floor within days. Current status of that is unknown.

As a computer guy by profession, my not so humble opinion is this: Every damn check that has gone through NICS has been archived. It's too fast, easy and cheap to do. In fact, I would surmise that multiple copies exist spread across several locations. If I was Chucky or Ted, that's what I'd have my lackeys doing. Know thy enemy. So if you've ever been processed by NICS, you are most definitely on the (officially nonexistant) list. Got all that for your book, Trav? $;-)

That's the story to date, as far as I know.

[Joe Brower]

There is no way disclosing yourself chambering the round is going to put you at an advantage. It is one lost move and one more thing people can complain about you, unless it is too late.

Aye. After mucho practice, I can personally draw my semiauto from concealment and have two rounds COM in a 10 yard target in a little over a second. Some guys I shoot with are faster still.

[Travis McGee]

That's exactly how I see it as well. If and when Big Brother (or Big Sister) wants to find out who has bought what guns since Brady came in, archives will suddenly be "found" which had "accidentally" not been erased through a "bureaucratic snafu".

[Shooter 2.5]

I carry in condition one. The pistol is sitting next to me right now in condition one and I haven't worn it since yesterday. A friend of mine started buying Detonics 1911's and I always thought that the reason it didn't have a grip safety and they moved the rear sight forward was for all of those people who carry with the hammer down in condition two. Personally, I think whatever mode they carry is fine as long as they practice.

[lavaroise]

Never worship the government. Taht means never put yourself in a situation where the government one day would force you or others to worship it through enforcement examples. It is one thing to be taxed and sneaked on, it is another when the government is actively seeking worship. It is just as bad as someone seeking to worship the government.