Posted on 07/29/2002 4:24:26 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) - Accidental shootings involving children nationally along with one next door prompted Mike Worley to invent a bullet to prevent such tragedies. Worley, a professional photographer and gun enthusiast who belongs to the National Rifle Association, turned in a patent application earlier this year for the design that will lock up a gun when accidentally fired.
In case after case, children have shot themselves or playmates with guns that adults had hidden away and even locked up, Worley said Monday. "The kids will find the guns," Worley said. "I figured there has to be a way to stop this nonsense." The Safety Bullet would be left in the firing chamber. If the owner needed to shoot the weapon for self protection it could be quickly ejected, clearing the way for a real bullet in the next chamber.
If someone should pull the trigger with the Safety Bullet in the firing chamber, however, it would jam the weapon until removed with a special tool. Worley believes it would prevent suicides as well as accidental shootings such as the one that occurred next door about six months ago. "A boy who had been trained to use guns safely picked the lock on the gun safe to show his friend his dad's .357 Magnum," Worley said. "When he handed the gun to his friend, the boy pulled the trigger and shot through his forearm and elbow. Several surgeries later, the kid is just now getting the use of his hand back."
With Worley's idea, when the trigger is pulled, the force pushes a pin into a plastic sleeve around the bullet and expands it, which causes the shell to become locked in the firing chamber. He said Safety Bullets could be made to work with all types of firearms. Worley said it could take three years for him to hear from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In the meantime, he has shown his idea to gun control groups such as the Million Mom March and The Brady Center, along with gun maker Remington Arms Co. of Madison, Wis., and Corbin Manufacturing and Supply Inc., of White City, Ore., which designs bullet-making machines. Corbin is working on prototypes, Worley said. "I do not want fame and fortune," he said. "This is a simple device that takes safety to the next level."
The difference is that with his 'safety bullet' you can only pull the trigger once. After that it's jammed.
Neither will the kid in the anecdote.
When he handed the gun to his friend, the boy pulled the trigger and shot through his forearm and elbow. Several surgeries later, the kid is just now getting the use of his hand back.
I can't help but wonder why he bothered to try to explain anything to these two groups. Isn't their collective IQ hovering somewhere around 25?
The "safe bullet" can be defeated with minimal effort.
I'm no fan of trigger locks, but with any intelligence at all a child could remove the "safe bullet" and be good to go...at least with a trigger lock he would first have to find the key.
This is a solution looking for a problem and appears to create more problems than it solves.
People need to start taking responsibility and stop putting the blame on inanimate objects.
Who will immediately reject it and continue to demand the confiscation of all privately owned firearms...
As the article states: "If the owner needed to shoot the weapon for self protection it could be quickly ejected, clearing the way for a real bullet in the next chamber."
It'll go well with my trigger locks.
Like you said, this guy will get someone killed.
--- Click! ---
"Ha-ha, I wasn't really trying to shoot you! Hold on while I find the 'special tool', Mr. Burglar. I forgot I'd chambered a safety cartridge!"
Not at all, see, you just have to use six of them in a revolver.
"A boy who had been trained to use guns safely picked the lock on the gun safe to show his friend his dad's .357 Magnum," Worley said. "When he handed the gun to his friend, the boy pulled the trigger thus activating the 'Safety Bullet', locking the gun. Several nights later, home invaders crashed through the front door of his home. His father was able to retrieve the .357 from his safe, but it failed to fire."
This strikes me as a bad idea. Kids will figure it out the first time they see it. The Brady bunch will poopoo it, just as they are already poopooing the 'safe biometric' guns set to come onto the market.
What's needed to protect kids in homes with guns, is not a magic bullet, but love and discipline.
"Why, it's lucky for me you used that safety cartridge, Mr. or Mrs. Homeowner! If that had been a live round, I could have been seriously injured or even killed. I do feel much safer knowing that you have those around!"
I can't believe that anyone smart enough to pick a lock will not be smart enough to find the dummy round, but apparently I'm in the minority around here. Well, all in favor of this gadget had best ready for the state-mandated "safety" bullet. I'll be thinking of you all when I'm forced to use the latest appeasement. Maybe this well-intentioned guy can also include some sort of thermite charge to cut the gun in half when it is snapped, and that will mean one gun less to worry about each time.
But if it saves just one life, it's worth it, right? I mean, the end justifies the means, doesn't it? After all- it's so reasonable.
Or when your wife runs into the house 3 steps ahead of a rapist and killer, and grabs the gun, and fires it to save her life, it will also jam.
Stupid idea. Put a lock on a gun if you must, aware that it must (obviously) be taken off, but don't stick something in the chamber to be forgotten in a life or death crisis and cause it to jam!
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