Let me first start off by saying that my brother and I have always been around firearms and our dad "preached" gun safety all of our lives. I myself have considerably more exp. than my brother since I am a CHL holder, ex military and shoot in the IDPA and IPSC in the past. My bro knows all the safety rules:
1. Always assume that a gun is loaded.
2. Never point a firearm at anything that your not ready to destroy.
3. Never drop the hammer unless your pointed down range or have just cleared the chamber yourself.
Yesterday while at my office, my brother who is employed by me came in during lunch to show me his pistol. He had just aquired it a couple of days before and wanted to show me something. He opened the gun case and handed me a pistol with a mag inside. I dropped the mag and cleared the chamber before handling it any further as is the way I was trained. During our discussion I asked him how heavy the pistol was when loaded. He said he really didnt notice. I proceeded to load 10 rounds of .40cal into a fresh mag. and then placed the mag inside the pistol while the slide was in the forward position. I then pointed the pistol in a safe manner and brought it at eye level. My brother watched this entire process even when I loaded the mag. I held the pistol for about 15 seconds when my office phone rang. I then handed it to my brother and turned around in my chair to answer the phone.
I don't know how long I was on the phone before I heard a loud "bang". In a split second I thought to myself...."what in the hell, did he just do that on purpose?"
Before my I could turn around, my brother started calling my name. Not yelling but with urgency in his voice. As I swiveled in my chair I noticed first that he was standing and his hand was bleeding profusely. I immediatly went into a robotic state (for lack of a better term) that is a testiment to all me first aid training that I had recieved over the years in Boy Scouts and the military. I dont remember all the details while being on the phone with 911 but I will say that the female on the other end was not very pleasent and I feel she made the call last twice as long as it needed to last. After getting my brother to sit down I began to apply pressure to a thru and thru gun shot in his hand. After a few seconds my brother pointed out to me which I thought was just blood from his hand wound, that he had been shot in the leg also. There was very little blood coming from the wound and I didnt even notice becuase the hand was bleeding so badly. That wound also was a thru and thru. I then called for some assistance from 2 employees to come assist me with stopping the bleeding. During all this my brother remained calm and handled himself quite well considering.
The Fire Department showed up within 6-7 minutes and an ambulance following within another two. The paramedics and firemen were all very professional and performed thier duties very well. They got him bandaged and whisked him away to of all places "Ben Taub".
I waited for the police department to give me a case #, which by the way the took his pistol and the spent casing but not the actual round. It took about 10 minutes to find the round which had ricocheted off the floor and headed in my direction into my office desk. My solid wood desk stopped the bullet from exiting and the bullet ended up in my top drawer. According to the police, there was a very good chance that the bullets trajectory could have sent it into me but we will never really know.
By the time I reached the hospital I had missed visiting hours and would have to wait for 3 hours before I could speak to my brother. During the next 3 emotional hours I replayed the whole incident a hundred times. I asked myself over and over..."did he not see me put bullets in the mag?"
Is this all my fault regardless of wether or not he broke so many rules?
Once I was finally able to visit him in pre-surgury one of my first questions was; "did you not know I loaded the mag?" and his repsonse was, "yes I know you loaded it because I watched you but I just forgot."
He forgot the mag was loaded and had a brain fart of nuclear size. He wanted to dry fire the gun and put his hand on top of the slide, covering up the breech. He couldnt see that that he was ramming a round into the chamber. He then point the gun down and pulled the trigger into his hand which was on his knee.
He had surgery in the middle of the night last night. The surgeons told him that the leg wound hit nothing vital and they would just let it heal on its own. No stitches! He broke 1 bone in his hand and had 2 pins put in. As of this morning he couldnt move 1 of his fingers and there was a possibility that the surgeons would be going back in to take a look. He seems to be well good spirits but I'm sure he will be traumatized for the rest of his life. He has scars and might never regain total use of his hand. The scars are his everyday reminder of the time when for a split second he gun safety went out the window.
I will always hold myself responsible regardless of how many rules he forgot. Had I not been curious as to the weight of his loaded gun this never would have happened. Had I not let the ringing phone distract and keep me from ejecting a loaded mag then this all could have been avoided. He has his constant reminder and I have mine:
Remember folks, you can NEVER be too safe!
DMoses
