Man accidentally kills himself during CCW class

[couzin]

Just wow! This was a "fail" on so many levels http://www.news-leader.com/article/2011 ... |FRONTPAGE

Students were working on an exercise where they pull their concealed weapon with their non-dominant hand, take the safety off, aim and shoot.

Degase said that on the gun Seymour was using, the thumb of the right hand would normally manipulate the safety.

It appeared to him that during the exercise Seymour was manipulating the safety with his left index finger, which got the gun turned around facing Seymour. One round hit him in the chest, Degase said.

[Keith B]

Sad to hear. Prayers for the family and friends.

Weak-handed shooting is NOT required for the CHL certification. I consider weak-hand shooting more of an advanced technique that needs to be taught in a follow-up advanced defense class, not during the CHL qualification.

[WildBill]

Sad to hear. Prayers for the family and friends.

Weak-handed shooting is NOT required for the CHL certification. I consider weak-hand shooting more of an advanced technique that needs to be taught in a follow-up advanced defense class, not during the CHL qualification.

Stick to the basics.

[jmra]

I can't even imagine an instructor having students attempt this in a chl class. Perhaps an advance class but not the chl class. Someone is going to be screaming gross negligence. I hope the instructor has good insurance.

[Keith B]

BTW, this is in Missouri, not Texas. Many of your CCW classes there are taught by Deputy Sheriffs or other active or former/retired LEO's. The shooting requires you pass an NRA basic pistol certification or Police shooting course. Don't know for sure, but will bet that this instructor was using the methods that are frequently taught for police certification and he probably was familiar with which requires support-hand shooting. Not something that is a requirement of the certification though. All that is required is an approved course by the county Sheriff's office. Hence the verbiage by the Sheriff that they were going to review the shooting portion of the course for a better method.

[AlexKilpatrick]

"Initially the call came in that the gun had been dropped and went off, but the trajectory of the bullet did not match up," said the sheriff.

I hate when people do this.

Also, I don't really understand the exercise, but if you were totally new to it, why would you do this with live rounds?

[cougartex]

Very sad.

[philip964]

Don't even know what to write, I just assumed from the heading that it was suicide during a class.

RIP

[rmr1923]

"Initially the call came in that the gun had been dropped and went off, but the trajectory of the bullet did not match up," said the sheriff.

I hate when people do this.

Also, I don't really understand the exercise, but if you were totally new to it, why would you do this with live rounds?

that was my first thought. not only was he using a gun that he was apparently not familiar with, but attempting to draw and fire with the weak hand prior to practicing with an unloaded or practice gun... this just shouldn't have happened. i feel bad for the man and for his family, my thoughts and prayers are with them.

[zero4o3]

I am having trouble grasping how he got the gun pointed at his chest while trying to operate the saftey.

[Keith B]

I am having trouble grasping how he got the gun pointed at his chest while trying to operate the saftey.

Unfortunately it it too easy to do. Grasp your pistol in the left hand, and then look at where the safety is on the upper left (on a Browning HP). What people will do is turn the pistol completely 180 degrees clockwise (muzzle swings from forward around to right and points back at you), then the safety is on the right side for them to push it down without having to cross their hands. This feels more natural to folks while they don't realize the extreme danger they are placing themselves in. So, muzzle now pointed at chest + finger on trigger + release of safety = bang. Multiple violations of the safety rules make up an 'error chain' and the result is catastrophic.

[gigag04]

[RoyGBiv]

Yeah,,,,

Another reason I like my (ambi release) HK.

[5thGenTexan]

Don't have that problem with DAO or a revolver.

[Beiruty]

Yeah,,,,

Another reason I like my (ambi release) HK.

No manual safey on HK. That is good. Slide release is like butter. Slap the mag and it would release the slide for you, 2 for 1.