ORLANDO — A federal drug agent shot himself in the leg during a gun safety presentation to children and his bosses are investigating.
The Drug Enforcement Administration agent, whose name was not released, was giving a gun safety presentation to about 50 adults and students organized by the Orlando Minority Youth Golf Association, witnesses and police said.
He drew his .40-caliber duty weapon and removed the magazine, according to the police report. Then he pulled back the slide and asked someone in the audience to look inside the gun and confirm it wasn’t loaded, the report said.
Witnesses said the gun was pointed at the floor and when he released the slide, one shot fired into the top of his left thigh.
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11 comments
“…and his bosses are investigating.”
investigating what exactly? whether or not he’s a dumbkoff? whether or not he should be a federal agent? whether or not he should have a license to carry?
Sounds as though something like this happened:
1. After the audience member looked and verified that the firearm was unloaded, the agent was indeed standing there with an unloaded firearm.
2. The agent then reinserted the magazine, thus (a) releasing the magazine safety (which keeps the gun from firing when the magazine is removed), and (b) readying the firearm’s ammunition to be loaded from the magazine into the firing chamber.
3. At this point, the agent had a gun which was loaded, although the slide was still back and thus no round had been stripped from the top of the magazine and moved into the firing chamber.
4. The agent then released the slide, which moved forward, stripped a round from the top of the magazine inserted in the grip, and carried the round into the chamber.
5. The agent is now “locked and loaded.”
6. The agent, suffering from some momentary form of aphasia, attempted to holster the loaded firearm. He didn’t realize that (a) he’d put his finger on the trigger because the firearm was “unloaded” and (b) the firearm was, in reality, loaded and ready to fire because of (1) through (5). When his finger hit the holster leather, the downward motion of reholstering continued moving the gun “around” the trigger finger, thus firing it.
SAM likes guns!
Is it possible then that he’s a FLAWLESS human being? I know, I know, only Mary and Jesus were without sin. But….
OK, sorry, it’s just that when I see people that aren’t all “oh no, guns! … guns are evil, they kill people! People that own them are psychopaths” then I’m very happy there’s at least some sanity in the world.
I trust you’ll be writing up a storm about the Million Mom March of a (supposed?) million “moms” “marching” to openly protest to everyone about how much they don’t know anything about guns or gun laws, but demand the Assault Weapon Ban.
In the mean time, I propose we ban cars that “look” fast and have more than three “fast” features including but not limited to: spoilers, custom rims, or neon lights. They are a threat to our whole fabric of society, and are, without exaggeration, weapons of mass destruction! (sarcasm)
SAM’s hypothetical scenario is plausible, but doesn’t jibe with the news account in that it demands the insertion of a whole string of events that went unreported on. The news account, however, leaves much to be desired. With a semi-auto pistol’s slide locked to the rear and the magazine removed, it ought to be possible to see look through the weapon to the other side, looking through the empty magazine well. Did the audience member confirm that the weapon was empty? If so (and that is likely because the agent then released the slide, suggesting the inspection was successfully concluded), then where did the round come from that was fired? Mysterious.
It is also atypical for a slide to cause a discharge just by its movement “home.” Typically all that movement does is, as SAM states, strip a round off the top of the magazine and chamber it. I’ve never know this action to cause a discharge in a properly functioning pistol.
Here’s one blatant inconsistency, however: “Witnesses said the gun was pointed at the floor and when he released the slide, one shot fired into the top of his left thigh.” Clearly, if he shot himself in the left thigh, then the gun wasn’t pointed “at the floor”, but rather at his thigh.
Cornelius, I agree that you can’t tell what happened from the paper. But what the paper suggests — “Gee, the gun went off all on its own” — just DOES NOT happen. Ever. Firearms simply don’t have the capability to suspend Newton’s First Law. So there must be user error, and the scenario I wrote up is based on one I observed with a police officer who also gave the same explanation when, in fact, he’d simply managed to shoot himself through inattention.
Firearms are amazing inventions, and deserve much better press than they receive.
Ladies & Gentlemen-
Unfortunately, for this gentleman, this was a very bad day in his life. Those who are selected for and highly trained as DEA, FBI, BICE, ATFE, DSS, Border Patrol SRT etc..Special Agents are a unique and brave class of human beings. To us, firearms are like pens to a secretary, we carry them and are prepared to use them every day, 24/7. Yes, even the best get complacent and miss steps. The demand to perform for federal special agents is more than non-tactical types can handle. Subsequently, the repercussions for missing critical safety steps (like this agent did) are paid for severely. This agent gained an additional orifice in his leg and can lose his job or get ‘days on the beach’ w/o pay. Complacency kills all training principles.
Take those who criticize and laugh at this agent’s actions. They may have missed a step in their child’s life and find that he/she is upstairs in their house shooting heroin and/or smoking pot or contemplating suicide. Others decide to drive drunk. Bottom line is that none of us are exempt from mistakes. Only Jesus was perfect! In the end, this agent is on the same team we are on.
Brings a whole new level of meaning to “shooting oneself in the foot.”
Or thigh. Whatever.
Slightly better than shooting one’s mouth off [as frequently happens in blogdom].
Secret Agent Man has it correct except for one thing. He never removed the clip. I have seen the video and he simply forgot yo remove the clip. Once the slide moved back into place he was loaded again.
Well, Yes guns do go off sometimes by themselves, IE- Firing pin locked forward due to rust or broken return spring. We have a hole in the roof of our gunshop due to such a situation with a .25 cal raven. But, when it went off it was noisy yes, but no big deal, why? Because we know where to point our gun barrels. This guy should have passed a live round thru out the class, but kept plastic snap caps in his clip for presentation work. Only a person can point the barrel in harms way. No if’s and’s or but’s about it.
L&L.
This guy was obviously an AFFIRMATIVE ACTION HIRE !……………..LOL……….hahaha
Most of the FED agents I know are clowns………give me a real city street cop any day