Kirk Freeman
Grandmaster
Canadian General learns about firearms.
Everytime, every single time, you load or unload your firearm the weapon may discharge. This especially applies to platforms with inertia firing pins--e.g., the C7 or 8.
Parking lots do not prevent accidential discharges. Loading in the car does not prevent an a.d. Keeping your finger off the trigger does not prevent it. Being a General does not prevent the weapon from discharging. Eez gon, eez not safe.
To be safe, don't jack with guns. Stop the incessant unloading and reloading. Leave your long guns slung and your pistols holstered.
If you must jack with the stupid gun, have a stack of phone books in your home, a sand barrel in your armoury, a big of pile or sand barrel at your range. Your gun has one job, to shoot. Make certain where it shoots involves nothing but sand or dirt and no rics!
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CBC News - Canada - General orders investigation into himself
The commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan has ordered a special investigation into his own actions.
Brig.-Gen. Daniel Ménard, the head of Joint Task Force Afghanistan, announced Saturday that he has summoned the military's National Investigation Service to probe the unintended discharge of his gun.
Ménard said he was loading his C8 carbine at Kandahar Airfield on March 25, something he said he has done thousands of times, when it went off. No one was injured and nothing was damaged, but the National Defence Act makes it an offence to accidentally discharge a weapon.
The military police probe will determine whether the general's weapon was fired accidentally or negligently, or whether it malfunctioned.
If it was an accidental or negligent incident, Ménard would likely face a court martial. The penalty for a guilty finding in such cases is often as low as $10 or even a reprimand, but because of Ménard's rank and position, he would probably be fined a much heftier amount.
Ménard said he felt compelled to relate the information in the name of openness.
In the last 18 months, more than 600 Canadian Forces soldiers have been convicted of accidentally or negligently discharging their weapons. Most of those incidents involve junior officers or recruits, and often it's a case of pulling the trigger on a firing range before being given the command to do so.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/04/17/menard-afghanistan-investigation-rifle-discharge.html#ixzz0lSNacGPQ
Everytime, every single time, you load or unload your firearm the weapon may discharge. This especially applies to platforms with inertia firing pins--e.g., the C7 or 8.
Parking lots do not prevent accidential discharges. Loading in the car does not prevent an a.d. Keeping your finger off the trigger does not prevent it. Being a General does not prevent the weapon from discharging. Eez gon, eez not safe.
To be safe, don't jack with guns. Stop the incessant unloading and reloading. Leave your long guns slung and your pistols holstered.
If you must jack with the stupid gun, have a stack of phone books in your home, a sand barrel in your armoury, a big of pile or sand barrel at your range. Your gun has one job, to shoot. Make certain where it shoots involves nothing but sand or dirt and no rics!
******************************************************
CBC News - Canada - General orders investigation into himself
The commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan has ordered a special investigation into his own actions.
Brig.-Gen. Daniel Ménard, the head of Joint Task Force Afghanistan, announced Saturday that he has summoned the military's National Investigation Service to probe the unintended discharge of his gun.
Ménard said he was loading his C8 carbine at Kandahar Airfield on March 25, something he said he has done thousands of times, when it went off. No one was injured and nothing was damaged, but the National Defence Act makes it an offence to accidentally discharge a weapon.
The military police probe will determine whether the general's weapon was fired accidentally or negligently, or whether it malfunctioned.
If it was an accidental or negligent incident, Ménard would likely face a court martial. The penalty for a guilty finding in such cases is often as low as $10 or even a reprimand, but because of Ménard's rank and position, he would probably be fined a much heftier amount.
Ménard said he felt compelled to relate the information in the name of openness.
In the last 18 months, more than 600 Canadian Forces soldiers have been convicted of accidentally or negligently discharging their weapons. Most of those incidents involve junior officers or recruits, and often it's a case of pulling the trigger on a firing range before being given the command to do so.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/04/17/menard-afghanistan-investigation-rifle-discharge.html#ixzz0lSNacGPQ
Excellent advice! With firing pin safeties, transfer bars, grip safeties etc., it's easy to forget that (1) not ALL guns have these and (2)even if they do BAD things can happen!When I read on INGO ( I think it was you, Kirk)about a pro(gun writer,LEO) KILLED from his 1911 FALLING TO THE GROUND my eyes were opened WIDER! I don't do anything at home with guns AND ammo other than to unload my SF guns once a month to clean and lube them.Then I chamber my 9mm pointed at a sand filled bucket.
