# Drug Agent shoots self in front of children **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 2, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090 "2004-05-02T02:56:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Club\_33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Club\_33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Club_33)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/1 "2004-05-02T02:56:47Z")
Well, the story pretty much speaks for itself. [Click for story](http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/05/01/dea.shooting.ap/index.html) > [@](#): > > ORLANDO, Florida (AP) – A federal drug agent shot himself in the leg during a gun safety presentation to children in what police describe as an accident. and the scary part… > [@](#): > > He drew his .40-caliber duty weapon and removed the magazine, according to the police report. He then pulled back the slide and asked an audience member to look inside the gun and confirm it wasn’t loaded. So, this fucking moron has a child look into a loaded gun before he discharges it into his leg. Some gun safety there, idiot. Ya know, I’m not a rabid anti-gun person. I will most likely never own one but I haven’t generally been opposed to responsible gun ownership. This story does give one pause though, and will probably give the anti-gun crowd some, ahem, ammunition. It is a little hard to sell the “responsible gun owner” spiel when a licensed peace officer, giving a gun safety lecture, accidentally shoots himself, after potentially putting a child in danger. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/2 "2004-05-02T03:05:23Z")
Well, I’ll bet those kids got a lesson in gun safety they’ll never forget–what’s the downside? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/3 "2004-05-02T03:16:58Z")
Having a kid put his face in front of a loaded gun might be considered a down side. ---
**Author:** ![county](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@county](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/county)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/4 "2004-05-02T03:22:19Z")
Well, once again the axiom “shit happens” is validated. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/5 "2004-05-02T03:25:56Z")
I would hope the agent had the child look into the open area where the slide was pulled back rather than down the barrel. Taking the word of a child that there was no bullet was pretty dumb. I don’t know much about guns, but I do know never take anyone’s word for it. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/6 "2004-05-02T03:36:03Z")
What level of intelligence do you expect from people who seem to believe they can win a “War on Drugs”? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![county](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@county](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/county)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/7 "2004-05-02T03:41:48Z")
In a follow-up interview, the child was quoted as saying “Fuck him if he can’t take a joke” ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/8 "2004-05-02T03:45:57Z")
**county** I usually don’t congratulate people on their jokes but that one made me laugh pretty hard. Well done. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/9 "2004-05-02T03:53:38Z")
I have a hard time with this, it keeps getting reported as an “Accidental Discharge” (AD) but I don’t think that there is such a thing, this was a “Negligent Discharge” (ND) plain and simple, I spend a lot of time handling guns and the prospect of getting a .40 caliber haircut keeps me on my toes safety wise, this guy is/was an idiot, just because you are in Law Enforcement does NOT mean that you know how to safely handle a weapon (obviously this guy did not). Unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/10 "2004-05-02T04:01:26Z")
> [@county](#): > > In a follow-up interview, the child was quoted as saying “Fuck him if he can’t take a joke” _snort_ good one, **county** , good one ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/11 "2004-05-02T04:11:20Z")
Yeah, that one was pretty funny! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/12 "2004-05-02T04:38:41Z")
For some reason, I keep thinking of Jay Leno and him saying (in the context of Headlines) _idiot_! The tone seems right on for this one. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/13 "2004-05-02T06:21:13Z")
While this incident is profoundly stupid and troubling, folks shouldn’t take it as a given that the guy had a child looking down the barrell of a gun, or relied on a child to confirm that the weapon was unloaded – the article doesn’t say any such thing: > [@](#): > > TheDEAagent […] was speaking April 9 to about 50 adults and students… […] He then pulled back the slide and asked an audience member to look inside the gun and confirm it wasn’t loaded. (Still a good’n, **county**. Fwar!) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/14 "2004-05-02T06:28:37Z")
It’s blatantly obvious that he had an audience member look into the chamber (not the barrel) to see if the gun was loaded. You can’t even tell if a gun is loaded by looking into the barrel! I’m not pro-NRA by any means, but this sort of ignorance/assumption sums up many of the problems with the anti-NRA movement. ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/15 "2004-05-02T07:04:54Z")
> [@county](#): > > In a follow-up interview, the child was quoted as saying “Fuck him if he can’t take a joke” _Cries_ Ohhhhhhh god I’m such and idiot. I don’t get it. I really don’t. Someone kindly explain? Please don’t think I’m stupid. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/16 "2004-05-02T07:08:19Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Having a kid put his face in front of a loaded gun might be considered a down side. Did he actually have the kid look into the barrel? I pictured it as the kid looking into the chamber. Small difference, as the bullet doesn’t exit at that part. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/17 "2004-05-02T07:13:22Z")
**torie** , he implied that the kid deliberately didn’t tell the officer about the bullet and therefore the ‘accident’ was more of a prank by the kid at least that’s how I read it. I suppose I could be wrong ---
**Author:** ![Club\_33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Club\_33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Club_33)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/18 "2004-05-02T07:15:22Z")
> [@Freejooky](#): > > I’m not pro-NRA by any means, but this sort of ignorance/assumption sums up many of the problems with the anti-NRA movement. Well, to be fair, there was a healthy load of ignorance and assumption that preceded this agent firing a round into his leg in a room full of kids, wouldn’t you agree? Whether or not someone looked into the barrel or not doesn’t lessen the severity of the situation, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/19 "2004-05-02T08:03:14Z")
**County** , thanks… that was funny. On a serious note, I pictured the child looking in the chamber as well, though even that isn’t reassuring when the gun was in the hands of a cop that shot himself. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090/20 "2004-05-02T08:23:10Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Did he actually have the kid look into the barrel? I pictured it as the kid looking into the chamber. Small difference, as the bullet doesn’t exit at that part. Come to think of it, there is _no way_ that kid was looking down the barrel. If that were the case, the cop would have been fired immediately. Forget the fact he was teaching gun safety which would have made it twice as stupid. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-agent-shoots-self-in-front-of-children/243090.md?page=2)