I’m grateful you were not more seriously injured. And in the incident itself I am also very grateful the bullet did not depart the vehicle and hit someone else. I pray you retain full use of your hand and fingers and that your leg recovers completely with no nerve damage.
Now I’ll speak as a retired E.M.T. It is not a universal response but it’s a common response for people who are directly involved in a physical/ psychological trauma to be repeating to themselves, " I’m good, I’m okay, I am in control, I can drive myself. No need to wait, call 911. I can do this and here we go, I’m driving and I’m fine and looking around and being a careful driver. "
No offense, but it’s a total crapshoot. The intense chemical mess in your body and brain associated with severe trauma ( and yeah, passing a bullet through your body at what- 6 different points? - is severe trauma ) make you a completely unsafe vehicle operator. By the time you were turning the key and starting to drive you were actually going into shock. You just didn’t know it and in looking back cannot see it. ( I’ll give you the respect to believe you would be willing to see it if you could. )
Driving a car or operating anything large and dangerous while in shock is like driving while impaired. Your sense of velocity, spatial relationships, distance and feeling of the vehicle is altered.
No doubt you are being quite serious when you say you’ve learned a painful lesson about checking yourself with your firearm.
Please also learn the lesson regarding how you responded and when to involve professionals who are not in shock.
You’d have had a very difficult time writing your O.P. and finishing it up with the sentence, " Unfortunately I wasn’t okay in any way when I was driving and I killed a dad and two kids under the age of 6. "
Er… no, I think you probably hurt your hand worse than your pride here, and your leg. I hope you have complete and uncomplicated recovery.
I’d be happy if you just learned from this and going forward were really, really careful about handling guns or, for that matter, anything else potentially hazardous.
Thanks for sharing though - it’s all too easy to become complacent and I hope your sharing is a timely reminder for folks who need it, thereby preventing other accidents.
I had an almost identical experience except I had never been taught any rules. First gun I ever fired was “unloaded” when handed to me by my uncle. Fucker is lucky my parents never caught wind of that one, even toy guns were banned from my house! He’s even luckier that I just had the common sense at 12 to aim it somewhere safe before pulling the trigger for the first time.
Both of us had the exact same immediate reaction: Don’t tell my mom!
Yikes, glad you didn’t sever your femoral artery or anything like that, with the thigh wound and whatnot. Hope you aren’t in too much pain, and that there’ll be no infection or anything.
I’m confused by what you mean by your “hand was around the barrel.” As in, your hand was blocking the barrel’s exit? Or just a hand around the barrel itself, in which case how did the bullet come in contact with your hand? When you said hand around the barrel, I was envisioning a burn injury at first, where the barrel’s high temperature would burn you or something.
I. Want to personally thank you for telling this story. I feel it is the responsibility of gun owners to always be careful, and I also like the idea that it’s responsible to admit and tell us about mishaps like this. I for one appreciate it, as it reinforces proper behavior in me.
Every time I hear these stories, I gain more respect for and hopefully become ever more careful when handling them.
What exactly was the procedural or mental error in gun handling in this scenario? I guess the question is how many things did you have to do wrong operationally to have this happen the way it did?
IMO the most severe error was violating the rule of only pulling the trigger when the gun is pointed at something you choose to destroy (and, unless in a life or death situation, where you are sure that there is nothing in the continuing path of the bullet you don’t wish to destroy - i.e. check the backstop)
Second, a subset of the above, when handling the gun it needs to be pointed down-range.
Third, when handling a gun other than to destroy something, check that it is in fact empty every time you pick it up, by ejecting the magazine where possible, then retracting the slide and inspect the empty chamber, for good measure inserting your pinky to make really sure.
I know a number of gun-owners who had an empty gun go off. I don’t know any who had it happen twice. With all the cases I know of, the round went down-range.
Adding in the chorus that is grateful that neither you nor no one near you and your vehicle both as the gun went off or on the ride is dead as a result.
Would have hated to be wondering whatever happened to that pool poster …
Being halfway serious, accidents happen and every person born is careless at something some time during their life. So in general terms, guns or whatever, as long as you learn and no innocent people are harmed I don’t see anything I would call a foul on.
Even the most responsible human being is capable of having a careless moment. Don’t think yourself immune. There but for the grace of Og goes any one of us.
Yeah you do. You made a mistake, just like the rest of humanity has. Most times nothing bad happens, but sometimes it does. Count me with the rest here who are glad you’re OK, and sorry you got hurt. At least you’ve got a great story to tell at the bar from now on.
