# Shot himself in the face cleaning his rifle **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2015, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202 "2015-03-17T14:38:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/21 "2015-03-17T16:18:00Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I realized the double entendre as I was hitting “Submit New Thread”. “Cleaning his rifle” – is that was they’re calling it these days? > [@lieu](#): > > Yes, right along with _mounting a trophy._ How about _polishing the hand cannon._ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/22 "2015-03-17T16:27:10Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > In my experience, the phrase is the go-to statement used when people don’t want to admit that it was a suicide attempt. YMMV. Or if they succeed and the family wants to collect life insurance. Insurance companies always claim that gun cleaning deaths are suicide attempts. I have, however, seen a Youtube of a guy accidentally shoot himself (just his hat) while looking at a gun barrel. Something called a “hang-fire” if I recall correctly. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/23 "2015-03-17T16:44:34Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > My assumption would be that the description isn’t valid. It’s much more likely that a teenaged boy who had just bought a gun would show it off to another teenage boy. Second teenage boy swings gun around wildly while making POW! POW! sounds and shoots his best buddy in the face. Second teenage boy runs away. That does make the most sense. There was another patient on the same show – a little kid who had been shot in the pelvis. They didn’t get into how that might have happened. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/24 "2015-03-17T17:26:51Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Yes, right along with _mounting a trophy._ One of my favorite Onion headlines: **Husband mounts trophy wife** ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/25 "2015-03-17T17:34:06Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Yeah, that’s the standard advice, but it’s pretty much impossible to clean some guns (like the M1 Garand) without putting some part of your anatomy in front of the barrel. My policy is that a gun is always loaded until I have verified that it is not. It remains unloaded only for as long as it remains in my sole and uninterrupted control. If it leaves my possession even for an instant I treat it as if it were loaded until I have verified it is not. If I leave the room in an empty house to take a leak when I return I recheck the weapon. An undetected intruder may have loaded the weapon in my absence either maliciously or in a moment of whimsy. They can be such scamps. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/26 "2015-03-17T17:45:16Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Or if they succeed and the family wants to collect life insurance. Insurance companies always claim that gun cleaning deaths are suicide attempts. I have, however, seen a Youtube of a guy accidentally shoot himself (just his hat) while looking at a gun barrel. Something called a “hang-fire” if I recall correctly. Yeah, the non-logic behind this stuns me. Hey, I just fired my gun, but the bullet didn’t come out. I’ll look down the barrel! ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/27 "2015-03-17T18:02:32Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Yeah, the non-logic behind this stuns me. Hey, I just fired my gun, but the bullet didn’t come out. I’ll look down the barrel! Elmer Fudd did it _all the time!_ ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/28 "2015-03-17T18:33:16Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > My policy is that a gun is always loaded until I have verified that it is not. It remains unloaded only for as long as it remains in my sole and uninterrupted control. If it leaves my possession even for an instant I treat it as if it were loaded until I have verified it is not. If I leave the room in an empty house to take a leak when I return I recheck the weapon. An undetected intruder may have loaded the weapon in my absence either maliciously or in a moment of whimsy. They can be such scamps. This. Look, I know I am prone to bouts of clumsiness or distractedness. Which makes me even more careful when I am actually handling the gun. I think people forget that in the end it is a killing device! It can be used for a lot of other things but the primary purpose is still to shoot to kill. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/29 "2015-03-17T19:09:43Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > In my experience, the phrase is the go-to statement used when people don’t want to admit that it was a suicide attempt. YMMV. It is pretty much a given in forensic pathology that this scenario = suicide staged to look like an accident, \>99% of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/30 "2015-03-17T19:36:20Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Or if they succeed and the family wants to collect life insurance. Insurance companies always claim that gun cleaning deaths are suicide attempts. I have, however, seen a Youtube of a guy accidentally shoot himself (just his hat) while looking at a gun barrel. Something called a “hang-fire” if I recall correctly. This one perhaps? [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=descGGPAAjc) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/31 "2015-03-17T19:47:19Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I vividly remember being on a suicide call where I guy shot himself in the head with a long .30-60 hunting rifle. It was probably awkward but certainly doable. > > In case you are wondering in is quite possible to literally blow your brains out. Sure it was a suicide? We’re watching the Great Courses class on Forensics, and the case that just came up involved a guy found in the woods with the side of his head blown off and a rifle nearby. looked like a clear suicide. But he was too short to have pulled the trigger in that position. They went back to his house and his wife, and used some of the chemicals to find blood residue - and found that the wall was covered by it. Turned out his wife killed him, dragged him to the truck, dragged the bloody mattress to the truck by herself, and dumped him and then it in the woods with the scene set to look like a suicide. The teacher mentioned that many suicide by rifle involved rigging up something to pull the trigger. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/32 "2015-03-17T19:57:50Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Sure it was a suicide? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/33 "2015-03-17T19:57:55Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > “I was cleaning my gun” means he wasn’t really cleaning his gun but was doing something fucking stupid. True, like looking to see if the bullet was loaded correctly at the other end. He’ll get a Darwin award in no time. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/34 "2015-03-17T21:20:33Z")
Modern guns don’t go off when dropped unless the trigger catches on something. By “modern” I mean older than most people mean. Drop safeties are in all guns for about 50 years and probably pretty common before then. It sounds like either stupid negligent discharge or a regretted suicide attempt. I hope people realize that using a .22 for this purpose not sufficient for the job (not to encourage thoroughness!) > [@Bill\_Door](#): > > My policy is that a gun is always loaded until I have verified that it is not. That’s not really an idiosyncratic thing, though. It’s officially the first rule! ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/35 "2015-03-17T21:33:53Z")
Apart from dealing improperly with a dud round (like looking down the barrel to see if that will help) I can’t think of any situation that calls for the muzzle pointing anywhere near your own face. Anytime during cleaning when I HAVE looked down the muzzle was only after the action was disassembled and I’d already run a few swabs and a brush through from muzzle to breach–pretty safe bet there’s no round in there. To shoot yourself in the face on accident you’d have to start by locking open the action (with the intent of letting light into the breach so you could see through from the muzzle) which would expel any round in the breach. If you’re dumb enough to do this with another round in the magazine, I suppose it’s possible for the action to slip and chamber that round. But then you’d have to respond to that terrifying sound by grabbing the trigger. Not saying it’s an impossible sequence of events, but if it does happen then you are too stupid AND unlucky to own a gun. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/36 "2015-03-17T21:41:25Z")
[quote=“Richard\_Pearse, post:30, topic:715202”] This one perhaps? [/QUOTE] That might be the same one I saw, but I seem to remember a very close camera framing. This one appears edited. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/37 "2015-03-17T22:09:59Z")
I was told by an EMT around here (northwest Arkansas) that every year there’s a few leg or foot injuries from guys playing quick draw. But they were just cleaning their handgun. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/38 "2015-03-17T23:57:49Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I hope people realize that using a .22 for this purpose not sufficient for the job (not to encourage thoroughness!) Not _reliably_ sufficient. It _can_ do the job, but only if you aim it just right, otherwise, it’s deformity and too many surgeries. I have an acquaintance whose father successfully killed himself with an pellet/BB gun. Probably an outlier, but stuff happens. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/39 "2015-03-18T00:50:48Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > “I was cleaning my gun” means he wasn’t really cleaning his gun but was doing something fucking stupid. This or possibly a botched suicide. I know of at least two incidents that went down in the books as “self-inflicted hunting injury” that were suicide attempts; one worked and one didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202/40 "2015-03-18T02:32:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Bill Door View Post > My policy is that a gun is always loaded until I have verified that it is not. I go you one better. The gun is always loaded, period. It doesn’t matter that I may have just taken the cartridge out of the chamber. I still treat it as if it were loaded and ready to fire. I’m superstitious about this! I could no more point a gun, even unloaded, at another person than I could fly. Unless, of course, he needed killin’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-himself-in-the-face-cleaning-his-rifle/715202.md?page=3)