Once more we are forced to address a distressing negligent discharge situation. Last week in the Salt Lake City suburb of Riverton, a man who was “teaching firearms safety” shot and killed his step-son in the family’s home. The 46-year-old man was a military veteran and, according to the official police report, had two GLOCK handguns, one of which he considered his “dummy gun” for training. However, both pistols were fully operational firearms.
The 18-year-old victim died after the man in question pointed his “dummy gun” at him and pressed the trigger. A single bullet to the head killed him. From the news report . . .
“I believe that based on the totality of the circumstances there is probable cause to believe that Joseph, despite his training and experience, handled his firearm in a reckless nature which evidently caused the death of another,” the arresting officer wrote in the affidavit.
And . . .
According to Utah law, a person commits manslaughter if that person “recklessly causes the death of another individual.” Police also noted in their affidavit that Lee has military training.
What we have is clear negligence and potential recklessness…but it wasn’t an “accident.”
Remember, an “accident” is an occurrence that could not have been predicted therefore was essentially unavoidable. Negligence, on the other hand, is behavior that takes place when a person fails to exercise “due care” or “ignores a known risk.”
Ignoring Universal Safety Rules
For decades, we have attempted to hammer the fact that Col. Jeff Cooper’s Universal Firearms Safety Rules are just that, universal. They are not “range rules.” Sadly, we still encounter those who, although they may be able to recite the Four Rules from memory, only apply them on the practice range. Once off the range, they go right back to handling firearms in a casual, lackadaisical, or negligent manner.
From Gunsite.com . . .
- All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.
- Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. (For those who insist that this particular gun is unloaded, see Rule 1.)
- Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target. This is the Golden Rule.
- Identify your target, and what is behind it. Never shoot at anything that you have not positively identified.
Some fifty years ago, Col. Cooper knew that the confusion created by the various and sundry “range rules” was resulting in confusion and negligent behavior. Ergo, the creation of four simple, but extremely important, rules.
When we consider the incident listed above, we can clearly see that Rules 1, 2, and 3 were all violated, resulting in the loss of innocent life and another life that is as likely as not ruined. No one in that family will ever be the same again thanks to about 2 seconds of negligent behavior.
The Right Tools for the Job
This is certainly not the first time that a person who was teaching or instructing others about firearms has negligently shot and killed a student or bystander. In Louisville, Kentucky, one cadet was lucky enough to be wearing his body armor when an instructor negligently shot him. Not everyone is that lucky. A student in Ohio was shot and killed by his firearm trainer.
A quick internet search will turn up numerous incidents where police trainers, CCW instructors, and well-meaning “gun guys” negligently shot trainees or students. In 99 out of 100 cases, they were handling a live firearm that they “thought was empty.”
I took my first firearms instructor training course in 1990. Over the decades I have taken several others, but one of the first things I started doing was accumulating “blue guns”, “dummy guns” and “trainers.” I’ve lost count over the years, but suffice it to say that I have red, blue, and orange handguns, rifles, and even a shotgun that all look and feel like real guns with the exception that they are colored and will not fire.
GLOCK, Inc. has been offering the “red GLOCK”, a functioning GLOCK 17R, now called the 17P, for a couple of decades at least. These pistols do everything a regular GLOCK 17 does, except fire live ammunition. No they aren’t cheap, but they are the tools of professional small arms and tactics instructors.
The cost of solid polymer “dummy guns” will vary. If you need a replica gun with a reciprocating slide and a trigger that clicks, there are literally hundreds of airsoft replicas available online. You don’t need the expensive gas or electric models. Those cheap spring-powered guns work just fine.
“The Gun Guy”
While there certainly is no excuse for a person whose job title includes “trainer” or “instructor” to not have the right tools, how about the average person, the gun guy? Let’s face it, if you are the “gun guy” in your family or group of friends and coworkers, chances are that, sooner or later, someone will ask you to “show me some gun stuff”.
During the height of GWoT, Blackhawk was making “demonstrator” dummy guns in orange and gray. These were inexpensive and fantastic training tools for use when a live-firearm was not necessary. Sadly, you have to get them used now. However, you can still find relatively inexpensive solid polymer dummy guns.
As we have witnessed numerous times, the idea that you can just clear your live gun and use it for demonstration and training has resulted in catastrophic injury and death. My strong suggestion is that if you are a serious gun guy, go ahead and purchase a non-firing replica of your favorite pistol. Even if you spend $50, which is a lot, what is that compared to the price of negligently shooting and potentially killing an innocent person?
Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.
Sometimes people like to argue that rule number one. That’s the first thing I taught my kids about guns.
“Sometimes people like to argue that rule number one. ”
Some people argue it because of the way the rule is presented or the way their learned it as just “All guns are always loaded.” or ‘Every gun is always loaded.” vs… ‘Treat every gun as if its always loaded’ or ‘Assume and act like every gun is always loaded’ concepts. They ‘split hairs’ in logic and thought process.
I learned it as “Treat every gun as if its loaded”…nearly 50 years ago. I was 8 years old and we were shooting bolt-action .22s at a Scout Camp range.
In a recent training event, strong winds kicked up with no warning. The pop-up tent we had been using for shade was overturned and being blown toward the firing line. The seven shooters had handguns drawn.
Because we had competent range cadre and a very experience trainer, we all holstered safely and immediately secured the tent. We quickly moved all of the belongings to the range shed.
That is a situation when an accident could occur. The weather changed suddenly. A tent was blown over.
As you clearly stated, the incident above was not an accident. It was a negligent discharge.
Negligent discharge…induced by intentional stupidity.