Man gets charged for dropping gun in Cost plus

[Medic624]

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2013/jan/ ... z2IFw2PRa0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is in a small(ish) town in western WA State less than 10K ppl. (I used to live there) 1st...I'm glad no one was hurt in this incident. 2nd...The story doesn't state if he was a CHL holder but I would imagine if he wasn't he would have also been charged for not having one while carrying concealed. With the provided info... Do you believe this to be negligent and IYHO should he have been charged? He probably should have had a holster BUT a lot of ppl carry a BUG in a pocket. What's your take? Just curious.

[Keith B]

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2013/jan/ ... z2IFw2PRa0

This is in a small(ish) town in western WA State less than 10K ppl. (I used to live there) 1st...I'm glad no one was hurt in this incident. 2nd...The story doesn't state if he was a CHL holder but I would imagine if he wasn't he would have also been charged for not having one while carrying concealed. With the provided info... Do you believe this to be negligent and IYHO should he have been charged? He probably should have had a holster BUT a lot of ppl carry a BUG in a pocket. What's your take? Just curious.

Sounds like there is more to the story than is in the article. It does say he tried to cover up the ND by saying the noise was a balloon popping. I am thinking he may have been trying to get away without taking accountability for his actions and that may have lead to the charges vs. cooperating and trying to do what was right.

[Medic624]

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2013/jan/ ... z2IFw2PRa0

This is in a small(ish) town in western WA State less than 10K ppl. (I used to live there) 1st...I'm glad no one was hurt in this incident. 2nd...The story doesn't state if he was a CHL holder but I would imagine if he wasn't he would have also been charged for not having one while carrying concealed. With the provided info... Do you believe this to be negligent and IYHO should he have been charged? He probably should have had a holster BUT a lot of ppl carry a BUG in a pocket. What's your take? Just curious.

Sounds like there is more to the story than is in the article. It does say he tried to cover up the ND by saying the noise was a balloon popping. I am thinking he may have been trying to get away without taking accountability for his actions and that may have lead to the charges vs. cooperating and trying to do what was right.

Yeah, see I think it appears he was either embarrassed and panicked and tried to be dishonest or just plain trying to cover it up. Bottom line for me is he needed to be more cognizant of where his weapon was and how it was contained.

[Maxwell]

I fully agree that he needed to be much more aware of where the gun was so it didn't "fall out" of his pocket! When I pocket carry NOTHING goes in that poket not even my hand unless I am pulling the pistol out.

My second question is with regards to the handgun itself. I know none of mine will fire if dropped so what was he carrying that would?

[K.Mooneyham]

I fully agree that he needed to be much more aware of where the gun was so it didn't "fall out" of his pocket! When I pocket carry NOTHING goes in that poket not even my hand unless I am pulling the pistol out.

My second question is with regards to the handgun itself. I know none of mine will fire if dropped so what was he carrying that would?

I keep wondering the same thing when I hear these stories. Just as a for instance, I read a book on the 1911 and the author addressed the tales that it was unsafe to carry one "cocked and locked" because it would "go off" if it was dropped. They ended up doing the test and found that it had to be dropped from over 10 feet high on a hard surface and land against the hammer to get it to fire, IIRC. I don't think I would want to carry a handgun that was prone to just "going off" if you dropped it out of your pocket.

[puma guy]

I fully agree that he needed to be much more aware of where the gun was so it didn't "fall out" of his pocket! When I pocket carry NOTHING goes in that poket not even my hand unless I am pulling the pistol out.

My second question is with regards to the handgun itself. I know none of mine will fire if dropped so what was he carrying that would?

Ditto on what was he carrying? The article only states a ".38 Special" which almost certainly is a revolver and not a pistol. There are few semi-auto pistols chambered for the .38 Special round. Of course the author may have mis-stated the facts. What are the chances of something like that occurring?

[KRM45]

If your weapon discharges when you did not intend it to, and you didn't have it pointed in a safe direction, I would say you recklessly endangered people. I think the charges are appropriate. Let him have his day in court.

[Jumping Frog]

99.9% of revolvers are drop safe. S&W revolvers added the hammer block safety in 1944 and have been drop safe since then. Rugers have a transfer bar. Other modern revolvers are similarly designed to be drop safe.

Unless he is carrying around a really old revolver. my bull meter is twitching on the story.

[KRM45]

It could have been an early LCP that never went back to Ruger for the recall. I debated on sending mine back, but the free magazine offer convinced me.