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He had done the holster demonstration 20 times with no problems.

This is going to get our guns taken away.

Very sad, but it will not get our guns taken away.

While at a Houston gun show, I noticed a vendor demonstrating a laser mounted on a handgun. He was pointing the gun/laser at another vendor across the hall and lighting him up. I asked the guy if he knew the other vendor (it should not matter) and he said no. I then went over to the vendor being lasered and informed him of what was happening and he was UPSET. I think the two had an "understanding" that this would not happen again. I believe some of these guys get hired for gun shows that would never work in a gun store.

Here's part of the problem:

"Hawk told police he thought the gun was unloaded when he demonstrated a concealed-carry wallet holster to the woman, Krista Gearhart, 25, of Orangeville. Gearhart was treated and released for a thigh wound at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville."

and this?

"Police said Hawk told them he had left the gun on display when he completed background checks on some customers and believes it's possible someone loaded the gun when he was busy."

Huh, really? I rarely ever see any vendor at a gun show let a gun out of their sight, so this seems like a stretch.

Shootings at gun shows are very rare when you consider the millions of people that attend them throughout the country. Based upon the vendor's statement, it's quite possible that someone else put a round in the chamber intending to cause injury or death. It has happened on a number of occasions. Obviously, if he had cleared the chamber every time he picked it up, the plot would have failed.

Although gun show shootings are rare, insurance companies know that rules against loaded guns at gun shows reduce the risk and this is why all insurance companies require that guns at gun shows be unloaded. The use of 30.06 signs at gun shows has been a topic of discussion several times and many people are offended that gun show promoters would post 30.06 signs, whether or not they are enforceable. The bottom line is that no entity (public or private) will rent space to a gun show promoter unless they have insurance coverage. To get coverage, the promoter must comply with the insurance companies' requirements as well as the express terms of the policy.

Chas.

philip964 wrote:http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article ... 587894.php

He had done the holster demonstration 20 times with no problems.

This is going to get our guns taken away.

He would apparently have us believe that someone picked up his gun, pulled back the slide, inserted a live round, closed the slide, and put it back down on his table without his knowledge and without anyone else observing or saying anything.

That's possible, and if two other vendors at the same show had discovered rounds in their previously verified unloaded display guns I'd figure someone with ill intent might have been trying to create an incident, but I'm not buying it in this case. It's also obvious that the gun was not zip tied for safety as they are at most gun shows.

In any case, the vendor undeniably failed to check the gun for live ammunition that time. Even if the highly unlikely situation described above had occurred, he would have discovered the round and there wouldn't have been an injury.

Furthermore, even if he had skipped the safety check and had obeyed Rules 1,2,and 3 there would have been no incident at all.

The vendor is solely and completely responsible for the negligent discharge and the results of his actions.

To quote our own Andy C: Amateurs skip safety checks. Professionals don't.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:Shootings at gun shows are very rare when you consider the millions of people that attend them throughout the country. Based upon the vendor's statement, it's quite possible that someone else put a round in the chamber intending to cause injury or death. It has happened on a number of occasions. Obviously, if he had cleared the chamber every time he picked it up, the plot would have failed.

Although gun show shootings are rare, insurance companies know that rules against loaded guns at gun shows reduce the risk and this is why all insurance companies require that guns at gun shows be unloaded. The use of 30.06 signs at gun shows has been a topic of discussion several times and many people are offended that gun show promoters would post 30.06 signs, whether or not they are enforceable. The bottom line is that no entity (public or private) will rent space to a gun show promoter unless they have insurance coverage. To get coverage, the promoter must comply with the insurance companies' requirements as well as the express terms of the policy.

Chas.

And this is how gun shows will be shut down or their numbers reduced. The powers to be will pressure the insurance companies as they have begun to do with banks. My prediction.

When I was a newbey, I would brouse Collectors Firearms and every time I was handed a gun the man behind the counter did a quick visual check of the chamber. At the time I did not understand what he was doing. Even if I had seen it already and wanted to see it again he would do the same thing all over again.

I'm not sure when I started doing it. But every time I touch a gun now, it is the first thing I do. If I set it down and pick it up again I repeat the check. It takes two seconds at most, it is now second nature. Even my guns with exterior notifiers, I check as well.

But even after they are checked they are all still loaded.

According to this article, police have decided to charge the vendor with reckless endangerment.

It also said the vendor is a firearms instructor.

Excaliber wrote:

philip964 wrote:http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article ... 587894.php

He had done the holster demonstration 20 times with no problems.

This is going to get our guns taken away.

He would apparently have us believe that someone picked up his gun, pulled back the slide, inserted a live round, closed the slide, and put it back down on his table without his knowledge and without anyone else observing or saying anything.

That's possible, and if two other vendors at the same show had discovered rounds in their previously verified unloaded display guns I'd figure someone with ill intent might have been trying to create an incident, but I'm not buying it in this case. It's also obvious that the gun was not zip tied for safety as they are at most gun shows.

In any case, the vendor undeniably failed to check the gun for live ammunition that time. Even if the highly unlikely situation described above had occurred, he would have discovered the round and there wouldn't have been an injury.

Furthermore, even if he had skipped the safety check and had obeyed Rules 1,2,and 3 there would have been no incident at all.

The vendor is solely and completely responsible for the negligent discharge and the results of his actions.

To quote our own Andy C: Amateurs skip safety checks. Professionals don't.

Guys like him are worse than a million OCT yahoos.

This is sad. I went to a gun show in houston recently (my first) and was shocked at the mishandling of the guns by not just the shoppers, but the booth operators. I can't tell you how many times I had to side step a muzzle. It gets tedious to check a gun for yourself especially after watching the other guy clear it, but what you do with an unloaded gun is what you do with a loaded gun. If you stop paying attention to safety simply because it's unloaded you won't pay attention to safety when it is loaded. Thanks to my ever growing interest in guns I've finally found a good use for my OCD!