How many times do we hear the phrase “I didn’t know the gun was loaded”? How many times do we hear the phrase “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Here is an unfortunate accident that could easily have been prevented. Here, a perfect example of carelessness perpetrated by an experienced professional who was too familiar with guns and got careless. A trained law enforcement officer who was conducting concealed carry training took a loaded gun from one student to demonstrate a proper grip carelessly shot another student next to him.
The growing population of concealed carry gun owners increases the importance of firearm safety and handgun safety training to stress the basic gun safety rules when handling any firearm. I think it is a good idea to provide basic training about gun safety and firearm safety to require a gun safety course that results in a handgun safety certificate to insure all concealed carry gun owners are at least aware of the basic safety rules to use when handling any firearm.
Here are two important points to be made from this gun safety incident.
First the instructor is conducting a live fire training session and took the weapon from the student without safety checking it. Did he assume the gun was not loaded?
Second, he carelessly pointed the loaded gun at a student standing next to him when the rule is “always keep the weapon pointed down range”.
Thankfully the student was not killed.
An important learning experience to be learned from this incident is to remind all of us about the importance of being thorough and consistent about gun safety.
An embarrassing side note is that the deputy works for Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright who recently gained notoriety for advocating concealed carry for citizens. The Sheriff still stands by his statements that concealed carry is a good way for citizens to protect themselves.
Here are excerpts from the article written by Kim Kimzy that appeared on the BlueRidgeNow.com website
“A few weeks after Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright suggested that residents arm themselves, a 33-year-old woman was accidentally shot Saturday in concealed weapon permit class conducted by one of his deputies, a spokesman said.
The wife of a Spartanburg County sheriff’s deputy was accidentally shot Saturday during a concealed weapons permit class instructed by another deputy.
The victim, Crystal Smith, was struck with a .22-caliber bullet, Spartanburg Sheriff Chuck Wright said at a news conference.
A Deputy instructor was showing another student in the course how to properly grip her gun when it discharged, and Crystal, who was standing beside the other student on the firing line, was shot. Wright said the bullet passed through Crystal’s arm and entered her side.
Wright said the certified Concealed Weapons Permit Course instructor, was unaware a round had been chambered into the pistol.
“She was literally thrown in the car by these two officers and drove down in one of their personal vehicles,” Wright said. “On their way, they were calling 911 and the ambulance met them there.”
He said she will be OK, and, above all else, he is thankful the mother of three survived. She was out of surgery when they spoke and she joked around with him. He was unsure Saturday night when she would be discharged. As of late Saturday, she was in stable condition, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
“If we learn anything from this, we have a very well trained guy that had an unfortunate accident that could have cost somebody their life,” he said.
He said to always make sure a pistol is unloaded when it’s handed to you and stressed how important it is to be careful when handling weapons.
“The instructor should have checked the pistol, and he didn’t do it,” Wright said. “It was just a mistake.”
Wright said he still stands by previous comments that a concealed weapons permit is a good way to protect oneself. He stressed one must always be cautious when handling any weapon.”
Read the original article with details about the accidental shooting written by Kim Kimzy here at Blue Ridge Now news website.