January 15, 2009
Crap Shoot
When I wrote Six Months Under The Gun for Pajamas Media, one aspect of carrying a concealed weapon that I decided not to cover was what you should do with your firearm if you have to use a public toilet. While it can constitute a legitimate dilemma when you gotta go gotta go gotta go right now, I figured people would be able to figure it out on their own.
The man escaped with a few cuts to his arm, but the toilet made out much worse. Police say a man's gun fell out of its holster while he pulled up his pants after using the bathroom at a Carl's Jr. restaurant Tuesday. The gun fired when it hit the floor and shattered the commode.
I'll simply say this: if you are going to carry, you need to carry your firearm in a holster that holds it securely at all times.
I don't know what the specifics of the Utah criminal justice system would say about this particular incident, but as the permit holder is responsible for all negligent discharges no matter how amusing or bizarre it may be, I would not be surprised if his carry permit is revoked as a result of this incident.
"negligent discharges"
Umm, that's perhaps not the most fortunate choice of words in this situation....
Posted by: notropis at January 16, 2009 12:38 AMI call bullsh*t on this story.
A Kahr will not discharge if dropped; nor will a Glock or any other modern pistol. If the trigger is not pulled, the internal safety is not disengaged.
Posted by: GunPlumber at January 16, 2009 08:50 AMThe question, then, is what was he carrying?
If an older design, or a more modern weapon in poor shape, or suffering from user-made modifications or factory defects, it could still potentially fail.
Stranger things have happened. Granted not much stranger...
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at January 16, 2009 08:56 AMSorry for the pun - but this guy's story doesn't pass the smell test. Prob'ly was sitting there on the throne playing with the firearm when he ND'd. Damn lucky he(or an unfortunate bystander) wasn't more seriously injured...
Posted by: Diogenes at January 16, 2009 09:13 AMI concur with those who think there was more to this story (that is, that the gun was mishandled rather than dropped). Thankfully no one other than the owner was hurt. At the least, he needs a remedial course on gun safety, but don't know that his permit should be pulled. As a poor parallel, would it not be like pulling someone's driver's license if that person swerved off the road and destroyed a row of mailboxes?
Posted by: Michael at January 16, 2009 10:00 AMI wear a Bianchi Model 82 Carrylock holster. It keeps my Model 1911 in close enough to my side not to be obvious. There is a locking mechanism that holds the trigger guard until you depress the handle with your middle finger. It took me a few days to get used to it, but provides excellent security. It's available for most pistols. I think it set me back about $60.
http://www.bianchi-intl.com/product/Prod.php?TxtModelID=82
Posted by: arch at January 16, 2009 01:32 PM
