This was sent to us by a reader who wanted us to pass it along. It is my understanding that a shooter was unloading a Remington ADL rifle. For those not familiar, it is a traditional style hunting / bolt action rifle.
The ADL model has a “blind magazine”. What that means is, the rounds are captured inside of the rifle and cannot be emptied by opening a hinged floor-plate or detaching the entire magazine assembly. I would venture to guess that most bolt action rifles manufactured since the beginning of time are designed this way.
We are being told the user was unloading the rifle the only way you can: by cycling the rounds through the action. It is not clear at this point if the user mistakenly touched the trigger or if the rifle suffered some kind of mechanical malfunction. Statistically the numbers predict user error but time will tell.
What is certain is the barrel was pointed at his foot. As the picture tells, the high-speed varmint round at point blank range is devastating. It has also been reported that doctors were forced to amputate the foot as the damage was too great.
I don’t wish to rehash the gun safety rules here. I don’t wish to play the gotcha game or engage in any of the myriad of BS holier-than-thou tactics people play behind keyboards. I live in the real world and know better. “But for the Grace of God, there goes I”. These reports keep me humble, not arrogant.
But I do have a little social trick that maybe some of you can use. We make it very well known in our professional and personal circles that pointing at gun at anyone is the social equivalent of giving someone the finger. What that does is it breaks the mindset of “gun time” vs “range is safe” time. It doesn’t matter if the gun is unloaded. It doesn’t matter if it’s a laser training device. It doesn’t matter if it’s a BB gun. It doesn’t matter if it’s yellow and orange and says NERF on the side.
It’s a good habit to get into and you can strive to achieve it without telling everyone how “tactical” you are. Just a few weeks ago, a civilian brought me a WWI make German Luger that his father had from the war. While I was looking at it, he commented on how I strived to never point it at myself or his family members. That was my opening, “It is considered rude to point guns at people”, I dismissively stated without looking at him.
I guarantee they will never forget that conversation. Because the average civilian is more concerned about not offending than being safe. Hopefully some will find that tactic useful.
Sincerely,
Marky
www.tacticaltshirts.com
www.john1911.com
Areas of focus: Defense and National Security, Modern Light Weapons, Small Arms, Weapons Training.
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