If you don’t want to shoot off your testicles, pay attention to the four cardinal rules of firearm safety: Rule #1: Treat every firearm as loaded until you prove otherwise. Rule #2: Keep your firearm pointed in the safest possible direction at all times. Rule #3: Keep your finger off the trigger and out of the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot. Rule #4: … [Read more...]
Edmonton Police Officer will not face charges for Negligent Discharge
[Updated 2021-01-14 17:30 with Alberta Crown Prosecution Service statement] On June 7, 2019, an officer with the Edmonton Police Service committed a negligent discharge of their service pistol at the William Nixon Training Centre but will not face criminal charges. Crown prosecutors decided not to lay charges against the Edmonton police officer because it was not in the … [Read more...]
Negligent Discharge: RCMP Refuses to File Charges
On Wednesday, May 13, 2020, some moron apparently fired a dozen or more shots into the air. Those bullets landed on six homes in the Forest Heights area of Edmonton, Alberta. Negligent discharge of a firearm doesn’t even begin to describe this stupidity. “My daughter woke up and she is playing in her room and she is sitting on the floor, and looked up and there is a hole … [Read more...]
Centerton Police Officer Blake Almond and Someone’s Negligent Discharge
Safe storage laws have their place - especially when children are in the home. On January 20, 2020, in Centerton City, Arkansas, an unidentified person fired Officer Blake Almond’s service pistol, sending a bullet out of his home and through three walls of his neighbour’s home. The neighbour immediately called police to report the crime. Neighbour: “a bullet just shot … [Read more...]
Officer Down: Calgary Police Service Constable Darren Beatty
In an age where politicians and gun control advocates, no matter how well intentioned, insist only the police and military should have guns, we must acknowledge the fact these brave men and women are still mere mortals – just like the rest of us. They are not endowed with any magical properties, nor are they somehow “better” than anyone else. Yet no matter how experienced or … [Read more...]
St. Louis Cop Nathaniel Hendren’s Penchant for Russian Roulette Kills Fellow Cop Katlyn Alix
Occasionally, people who should know better do really stupid things. Those stupid things can leave a person dead, as they did in the early morning hours of January 24, 2019. St. Louis Police Department officers Nathaniel Hendren and Katlyn Alix played a game of Russian Roulette at Hendren’s home. Katlyn Alix lost. On February 28, 2020, Nathaniel Hendren pleaded guilty … [Read more...]
RCMP and Fredericton Police: Accidental or Negligent Discharge of a Firearm?
When accurately describing unintended firearm discharges, accidental covers the smallest number of incidents. An equipment failure causing a firearm to discharge is accidental. A poorly designed or poorly constructed firearm that fires when bumped (somewhere other than the trigger) is also accidental. If your finger, body part or part of your gear touch the trigger and … [Read more...]
Zurlon Tipton and Gun Safety’s Basic Yet Very Hard Lessons
There is no middle ground when it comes to handling firearms. You either do it properly or terrible things happen. Basic gun safety means following some very simple rules. Break those rules and bad things happen. Sometimes those bad things even happen to you. That's precisely the case with former Indianapolis Colts running back Zurlon Tipton, who managed to kill himself … [Read more...]
Former NFA President James Murray Hinter dodges the bullet again
James Murray, as he calls himself today, is the former President of Canada's National Firearms Association (NFA) when he called himself James Murray Hinter. He currently resides in Thunder Bay and a couple of years ago he found himself, once again, in legal hot water over guns. In pleading guilty in Ontario Superior Court to charges of unauthorized possession of a firearm … [Read more...]
Negligent Discharge: Miami-Dade Police Officer’s Failure to Follow Safe Gun Handling Rules
I'm sure it's every cop's worst nightmare. Handling a firearm and it "just goes off". Except that's not what happens. A firearm doesn't "just go off". Someone puts their finger on the trigger and pulls it. Then the gun "just goes off" precisely as it is designed to do. When this happens unexpectedly it is called a negligent discharge. Someone was negligent in their attention … [Read more...]
Former NFA President Jim Hinter Surfaces At Last… with more criminal charges
It took almost 10 years, but now there is an explanation for former National Firearms Association President Jim Hinter's disappearance from the world. Turns out Jim Hinter didn't disappear at all; he simply decided using his first and last name might cause him problems, given the allegedly criminal nature of his demise from the NFA. Hinter is currently listed as the … [Read more...]
With Concealed Carry Comes Personal Responsibility
A frightening story from Belize reinforces the responsibility we gun owners have when carrying our firearms legally, no matter where we are. A man was in Brown Sugar Mall, a crowded area called “Tourism Village”, when felt the need to adjust his pants. Perhaps they were too baggy; perhaps his belt was too loose? Whatever the reason this man committed the heinous error of … [Read more...]
Rookie Ottawa Constable claims she was shot, sparks massive manhunt, but did she really shoot herself?
A Gantineau, Quebec, police constable, apparently raiding a Saturday night bush party outside Ottawa, managed to get herself shot instead. The only question remaining now is this: Who shot her? The rookie constable with just 3 years on the job called for backup after the gunshot and, while she never made any mention of shooting herself in that call for backup, didn’t set … [Read more...]
Oscar Pistorius and Home Security by Frank Hilliard
Whatever else you can say for Oscar Pistorius, his explanation of how he killed Reeva Steenkamp is bizarre and illogical. No responsible gun owner would shoot through a door at an unknown target. That, however, is not what Canadian homeowners needs to take away from this tragedy. Have a look at the living arrangements in the National Post diagram I've linked to. You can … [Read more...]
Gun Safety Rules must be followed if you don’t want to shoot your penis off
While some people insist on calling this sort of thing an "accidental discharge" I prefer the vastly more accurate term "negligent discharge". It was no accident that an unnamed man in Birmingham, Alabama, shot himself in the penis on June 12, 2012 and was taken to Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital. It was because he was negligent and refused to follow the very simplest of … [Read more...]
DEA Agent Lee Paige loses case centering around his shooting himself during a gun safety demonstration
Lee Paige, the DEA's poster-boy for how NOT to handle a firearm, is apparently still a Drug Enfrocement Agency (DEA) special agent stationed in Orlando, Florida, according to a report found online. You may recall the 2004 video of DEA Special Agent Lee Paige shooting himself in the leg mere seconds after claiming “I'm the only one in this room professional enough, that I … [Read more...]
Firearm Safety Advisory: You’re NOT one of the Sons of Anarchy…
Chandler, Arizona: On August 2nd, Joshua Seto failed the Stupid Test. Many people who fail the Stupid Test never get a second chance to get it right. Seto is a very lucky man and he is lucky to be alive. Firearms can be dangerous, especially when they are not treated with the respect they deserve. Joshua Seto learned this the hard way when he managed to shoot himself in … [Read more...]
Jose Guerena, murdered by Pima County SWAT Team, honoured by Oath Keepers on Memorial Day
For anyone not familiar with the horrific story of Jose Guerena, the former US Marine gunned down by the Pima County SWAT Team, here is a brief recap. Jose Guerena is a a decorated US Marine. He served two tours in Iraq and faced all kinds of dangers during both tours. After leaving the Marine Corps he got a job at a local mine near Tucson to support his wife and young … [Read more...]
Webhosting-induced panic attack!
If you tried reaching ChristopherDiArmani.com this morning, you probably were greeted with a big white page that said "this customer has exceeded its bandwidth" or something like that... I didn't write down the exact message because I was too freaked out! It was a quick fix. Somehow the webhosting package for this site (and many others) was set to "1" for both disk … [Read more...]
Canada’s Two-Tier Justice System is Alive and Well… One Law for the RCMP, Another for the Rest of Us
Gotta love Canada. The land where RCMP constables commit crimes with impunity, crimes that would garner any mere citizen with a lengthy prison sentence. Take, as today's example, the case of RCMP Constable Andy Yung. For his crime, firing his service pistol and launching a round through the ceiling into the room above him while he was providing security at the 2008 … [Read more...]
Los Angeles School Officer Charged after lying about being shot
You might remember the story I wrote back in early February about Los Angeles School Police Officer Jeff Stenroos, who [allegedly] lied about being shot, causing one of the largest manhunts in the history of the state. He was playing with his sidearm and managed to shoot himself. To cover up his complete lack of firearm handling skills, he claimed he'd been shot in an … [Read more...]
Cops shooting cops… just NOT a good idea
News coming out of Columbus, Ohio is not very good. Sgt. Michael Mourne was shot by fellow officer Stephen Lazar as the team was exiting their vehicle to serve a search warrant. The admonition “Keep your finger OFF the trigger until you are ready to shoot” is one that I drilled into then heads of my firearms students so often they get sick of hearing it. There’s a reason … [Read more...]
There’s a reason WHY we say “Be Sure of your Target”!
One of the primary rules of shooting is to be sure of your target (what you’re shooting at) and beyond. It’s so you KNOW what it is that you’re about to send hot lead into! Apparently someone missed their “Firearms Training 101”. In a bizarre story coming out of Africa, a young female member of the Youth Corps was shot by the Headmaster of the Mbube Comprehensive … [Read more...]
Just tell the truth, painful as it might be, okay?
Telling the truth isn't always easy. Sometimes it's downright hard, actually. Especially when you've screwed up, and screwed up really bad. You know, like shooting yourself in your bullet-proof vest because you were stupid enough to point your loaded firearm at your own body and pull the trigger. That's what [allegedly] happened to (soon-to-be former?) Los Angeles … [Read more...]
A Hartford Police Officer’s Negligent Discharge
Last Saturday morning a Hartford police officer managed to shoot himself in the hand. He was inside the police station attempting to remove his gun belt when his sidearm “accidentally discharged” according to Hartford Police spokeswoman Christene Mertes. Dear Christene, It’s no accident. Firearms cannot fire by their own will. It takes one of us human beings to mess up … [Read more...]
Firearm Safety Rule #1 — Assume the Firearm is LOADED!
There's a reason we assume a firearm is loaded... until we prove otherwise. It's the only safe approach to dealing with firearms. Ignoring this Prime Directive of firearms safety can have some pretty drastic consequences, as one Quebec man learned today. An unnamed man accidentally shot himself in the face about 9:30am, according to this CNews report. He’s very lucky to … [Read more...]
Negligent Discharge near President Obama?
Obama's on a tour around the world again, promoting whatever it is he stands for. Lord knows I can't figure that out. It changes too often. But I digress... outside the hotel where he was staying, an assistant police inspector caused a bit of a ruckus. According to this news report, he was getting into his car when his revolver "went off". What's interesting about this … [Read more...]
What’s the first rule of gun handling again?
Gun Safety Rule #1 ALWAYS keep the firearm pointed in a safe direction. Seriously. It's not that difficult. And it saves having to explain how you managed to shoot both your 4-year-old son and your own mother while you're "cleaning your gun". Gun Safety Rule #2 ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger and out of the trigger guard until you're ready to … [Read more...]
A Cell Phone Stun Gun? In Canada? But that’s illegal!!!
This story from early September is rather strange. Think about it. I've seen cell phone guns, cell phone lighters, and I think I even came across a cell phone razor once. But a stun gun? What will they come up with next? Of course the obligatory "officer safety" issue had to be included.... A Toronto man faces charges after police found a stun gun disguised as a … [Read more...]
Airman shot – because they didn’t follow basic safety rules
There are basic firearm safety rules that MUST be followed at all times. If you don't want to shoot yourself or someone else, that is. If you don't care about that, then you can do what these airmen from the Minot Air Force Base did at the Minot Rifle & Pistol Club, just north of Minot, North Dakota. Officers say it does not appear to be an accidental discharge of a … [Read more...]