Accidental Gun Misfires and Gun Malfunctions Pose Safety Risk

We recently read two stories on the same day about gun misfires and malfunctions. One was that a man in Vero Beach, Florida was shot and injured by a malfunctioning gun at a gun range on a Monday afternoon in April.  The second was that of aging Glock service weapons in Arkansas had failed and needed to be replaced. We’re going to have a gun expert and firearm instructor that we know write an article for us about when it is time to replace an aging gun, so stay tuned for that.

The first article, about the man in Vero Beach, doesn’t say what type of gun he was shooting. It does say that he was setting a gun down when it fired several times and struck him in the shoulder. Luckily it was just a shoulder! He was taken to a hospital and released and appears to be going to recover.

The second article was about two “catastrophic” failures of two service weapons in an Arkansas Police Department. The article says “The first time an officer’s “aging” Glock Model 23 handgun failed, authorities considered it a “fluke.” However when another gun failed in an identical way — “where a part of the barrel, the barrel lug, sheared off” — it sparked serious concerns within the department, according to Det. Terry Blanton. The 40-caliber guns — Glock Model 23, Generation 3 — are about 14 years old.”

Most of us get out guns because we want to use them. And while gun accidents like these are relatively rare, we all know they do happen. We all learn the basic safety but these type of accidents give us another reason to stress the basics of gun safety.

You never know when an accidental fire or misfire or malfunction will occur. When you’re setting a gun down, set it down with care. Point it away from you and away from anyone else that might be around. If there’s too many people around that there’s no safe direction to point it in when you set it down, round up all the people and tell them to move. Seriously. You don’t want to set a gun down and point it at yourself, but you don’t want to set it down and point it at a crowd of other people either.

Always be aware that there is potential for accidents that are not at all related to how much you know about guns or how good of a shot you are or how carefully you handle a gun. If there’s a misfire or the trigger pulls when your finger’s not even on it, as we’ve heard cases of happening, all you can do is hope that the gun isn’t pointing at anyone. So make that top of mind priority when you get your gun out. Just don’t point it at anyone.

If you have an aging firearm that sees a lot of use, think about whether it is time to retire that gun. You want to make this decision before an accident occurs and you realize it’s too late.