So, I finally 'know' someone that used a gun in a real live DGU.
Well, I know someone that knows someone.
So only 2 degrees of separation. The gun used in this case is his sister in law, married to his baby brother. The dude I know is meatspace is known here as the Contrarian. His brother is a bit of true gun nut. Owns about a hundred? Only shot himself once when he was a teenager. Blown out .22 casing sent shrapnel into his hand. But that's a different story.
Now, now brother's family lives in the country in the upper midwest, Sister in law was home with the children, no other adults within shouting distance, when a persistent knock started at the front door.
Hmmm, appears to be a hobo.
Whadaya want hobo?
A drink of water?
Use the hose all you want, not letting you in.
So the knocking started up again. Louder.
Sister in law doesn't share her husbands avid interest in firearms. But still thought this would be a good time to perhaps arm up a bit. She grabbed a snubbie revolver from the open safe, and put in her pocket.
That was when the gun went off. Sending a bullet into her leg. 911 was called. The knocking did stop at this point.
The loud bang scared the hobo off of the porch, but he was still milling about when emergency services arrived. High. The police determined he was pretty high.
And sister-in-law was rushed to the hospital to get a screws in pins in some sort of leg bone. I'll try to get more detail. Though we can guess it was a finger on the trigger lead her to grief.
Moral of the story: Convincing reluctant adults in your home to at least know how to handle a gun safely without hurting themselves or others should be a requirement we impose on ourselves voluntarily. For just such a contingency.
Moral #2: Sometime the noise of a shot is enough to dissuade a bad guy to back off. Not necessarily recommended. And definitely not recommended to do it like Sister In Law did.
2 observations. So glad she was not hurt worse, or killed. That gun is certainly capable of doing so, in the femoral artery, or such.
ReplyDeleteAnd I truly hope she is willing to at least learn the finer points of gun use, both from a practical safety point, and also from a safety point such as living out in the boonies, with no help available sometimes. She doesn't have to be Rambo, but knowing how to shoot a shotgun, a light kicking semi auto pistol, or even an AR 15, would make things much safer in her household.
And I am giving a prayer of thanks for her whole family tonight.
She dodged a bullet, literally.
I’m glad that you survived and I hope she doesn’t end up losing her leg.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: what is a “DGU”?
DGU and AD is no bueno. My prayers for her speedy and complete recovery.
ReplyDeleteDGU
ReplyDeleteDefensive gun use
Ah, thanks.
ReplyDeleteSome years ago, I was accosted by a panhandler who wanted money so he could buy some water. I told him to "wait there", I went into a cafe, bought a bottle of water, came out, gave it to him and said: "here you go."
he looked at me as though he wanted to spit. But he thought better of it. (For one thing, I had five inches and about 60lbs on him. And my right hand had suspiciously moved behind my hip.)
That damage is bad news, when it involves metal repair. That's liable to put a great deal of stress on the marriage and family with such a result. Sad to hear.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna guess that she cocked the hammer. Way too many video representations show people doing this, even cartoons, so untrained people default to this. It's possible that hubby showed her how to shoot that gun by cocking the hammer first. Really stupid thing to do, if so.
None of my self-defense revolvers have hammer spurs, partly for this reason. When experienced shooters complain about the missing spur, it tells me something about them, and it's not good.
Some years ago, a friend of a friend died, apparently due to the wife cocking the hammer of a snubbie. A pocket hammer pretty much eliminates that nonsense, as it takes two hands and some knowledge to accomplish. Still enough metal to work with retaining straps.