Woman injured when gun accidentally fires in Tennessee store

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Updated 9:37 am, Saturday, June 30, 2018

LEXINGTON, Tenn. (AP) — Police in Tennessee say a woman was injured when a gun she carried into a Walmart fired a shot after falling from its holster and hitting the floor.

The Jackson Sun reports that bullet fragments hit the woman in the leg at the store in Lexington. She was treated and released at a hospital Thursday.

Lexington police Capt. Jeff Middleton says the woman walked into the store with the gun in the holster at her side.

He says while she was getting a cart, the gun became dislodged and fell to the ground. The impact caused the gun to go off, sending a bullet to the floor and fragments into the air.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Woman-injured-when-gun-accidentally-fires-in-13039808.php

---

[C Moon]

1. A good reason for me to never to patronize stores that allow this.

I'm not a Walmart shopper, so no loss there.

[JI7]

3. I think it's more a state law than store

[JI7]

2. Good thing no innocent person was shot

[Kotya]

5. One of these days it's going to happen.

It's only a matter of time before someone mishandles their legally-carried handgun and kills someone else who was just going about their shopping.

[JI7]

6. it HAS already happened many times

I just meant in this case it was good there were no innocents hurt.

[struggle4progress]

31. Stories from Google News in the last 24 hours

A Council Bluffs man who posted $10,000 bail on Friday is charged with felony reckless use of a firearm resulting in serious injury after he accidentally shot his mother in the chest with a shotgun while showing the firearm to her, according to authorities.

With a bullet in her gut, her voice choked with pain, Dee Hill pleaded with the 911 dispatcher for help. “My husband accidentally shot me,” Hill, 75, of The Dalles, Ore., groaned on the May 16, 2015, call. “In the stomach, and he can’t talk, please …” Less than four feet away, Hill’s husband, Darrell Hill, a former local police chief and two-term county sheriff, sat in his wheelchair with a discharged Glock handgun on the table in front of him, unaware that he’d nearly killed his wife of almost 57 years.

Around 12:15 a.m. Saturday, officials were called to an apartment in the 2100 block of Waterford Circle about an accidental shooting. Reports stated a man in his 20s said he accidentally shot himself one time in the thigh with a pistol. He was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center with serious injuries ... Saturday, around 5 p.m., officials said a juvenile showed up at the hospital with a non-life threatening gunshot wound to his leg. The 16-year-old reportedly found a gun at a park, and it accidentally discharged when he was handling it. The exact location was not specified.

And a third shooting investigation is keeping officers busy. Police say a man told them he accidentally shot and killed his cousin early Saturday morning.

[JI7]

32. i'm referring to this specific case

i know innocent people are always shot that's why i said good thing it didn't happen here.

[Submariner]

4. One would think the NRA gun humpers would invent a handgun

that does not fire when dropped on the floor.

I always thought the hammer had to intentionally have a high velocity impact with the firing pin to fire, not the impact of the hammer hitting the floor.

[Kotya]

7. Every gun sold is supposed to be able to be dropped without firing.

Even if cocked and the safety is off.

In fact, the Gun Control Act of 1968 made drop-safety tests mandatory for gun manufacturers (applying only to handguns, not long guns or certain precision target-shooting firearms).

This being said, older guns that have been used frequently may have parts that have worn and aren't as safe as they used to be.

[Locrian]

17. that's why I call BS on her story

The current trend with "carrying" is striker fire type cocked and no manual safety. Yeah, the trigger "safety" is supposed to prevent going off, but my guess is she grabbed it when she dropped it (before or after) and it went off because she pulled the trigger.

All of these guys (and gals I guess) are so scared and so sure of themselves that they have to carry chambered and safety off. IMHO the "striker fire" stuff makes it easier to go off than the old double action (hammer) types. Ditto for kids finding some of these idiot's guns ready to go...

[Kotya]

18. I'm skeptical as well.

Most of these "the gun just went off" stories turn out to include a chambered round, a cocked hammer, a pulled trigger, and a gun that functioned exactly as it was designed.

[forgotmylogin]

19. I was going to ask that...

Aren't triggers *supposed* to be too heavy to pull accidentally?

Carrying a cocked loaded gun with the safety off...is a Darwin Award in process.

I always have heard that if the gun isn't in your hand, the safety should be on. Leaving it cocked when unheld is madness...isn't the whole point of that for targeting - so the action of the trigger and the hammer don't skew the aim? There's just a short distance to finish pulling the trigger?

[NickB79]

22. Maybe is was a Taurus-brand firearm

This is a terrifying read: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-02-28/how-defective-guns-became-the-only-product-that-can-t-be-recalled

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

24. Older revolvers can do that which is why...

...those that carry them leave the chamber under the hammer empty.

[whopis01]

33. Don't assume the tests cover all cases

They certainly didn’t for the P320.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a27683/p320-m17-drop-test-roblem/

This gun passed all the required drop tests. However when dropped from an angle not included in those tests it was shown to discharge in 3 out of 7 drops.

That’s a gun that was introduced in 2014.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Gun control begins with not shooting yourself. . . . nt

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

23. The first and most important rule of gun-running is: Never get shot with your own merchandise.

Nicolas Cage, Lord of War, 2005.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

29. That statement calls for this video

[kacekwl]

37. That's some funny shit

right THERE.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

38. I crack up every time I watch it.

[NBachers]

9. Yes but is the gun OK?

[rpannier]

30. Hope so. I am sending my thoughts and prayers to the gun

[bitterross]

10. Of course it was at Wal Mart in the South. Glad she injured herself and not others.

I'm glad that, for once, the idiot with a loose gun was the injured party and not some innocent bystander.

[Devil Child]

11. No such thing as an "accidental discharge"

Only negligent discharge. Considering all modern firearms are drop resistant and will not fire when dropped I’m thinking she did a panic trigger pull while scrambling for her dropped gun in Wally World.

[gristy]

15. Yes

The gun's discharge was probably inadvertent. But it certainly wasn't an accident. The courts will have the final word as to whether she was negligent.

[Mr. Ected]

12. My thoughts and prayers

Were not conveyed in this instance.

[yellowcanine]

13. Gun just fired all by itself? Huh.

Funny how that works.

[The Genealogist]

14. This crap doesn't increase my desire to shop at Wal-Mart

I only go to Wal-Mart when there is no other available option (like someone is sick and other stores are closed). I detest everything about those stores. Knowing Stable Mabel and her ilk are wandering around those stores like they think they're Wyatt Earp in Tombstone is just another disincentive. In reality, they're more like cut-rate Barney Fifes.

[kacekwl]

36. Stable Mabel , LOL

[raccoon]

16. Just think, a good guy Walmart shopper with a gun could've prevented this. LOL nT

[Historic NY]

20. Bad gun

[Raven123]

21. Wonder if she bought the gun at Walmart.

[still_one]

25. Just common sense should tell you that loaded guns shouldn't be allowed in a store that services the

public

[JohnnyRingo]

26. Like many here, I don't believe her story.

Modern handguns don't go off when dropped by design for obvious reasons. Police know that as well, and if she was playing with it in the store, the ensuing charges may mean her days of carrying a gun are over. Thank goodness.

[miyazaki]

41. Well there is this recent story:

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/100210691606

[JohnnyRingo]

42. I saw that video

I suspect in his panic and embarrassment he snatched up the gun with his finger on the trigger. That it was in a chambered condition with the safety off is irresponsible. Placing his finger on a trigger without an acquired target is inexcusable for anyone except a movie cop.

He should be sent to a desk job where the most dangerous ordinance within his reach is a stapler. Even then...

[Turbineguy]

27. The NRA is

Amazon's best friend. It's a lot harder to get shot by some gun toting idiot while shopping from your computer.

In order to be afraid of getting shot you don't need actual statistical data.

[RhodeIslandOne]

28. Too bad it wasn Dana Loeschebag or the frizzy haired chick who pleasures herself to guns. n/m

[Racerdog1]

34. Walmart, Tenn, and guns

What could possibly go wrong?

[kacekwl]

35. Oh my,

What a tragic "accident" .

[Bengus81]

39. My gawd,I hope the shopping cart wasn't hit. Thoughts and prayers for it..............

[Crunchy Frog]

40. You'd think they could come up with a holster that guns won't fall out of.

Anyway, I'm glad that nobody of any importance was injured.