The Associated Press reports on an accidental shooting which happened in a classroom during history lesson.
BILLINGS, Mont. — The superintendent of a rural Montana school district says he was showing students his black powder muzzleloader when he accidentally fired the weapon into a classroom wall during a history lesson.
Dwain Haggard, who used to be a Civil War re-enactor, was showing the gun to five students in Reed Point High School's American history class Friday when it fired.
No one was injured, and Haggard says he can't explain how the weapon was loaded.
He says he usually fires a cap during the demonstration, but this time there was a loud bang and the room filled with smoke.
The ball shot through the "o" in the word "North" on a wall map.
Haggard says none of the students' parents was upset with him. He described the incident as "bitter irony" because he has tried to increase safety in the school district west of Billings.
Well, at least this is an improvement over some recent reporting we've seen: "...when he accidentally fired the weapon..." I'm glad they didn't report that "the gun went off." Of course, his not being able to explain how the gun got loaded, is a bit strange. But the best part of the whole story is this:
Haggard says none of the students' parents was upset with him. He described the incident as "bitter irony" because he has tried to increase safety in the school district west of Billings.
Yeah, that's some pretty funny irony right there. I guess those Montana parents know that Constitutionally-protected, God-given rights require that a certain price be paid in safety and caution.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
He followed rule #1 so no one got hurt with his negligent discharge.
ReplyDeleteJade Gold answer: no one has ever taken a gun to a public school. Myth, urban legend, never happened.
My opinion is he failed to observe at least two of the Four Rules. The gun was loaded and he failed to treat it as such, and he put his finger on the trigger.
ReplyDeleteHe's lucky he didn't kill anyone, and he's lucky to still have a job.
And it's still not an accidental shooting. It's negligence.
I love history and I'm all for living history and such, but reenactors are something else.
ReplyDeleteI have this picture of the gun going off and filling the classroom with black powder smoke. When the smoke clears, the occupants appear as comic figures with startled expressions, their hair standing up, and soot covered faces.
From the British Army Rumour Service wiki:
"re-enactment is performed by individuals with a keen interest in history who attempt to recreate battles of years gone by to a reasonable degree of accuracy. Disturbingly Medieval to victorian types have access to swords, halberds, bows, crossbows, medieval siege equipment and an even more disturbing knowledge on how to use them. In their favour they drink like fish."
Sorry, shrimp, but most reenactors use blanks while they are playing soldier. It sort of makes sense if you are shooting at each other to do that, or reenacting would indeed win copious amounts of Darwin awards.
Although, this bloke seems to have forgotten that even though his toy was loaded with blanks--it was still loaded!
More on this weirdness at:
http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Re-enactment
I don't know why he thought it was a good idea to do something like this indoors. Even just firing a cap can loses debris in the bore and fire it with enough force to cause eye damage to anyone within speaking distance.
ReplyDeleteEven re-enactors know that blanks and percussion caps can cause injury, so they only fire at each other at distances measured in tens of yards at minimum.
"Sorry, shrimp, but most reenactors use blanks while they are playing soldier."
ReplyDeleteLtCC,
Did I say that they did not?
Regardless of what it was loaded with, blanks can kill at close range. It fired something through the "O" in North, according to the story. At that range, even if it had not been lead ball, a blank would have killed.
As far as safe handling of firearms goes, it doesn't matter if it's a blank or not. It's the same as if it had been loaded with lead ball.
Shrimp, I'll admit that my knowledge of black powder is limited to the Brown Bess and percussion guns are beyond my ken.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, Jon-Erik Hexum is a rather famous death by blank gun.
So:
Although, this bloke seems to have forgotten that even though his toy was loaded with blanks--it was still loaded!
It is like antis are looking for something to argue about.
ReplyDeleteGUNLOONS= "He was wrong and negligent. He screwed up."
ANTIGUNLOONS= "He was wrong and negligent. He screwed up."
JADEGOLD= "Racist! He used black powder"
So what now?
But, is there something weird about these enactors?
ReplyDeleteBut, is there something weird about these enactors?
ReplyDeleteDo you enjoy movies like Glory, Gettysburg, The Patriot, Last of the Mohicans, Cold Mountain, etc.? Most of those soldiers running around in the background are unpaid re-enactors. While it is not my cup of tea, I don't think it is any worse than other people's hobbies. Like owning and breeding Chinese Crested dogs, for instance.
"...Like owning and breeding Chinese Crested dogs, for instance."
ReplyDeleteOr writing a blog under the pretense that the author is said dog.
The world is full of strange and wonderful people. As long as they aren't harming anyone with their weirdness, what's the problem, Mikeb?
I guess there's nothing wrong with doing "enacting" as a hobby. As RuffRidr pointed out, many movies have used them. And I love movies. In fact I've been accused of getting my information from fictional films.
ReplyDelete