In Indiana they love their guns.52-year-old Joel Dale, of Munice, Indiana, was with a friend at the Deer Creek Conservation Club shooting range when for some unknown reason his SKS miltary-style assault rifle discharged several times.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Accidental Shooting of Indiana Man at Gun Range - Of Course No Charges
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The SKS has a firing pin that can stick, causing it to fire upon closing the bolt. This can result in several rounds going off. That being said, the SKS is not an assault rifle. It was never designed to have full-auto capability, nor was it intended to use a detachable magazine.
ReplyDeleteMike, should a malfunction result in charges and loss of gun rights for life?
ReplyDeleteSecond question- is anyone who owns a SKS in California (which is legal) a “sneaky hidden criminal”?
Well, it all depends. If the malfunction was combined with violation of one or more of the 4 Rules, then yes.
DeleteTo you second question, I'm not sure, I guess it depends on the situation.
Why would anyone want to own an SKS rifle if they are failure prone? I hope everyone understands that I am the first person to stand up for our inalienable right to keep and bear arms for personal defense as well as the defense of our nation. That said, if there is a design flaw with SKS rifles, they have to go. Our Second Amendment recognizes our inherent right to life and to defend that life. Carrying around a rifle which can shoot all by itself works against preservation of life. Get rid of them.
ReplyDelete“Prone” is a strong word. There have been incidents in the past, as well as maybe this one, but there are millions of SKSs that never slam fire. The surest way to avoid it is with proper maintenance. The firing pin is free floating, so if you keep it clean, it won’t get stuck forward. I’d also guess somewhere near 100% of these cases had been in cosmoline storage and not had the bolt taken apart and cleaned before use. So no, I disagree with getting rid of them. It is kind of like blaming the car if the brakes fail after 100K miles with zero maintenance.
DeleteThat said, there are safer designs- and there are spring kits out there to convert free floating SKS pins. Taking extra care with SKSs is also wise. Shake the bolt to make sure it is not stuck before you begin your day at the range, and always close the bolt with the weapon shouldered just in case. Again, it is extremely rare, but these precautions are simple and good habits in general. We have to remember that it is a 70 year old design.
Add to that the rule of not pointing the muzzle at anything that we don't want to shoot. The joy of the SKS is that under most circumstances, it will work. There are some more "advanced" designs that can't make that claim.
DeleteIf the government allowed safety regulation of firearms manufacturers, as with all other industries, they could be held accountable for dangerous design errors and be forced to change the design to correct it.
DeleteMan from Oregon, you do realize that the SKS isn't manufactured any more, don't you? It is a curio or relic firearm, a category that must annoy you no end. I mean, all those historic firearms that were made before lawyers and gun control advocates got a say in things. . .
DeleteIt would be like trying to hold today's GM accountable for the Corvair. Or a more appropriate analogy- holding US auto manufacturers accountable for the Trabant.
DeleteGood luck with your posthumous lawsuit of Sergei Simonov.
ReplyDeleteBaldr Odious,
ReplyDeleteCan you name one modern firearm that has a design flaw necessitating a recall? Just name one.