Fun With Guns: “Who Was That Kid?” Edition
Okay, let’s go to Lodi, California, where a local SWAT officer was showing his swat truck, vest, and other cool toys to little kids at a “reading roundup.”
All was going as planned until —
A Lodi Police SWAT officer had a Glock 35 with a flashlight in his thigh holster at a children’s reading event when a boy managed to pull the trigger and shoot the officer.
“It doesn’t have an external safety or anything like that,” said Lt. Sierra Brucia with the department. “The gun functioned how it was supposed to. When the trigger was pulled, the gun went off.”
Ka-bam!
The officer as shot in the leg and will be okay. Witnesses say a small child – 6 to 8 years old – walked up to the officer and pulled the trigger. Then apparently hitched a ride to Canada or something.
Officers want to find the child and his parents to piece together what went wrong.
“Hopefully, speaking to the child and the child’s parents to find out how they were able to get access to the officer’s gun, what the child’s intent may have been—we don’t know if it was accidental or unintentional.”
Now here’s the part that rocked my world.
Police say because the gun was in a holster to accommodate the attached flashlight, the trigger was more accessible.
Well, duh. This is your first time around kids?
In this case, the kid was smarter than the adults. They often are.
1It’s best to keep kids of any age at arm’s length and especially so if you are armed with a Glock and a flashlight! And parents need to teach their kids to keep their hands and trigger fingers to themselves! And why the heck doesn’t that gun have a safety on it?
Assinine … everyday it’s just more and more assinine idiotic stuff!!
2“Hopefully, speaking to the child and the child’s parents to find out how they were able to get access to the officer’s gun, what the child’s intent may have been—we don’t know if it was accidental or unintentional.”
Find out how “they” were able to get access? Who is the “they”? Were the parents there and also pulled the trigger?
What his intentions were? Accidental or intentional? Duh – the intention was to pull the trigger and see what happens. Put a button out there – a trigger – a lever – anything – and a kid will pull it or push it to see what happens. Alert the media that kids do that.
3Check this out … shooting machine guns in S. CO for the fun of it:
http://www.dragonmans.com/
Big happenings on September 14 & 15 … Dragon Man’s Machine Gun shoot-off … fun for the entire family! And they even run ads on the teevee for this event!
I find it disgusting and repulsive … but that is just my opinion!!
4“Hopefully, speaking to the child and the child’s parents to find out how they were able to get access to the officer’s gun…”
My first guess is that a yahoo went to a “reading roundup” for little kids with a loaded gun. I’m pretty sure that’s the whole shebang (pun intended?).
5My son-in-law is a police officer and I can’t imagine him ever letting something like this happen. Bringing a loaded weapon with no safety to a “reading round-up” is just plain stoopid.
6It appears that the National Moron Insurance Co. must now offer a reading round up rider, in addition to the self-destruction and vicious gun riders. The officer is covered under the terms of the policy which specify that he not use an ounce of common sense.
7Hey Marcia, I followed your link and was really intrigued about the home page photo tribute to the lady nicknamed “Terrible Terry.” I had to do a bit of digging to find out what happened to the poor lady, but managed to come up with a link. Check it out … you’re not going to believe it!
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/06/17/freak-accident-colorado-woman-dies-while-filming-tv-show-after-getting-hit-by-150mph-smoke-bombs/
8I do like the part about the investigation that wants to determine the 6-8 year olds intent. Yet another key as to how this could possibly have happened. Ask the teacher about the “intent” of most of her students most of the time, that might give the police a lead.
9Also, as the event was a reading roundup, and I for one would like to know if “My Pet Goat” was on the schedule that day. That book seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Hoisted on his own petard.
10Gee, if he’d only brought along a Colt six-shooter replica instead of a Glock, think of the other stuff he could do to fascinate the little tykes!
http://jcmotorsofficial.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-spin-revolver.html
11So where is the law that protects young kids from being placed in danger by rwnj with guns they apparently are competent to use? This tool didn’t just wander into the classroom on his own. Maybe his supervisor and the school’s administration should be looking for new employment. Truly a terroristic act on behalf of both adult parties in charge.
12UmptyDump-if only one upstanding patriot had been there loaded for bear,he/she could’ve prevented this woman from dying needlessly. Why aren’t these dolts around when you need one?
13Why would ANYONE be allowed to bring a loaded gun into a room full of children? It that were my child’s classroom or school I’d be suing someone, and I’m not at all a litigious person. The mother of that child took him/her out of the school posthaste, and I would too, but I’m sure her motivation was to keep her child and herself out of trouble. With the way the rwnj thinks, chances are she and the child would be charged with something!!
14No safety, but couldn’t be bothered with a trigger lock? A shoulder holster instead of a belt holster? Gun safety this was NOT.
In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, “What a maroon!”
15Talking to the parents who were not there? Great investigative tactic. Ask me abou the Lincoln Assassination – I wasn’t there, so should have great insight.
16Geez UmptyDumpty … I didn’t go any further then to find the Dragon Man page … saw that blurb about that gal but didn’t look any further! What a horrific way to die … Thanks for posting the link … I think! LOL
17Next thing you know…the kid and his parents will be undergoing psychological evaluations for “latent hostlile feelings of police authority brought on by the father receiving a speeding ticket 20 years ago, the mother’s dislike of all the sugar contained in glazed doughnuts, and the child being told he could not have that plastic water pistol in the bin at Wally World.” The cop will sue for medical expenses and psychological damage………and win.
181. That cop will be way the hell too embarrassed to sue. It would mean he would have to stand up in a court of law and tell people why he had a gun at a children’s “reading roundup.”
19Ten to one this went down in the precinct books as an Accidental Discharge and he might not even have a gun any more.
2. There will be one more little kid who will forever be scared poopless of cops and will not resort to the police force when he has every right to do so when in another dangerous situation . . . like a reading round-up.
Who planned this little “reading roundup activity”? Fire ’em quick before they have some other creative ideas. What the hell (sorry Mama) does a swat vest and gun have to do with reading?
20Amazed that a kid walks up to a police officer, pulls the trigger on the gun, and nobody asks him/her what the hey? Pretty ballsy for a kid. Maybe the officer didn’t want to ask for fear of looking like the stupido that he is. And the kid walks off? Compounded dumb.
21Things got bad, and things got worse, I guess you will know the tune.
Oh ! Lord, Stuck in Lodi again.
22Reading the comments on the article about the woman killed by smoke bombs I was struck by the low levels of reading comprehension. It is as if as soon as they find a phrase that rings a mental bell the rest of the article turns into Esperanto & is completely tuned out.
23Oh, those journamalists at The Blaze:
The first bomb knocked her down and the second went through her neck and out her naval, killing her instantly
(Her husband, quoted, sure doesn’t sound broken up by her death.)
24Marcia wrote, September 5, 2013 at 1:01 pm: And why the heck doesn’t that gun have a safety on it?
It does, to make sure the gun doesn’t go off when it isn’t supposed to—e.g. if you drop it on a concrete floor. But when the trigger is puled in the normal way, that’s when the gun is supposed to go off. As Lt. Sierra Brucia said, there is no external safety (other than the integrated trigger safety). Newer models of Glock have a key lock option available, which will prevent deliberate firing. Without that option, only accidental, unintentional, firing is prevented. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glock#Safety for more. Google glock safety for much more.
25I may be in a very small minority here. but there is no way I would let that police department interrogate my child about this accident. if he was mine. I would be too afraid that they would charge him. In fact, he would immediately be shipped off to great Aunt Matilda to protect him from them having access to him.
26I would however seek counseling for him, he is bound to be traumatized
Guess no one saw that coming. Who would have known that kids would do something like that?! I’m just glad no child was hit with the bullet.
27I’m not at all a fan of having loaded weapons around children, but this fiasco seems to be in large part a design problem. The gun/holster/flashlight arrangement should never allow access to the trigger.
Given human nature it is always best to design foolproof systems in the first place.
28“where a local SWAT officer was showing his swat truck, vest, and other cool toys to little kids ”
29Aren’t swat members supposed to be the most highly trained professionals of our police force?
LynnN
You read my mind. It was just a matter of time. An exposed trigger with no safety? It could have gotten hung up just about anything, like a seat belt, table, fence, whatever. The best solution is for the workers’ comp carrier to get its head out of its ass and triple the city’s premiums, which should make the city get its head out of its ass. The dumbshits are going to get somebody killed.
30Actually the Glock does have a safety. The problem is: it is not very safe. The trigger has, for lack of a better word, a lever on it. When you pull the trigger, you automatically pull the safety. Not exactly a good design. Real easy to shoot someone (including the shooter) I have shot Glocks and to my way of thinking they are high priced junk. Lots of shooters (and cops) like them for their high magazine capacity which allows for “spray and pray”. It has been a few years but in my experience the things are not at all accurate. That probably explains those reports of cops firing 50+ shots but the victim only has 4 or 5 holes!
31Actually the Glock does have a safety. The problem is: it is not very safe. The trigger has, for lack of a better word, a lever on it.
Actually, there is a “better word”, or at least a more detailed one—follow the links I provided in comment 25.
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