Fun With Guns: Teacher Edition
Hewitt is a fair-sized town outside of Waco, where, as you know, nothing is fair.
Hewitt has a police department. It also has had a firearms instructor for that police department.
The firearms instructor for the Hewitt Police Department is recovering from surgery after accidentally shooting himself in the left hand while teaching family members to shoot.
According to reports, Sgt Heath Vanek was teaching his family to shoot a pistol. Prior to shooting himself, he was “teaching them how to clear a semi-automatic pistol’s chamber in case the gun jams.” Likely story.
[Chief Jim] Devlin said Vanek, 35, declined comment Friday about his accidental injury.
Yeah, I suppose “I was aiming for my mother in law’s head,” wouldn’t be a proper thing to say.
Thanks to Pam for the heads up.
And so the cognitive dissonance dance continues, in which the gun lobby tells people that firearms aren’t dangerous, and having a loaded firearm within easy reach 24/7/365 makes one safe because a bad guy with a gun is an existential threat to your life and well-being.
My question: why not carry a teddy bear? Very few people get injured or killed by improperly handling a teddy bear.
The answer, of course, is that carrying a gun makes one feel powerful and in control, regardless of whether one has been trained in how to use it properly. This is the real danger: carrying a gun tricks people into thinking that they’re superheroes, with all the training and experience of a SWAT-trained police officer – even if they can’t draw the gun without shooting themselves.
1Anybody check if he’d been drinking? Or can I just assume incompetence is the standard of measure the Hewitt Police Department aspires to meet.
2RepubAnon, I’ve contended for years that if guns aren’t the problem, we could substitute just about any other word into these stories with the same effect that “guns” has. My word of choice has been “sponge,” so this might have said, “The sponge instructor for the Hewitt Police Department is recovering from surgery after teaching his family members to sponge.” I like the idea of teddy bears, though.
In other news, I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said, “Guns don’t kill people. Damage to internal organs and blood loss do.”
3Anybody expect this jackwagon to lose his job as “firearms instructor” for the police department….? Anybody….? (sound of crickets)
4Rhea, I bet that police department pays peanuts and not enough of them to feed a small monkey. I don’t think there will be people lined up to take that position and it will by default go back to Mr. Careless of 2014. Yes, I know its sad.
5@djw: I saw a similar bumper sticker: “Guns don’t kill people – it’s those pesky bullets.”
6Guns (by themselves) don’t kill people. They just make it easy.
7Once again, this was willful neglect, not an accident. The gun had to have a bullet in the chamber and be cocked. Both of which should not have been the case in a “demonstration”.
8This fool needs to go back to school himself.
He has a paying job as an instructor?
9In my home i keep a 9 mil nearby in the # 2 position.
My gun instructor made apparent & logic proves the safety
of being the middle position.
I’d have to click it to the 3rd to actuate & fire a round
Sitting in the 1st position can by dropping cause the hammer to initiate a chambered round.
The 3rd allows unintended trigger brushing consequences.
10So, in the instruction process he serves as bad example?
11“If he can’t be a good example, then he’ll just have to serve as a horrible warning.”
12This got me remembering a time when my daughter was at a special summer camp for G&T high school students and a local cop (in uniform) had her and some other kids in a Drivers Ed car on a training course. In the middle of explaining and showing them how to drive safely, he ran into a very solid pole. The really interesting part was when all the kids — and the cop — popped out and RAN! She never forgot that. As her dad said, the best example when teaching is the worst example. You never forget it.
13“Guns don’t kill people. Damage to internal organs and blood loss do.” Good way to put it.
14As I read the story I was thinking what Maggie & Catherine said. His family members will probably never forget this incident either and every time they see him during the 2 month recovery period from his non-work related injury they will be reminded again that playing with firearms often has consequences.
I doubt he will be getting a paycheck and good luck with claiming disability assistance in Texas.
Depending on where he shot himself he may never regain full use of the hand, lots of small bones and tendons plus 9mm is not really a plinking category of ammo.
15*Headdesk*
*Second headdesk*
Hint for those in a traffic accident: do not hop out of the car and run blindly. That’s how people whose car is not about to explode get hit by the next car coming down the road.
Movies & TV always show car crashes with an explosion because, well…it sells tickets to movies and gets you high points on viewership on TV. If things blow up, certain categories of persons will watch. In actual real life, excepting propane trucks and tractors, most collisions–vast majority of collistions–do not result in a fire or explosion.
In a wreck on solid ground (as opposed to driving off a bridge into a lake), turn the engine off but set emergency lights blinking. Exit the car carefully (you will be shaken up) after checking the status of everyone in it: who’s unconscious (critical–is that person breathing?), who’s bleeding, etc. Do not automatically drag an injured person from the vehicle–if they’ve got a broken neck or back and the spinal cord is still intact, careless movement can result in permanent paralysis. Look for a safe exit (not into a traffic lane, for instance, or where there’s an unsafe drop.) If everyone in the car is conscious, relatively unharmed, and able to get out of the car safely onto a safe surface, do so but stay together. Someone may have a concussion and be confused without showing it initially. Take ID with you from the car. Keep an eye on everyone. If you cannot exit safely stay put. A wrecked car is more visible than a pedestrian, and bloodying yourself trying to clamber out a broken window is no help.
If you are unhurt, another vehicle was involved, and someone in that car does not emerge, find out if they’re able to speak. Call for help if you have a cellphone. NEVER cross an active traffic lane. If a downed power pole is involved, NEVER touch the downed wire (if the pole has fallen on the car, stay in the car until help arrives. Wires should be assumed to be still “live” until a utility company person has said it’s safe.)
The order of concern is ABC: airway, breathing, circulation. People screaming loudly have just proved their airway is open, they’re breathing and their heart’s beating. People slumped down with their eyes closed need to be checked for breathing and pulse, and everyone should be checked for massive bleeding. A bystander putting hand pressure on a ripped artery can save a life. CPR can save a life.
Water stuff: we nearly lost a man in our choir years back because a sudden downpour in Austin washed his car off the road (NOT a low-water crossing) into a deep concrete drainage channel; his car blocked the storm sewer opening, causing the water to rise rapidly around the car, and he could not open the door against the water pressure, or break the car windows to get out. Bystanders, one with a crowbar, attacked his rear window and pulled him out. Most modern cars have electric windows–they don’t work when the car’s sinking in water. Carry a hammer or a center-punch or pry-bar near the driver’s seat. Modern car safety glass is tough and you will not break it by pounding on it with your fist or the heel of your loafer.
All brought to you by your friendly local former paramedic.
16Good job, Herkimer.
17Wow, Elizabeth. Also make sure everyone in car is belted in before you start. And we always had manually operated windows till this last car because I felt safer with them. Guess we need to put a pry-bar next to seat. My kids will laugh. They already laugh because I want a strong shovel, big jug of water, jar of peanut butter, flashlight, in a windowless bathroom in case of tornadoes.
18Elizabeth, Marge Wood and everyone preparation is great! When injured or somehow threatened, we may not be as “clear headed” as we would hope to be, so planning in advance/thinking is key to survival, so we can act from rote. As a graduate of a few military survival schools, water is important, but hygiene is, too. So, enough water to drink, plus extra water with toothpaste and toothbrush. It’s been proven that we can survive for days without food, but if we have water to drink and clean our teeth, we will survive longer. Zoom bags, aka zipper suits always carry water, toothpaste and a brush in one of their many pockets.
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