She Shoots Back!!!

Watch out now!!!

Swede called me up shortly before she left from The Range last night. Wednesdays are her 'Ladies Night' times to work over there. You could tell by the sound of her voice that something was really wrong. I have never heard her voice tremble so.

So she calls me up to explain the most surreal situation in her adult life. Long story short, she was six feet away from an AD. Thankfully, she doesn't have any new holes to show off today, but is complaining of a ringing in her ears and sudden fear of loud noises. Totally expected.

Seems that two of the Tac Tuesday Regulars were dicking around with a 1911 and completely forgot about basic firearms safety (FIREARMS FACT #1: Treat EVERY weapon as if it were loaded!!!). Not just forgot, but had their memories earased with a giant bulk eraser. Gone. Empty. Kaput. What makes this all the more sadder is that these guys, Eclipse and one I shall call Pilot, knew better. They are both certified Texas CHL instructors, and both have been through several different training schools. Eclipse, Pilot and I are all Instructors for the Tac Tuesday class, as well. We've been there long enough to go through the safety briefing in our sleep.

They are working on the trigger of Eclipse's STI. He'd been having problems with it for some time. Swede, my loving wife, was sitting about six feet away from them minding her own business. She was watching them work and witnessed the whole incident go down. And now that I give it more thought, she didn't witness an AD, it was an ND. This was a Negligent Discharge of the "I am the only one I know of who's experienced enough that I know of..." sort. Basic. Common. Sense. Would have prevented this from happening. Eclipse just finished tooling with the gun, loaded it, chambered a round, and then set the gun on the counter. Pilot said, "Hey, lemme see that one more time." Apparently, he either wasn't paying attention, or had a case of 'instant stupids.' He noticed the hammer was back, flicked the safety off, pointed in a safe direction and BLAMMO!!!!

My wife said she came out of her seat at the report. Darth Lord of the Range cleared his gun from his holster, and the thirty or so neophytes in the CHL class still think it was a firecracker that went off. Swede told me Pilot reacted so fast when the shot went off that he actually caught the spent casing back in the ejection port of the gun. My guess is that he stovepiped the round.

Now, when I work on Saturday, I get to see a nice new hole placed in one of the cabinets next to where Swede was sitting. Darth Lord wasn't too happy with that. Swede told me his entire bald head was red. He remained calm, spoke clearly, and took each moron aside for a good ass blistering, but was very pissed. The Bobsy Twins were extremely embarrased by this. I can't say as I blame them. I would be embarrassed, too. Two well respected instructors who live eat and breath guns screw up in a big way at a gun range. I wouldn't want to show my face for at least a month.

I'm too pissed to think about it right now. These are guys I trust with my life and that of my wife's. When the shit hits the fan, I would like both of them to be on the line with me. Eclipse is gonna get a blistering from me, most definitely. As for Pilot, we'll just have to wait and see. I won't see him until next Tuesday.

I really won't go too hard on the guys. They have been through enough mental anguish right now. Anything I say or do will just add fuel, but it still needs to be said. I've worked so hard to get my wife into the gun culture. I even found her that job when she was looking for work as a way to immerse her into the gun culture. She emailed me earlier this AM saying she was still shaking from the adrenaline dump she took last night. Someone had popped a plastic bag in the kitchen of her office and she came out of her chair again. She didn't seem too scared or panicked to go back there next week, but only time will tell.