# accidently shot



## willow (Nov 17, 2010)

my son accidently shot me in the leg, he was in shock, he said the gun missfired. Does this happen? The gun was a Walther .38


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

Guns never fire without some human operating the firing mechanism. They are basically inert objects, if left to their own devices.

Also, if your son had followed the cardinal rule of gun handling, even such a miracle as a gun discharging itself would have caused no harm to anyone.

And Walther is a manufacturer of semi-auto pistols, whereas all the .38 rounds I know of are for revolvers (except .38 Super, which are not all that common in anything but competition guns).

I wish you a speedy recovery, and urge you and your son to get some help with your gun-handling skills.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

*Guns do not discharge "on their own."* However, they can fire when they are mishandled by someone who does not know what he is doing.
Gun safety includes the rule: "Never point a gun at something you are not willing to destroy." It seems obvious that your son was pointing the gun in question at your leg, when he caused it to discharge. Thus he broke at least one of the most important rules of gun safety.

If you can supply us with the type (model name or number) of the Walther, it might be helpful in providing some understanding of how this negligent discharge happened. It is not enough to write merely "a Walther .38," since most Walther pistols are a slightly different "size," specifically 9mm.

Many Walther semi-auto pistols have so-called "decocking" mechanisms: The user pushes on a lever or button, and the pistol's hammer falls, supposedly safely and without being able to fire the gun. However, particularly in guns built during WW2, sometimes the mechanism fails metallurgically, and the gun discharges anyway.
In your case, however, without ever seeing the pistol in question, my suspicion falls entirely upon your son because he negligently broke a most important rule of safe gun handling. That implies other negligent behavior in the matter.
Perhaps in ignorance he pressed the pistol's trigger while attempting to safely decock the loaded gun. Perhaps he removed the gun's magazine and, thinking that doing this had "cleared" the pistol of cartridges, he then dropped its hammer by pressing the trigger, thereby firing the cartridge which remained in the pistol's chamber, ready to be fired.

In any case, this was a negligent discharge. It was not a failure of the pistol's mechanism that caused the bullet to _strike your leg_. That was entirely your son's fault, and no sugar coating or blame shifting will alter that fact.


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## cougartex (Jan 2, 2010)

*Safety Rules (4)*

1. *All guns are always loaded.* If someone unloads a gun and hands it to you, they have just handed you a loaded gun until you personally prove that it is empty by checking the chamber. If you are handling a gun that you know is "unloaded", it is loaded until you check it again. Each and every time, no exceptions, no excuses!

2. *Never point the muzzle at anything you do not intend to destroy.* Guns are safe, and guns protect lives. They do that by destroying what they are discharged at. They are also indiscriminate and will destroy anything or anyone they are discharged at, even by accident. We are their brains. Do not point a gun at anything you do not intend to destroy. There's no such thing as a safe gun, only a safe shooter. Please be one.

3. *Never put your finger on the trigger unless you are ready to shoot.* If your sights are not on the target, there's no reason for your finger on the trigger.

Modern guns in good repair will not fire on their own. They don't get in a bad mood and go off because they feel like it. They go off because someone pulled the trigger. If your finger isn't on the trigger, the gun will not go off. Don't put your finger there ever unless you are ready to fire the shot at that moment.

4. *Always know where your bullet will go.* You can shoot at a target, but the bullet can carry on and kill someone down range unless you know for a fact where that bullet will stop. Do not fire unless you know the bullet will stop harmlessly in a backstop and not carry on to injure someone down range.


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## willow (Nov 17, 2010)

*missfire*

Thank-you all , Lucas had the gun pointed down, it fired hit the coccrete paver taking out a chunck, then hit me above the knee in the back and out on the inside leg. No broken bones or artery ,nerve damage the sciatica , my big toe is numb. I was made aware that there is a recall on this pistol, for missfiring, Check out you tube and you will see. Thank-you all.Willow.


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

There is (or was ?) apparently a recall on the Walther PPK, which is chambered in .380 ACP, and apparently has to do with the decocker, and the possibility of an unexpected discharge under certain circumstances. It is my understanding that Smith & Wesson, who imports and sells Walther pistols, and does the warranty work on them, issued this recall. But I'm not sure when or what the details are.

It's good to hear that your son didn't point the weapon at you, and that your injury will likely heal. Best of luck to you, in your pursuit of information.


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## willow (Nov 17, 2010)

Thank-you to all that repiled to my post, I will pass this all on to my son, he certinly was irresponsible while handling the pistol. How lucky am I , no broken bones, and I did not bleed out the bullet was 1 mill. from the femoral artey,Thanks again. Willow.


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## recoilguy (Apr 30, 2009)

You are lucky, no doubt. I think your son will have learned a very valuable lesson. Too bad it had to come at the expense of your knee.

I am glad to read you are ok!

RCG


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## EliWolfe (Nov 20, 2010)

*Just curious*

Accidental discharges do, unfortunately occur (to err is human). Policemen and soldiers, what we would like to call well-trained individuals, sometimes screw up. They get in trouble when they do this, their firearms are confiscated and records are kept to document the incident. Rarely is the firearm found to be at fault, but there have been some exceptions. The early Beretta 92, a firearm that is used around the world by military/police forces had a defect that resulted in some major personal injury situations. The gun was examined and the problem corrected to where it is now "safe". 
The fact that your son's gun discharged means one thing for sure. There was a live bullet in the chamber and the gun was ready to be fired. You don't mention where this happened (at a range, your front yard?), how old and/or experienced is your son with firearms, particularly with semi-automatic pistols (not a beginners best choice). Well, none of my business really, just curious. If it is indeed one of the recalled Walther .380s you may want to clarify your story and document it immediately. Sounds like it is possible that you were hit by a ricochet from a gun that may have malfunctioned while pointed safely at the ground and decocked correctly. Of course the question would then be, why was the gun cocked in the first place? Mostly, just glad the results were not more serious.


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## EliWolfe (Nov 20, 2010)

*Just hit me*

Sorry to go on but I just remembered something. Walther made a Model P38. They are older guns but still around and could be defective. Is that what this gun is?

Anyway, for you gun guys here is the [email protected] skinny. Very scarey!

PRODUCT:
Walther PPK and PPK/S pistols

DESCRIPTION OF THE HAZARD:
Smith & Wesson has identified a condition that may exist in certain PPK and PPK/S pistols which may permit a round to be discharged without the trigger being pulled. When the manual safety is disengaged, Smith & Wesson's Product Engineering Group has determined that the possibility exists in certain firearms that lowering the hammer may cause a chambered round to fire.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRODUCT INVOLVED:
This recall applies to all Walther PPK and PPK/S pistols manufactured by Smith & Wesson from March 21, 2002, until February 3, 2009. The Serial Numbers of the pistol subject to this recall are as follows:

0010BAB - 9999BAB
0000BAC - 9999BAC
0000BAD - 9999BAD
0000BAE - 9999BAE
0000BAF - 9999BAF
0000BAH - 9999BAH
0000BAJ - 9999BAJ
0000BAK - 9999BAK
0000BAL - 5313BAL
0000BAM - 1320BAM
0000LTD - 0499LTD
0001PPK - 1500PPK
0026REP - 0219REP
0001WLE - 0459WLE

REMEDY/ACTION TO BE TAKEN:
STOP USING YOUR PISTOL AND RETURN IT TO SMITH & WESSON AT ONCE.

Any unintended discharge of a firearm has the potential for causing injury, and we ask that you stop using your pistol immediately.

To facilitate the repair of your pistol, please contact Smith & Wesson's customer service department to receive instructions for the return of your pistol to Smith & Wesson.

When you return your pistol to Smith & Wesson, we will replace the existing hammer block feature with a new part at no cost to you. Your firearm will be returned as quickly and efficiently as possible.


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## SMann (Dec 11, 2008)

EliWolfe said:


> Accidental discharges


The term now used is negligent discharge. Not trying to bust your balls, but changing that one word sends a whole different message and makes a point that should be acknowledged by all who handle firearms. A defective weapon is surely a concern to be dealt with as the safety rules can be followed and a weapon firing on its own can cause riccochets to go who knows where, however that is rarely the cause of an "accidental" shooting. Hope the OP heals up and gets the weapon fixed.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

*EliWolfe*;
Two thoughts:
• Send all of the S&W-recall information to the OP in a PM, so you're surer that she'll read it.
• The P.38 issue centers around the same part as the PPK part S&W wants to replace. In the P.38 case, the problem was bad metallurgy, resulting in a decock-"safety" that broke unpredictably when a released hammer struck it. When the decocker broke, the hammer fell the rest of the way, hit the firing pin, and the gun fired. Maybe the PPK part was poorly heat-treated too.

In any case, the son was pointing the pistol in his mother's general direction, over a "reflective" floor surface. That truly was negligence.
Thus the discharge may have been the gun's fault, but the leg wound was the son's fault.


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## EliWolfe (Nov 20, 2010)

*thank you*



SMann said:


> The term now used is negligent discharge. Not trying to bust your balls, but changing that one word sends a whole different message and makes a point that should be acknowledged by all who handle firearms. A defective weapon is surely a concern to be dealt with as the safety rules can be followed and a weapon firing on its own can cause riccochets to go who knows where, however that is rarely the cause of an "accidental" shooting. Hope the OP heals up and gets the weapon fixed.


Thanks for the correction. I am an old guy and not current with the legal terminologies. Therefor, I shall try to keep my trap shut unless I know what I am talking about . The story got my attention because it seemed "odd" in the translation. Thanks again, I learned something new. Hope Mom and the kid did too!
Regards, Eli (feel free to bust balls whence appropriate) :smt082


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## SMann (Dec 11, 2008)

We all learn stuff here. That's why we come.:smt023


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## jakuruvi (Dec 2, 2010)

*How old is he?*

Really just curious -- how old is your son? how did he end up having a loaded gun in his hand. I have a son of my own and I would worry very very much if he holds a loaded gun anywhere, except at a range, even if it doesn't fire accidentally.


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