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“A police sniper has accidentally fired a pistol during a speech by French President Francois Hollande – wounding himself and a waiter,” the sun.co.uk reports. “The bizarre accident happened in Villognon, western France, as the head of state opened the new high-speed train line between Paris and Bordeaux.” Needless to say, there was a bit of post-ND consternation . . .

“A shot rang out as the President was making a speech, and there was clearly a great deal of concern,” said a local police source.

“The President stopped speaking as the shot was investigated, and those injured attended to.

“Neither was badly hurt.”

It’s interesting to note how the press is describing le décharge négligent. Here’s the dailymail.co.uk’s take:

Local press said the soldier wasn’t able to control his gun, and colleagues saw him jumping on the spot before taking refuge in a kitchen where cocktails were being prepared.

What drink to soothe a sniper (gendarme?) with a hole in his foot? Meanwhile, nypost.com described the ND it this way:

The officer – a member of the Gendarmerie – apparently left his gun’s safety off and it fired.

Same as it ever was. Rifles can be so devious. As for the sniper’s future career prospects, tant pis pour il. 

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48 COMMENTS

  1. Most likely inaccurate reporting/translating, but if not…..WTF is a sniper doing with a pistol during a primary’s speech?

    • Was a lot worse that what TAG posted
      “The gendarme, who was posted on a roof more than 300 feet away, was changing position when his rifle – whose safety was off – accidentally fired the errant shot, according to the Charente Libre newspaper.
      The bullet whizzed through a tent, sliced through a waiter’s thigh and then lodged into the calf of a 20-year-old employee of Mesea, the company in charge of railroad maintenance, the paper reported.”
      He definitely needs to be hired for NYPD. Two civilians hit with one negligent discharge.

  2. What do you expect from a nation whose national flag is a white fluer de lis on a white background? Whose main battle tank has 4 reverse gears, and one forward gear (in case they are attacked from the rear)?

    • On behalf of the many brave french soldiers in world war 2 who fought tooth and nail DESPITE inept leadership and cowardly politicians….go fuck yourself.

        • My understanding is that there weren’t many french soldiers or men of eligible age left after WWI, so there weren’t many French soldiers regardless.

          Now, I’m sure that interregnum between WWI and WWII was a great time to be a young man in France…

      • I perhaps shouldn’t, but I exclude the Légion Étrangère from consideration because they are….uh….like…foreign?

      • Many French soldiers did fight fiercely and bravely in WWII – but mainly on the side of the Nazis against British troops in Palestine and Africa. Le Resistance did not get a real foothold in France proper until late in 1943, when it was clear that Germany was about to lose. Most French troops put up little opposition to the German invasion of 1940. Their leadership was atrocious, tinpot little generals with puffed up pride but no competence. France has nothing to be proud of for its actions in WWII. Many Resistance fighters were betrayed to the Nazis by fellow Frenchmen and women. The French should grovel at the feet of America and Russia for doing most of the fighting to free France.

        • And may I add, “never again”. Western Europe has chosen its fate. The ‘bigger disaster’ would be any attempt to rescue them from it.

        • If America had real courage, I would endorse an Executive Order proclaiming to the French, “Remain smug and self-aggrandizing. The US will not be there a third time.”
          (France is not a member of the NATO military alliance, but is a happy member of the NATO economic alliance. Any wonder?)

          I’m so glad the Canadians chased us the hell out of Quebec.

          Twice.

  3. I read another news article about this earlier today on Drudge report that said the gun malfunctioned, but didn’t give exact details. Curious what actually happened.

  4. “A [French] police sniper has accidentally fired a pistol during a speech …”

    I suppose that is an indication of progress … French are beginning to actually use their firearms rather than drop them and surrendering.

    Then again, it could be a handgun that is not “drop safe” and it discharged when the French police sniper dropped it while surrendering.

    • Uncommon, you were heading in the right direction. The French historically just dropped their guns and surrendered, now they invite their enemies in and shoot themselves in the foot….French progress.

  5. Was a lost worse that what TAG posted
    “The gendarme, who was posted on a roof more than 300 feet away, was changing position when his rifle – whose safety was off – accidentally fired the errant shot, according to the Charente Libre newspaper.
    The bullet whizzed through a tent, sliced through a waiter’s thigh and then lodged into the calf of a 20-year-old employee of Mesea, the company in charge of railroad maintenance, the paper reported.”

    • Unless these guys messed up the actual story or 5 other places did, but what I read was it was a rifle not a pistol and the bullet grazed the thigh of one and the bullet stopped in the calf of another. I mean how does one shoot them self in the foot and injury another? I mean it would had to have been a JFK magic bullet ricochet off the ground after the guy’s foot and into another. Unless the guy was laying in a lawn chair feet crossed and the pistol went off and went through his foot into another.

      I believe this guy had his finger on or near the trigger, and bumped it in a fashion that it went off. Finger off the trigger before you shoot, it’s one of the 10 commandments of Firearms safety. Also you never trust a safety because it could malfunction.

  6. What’s up with that pose in the picture? I can’t tell whether he’s about to bust some rhymes or he’s calling for his homies to pop some caps.

  7. This is what happens when politicians rely on armed guards. They are only human, and can only take so much bullshit before their trigger finger acts of its own volition. A pity he wasn’t aiming at Le President at the time. A shame for those hit, but c’est la vie.

  8. The Gendarmerie uses SIG Pros. As we all know, SIGs (except for the single-action models and the XM17 P320 variant) do not have manual safeties.

  9. People think citizens should not have guns because they think everybody is as bad safety protocols as the govt internal security folks.

    Sadly, they’re not incompetent and high-handed only with guns. Get hit in a crosswalk by a State Dept SUV, and they won’t just deny and decline to cover the costs … they’ll get you charged. “It’s assault your Honor; he kept hitting my hand with his face.” (The guy I’m thinking of works for the Daily Caller & got clipped in D C, during the prior administration. I don’t want to go full InfoWars — never go “full InfoWars” — but, could the overlords try, just a little, to make it look less like a grand conspiracy?)

  10. I understand his predicament. Sometimes my “gun” is difficult to control, too. Like every time the wind blows………..

  11. Liberal dictum: “Only police and military should have firearms because they know how to handle them in a professional and safe fashion”.

  12. Not surprisingly, the sniper immediately threw up his arms and attempted to surrender, as did the wounded waiter, all the customers, a number of passerbys in front of the restaurant, all the motorist on the street outside and almost all the residents of the surrounding multi-story apartments surrounding the restaurant threw open their windows and hung out white bed sheets.

  13. “…Wasn’t able to control his gun.” I hate it when these things just get all out of control. That’s why I keep a Kevlar blanket by my safe. If one of my 1911s goes out of control I can safely wrassl it to the ground and hog tie the chamber open.

  14. He isn’t really a gun owner. The gun belongs to the government, which is what most in the gun control lobby believe should be the only legal owner of firearms.

  15. “Local press said the soldier wasn’t able to control his gun”
    “The officer – a member of the Gendarmerie – apparently left his gun’s safety off and it fired.”

    You know those pesky guns will get uppity the second you take your eyes off of them.

  16. I’m calling bullshit that the gun fired on its own. You never have your finger on the trigger until you are ready to fire, common sense. This Frenchie broke one of the golden rules of firearms safety, top of that you are told never to trust your safety. So unless they have to have a round in the chamber, there should have been no reason this should have happened. Dumbass French just love to get into trouble.

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