Not to sound like a rabid anti-dentite, but no one likes to go to the dentist. Especially if he’s planning to excavate. If you pack a pistol, though, here’s some sound advice from the Clark County (Ohio) Sheriff’s office:
If you’re going to a doctor’s office where you might be put under some kind of medication that might alter your mental status … you might not want to carry a weapon.
As someone who pops a few Valium before any procedure involving a needle, I know from experience that I operate at far less than full warp capabilities for hours after the doc’s done his worst.
Sadly, a Dayton man didn’t consider what might ensue if you carry while under the influence. As nbc4i.com reports,
72-year-old James White was under nitrous oxide at New Carlisle Dental Group when he thought he heard his phone ring, went to grab it, but accidentally grabbed his pistol and fired the weapon, sending a bullet through his hand and grazing his stomach. …
An employee of the New Carlisle Dental Group said the employees were “shaken up,” but also know it was absolutely an accident.
We’re glad it wasn’t more serious and trust Mr. White’s making a full recovery. Still, he’s more than deserving of a new piece of hardware which, we can only hope, will remind him — and everyone else who reads this tale of woe — to leave his mohaska at home next time he’s due to be sedated. The life you save could be your own.
What’s a mohaska?
GOOGLE
It’s that hooded poncho thingy shepards wear. 🙂
See:Sean Connery “The Untouchables” as Malone….
Malone: OK, pal, why the mahaska? Why are you carrying the gun?
Ness: I’m a treasury officer.
Malone: Alright. Just remember what we talked about now.
[Malone walks away]
Ness: Hey, wait a minute! What the hell kind of policemen you got in this god damn city? You just turned your back on an armed man.
Malone: You’re a treasury officer.
Ness: How do you know that? I just told you that.
Malone: Who would claim to be that who was not? Hmm?
One of the all-time great Hollywood dialogues.
“Is that a real mohaska or a Sears mohaska?”
Wal Mart
Typo in title: man’s name is James White not James Short.
How the hell did I do that? Fixed. Thanks.
Now there’s a story to tell for years.
Considering he’s 72 he may not have many years left to tell it.
Mistaking handgun for cell phone? Being 72 years old is the least of his problems
Maybe he thought it was one of them thar cellphone shaped guns?
Good thing whoever was ringing did not call back…
Amusingly my ffl does his stuff from a dentists office as a side gig.
Are you / he in Texas? If so… probably a friend and colleague of mine. 🙂
Actually no, I’m in Illinois.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find out there are several dentists in Texas doing FFL as a side gig.
Not enough information, but this doesn’t make any sense. Sounds as if someone is trying to justify a ND by calling it an accident. I don’t buy it. When I go to the dentist, my gun belt is put on a table across the room, where nobody can touch it “accidentally.” I can keep an eye on it, but it’s not going to be a problem no matter how goofy I got temporarily from anesthesia. The “laughing gas” doesn’t last long. My “phone” is on the gun belt as well – turned OFF – since nobody wants to be dealing with a phone ringing in the middle of a procedure.
The funny part of going to the dentist here is the nagging we get from the assistant. We keep talking guns and shooting instead of concentrating on the tooth stuff if we’re not careful. 🙂
Wish your dentist was my dentist.
Plenty of room here in NE Wyoming, Harold. And my dentist isn’t all the busy most of the time. Come on out. 🙂 Besides, the gun club annual dues is only $25. What more could you want?
Damn. I’m forking over $175.
I am so tempted. I’ve lived here in Fascist California for 60+ years, but at least it’s very far from the Liberal Strongholds, and a relatively conservative (in the historical sense) area. If I didn’t have roots I’d leave tomorrow, but every time I see our Legislature erode our rights my roots weaken a little.
I drove through Wyoming once a long time ago, and I still hear it calling.
I escaped from So. Calif. ten years ago when I retired. My family is still there… that’s their choice and I’m sorry for it… but I chose to live where I could breathe free… and carry a gun if I want to – as well as a lot of other things. No state income tax… and my last electric bill was less than $50. Lots of things to love about this place. Not perfect, of course, but no comparison to Calif.
Send me an email if you want to talk about it. mamaliberty at rtconnect dot net. Replace at and dot with the appropriate symbols and eliminate the spaces. I’ve helped a lot of people find motivation to come to Wyoming. No guarantees, of course, but I’d be glad to help in any way I can.
Dropped you a note, Mama.
If I could find a job doing what I do in Torrington or thereabouts I’d be there in a heartbeat. Maybe when I retire. Not going to make antelope season this year and it really pisses me off.
Maintain control of your weapons at all times….doesn’t seem like a gun belt sitting across someone else’s office satisfies that…
I always have full control of my guns. The situation I find myself in requires that I be flexible in that, however. Depends on where you are and with whom you are interacting. Nobody in the dentist’s office (all three of them) are going to cause a problem with my gun on the table during the procedure. Besides, the dentist carries concealed all the time – so if there was an attack, he’d just get the first shot.
Uh. Mr. White must have deep pockets and quick access to them, because I’m pretty sure that’s the only way a ND in an office gets played off as an accident.
Since when do you put your finger on the trigger while answering your phone?
“We were all pretty shaken up, but being able to buy a new Jet-Ski calmed us right the hell down.”
Or he was under the influence of nitrous oxide…
Apparently a number of commentators here don’t have experience with N2O…
Sure it wears off fast but, at higher doses, it does cause ringing in your ears and it’s a general anesthetic that can literally knock you over if you’re standing. Fingers don’t fing properly under the effects of that gas.
The old guy is probably sensitive to it. I know I am.
It was his responsibility to secure the gun before the gas was administered. So, he was even more negligent IF he did know he had exceptional susceptibility to it. And it is only common courtesy to turn off the phone when in such a situation.
In any case, this was a negligent discharge, not an “accident.”
Oh, I’m not defending his actions. He may not have known he was sensitive to it but if you know you’re going to be administered drugs like this then you need to take steps to insure that your gun is safe even if that means not carrying it to the appointment.
I’m merely saying that “calling bullshit” is OTT. N2O is definitely something that could cause this to happen because of the way it screws with your motor coordination, perception of reality and sense of touch. I fully believe that this guy could have thought he heard his phone ring and had an ND by grabbing his gun thinking it was his phone and not being able to feel the difference because I know how much N2O screws me up at the dentist’s office. I mean keep in mind that under N2O you can’t really talk, so why would you reach for your phone in the first place? Because you’re fucked up on N2O!
Ergo, what he did was irresponsible, negligent and stupid but I don’t think he’s trying to cover up doing something really stupid while sober, as alleged by some here, by claiming N2O intoxication. I believe that he had a gun when he shouldn’t have had one and a bad outcome was the result. I would rate this as on par with getting wasted drunk and having an ND. Sure, you didn’t intend to discharge the gun, but your actions caused that to happen and you’re responsible for your actions regardless of sobriety or lack thereof.
Who knows? Who cares? Whether some jack wagon did something stupid because he’s stupid in one way, or stupid in some different way, really doesn’t matter. Maybe he was negligent straight out, or maybe he was negligent for putting himself in a situation where his faculties were foreseeably impaired. So what? He’s negligent.
It’s the ability to learn from the mistakes of others that make us human. Your “So what?” question makes it clear that you don’t really bother to look at the details of the incident and consider how such a thing could affect you or a loved one if you’re not prepared/thinking at the time.
The whole point of the story is that the guy was negligent or made a mistake in a way that he didn’t foresee but now that we’ve seen the story other people who might have made the same mistake hopefully won’t because they’ll be armed with foresight as to what might happen when you don’t fully consider all the aspects of what you’re doing.
If you’re going to the dentist, you might not plan on it, but you might be anesthetized when the doc says “Oh, well we can fix that right now!” and you should consider that in terms of carrying. Many people wouldn’t consider that, and wouldn’t think about the gun on their hip if the doctor said “Oh, well we can fix that here in a jiffy just put this mask on”. Now, within seconds, you’re intoxicated and in possession of a gun when you didn’t plan on it because you didn’t say “Hey, hold up doc, what’s in the mask and what will it do to me? …. Oh, it might make me fucked up out of my mind if I’m sensitive to it? I’d better disarm first then, you know, just in case”. Many people don’t think that way because they just want to GTFO of the office and away from the dentist.
It’s not just “a trip to the dentist” it’s a trip to go get anesthesia, or it could turn into that. You have to see it as the latter rather than just the former because looking at it in the simplistic terms “just a trip to the dentist” invites Mr. Murphy in the door.
This guy didn’t think through all the ramifications of a dentist visit and he paid for it with a GSW. That’s a cautionary tale for the rest of us to seriously consider such a trip, what it could entail and how to react if it does.
Your comment here is a perfect example of why so many people don’t like Texas: It’s full of stereotypical Texans. Arrogant, simple minded and more than willing to make that obvious with obnoxious comments that boil everything down to simplistic blaming bullshit while casting aspersions rather than saying “Wow, that guy fucked up, what can I learn from this about how to avoid it and help other’s avoid it?”.
Fortunately, White was still anesthetized when he punctuated his own hand.
So I guess it’s true — there is a providence that protects drunks and fools.
Really? Who needs nitrous anymore? I’ve had freakin’ gum surgery with nothing but local anestetics. Really unnecessary.
Everyone experiences pain differently. Even pain specialist Doctors don’t have a good handle on it, or how to effectively deal with it, and I know this from personal experience. The only person I’ve ever talked to that seemed to have a decent handle on how pain affects people was a dentist who had a lot of experience treating people (mostly drug addicts) in prison.
We humans are bags of walking chemistry, and we all react a little (or a lot) differently to the addition of a new chemical. When prescribing narcotics for instance, Doctors have to take into account whether a person is new to them, or has had previous experience. The body learns how to process the new chemical in time, but a novice can have strange reactions. I imagine it is similar with Nitrous oxide.
I have a pretty high pain threshold, but my son apparently has a very low one. I’ve had root planing without even a local, but my son needs Nitrous just to have his teeth cleaned. Everybody is different.
A couple of years ago I had to go to the emergency room because of severe abdominal pain. I’ve seen some pretty weird people in emergency rooms and having a gun there seems like a good idea, but since I anticipated receiving treatment and probably would have difficulty securing my firearm, I left it at home. Good thing, because I ended up having emergency surgery and was there for three days. No way could I have kept my gun secured.
I did have a root canal and crown done a couple of months ago and my gun was on my person the whole time, but I didn’t receive Nitrous oxide (never have) and knew I wasn’t going to be knocked out.
I think if a person will be receiving an anesthesia they’ve never had before, or if they expect to be knocked out, leaving their gun at home is a good idea.
At 72, who cares? Let the old man have his fun.