(courtesy fineartamerica.com)

“A 23-year-old Phoenix man is in critical condition after shooting himself in the head while trying to show that a handgun could not be fired while he had the safety mechanism engaged,” foxnews.com. “The Navajo County Sheriff’s Office said Christen Reece fired his handgun Wednesday while shooting with six other people outside Overgaard in eastern Arizona. Friends took Reece to the local fire department, where he was treated before being airlifted to a Scottsdale hospital for surgery.” ‘Nuff said? Other than this: NEVER point a firearm at something you’re not willing to destroy. And don’t destroy yourself. (Suicide Prevention Hotline number on TTAG’s homepage.)

52 COMMENTS

  1. A gun is a mechanical device. A safety is a mechanical device. Either can fail or malfunction. Throw in a stupid human and you get life flight helicopters and aggravated firemen and cops.

  2. Well, now I want to know the make/model of the gun whose safety malfunctioned — if it was even engaged in the first place. Cause, you know, anyone who’s williing to run a live fire test like that ….

    [Insert “no-brainer” joke here.]

  3. “NEVER point a firearm at something you’re not willing to destroy.” Should we give him the benefit of the doubt?

  4. I recall a Navy SEAL who shot himself in the head, trying to show off to a girl he picked up. Just natural selection at work.

    • “…Just natural selection at work…”

      Natural selection at work = 2015 Darwin Award nominee.

      Only four more months till we find out if he won.

  5. I test the safety on my guns by pointing them at my mother in law, they haven’t failed yet unfortunately……

    • Are you the guy who CLAIMED he shot an armadillo, and the round ricocheted off the dillo, off a fence post, through a screen door, through a chair, and hit his MIL in the back several months ago? For the record, I’m calling BS.

      • “Are you the guy who CLAIMED he shot an armadillo, and the round ricocheted off the dillo, off a fence post, through a screen door, through a chair, and hit his MIL in the back several months ago? For the record, I’m calling BS.”

        I remember that one. If I recall correctly, after the mother-in-law stepped down from the witness stand the accident was ruled “justifiable.”

        • “I remember that one. If I recall correctly, after the mother-in-law stepped down from the witness stand the accident was ruled “justifiable.””

          The wisdom of “That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it…”.

  6. Yeah well my daily carry has a mag safety. SFW? One shouldn’t hold it to ones head and pull the trigger to……what, add emphasis in making a point?

    • When. Gun neophyte, I once played with an unloaded Browming Hi-Power. The mag was out, but I’d never heard of a “mag safety”. Solely familiar with 1911’s, I was frustrated by the fact the tigger wouldn’t work.
      But I discovered if you pulled hard enough, you could make the hammer fall.

  7. Give this man an honorable mention for a Darwin Award. We can’t actually give him the Award, because he didn’t kill himself, but he came close. That deserves an honorable mention.

    I say that we should stop trying to prevent this kind of stupid activity. The gene pool is in serious need of some cleaning, because there are way too many stupid people around right now.

  8. That must have been a tremendous conversation.

    “Check it out, with the safety on, I can point it at my head, pull the trigger, and it won’t even sh-“BLAM

    Don’t tempt fate.

  9. Why do people demonstrate this at themselves? I’ve never understood that. There’s a perfectly good floor right under your feet, point it there. Better yet, clear the weapon and demonstrate it with dry fire while pointed at the floor.

  10. Reminds me of a joke: “so he put a gun to his head and blew his brains out.”

    “Must have been a great shot…”

  11. Possible results remind me of a case I’ve encountered a few years ago. A man got into several kinds of problems including unemployment, divorce and depression, so he has decided to end it all.
    However, his aim was off and he just destroyed his eyes. So he ended up unemployed, divorced, blind and even more depressed.

    Makes one kind of wish that the gentleman in the article either makes a full recovery or doesn’t recover at all.

  12. “A 23-year-old Phoenix man is in critical condition after shooting himself in the head while trying to show that a handgun could not be fired while he had the safety mechanism engaged,”

    This is also why I don’t rely on an external safety. They can wear out and/or fail to function (remember the PK380 recall?). The best safety is between your ears, so don’t point the gun at what’s between your ears.

    Glock on.

  13. Many comments make the assumption that the safety he was allegedly trying to demonstrate was, indeed, engaged. I bet it wasn’t. Not that it matters… Debating the merits of manual safeties, or lack thereof, is moot. This guy was profoundly stupid.

  14. Some really astounding posts today. Between this and the religiously-selective tactical rifle, I would venture to say this is not a good day for POTG at TTAG, PR-wise.

  15. I recall hearing a story during the first Gulf War that a guy pressed a 45 to his head (Yes, Marines were still carrying 1911’s into the 90’s) trying to show that it wouldn’t fire if it was out of battery. The pistol fired.

  16. A friend of mine and I once saw an apparently drunken fellow discharge a Model 29 Revolver from a wobbling, elbow-bent one handed stance. The recoil caused the pistol to arc up and strike him in the face where the hammer spur cut a nasty, profusely bloody gash. After much screaming, yelling and attempted blood staunching he and his similarly intoxicated buddies left. Hopefully, they made it to a Medical Facility, but I’d imagine it left a mark.

  17. There seems to be a trend, among a certain personality type, to act in a reckless manner in order to demonstrate their confidence. These types of folks generally over rate their skills, experience, and practical knowledge. They hope to impress their ability upon people who know far less than they do so they can bask in the presumption of competence.

    They avoid genuinely competent people who would not only chastise them for their carelessness but would remind them that everything they know about shooting came from chatting at the gun store counter and reading gun blogs.

    Thus this sort of person never works towards achieving the mastery they want to imply they have to the uninitiated.

  18. Number one rule dont point a firearm at something you are not willing to destroy, EVER! Difference between we sane 2nd Amendment supporters and the bloomberg types is we use a tragedy like this as a reinforcing need for education and attacking complacency…gun control nuts start to tear up, get all emotional and then try to ram stupid legislation. Is it any wonder they are so despised?

Comments are closed.