Know your weapons

I hadn't planned to write anything about firearms for a while but this story caught my eye.

Quote:
Gun goes off in Starbucks

CHEYENNE -- A 17-year-old Cheyenne teen was cited Monday after she dropped her purse, causing the gun she was carrying in it to go off in a local coffee shop.

Complete text of article

Aside from the legal implications, which are several, another aspect of this story is weapons awareness. It's important to understand the characteristics of any weapon carried, regardless of type. The Remington pattern derringer cited in the story, whose design dates from 1866, isn't drop safe. While many modern reproductions have a safety, it's hard to work and not particularly useful.

Most likely in this story, the gun's hammer was struck when she dropped her purse, causing the weapon to fire. Since the design is top heavy, when carried loose in a purse, the gun will invert, placing the hammer in a position where it can be easily struck.

Several of the comments in the article portray the girl as an irresponsible idiot. While this is possible, it's not necessarily the case. If her father gave her no instruction on the gun, how was she to know about its inherent safety flaw? Did he tell her any gun carried in a purse should be in a holster? Probably not. He's definitely the bonehead in this scenario, although it's possible she contributed.

Know your weapons, if you're going to carry them. This goes for any weapon. Years ago, I replaced the Mace that a secretary in my office was carrying with a better type of pepper spray. When I tried out her original unit, the stream went vertical less than one foot from the unit, i.e., its actual range was about one inch.

Something else I found interesting about the report was that Associated Press picked the story up and distributed it nationwide. I was unable to find any similar redistribution of stories about NDs by members of governmental agencies despite being easily able to find them with a simple Google search.