When a bullet exploded through her living room's bay window less than 10 feet from her, the initial response of a startled Elise Nakhnihian was to find the projectile.Just as I suspected. It's the gun's fault.
Her husband, Steven Gittelson, had another idea: Stay out of sight and call the cops...
The couple couldn't have imagined that it was a Princeton Borough police officer's bullet that rocketed into their stately Governors Lane condominium...The shooting was the result of an allegedly malfunctioning rifle that discharged the bullet at the police firearms training range on River Road in the township without the officer who was holding the weapon even pulling the trigger, borough and township police said yesterday.
[More from "The Only Ones" files...]
I would sure like to hear the technical explanation of how the firearm was able to chamber, cock, and fire a cartridge all by it's lonesome...
ReplyDeleteIs that what they mean when they talk about "smart guns"?
"We were consulted," prosecutor's office spokesman Angelo Onofri said yesterday. "It was obviously a weapon malfunction and nothing criminal, so that ended our involvement in the review."
ReplyDelete-laughing- Do you think you'd ever hear that from a prosecutor's mouth if the situation involved a simple gun owner like us?
"No disciplinary penalties or criminal charges have been filed against the borough officer -- a veteran of the force and firearms instructor who is qualified to use the rifle, Federico said."
Of course not. Not even a reprimand for carelessly pointing that rifle barrel over the berm as he loaded the weapon.
I read the rest of the story and it seems that two factors contributed. The first and foremost factor was a violation of what I would consider THE most important rule of firearm safety ... Muzzle Awareness. If you make sure that your weapon is pointed in a safe direction (or intended direction ... i.e. an approaching threat), then you could almost violate the rest of the rules (finger off the trigger, treat the gun as if loaded, etc.) without tragic consequences. This officer did not keep his firearm pointed in a safe direction, period.
ReplyDeleteThe other factor seems to be the malfunctioning firearm. According to the report the officer admitted chambering a round when the firearm went off. This seems plausible and sounds a lot like what AR15 rifle shooters would call a slam fire. The first time out at competitive rifle shooting, my son failed to get his last round off during a string of rapid fire. When we cleared the rifle I inspected the ejected round and noticed a very very light dimple on the primer. I was told that all AR rifles do this without actually discharging the round. The cause was explained to me as an inertia driven firing pin strike during the closing of the bolt.
I do not know exactly how this would work with a bolt action such as the one described in this story. It was probably similar to this rifle or this one. Either way, it was some variant of the Remington 700 and more than likely caused by an inertia strike. I think the firing pin spring on the 1911 was designed for the express purpose of preventing an AD while the slide slams shut and before the trigger is pulled again. Titanium firing pins might have been developed for this purpose also (lower weight equals less inertia).
I am not an expert on firearms. I only know things from books I read and am a little more cautious about stuff on the internet. Someone correct me if I am wrong.