UA Student Wanted in Accidental Shooting Turns Himself In

[SecularMotion]

Williamson, 37, was showing the Taurus .45-caliber revolver to a co-worker at the KUAF radio station. The station is in Fayetteville next to the city library but is considered a campus facility.

Williamson said he didn’t touch the gun and did nothing to jar the handgun into firing. He said he has since done research that he said showed the revolver was prone to accidental firings.

He said he brought the gun because he had planned to take the revolver to a gun range after work to shoot it for the first time. He said he was a hurry that morning and didn’t check the gun thoroughly for a round before tossing it into his bag.

Williamson said he owns several guns but will sell them now, and was able to joke that he would need the money to pay for his medical bills. He said his accident shows that guns shouldn’t be allowed on campus.

http://5newsonline.com/2013/02/26/arrest-warrant-issued-for-ua-student-who-shot-himself/

[gejohnston]

1. I'm glad he turned himself in

but I have a hard time buying the "just went off" story.

He said he brought the gun because he had planned to take the revolver to a gun range after work to shoot it for the first time. He said he was a hurry that morning and didn’t check the gun thoroughly for a round before tossing it into his bag.

so he loaded it after he bought it or what?

Now if it were a Taurus PT-22 just fell apart at the range, that I would believe.

[petronius]

5. I'm glad he's getting rid of all of his guns - dude is definitely not someone who

should be a gun-owner, at least not until he seeks out a far more thorough education on the topic.

“People think I did something wrong. That’s what I’d think. It was just a fluke accident."

[Tempest]

2. He said he has since done research that he said showed the revolver was prone to accidental firings

He's lying.

No gun would be allowed on the market if it was prone to accidental firings.

[av8r1998]

7. No, but still

A VERY preventable accident.
If the gun is ALWAYS pointed in a safe direction, nobody gets hurt.
Even if the gun DID have a poor safety record.

And FWIW ... 1 failure = poor safety record.

[GreenStormCloud]

3. He screwed up - didn't follow safety rules.

Now he tries to blame it on the gun and on being on campus. If he had been off campus he would have been just as careless.

[jmg257]

4. Riiigght...dumb ass with a gun he's never used before, didn't check was loaded,

And illegally possessed on school grounds, just goes off on its own...and a revolver no less!

Funny how those double action hammers, equiped with tranfer bars, rise and fall all on their own.




Glad he's selling his guns, obviously isn't responible enough to own them.

ETA: he blew a .410 hole through his off hand, so it seems likely this clown was showing his new Judge to his pal, probably cocked it, then let the hammer slip while decocking.

[av8r1998]

6. ???"JUST WENT OFF"???

"Just went off" doesnt exist with a modern firearm.
If you don't press the trigger, the gun don't go bang...
That's why none of my guns have active safeties.

OR....
"Keep your booger hook off the bang switch till you're ready to shoot"

[jimmy the one]

8. ghost in the gun machine

tempest: He said he has since done research that he said showed the revolver was prone to accidental firings
He's lying. No gun would be allowed on the market if it was prone to accidental firings.

This isn't absolutely true, or perhaps rather, williamson (accidentally handshot) put it in an off the cuff way.
Some guns do have some idiosyncratic ghost in the machine which makes it susceptible to accidentally firing when it shouldn't. There was a rifle a few years back, thinking winchester but dunno really, that would do something like this, got a bit of publicity amongst pro gun crowd (surely somebody knows what I'm thinking of, help help).
.. what williamson said, that the revolver was prone to accidental firings, I think he just meant that it 'could' fire accidentally, at least more frequently than the vast lot of guns in america.
Maybe a bump at a certain angle & force would 'trigger' it, or some accumulating dust dirt inside or something, slowly leveraging against a firing mechanism.

[holdencaufield]

10. "thinking winchester but dunno really"

Let me guess -- you heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who actually saw it?

[jmg257]

11. Likely the Remington 700. Heard this and read about it but nothing concrete. nt

[holdencaufield]

9. Actually -- "It just went off" -- is a pretty good defence.

If the judge is anti-gun or a prohibitionist then chances are he won't know squat about guns and will buy it.

Also, like the priests of the inquisition, they are always eager for a good act of contrition, conversion to the true faith experience. Instead of the devil making him sin, the gun made him sin. He sees the error of his way and will accept the no gun religion. Hallelujah, he's saved!

Actually, with the right judge, he'll walk.

[sarisataka]

12. There were some early complaints

about the Taurus Judge and misfires. Some guns did not strike hard enough to fire the shell. The Judge uses a transfer bar that physically blocks the hammer from hitting the firing pin unless the trigger is fully pulled. Being a DA revolver, the hammer would have to be cocked manually into SA position. I could not find one other case of a Judge firing due to mechanical failure.

Williamson said he didn’t touch the gun and did nothing to jar the handgun into firing. He said he has since done research that he said showed the revolver was prone to accidental firings.

Maybe he didn't touch it but somebody was trying to lower the hammer after cocking it and their thumb slipped...

Williamson said he owns several guns but will sell them now, and was able to joke that he would need the money to pay for his medical bills.

that and he won't be able to legally own guns with a felony record

He said his accident shows that guns shouldn’t be allowed on campus.

no, guns shouldn't be in the hands of those who do not know how to use them.